Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Bayonne, December 18, 1958
The early morning sun glistened on the waters of the Upper New York Bay. From a distance, cars could be seen traversing the picturesque Bayonne Bridge. A bit closer, ferries were transporting people across the waterways into New York, Staten Island and New Jersey. People on all sides of the water were getting ready to begin their days. In the city of Bayonne, Christmas decorations adorned many of the shops, trees and houses throughout town; the Christmas season of 1958 was in full effect. The date was Thursday, December 18, and there were only seven more days left to shop before the holiday.
As the rising sun began to lighten the dark Bayonne streets, store owners could be seen sweeping the sidewalks, setting up decorations, putting out displays and bringing in supplies for the weekend. The spirit of the season was in the air, and Christmas tunes could be heard everywhere. The most popular of the season was the "Chipmunk Song." For the first time, the animated characters Alvin, Simon and Theodore were introduced to the world. It was a time in America when the term "rock-and-roll" was new, sweetshops were the popular hangouts for teenagers and Gunsmoke was the number one show on TV. Sports heroes on the backs of newspapers included the likes of Willie Mays, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams. The year 1958 was a good one in sports for the East Coast teams; in October, the New York Yankees ended the baseball season by defeating the Milwaukee Braves 6–2, winning the World Series for the eighteenth time. And the New York Giants were 9-3 and on their way to the playoffs.
It was an interesting year, to say the least. In January, fed up with the Ku Klux Klan and its cruel and aggressive actions, a local tribe of Indians known as the Lumbees of North Carolina attacked the KKK in an incident later to be called the Battle of Hayes Pond. In February, a Mark 15 hydrogen bomb was lost off the waters of Savannah, Georgia, and to this day it has not been recovered. In March, a U.S. B-47 accidently dropped an atomic bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina, causing a mushroom-cloud explosion. Fortunately, the core was not attached, which prevented a nuclear blast. In July, President Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act, making Alaska the forty-ninth U.S. state. Two days later, a massive earthquake struck the state, causing a landslide that produced the largest wave ever recorded at a height of 1,740 feet. That same month, Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, commonly known as NASA. Throughout the year, the United States had been active in its space program; earlier in the year, a test rocket had exploded at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In August, the United States launched Pioneer 0, and in October, operating under the name of NASA, it sent Pioneer 1 into space. In the first week of December, Pioneer 2 was deployed. And on this eighteenth day of August the world's first communication satellite was launched. "This is the president of the United States speaking," said Eisenhower. "Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you via a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one: through this unique means, I convey to you, and all mankind, America's wish for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men everywhere."
It was a year of firsts, a year of accomplishments and a year of change. But for one prominent family in the city of Bayonne, the year would be etched in their memories forever.
And on this very same day, forty-seven-year-old Stephen Sladowski woke, sat up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes as he stumbled out of bed. Trying not to wake his wife, Estelle, and their four children — Estelle, nineteen; Catherine, fourteen; Stephen Jr., eleven; and Robert, nine — he prepared for his day. Closing the door quietly behind him, his face was met with the cold wind coming off the Newark Bay. It was six o'clock in the morning as he walked to his grocery store just a half block away. The temperature was a brisk twenty-four degrees, and as he walked, he could see dim lights in several of the homes as people began to rise. Sladowski was off to an early start, but not any earlier than on any other day. He and Estelle owned a store at 168 Avenue B that sat on a street comprising mostly one- and two-family homes. It was a perfect location, so he presumably thought the store could serve the community; it was also conveniently a stone's throw from his house at 130 West Forty- sixth Street.
Stephen Sladowski was a successful and well-respected man. A 1945 book entitled Prominent Families of New Jersey illustrates this with a section dedicated to him:
Soft-spoken ... with a quick smile and a kind word he was a leader for years in civic and church affairs. A devout Catholic, Sladowski joined the Holy Name Society and rose to be its president. The society is an association of adult Catholic males who undergo a vigorous vetting process studying the history of the organization, their rules, mission, objectives, and a pledge of indoctrination is taken. Once completing this process a member or apostolates — as they are called — must adhere to the mission of the society by helping to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, shelter to the homeless, [and] tend the sick."
All of this, Sladowski did his best to fulfill. Having strong faith and devotion, he dedicated his life to volunteer work and community caretaking and was a "staunch" democrat, attending regularly the meetings of the Democratic Club in town.
The Sladowski home is nestled in a sought-out section of Bayonne, just a half block east of Bayonne Park, which is a spacious one-hundred-acre retreat occupying land on the east bank of Newark Bay. A half block up from his store was St. Vincent's Catholic Church, where Sladowski was a parishioner. An attorney by profession, Sladowski, along with his wife, had recently become a store owner. With the economy in recession, it is remarkable — and a testament to his success — that they were able to make such an investment. Owning a store had to feel natural, as his parents, Frank and Bessie, had owned and operated one while he was growing up.
Both his parents were born in Poland and immigrated to the United States, settling in Bayonne, where they became naturalized citizens. As a child, young Stephen attended the Mount Carmel Grammar School in town and the public high school. Upon graduating, he attended Fordham University in New York City, where he completed his undergraduate work. Thereafter, it was off to Chicago for studies in law at the John Marshall Law School.
