WICKED GAY
WICKED GAY
Boy Slayers: Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb (Ep. 55)
Send J. Harvey a text! (Try to be nice, but I get it, everyone's a little cranky sometimes...)
You've heard the story before. A maybe queer pair of whiz kid killers trying to see if they can get away with the perfect crime. They didn't.
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August 1924, chicago, illinois. Over three days and nearly six hours, the defense attorney delivered a fiery closing argument, fighting to save his clients from death row and holding the courtroom captive until his final words on a Monday afternoon. Here's some of what he said they didn't kill for money or hate. They killed for the experience. Something slipped in the making of them and now the world, blind with rage, demands their blood. But will hanging them stop the killing? This world has been a slaughterhouse since the beginning and it will go on. It wasn't just a defense, it was a performance and not your average closing argument. But then again, this wasn't your average murder case. You're listening to wicked gay, a true crime podcast about gay people doing awful things. Hello, I'm your host, jay Harvey. Thank you for clicking play.
Speaker 1:I began recording this on Mother's Day in between, recording a video version of this episode, and that's become the 13th labor of Hercules, and let me tell you I would rather be cleaning out the Aegean stables. That was the myth right. One of the tasks he had was cleaning a stable right. Video is hard. It'll happen. Someday I'll teach myself the ins and outs of video, but it's hard. It'll happen, though.
Speaker 1:Anyway, yeah, it's Mother's Day and my mom's in Florida and her and my stepdad for lack of a better word are dealing with something major. I'd given her a free subscription to Wicked Gay's Patreon a while back and I wasn't sure she'd ever used it. To be honest, I'm really uneasy about pushing the podcast to people I know and I know that's terrible marketing, but the idea of asking a friend or family member if they listen just makes me cringe so hard I drop my beer, which is probably why I have an audience of roughly 113 people, but I love them all. But I'm aware that there's unfortunately not a lot to occupy her mind right now, in a very trying time. She's a little stranded down there in Florida, so I had asked her if she ever listened to the Patreon and it turns out she does. She says it's what she listens to in the car whenever she's going anywhere and she's listened to all of them and she repeats them now and she says my voice is with her whenever she's driving anywhere. Personally, I'm proud of her for getting it to work, because moms of a certain age sometimes not the tech-savviest.
Speaker 1:And secondly, oh God, some of the things I talk about on this podcast are pretty serious and or gruesome and or, personally, kind of revealing. So okay, sit with that for a moment, jay. I mean the sexual assault revelation and the duct tape story alone. Thirdly, how choked up was I? Anyway, happy I could distract her or bring her some comfort. Maybe my mom's the strongest person I know. She's my hero, really. I know there's a shock.
Speaker 1:A gay guy whose mom's his bestie. You know what you can shut up. I don't mind being a cliche once in a while. Happy Mother's Day, ma. And seeing as I mentioned Patreon, see, I'm not that bad at marketing. If you'd like more episodes of Wicked Gay, exclusive ones and bonus content, just slide on over to patreoncom. Slash wicked gay and give it a gander. Oh, and pro tip, go to the Patreon website and sign up through there. Don't sign up through the app. Apple did something foolish and they charge a 30% fee now if you sign up through the app, because they're hemorrhaging money and totally need the revenue, they're practically on the dole. That was sarcasm.
Speaker 1:By the way, tonight's story has spawned or inspired a whole bunch of books and movies and TV. There's even a lesser known Hitchcock movie called Rope based on this case. This case started a trope really. The queer whiz kid partners, slash lovers who are bored in seeing if they're smart and slick enough to get away with murder. Tonight we meet the originals, a pair of young lovers the world would come to know as Leopold and Loeb, a pair of names that would become synonymous, at the moment in time, with public outrage over violent crime and this new sort of criminal. The media back then were aghast over what had become of America's brilliant young men, young men who were traditionally supposed to be the hope for the future. Well, sorry, president Coolidge, but some of them started sleeping with each other and murdering people.
Speaker 1:This is episode 55, boy Slayers Nathan Leopold Jr and Richard Loeb. My sources for this episode are wikipedia, biographycom and an episode of pbs's the american experience called the perfect crime. But truthfully, I only semi recall watching that one because I had passed out during it because I had a couple glasses of wine. But what I do recall from it was Leopold's sick unibrow and it was like dude, you're in the big leagues, now Get a barber. I mean, you murdered a kid, but that unibrow is a crime in itself and, like Loeb, couldn't even tell him about it. That's not love and look. I would never bag on somebody's looks which you can't help if you're not classically beautiful. Exhibit A right here, this waddle. But if it's easily fixable, come on. Nathan Leopold Jr, one swipe of a straight razor from one of those old-timey barbers who also carry mugs of root beer, you would have been all set.
