Peter Weinberger (abduction victim)

Angelo LaMarca was born in New York on April 13, 1925.

On July 31, 1943, he was drafted to serve in World War II; his enlistment papers state that he had "dependents" at that time but was single, that he worked in the manufacturing of "paper goods," and that the most advanced education level he attained was attendance at grammar school.

Angelo LaMarca married Donna LaMarca on June 6, 1946.

They had two children together, a boy named Vincent and a girl named Vivian; at the time that LaMarca received his death sentence, Vincent was 9 years old, and Vivian was 5.

In 1954, LaMarca was arrested for his participation in a bootlegging operation that also involved his father, Vincenzo, and his younger brother, Joseph, as well as two other men who were not related to LaMarca.

The group set up an illegal still capable of producing 500 gallons of bootleg whiskey.

Following their arrests, all five were charged with operating a still and possessing mash, the latter of which was a federal offense.

LaMarca received a 90-day suspended sentence along with a year of probation.

The documents filed in relation to LaMarca's probationary period would play a significant role in his capture for the Weinberger kidnapping.

Peter Weinberger (June 2, 1956 – c. July 12, 1956) was a one-month-old infant who was kidnapped for ransom on July 4, 1956, in New York state.

The case gained national notoriety due to the circumstances of the kidnapping and the victim's family, as unlike many ransom victims, Weinberger was not from a wealthy and prominent family, but from a suburban middle class family.

As was required by law at the time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was required to wait for seven days before they had the jurisdiction to involve themselves in the investigation into the Weinberger kidnapping.

The investigation took approximately six weeks, during which state and federal authorities reviewed millions of documents and public records in their attempt to locate the identity of Weinberger's kidnapper.

The investigation led to the arrest of then-31-year-old Angelo John LaMarca, who eventually confessed to kidnapping and abandoning Peter Weinberger due to mounting debts and financial difficulties.

While LaMarca claimed to have abandoned Weinberger alive, investigators found Weinberger dead from asphyxia, with starvation and exposure being contributing factors.

During his highly-publicized trial in Nassau County, New York, LaMarca attempted to attribute the murder to a state of temporary insanity caused by stress around his financial problems.

He was convicted of first degree murder and kidnapping and sentenced to death.

Peter Weinberger was born on June 2, 1956.

On July 4, when Peter was 32 days old, his mother, Betty Weinberger, placed him in a carriage covered with mosquito netting on the patio of their house in Westbury, New York, a town in Nassau County, and left him unattended for approximately 10 minutes.

She returned to find that someone had pulled open the netting, taken Peter, and left a ransom note on notebook paper in green ink.

The note read, in part:

After spending over eighteen months on death row, LaMarca was executed in Sing Sing Prison's electric chair in 1958.

Subsequent to the case, then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation to reduce the Federal Bureau of Investigation's waiting period in kidnapping cases from 7 days to 24 hours.

"Attention, I'm sorry this had to happen, but I am in bad need of money, & couldn't get it any other way. Don't tell anyone or go to the police about this, because I am watching you closely. I am scared stiff, & will kill the baby at your first wrong move. Just put $2000 in small bills in a brown envelope. . . . If everything goes smooth, I will bring the baby back leave him on the same corner 'Safe Happy' at exactly 12 noon. No excuses, I can't wait! Your baby sitter. [ sic ]"

The note demanded that the Weinbergers leave the money next to a signpost near their house by 10 a.m. the next morning.

Betty Weinberger's husband Morris, a wholesale pharmacist, soon returned from a car ride with their older son, two-year-old Lewis, at which point the two called Nassau police.

Shortly afterwards, Detective Frank Abramowitz arrived at the house.

He informed his boss, Sergeant Edward Curran, of the kidnapping, at which point Abramowitz, Curran, and the Weinbergers agreed to pay the ransom as quickly as possible to ensure Peter's safe recovery.

The Weinbergers were of a modest income and required the financial aid of several relatives to pay the ransom.

On Independence Day, a federal holiday in the United States, area banks were closed, so the police had to arrange for a bank to open and release money specifically for the Weinberger case.

Detectives subsequently attached recording devices to the Weinbergers' phones.

Meanwhile, police requested that the local press refrain from reporting on the story for 24 hours to reduce the risk of the kidnapper harming Peter.

Nevertheless, the New York Daily News reported on the kidnapping that same evening and drew copious amounts of attention to the event.

The next morning, a swarm of reporters and photographers had descended upon the drop-off point, likely deterring the kidnapper from returning to retrieve the money.

On July 6, investigators staged a news conference to appeal to the kidnapper to feed the baby a supposedly medically recommended baby formula which theoretically required pharmacy preparation.

In reality, a pharmacist could not fill out the formula, and detectives used it as a ruse to attract the kidnapper to a pharmacy, where a pharmacist would hopefully recognize the situation and alert the police.

The kidnapper did not appear, and no pharmacists reported hearing from the kidnapper.

On July 10, the kidnapper called the Weinberger household; Morris picked up the phone.

He claimed that the kidnapper had a male voice and instructed him to leave the ransom by a nearby highway.

Although Morris left the ransom, the kidnapper did not retrieve it.