Leopold and Loeb?

Almost certainly. Loeb was the dominant personality, Leopold the bottom. There is a dramatization of their relationship in Tom Kalin's openly gay-themed 1992 film Swoon. Their homosexual relationship figured heavily in the psychiatric testimony at the trial.

Loeb was homosexual and Leopold had sex with Loeb as part of a hero worship thing, so make of that what you will. Probably both were gay.

Leopold married years later when he got out of prison.

They were both sick fucks, irrespective of their sexuality.

But the child they killed was not sexually assaulted, correct?

They've always been my favorite Broadway composing team.

Hitchcock's "Rope" uses that case for plot material, obviously.

R3:

No.

The trial judge said that there was conclusive evidence to his satisfaction that that did not happen.

The judge took the case away from the district attorney and accepted the plea, so he would have wanted to make sure that there was nothing going to come out that would come back on him, so, no, there was no sexual assault.

The boy (whom they actually knew) was killed almost immediately after entering their car. His body was mutilated, but apparently in an attempt to conceal the crime rather than as a sexcapade.

By the way, it's very likely that the expression "thrill kill" was invented by the Yellow Press to describe their crime.

They believed themselves to be Nietzschean supermen who could commit a "perfect crime". Before the murder, Leopold had written to Loeb: "A superman ... is, on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men. He is not liable for anything he may do."

This is what the elite are trying to create right now with the transhumanist movement.

Was Loeb an infatuated follower? Some have speculated that he went along with Leopold because he was in love with and that Leopold was a sociopath.

This thread is useless without photos.

R9, it's vice versa -- Loeb was a charismatic personality & Leopold was a weaker personality who was overwhelmed by his attraction (not necessarily sexual) to Loeb.

Fascinating story. Clarence Darrow's eloquent attack on the death penalty is very moving.

Darrow got stiffed on his fee, which gives him something in common with every other criminal defense attorney at one time or another.

Loeb was murdered in prison as the result of a knife attack from another inmate.

Both the Loeb and Leopold families were well-to-do. Loeb's family took care of him by putting money into his commissary beyond anything that most other inmates could get. With those funds Loeb set himself up with privileges other inmates could not afford.

Drastically uneven distribution of wealth makes for serious problems of unrest in prisons as elsewhere, and in attempt to forestall problems, the administration cut back on how much inmates were allowed to get from outside.

When Loeb had his money supply sharply curtailed, that created a problem with the man who murdered him. He caught Loeb alone in the shower and stabbed him to death.

At trial, the defendant got off, claiming self-defense, that he thought Loeb, naked and unarmed, was going to attack him, so he struck first.

The jury acquitted him, probably figuring that the defendant had done the world a favor. It was a situation reminiscent of the Cheryl Crane/Joey Stompanato homicide.

R9 has it right. These were both brilliant young men, but Loeb was the dominate personality, an absolute stone-cold psychopath.

Leopold was more of an immature, awkward, schlub with a hero-fixation on Loeb, but also, make no mistake, a psychopath as well.

Meyer Levin's "Compulsion" is a good place to start. It is a novelization. He attended the University of Chicago with both of them.

The people who knew them were hard-pressed to say anything in their favor. These were not good human beings.

The world of buiness missed out on two great C.E.O.s, though.

Make that the world of business.

Bobby Franks, the victim, was a cousin of Dickie Loeb. More deets at the link.

Serial killers, politicians and CEOs share many of the same qualities. I think the study was published in the LA Times.

On January 28, 1936, Loeb was attacked by fellow prisoner James E. Day with a straight razor in a shower room and died from his wounds. Day claimed afterward that Loeb had attempted to sexually assault him . . . According to one widely reported account, newsman Ed Lahey wrote this lead for the Chicago Daily News: "Richard Loeb, despite his erudition, today ended his sentence with a proposition."

Weird story, I know the family that used to live in Leopold's house in Chicago after they moved out. A couple years after they moved out of the Leopold house, their housekeeper was mysteriously murdered. The case is still open, and no one really talks about it.. Strange coincidence or cursed houses?

Their's a weird connection between this case andthe Jonbenet Ramsey murder. Both the Loebs and the Ramseys had vacation homes in Charlevoix,Michigan.

r1, you've got it confused. Leopold was the top, in a matter of speaking. When he went along with the crimes Loeb wanted to commit, Loeb would let Leopold put his dick between Loeb's thighs and rub one out (the "Oxford rub").

R16

That was always one of my favorite quips.

I stand corrected on the issue of the murder weapon. I knew better.

Connections between the elite are a dime a dozen. They all know each other the higher up the ladder you go.

Mea culpa, r11.

R21:

You're correct. That's the way to understand the Charlevoix, Michigan, connection, an understandable coincidence.

It was, and still is to a certain extent, a resort town where C.E.O.s had summer homes on Lake Michigan.

The Ramsey's and the Loeb's were top-level executives who lived within commuting distance when they bought homes there.

May 21, 2014 marks the 90th anniversary of when they carried out their kidnapping/murder of poor Bobby Franks.

Back in March, I caught a few minutes of "Good Day, New York" that blew my mind.

The two guys from "Million Dollar Listing" were making the rounds, and this was their day for GDNY.

Since this is a show of great substance, the discussion turned to the similar hairstyles of the BravoTV hosts.

Greg Kelly chimed in, "You have a real 'Leopold and Loeb' thing going on there!"

Someone who married into my father's side of the family is a direct descendant of leopold. Niece or grandniece perhaps? Would have to double check. I don't really know more about the case than any of you, except that her family changed the spelling of their last name.

I loved their work on My Fair Lady

A niece or grandniece would not be a 'direct' descendant, r26!

[quote]R25

That niece or grandniece may be a descendant from the Leopold family but she cannot be a direct descendant of Nathan Leopold as he never fathered any children.

They were like the Emmanuel brothers, except people dressed better back then.

[quote] Loeb was the dominant personality, Leopold the bottom

My experience has been tops who insist they are the dominant partner rarely are.

Many of us death penalty enthusiasts are especially bitter about this case.

I wish more people would sing the great tunes from the Leopold & Loeb Songbook.

I read "Life Plus 99 Years" (Leopold's autobiography) when I was an adolescent. It was very disturbing. I don't think I'll read it again.

I love Behind Mansion Walls. Does anyone know anything about that queen who hosts it? Is he related to James Mason the dead actor?

God that was creepy, when he calculated the date at which it all became worthwhile R34. It's an advertisement for "Compulsion," which almost makes me not want to read it.

[quote] It was a situation reminiscent of the Cheryl Crane/Joey Stompanato homicide.

JOHNNY Stompanato, not Joey.

Life Plus 99 Years is an interesting read but doesn't concentrate much on the crime. It's more Leopold talking up all the good things he's done since being banged up and how he's become a good person. It was basically a long essay to support his repeated attempts at parole.

He wrote another book on birds when he was released. He lived in Puerto Rica with his wife.

[quote]Hitchcock's "Rope" uses that case for plot material, obviously.

And the actors who played the L&L equivalents were both gay.