Speaker 1:Leopold and Loeb were a landmark case that captivated the nation. Nathan Leopold Jr and Richard Loeb, two wealthy University of Chicago students, kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks, hoping to commit the perfect crime. But let's be real, it never works out, except maybe in politics or at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. You'll almost always get caught. And these two, despite thinking they were some kind of untouchable Nietzschean supermen, they got caught too. Their trial was a media sensation. It was the OG white Ford Bronco highway chase and defense attorney Clarence Darrow's soon-to-be-famous argument against the death penalty, which blamed their mental state and upbringing for the crime, sparked a national debate over capital punishment and the treatment of juvenile offenders. The case also shone a light on the growing influence of the media in shaping public opinion, not offenders. The case also shone a light on the growing influence of the media and shaping public opinion. Meet two young college fellas, maybe in love, maybe just in a twisted situationship, but instead of romantic drives and model tees or seeking kisses behind the frat house, they were kidnapping and murdering 14-year-olds, trying to pull off the perfect crime.
Speaker 1:Nathan Leopold Jr was born on November 19, 1904 in Chicago. He was a child prodigy from a wealthy immigrant family. He allegedly spoke his first words at just four months, which seems sus. Was he a baby from space? Leopold later claimed he was bullied by the other kids and abused by his governess already planning the appeal. His intelligence did set him apart, but his superior attitude made it hard for him to make friends. Yeah, he was that guy. By many accounts. Leopold was sensitive about his appearance and considered himself unattractive, but looking at photos and not to hype him up or anything or offer him any sort of grace nixing the unibrow could have helped. He eventually attended the University of Chicago, with plans to go to Harvard Law. It was there, though, that he reunited with 18-year-old Richard Loeb in 1920. Leopold was 19.
Speaker 1:Richard Loeb was born on June 11, 1905, wow, the day after my birthday in Chicago, and he was the third of four sons in a wealthy family. His dad was a lawyer and an ex-VP at Sears and Roebuck and, like Leopold, loeb was a smarty. At the age of 12, he entered the University of Chicago High School and, with encouragement from his governess who I guess wasn't abusing him he finished in just two years, by 17, he was the University of Michigan's youngest graduate. Afterward, loeb took a few history classes at the University of Chicago, where he met the Unibrow of Destiny and yes, I said reunited.
Speaker 1:Leopold and Loeb were casual acquaintances during their childhood and adolescence. They both grew up in the affluent Kenwood section of Chicago's South Side. The Loebs owned a mansion in Kenwood, two blocks from the Leopold home, but it was when they met up again at uni that sparks flew and they began a sexual relationship in February of 21 that continued until their arrests. You know when two people just shouldn't be together because they bring out the worst in each other. Well, picture that couple. But all the bad stuff happened to the people outside of the relationship.
Speaker 1:Loeb had a lifelong love for stealing from his family, friends, stores, you name it. He got Leopold into it too. They even had a system for cheating a bridge to scam their friends, and their crimes escalated. They started hurling bricks through car and store windows and breaking into homes for odd items like wine, vacuum cleaners and piano benches. Okay, wine makes sense, but those last two Weird choice, right? Instead of jewelry or rare coins, like other thieves, they went for the random stuff. There were also fire bugs setting fires and, just like the grizzled older cop tells the newbie to watch out for they'd return to the scene of the crime to gawk at the destruction they caused, laughing as the firefighters risked their lives.
Speaker 1:Loeb seems like he was the less annoying of the two. Sure a sociopath, but he did all this antisocial stuff for the thrill. Leopold, on the other hand, pretentious, unibrow and all tried to justify his crimes with philosophical reasoning. Honestly, I'd rather he just burned down another building than listen to that nonsense. He called himself a hedonist, weighing pleasure and pain before every action, including murder. He even told a shrink that deciding to kill was like deciding whether to eat pie for supper. Honestly, if he had to think about it, he can't be that smart Pie is delicious. Automatic, yes, oh. And guess which philosopher was his favorite? That's right, friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher of choice for malcontents and Nazis and serial killers and incels everywhere. They all want to get toxic, male and be the Superman and gaze into the abyss as it gazes back into them. Oh, shut up and get new philosopher heroes.
