![]() The note described bullets containing cyanide. They promised that if their plan went awry, a survivor of their group would track down and kill Edgar, Sam’s father, who was the chairman of Seagram. His abductors introduced themselves to the Bronfman family with a ransom note. The Bronfman family owned the Seagram Company, the sprawling conglomerate that The Times described around that time as “the world’s largest distiller.” Sam was an heir to a trust worth about $750 million, more than $3.5 billion today. The family’s butler answered and heard Sam’s voice. A night out without Melanie might entail Sam cruising around a familiar set of Westchester bars.Īt 1:45 a.m., the phone rang at the Yorktown Heights estate. He and his girlfriend, Melanie Mann, whom he had met freshman year, were moving toward marriage. He was about to start a job in sales at Sports Illustrated. That June, Sam had graduated from Williams College, where he edited the sports section of the school paper and played varsity tennis. They range from a forbidden love affair to a yearslong surveillance campaign to a conspiracy that hoodwinked the nation. DeBlasio’s memoir - along with an examination of 45-year-old court records and interviews with actors from this episode who are still alive - help set the record straight on a tangle of allegations. It was effectively a deathbed confession. ![]() DeBlasio’s mix of pride and unease combusted in July 2020, when he self-published a memoir, “Let Justice Be Done.” His book, which went largely unnoticed, reveals what he long told his two daughters was the secret of the Bronfman trial: His winning argument was premised on a lie - and he knew it. Even as he reveled in his triumph, he worried until the end of his life about what he had done to secure it. The Bronfman kidnapping is one of the stranger tales of New York’s criminal history, but over the following decades, hardly anyone had reason to recall the intricacies and mysteries - except Mr. Byrne’s attorney, Peter DeBlasio, who called the case “the greatest trial victory of my career.” This miracle was pulled off in large part by Mr. They and their defense lawyers managed to convince jurors that there was, in fact, no kidnapping. Byrne would be convicted of an extortion charge, but incredibly, after it seemed they had been caught red-handed, a jury pronounced them not guilty of kidnapping, a charge that could have put them in prison for life. The kidnapping trial turned out to have more narrative twists than the crime itself. Bronfman, describing the planning and execution of the crime and identifying the hiding spot of two garbage bags containing a $2.3 million ransom. Lynch sat on the couch next to the unshaven, foul-smelling, bound and blindfolded 21-year-old scion of one of America’s richest families, Samuel Bronfman II, who had been missing for nine days. The living room was dimly lit its blinds were drawn. agents charged into the Brooklyn apartment of a fireman named Mel Patrick Lynch. 17, 1975, about 60 police officers and F.B.I. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
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