Bio

Angelo John LaMarca was born in New York on April 13, 1925. He later lived in Plainview, Long Island, with his wife and children. Before the Weinberger kidnapping, he worked as a taxi dispatcher and truck driver. He was a married father, but by 1956 he was under serious financial pressure. He lived in a house he could not afford, had unpaid bills, and was reportedly being threatened by a loan shark.

LaMarca had also been in legal trouble before the kidnapping. In 1954, he was arrested in connection with a bootlegging operation. His probation file from that case later became important because investigators used handwriting from that file to compare with the ransom notes left in the Weinberger kidnapping.

On July 4, 1956, LaMarca was driving through Westbury while worried about money. He came across the Weinberger home and saw baby Peter Weinberger in a carriage on the patio. LaMarca later told investigators that he acted on impulse. He wrote a ransom note, took the infant, and drove away.

Murder Story

On July 4, 1956, one-month-old Peter Weinberger was placed in his carriage on the patio of his family’s home in Westbury, New York. His mother, Betty Weinberger, went inside for a short time. When she returned, Peter was gone, and a handwritten ransom note had been left behind. The note demanded $2,000 and warned the family not to contact police.

Peter’s parents contacted authorities, and police prepared a ransom drop. The family also asked newspapers to delay publishing the story, but one newspaper reported the kidnapping. Reporters and police activity near the drop site frightened LaMarca, and he did not collect the ransom.

Several days later, LaMarca called the Weinberger home and gave more ransom instructions, but again failed to collect the money. Investigators recovered another handwritten note, which was later matched to the first ransom note. After the FBI entered the case, handwriting experts and agents compared nearly two million handwriting samples. A match was eventually found in the federal probation file of Angelo LaMarca.

LaMarca was arrested at his home on August 23, 1956. He first denied involvement, but confessed after investigators confronted him with the handwriting evidence. He said he had gone to the first ransom drop with Peter in the car, but became frightened by the attention around the area. He then drove away and abandoned the baby alive in heavy brush near a highway exit.

Investigators searched the area and found Peter Weinberger’s decomposed remains. The child had died after being left alone in the brush. Because LaMarca had not crossed state lines, he was prosecuted by New York authorities rather than under the federal kidnapping statute.

LaMarca was tried in Nassau County for kidnapping and murder. His defense argued temporary insanity linked to financial pressure, but the jury convicted him and did not recommend mercy. On December 14, 1956, he was sentenced to death.

After appeals failed, Angelo John LaMarca was executed by electrocution at Sing Sing Prison on August 7, 1958. The Weinberger case later helped change federal kidnapping law. After the case, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation reducing the FBI waiting period in kidnapping cases from seven days to 24 hours.