Speaker 1:Leopold thought he and his BF were on their way to becoming what Nietzsche called Superman and, as a result, wouldn't be bombed by the rule of law. Nietzsche called supermen and, as a result, wouldn't be bombed by the rule of law. In a letter to Loeb he wrote 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. I feel like Frederick Nietzsche is a fuckface because he's responsible for active shooter drills to this day.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, after robbing Loeb's old fraternity house at the University of Michigan, where they swiped pen knives, a camera, a typewriter which they used to write a future ransom note, and probably the big spanking paddle, loeb proposed they commit the quote perfect crime, and the goal was to get public attention and prove their superiority to everybody else. You couldn't just take Molly and try to score a threesome like every other red-blooded college student Assholes. For some reason, leopold and Loeb decided the perfect crime wasn't, say, stealing a Vermeer, but instead kidnapping and murdering a kid. They spent seven months planning it, disguising their we're-above-the law motive as a fake kidnapping with a convoluted ransom scheme, because nothing says genius like overcomplicating things and proving their brilliance. Once again, they chose as their victim the kid across the street, 14-year-old Bobby Franks, loeb's second cousin, frequent tennis partner and literal neighbor. Solid work boys. I'm going to get into the crime now and even though I'm not going to get too graphic, trigger warning for abuse and violence. Apologies for not already giving you a trigger warning for wild unibrows.
Speaker 1:On the afternoon of May 21st 1924, leopold rented a car under a fake name, picked up Loeb and together they offered Bobby Franks a ride as he walked home from the elite Harvard school. Bobby, an intellectually gifted 14-year-old who'd once debated against capital punishment, initially declined since he was just two blocks from home, but Loeb lured him in with talk of tennis rackets. What happened next is a bit unclear, but reports say Leopold drove while Loeb sat in the back. Once Bobby was in the front seat, loeb allegedly struck him in the head with a chisel, then dragged him into the back and gagged him. Bobby died from a mixture of head trauma and asphyxiation. So Bobby's corpse was now on the floor of the back seat and his murderers drove him to a spot near Chicago's Wolf Lake, which is on Chicago's southeast side. After sundown they stripped Bobby and they concealed the body in a culvert along the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks north of the lake. And this is rough. But they poured acid on him to obscure his features so he couldn't be ID'd.
Speaker 1:By the time they got back to Chicago proper, bobby's family had already reported him missing. Leopold called Bobby's mother, posing as a George Johnson, and promised future ransom instructions. Then Leopold and Loeb mailed the note, cleaned the blood out of the rental car and played cards Charming. The next morning Leopold called again with a convoluted drop plan for the ransom. It fell apart immediately. Mr Franks forgot the address. Then came the real blow. Bobby's body had already been found.
Speaker 1:The boys destroyed the ransom note typewriter, burned a blanket they had wrapped Bobby in and went back to business as usual like nothing happened. The Chicago PD were on it offering rewards. While Leopold and Loeb breezily chatted about the murders. Leopold joked to a friend that he confessed and split the reward. Loeb even took reporters to the drugstore from their ransom scheme and said if I were to murder anybody it would be just such a cocky little son of a bitch as bobby franks. So I guess he was being like interviewed because he was in the neighborhood or lived near bobby, or knew bobby, and what a what a cocky son of a bitch he was subtle.
Speaker 1:These two clearly wanted attention, probably because they figured they'd get away with it, because they'd read Nietzsche, or at least Leopold had, and Loeb just nodded along. But they'd left behind some very ungenious evidence For one Leopold's glasses, which had rare frames. Only a few pairs were like them in Chicago. They were found near Bobby's body. Smooth move Then the typewriter they quote destroyed. Not well enough. Cops found it and matched it to the ransom note and their alibi A clumsy lie about cruising for girls that they couldn't name in a part of town they couldn't remember.
Speaker 1:It didn't take long before both cracked Loeb first and Leopold each blaming the other for the killing Superman. Indeed, leopold and Loeb were questioned on May 29th. They claimed that they had picked up two mystery women that night and this is your first sign that you're lying, because these two were clearly dating each other and dropped them near a golf course and never got their names. Their alibi unraveled fast. Leopold's chauffeur said the car was being repaired and the chauffeur's wife confirmed it was parked at home during the murder. Leopold had clearlyeur said the car was being repaired and the chauffeur's wife confirmed it was parked at home during the murder. Leopold had clearly been a dick to the chauffeur and his wife. That's why, no matter how rich you are, people always be good to the help.
Speaker 1:And then on June 7th, the busted typewriter used to type a ransom note turned up in a lagoon nearby. Loeb cracked first I guess the sex got boring and told police that Leopold planned the whole thing and killed Bobby in the backseat while he drove. Leopold confessed quickly as well, flipping the script of blaming Loeb. The cops didn't care who swung first. Their stories lined up with the evidence. Both admitted they were chasing thrills and trying to prove their Superman status with the perfect crime. Neither claimed to enjoy the murder, though Leopold said he was curious how it would feel he was disappointed to feel nothing. No kidding, it's not magic, it's the murder of a child genius.
