Historic NEPA Crimes

A disagreement over just 15 cents ended in tragedy and led to Lackawanna County's first execution by hanging. In this episode, we explore the shocking true story behind one of Northeast Pennsylvania's most infamous crimes and examine how a seemingly minor dispute spiraled into a deadly confrontation that captivated the region.

A spilled glass of water. A heated argument. Then gunfire shattered a quiet Saturday night in West Scranton.

In this episode, we uncover the shocking true story of the May 21, 1910, murder at Bennie Ricciardi’s store on Scranton Street — a crime that left one man dead, another gravely wounded, and launched a dramatic manhunt stretching from Pennsylvania to New York.

Who was Benedetto Tripodo? Was he a man acting in self-defense… or someone connected to an earlier unsolved killing with possible ties to the feared Black Hand era?

Drawing from newspaper archives, prison records, census documents, and forgotten historical sources, we retrace the events of one of West Scranton’s most compelling early 20th-century crimes — from the fatal confrontation to the railroad escape, capture, plea deal, and the lingering mysteries left behind.

More than a century later, questions remain.

🎙️ A true crime story buried in Scranton history — until now.

#TrueCrime #ScrantonHistory #HistoricalCrime #PennsylvaniaHistory #Genealogy #ItalianAmericanHistory #BlackHand #LocalHistory #HistoryPodcast

In this episode, we explore the chilling story behind Queen Esther’s Bloody Rock in Pennsylvania, a Revolutionary War legend tied to the aftermath of the 1778 Battle of Wyoming.

According to traditional accounts, captured American soldiers were brought to a rock along the Susquehanna River and executed by a woman known as Queen Esther, reportedly seeking revenge for her son’s death.

The story, passed down through generations, blends eyewitness testimony, folklore, and disputed history.

We break down what’s known, what’s debated, and why this story continues to haunt local history. Was this a documented massacre, wartime propaganda, or a legend shaped by fear and memory?

We examine the historical context, survivor accounts, and how the myth evolved into one of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s most enduring Revolutionary War mysteries.

A burst of gunfire at Murderer’s Corner in Bull's Head left a community shaken and investigators searching for answers. Conflicting witness accounts, lingering rumors, and unanswered questions turned the shooting into a local mystery.

Was it targeted, mistaken identity, or something else entirely?

This episode revisits a forgotten Northeastern Pennsylvania case that still refuses to give up its secrets.

In 1934, two decomposed bodies were discovered at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft in Old Forge, Pennsylvania. Investigators later recovered a third victim, buried in the ice. All three were shot execution-style. With ties to robberies, underworld associates, and possible New York mob connections, the killings bore the hallmarks of a professional hit. Despite multiple suspects, the frozen shaft murders remain an unsolved cold case to this day.

A long-simmering rivalry in Boone Hill erupts into deadly violence, leaving a community shaken and searching for answers. In this episode, we discuss the case, unraveling the tensions, the confrontation that changed everything, and the haunting aftermath of a feud that went too far.

In 1915, detectives uncovered a secret counterfeiting operation on a farm in Chinchilla near Scranton. A dramatic raid exposed a group producing fake half-dollar coins and revealed the growing reach of organized crime in early 20th-century Northeastern Pennsylvania.

A successful doctor. A suspicious past. A brutal murder.

In 1867, Dr. John D. Durkin was found dead on the floor of his hotel room in Scranton. The man accused of killing him was tracked across multiple states, arrested, and convicted… only to be mysteriously acquitted at a second trial.

Decades later, a shocking courtroom outburst reignited the question everyone had been asking:

Who really killed Dr. Durkin?

Listen to this discussion and decide for yourself. 🔎

At the turn of the 20th century, Scranton’s Bull’s Head neighborhood — a bustling Italian immigrant enclave — became the unlikely backdrop for one of the region’s most violent and mysterious crime waves. Known as the Black Hand Society, this secretive group blended extortion, family feuds, and street justice, shaping a chapter of American Mafia-style lore far removed from the Southern Italian shadows most of us imagine. Tonight, we dig into the rise of the Black Hand in Bull’s Head — the deadly disputes, the infamous murders, and the feud that gripped a community struggling to find order amid chaos.

Before dawn on September 21, 1872, a man was found dead in a pool of blood near a place known as Fellows’ Corners in Hyde Park. His skull had been crushed. His killer was never found. Who was James Monaghan? And what really happened that night in the early days of Scranton?