Speaker 1:And now the trial. The trial took place at Chicago's Cook County Criminal Court and it was the OJ trial, killing my favorite soap operas forever of its day, being dubbed the trial of the century. The Leopold and Loeb families hired famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow, who made the modern equivalent of $1.17 million. He claimed he took the case to fight the death penalty. But let's be real, $1.17 million helps. The case turned Darrow into a legal celebrity, a title he cemented the following year defending John Scopes in the famous Evolution trial.
Speaker 1:The public assumed that the murderous young men would plead, not guilty by reason of insanity. But their lawyer, clarence Darrow, surprised everybody. He knew a jury would hate them and likely sentence them to death. So he had them right away plead guilty and his plan was to convince the judge to spare their lives. Was it the electric chair then, or hanging, either way grim.
Speaker 1:The trial lasted 32 days, but it was really just a sentencing hearing, so more like sentencing hearing of the century. The prosecution brought 88 witnesses to lay out the crime. Darrow countered with psychiatric testimony about messed up glands, too much money and, in Leopold's case, alleged childhood sexual abuse from his governess. Darrow's lengthy closing argument was held as the finest of his career. He argued that the death penalty was inhumane and urged the judge to consider the youth and immaturity of the accused. Here's a little excerpt. Picture me in like a waistcoat, with a watch chain orating. I am pleading for the future, for a time when hatred and cruelty no longer rule the hearts of men, when we can learn through reason, judgment and faith that all life is worth saving and that mercy is mankind's highest attribute. Not bad huh. One reason Darrow's speech is so lauded is because it worked. He lawyered his ass off In his ruling. The judge cited precedent and the youth of the accused as reasons for sparing their lives.
Speaker 1:On September 10th 1924, he sentenced Leopold Loeb to life imprisonment for the murder, plus 99 years for kidnapping. Initially held in separate parts of Joliet prison, leopold worked in the Rattan factory I guess like Rattan chairs and Loeb in the chair factory there's the chairs but they kept in touch. In 1925, leopold was moved to Stateville Penitentiary where he worked in the shoe factory and library. Loeb joined him in 1930, working in the greenhouse. Once reunited, they spent a lot of time together, conducted sociological research and helped expand the prison school system. There's no solid info on whether they were still an item in prison, but if there's one place and one time for proving that sex is the best sex, it's prison, honey.
Speaker 1:On Januaryth 1936, richard Loeb was murdered with a straight razor wielded by a fellow inmate who claimed Loeb had tried to sexually assault him. The attacker was unharmed, but Loeb suffered over 50 wounds, including defensive ones on his arms and hands and had his throat slashed from behind. The press largely sided with the inmate, some even celebrating the act. The attacker clearly lied, but if you think I'm going to start rending my garments and weeping over Loeb, who beat and smothered a 14-year-old to death and poured acid over his face, you're crackers. I'm not an eye for an eye guy, but I am a what-you-put-out-in-the-world-finds-you-eventually guy.
Speaker 1:After Richard Loeb's death, leopold continued working to expand the prison school, claiming it was part of his atonement for his crime. In the 1950s, an author named Meyer Levin sought his cooperation for a novel about the murder he was writing, but Leopold declined, focusing instead on his own memoir. Meyer Levin published a novel called Compulsion in 1956, and Leopold later wrote about it saying that it made him physically ill, exposed and humiliated. Well, maybe don't murder people then, if you want to avoid those feelings. Leopold eventually published his own book Life Plus 99 Years in 1958 as kind of a parole bid showing how he had atoned for his crimes, and it worked. After 33 years and multiple failed petitions, he was granted parole on March 13, 1958.
Speaker 1:After his release, leopold moved to Puerto Rico, married a widowed florist in 1961, but kept up relationships with men, some from prison and he regularly visited gay bars and hired male sex workers. He also committed crimes which I would think would be a parole violation, but okay, like statutory rape and charity fraud, but it was never charged. So much for atonement. He died of a heart attack in 1971 at age 66. As for who actually killed Bobby Franks, leopold always claimed Loeb did it, saying Loeb refused to confess because quote, mom-c feels less terrible thinking you did it, and I'm not taking that shot of comfort away. Most people believed Loeb delivered the fatal blows, though some evidence, like a witness seeing Leopold in the back seat, suggests otherwise. What the fuck is a momsy? And that was the Leopold and Loeb case.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining me this evening and remember you don't have to sport a unibrow if you don't want to, unless you're Bert from Sesame Street or you know. Maybe you're behind the times and you're turning a look. In that case, I will shut up about it. Be kind to yourselves, unibrow, and all good night. You've been listening to wicked gay, a true crime podcast about gay people doing awful things. Oh, hey.