After becoming an attorney, Sladowski returned to Bayonne — a place he considered home and where he wanted to raise a family. The city of Bayonne has a sweeping history and was once occupied by the Lenni-Lenape Indians, who fished in the waterways surrounding the city. Formed in 1861 by merging several townships together, Bayonne derives its name from an old crosstown road known today as Thirty-third Street. Bayonne is situated on a peninsula surrounded by Upper New York Bay, Newark Bay and the Kill van Kull. Directly across the Kill van Kull sits Staten Island, and across the Upper New York Bay rests the borough of Queens, New York. Over the Newark Bay waters lie the cities of Newark and Elizabeth in New Jersey.
Bayonne's first mayor was an industrious man named Henry Meigs Jr. Meigs sat on the commission that helped lay out the city's street grid. The street system design consists of streets running east and west and avenues and boulevards running north and south. Just off the water of the Kill van Kull sits First Street; from there, city streets run to Fifty-eighth Street at the opposite side of town. The three major thoroughfares running north and south are JFK Boulevard, Avenue C and Avenue E, most of which run the length of the city.
Despite having nearly seventy-four thousand residents, Bayonne has the look and feel of a small town. One- and two-family homes with commercial businesses line the majority of streets. Commercial centers in town have an array of offerings, from seafood fresh off the local port, to vegetables and fruits, to fine dining. The residents are mostly blue-collar workers from the manufacturing, distribution, oil and maritime industries. There are immigrant neighborhoods of Italian, Polish and Czechoslovakian descent throughout town. Most notable in town is the Bayonne Bridge with its beautiful arch design conceived by Othmar Ammann, a Swiss-American structural engineer responsible for the designs of the George Washington Bridge, the Tri-borough Bridge, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. The Bayonne Bridge is composed of steel trusses built into an arch that rises 266 feet above the water of the Kill van Kull. The bridge itself stretches 5,780 feet from Bayonne to Staten Island, and when it was opened, it became the longest steel arch bridge in the world. Built by the Port Authority of New York (now known as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey), the bridge roadway carries two lanes of traffic in each direction on designated route NJ 440, with travelers having to pay a toll heading into Staten Island.
Sladowski was an average-looking man with a lean build, brown hair and a receding hairline. He had a fair complexion, wore glasses and always had a warm smile that made people feel comfortable. Born in April 1911, Sladowski became a stern municipal court prosecutor while in his early thirties. His wife, Estelle, was a strong woman with golden brown hair, nice facial features and an attractive smile. In the mid-1950s, Sladowski partnered with his longtime friend Leo Bergman and opened a firm at 545 Broadway, practicing general law with a strong focus on "the difficulties of people of foreign derivations." His local government interest led to him taking the position of director and council to the Bayonne Community Chest.
Arriving at his store on this cold December day, he unlocked the door and slipped inside. The store was warmer than outside but still a bit chilly. In preparation for the holiday, his wife had decorated the store with Christmas ornaments and put a large wreath in the front window. The store was quite large, with twelve-foot ceilings and exquisite tin tiles. Elevated from street level, one had to walk up several steps to enter the establishment. Two large plate glass windows composed the front façade, where fruits and vegetables, dairy and "White Rose Tea" signs were on display. Sladowski wasted no time preparing for the day's business, as there were items to be placed on shelves, food to be taken out of the refrigerator and paper goods to be replenished. Putting on a white apron, he got to work.
About seven o'clock in the morning, Estelle woke up and prepared the children for school. She then dressed herself and washed the dishes in the sink before heading to the store so Stephen could go to his law firm.
Arriving at about 8:30 a.m., she immediately began cooking breakfast in the back kitchen. Every morning, the couple would have breakfast with Estelle's sister, who worked in the store, and her husband. As Sladowski was finishing his chores, the aroma of breakfast permeated the air. After breakfast, he left for his law firm.
CHAPTER 2
"Have Gun — Am Traveling"
Across the waters of the Kill van Kull, another man woke to begin his day. His name was Richard Biegenwald. Now eighteen, Biegenwald was a problem youth who had been in and out of hospitals and mental institutions from the age of five. Friends did not exist for him, as he wasn't capable of maintaining friendships, despite his high intellect and articulate speech. His deportment was cold, callous and threatening, and without notice, he could become enraged and cruel. One minute he was friendly and the next, mean. Biegenwald was a good-looking kid with reddish hair that turned blond in summer. He wore it on the long side with strong comb strokes visible because of the gel he used. People described Richard Biegenwald as cold, but each account of the man always mentions his bright blue eyes contrasted by his red hair. He was not a big man, standing only five feet, eight inches, and weighing 145 pounds. Despite his smaller stature, his cold, blank facial expression and strong New York accent could send a shiver down the spine of a bigger man.
In August, he turned eighteen while sitting in an Asland, Kentucky federal reformatory. He had dropped out of high school and traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, where he stole a car and was caught transporting it to Kentucky. He was charged with transporting stolen property across state lines and spent most of the year behind bars. Recently released from jail, he was up to no good once again. This time, Biegenwald wanted to do something he had been fantasizing about since he was young. Fueled by that fantasy, his uncontrollable urge was calling for action. This desire — or thrill, if you will — existed in him from early on.
During the last weeks of November and the first week of December, Dick — as he was called during this period — had gone over to Bayonne on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons for (he said) skating. For most kids, skating was enjoyable because it created an opportunity to meet new people and have fun; for Dick, he saw opportunity elsewhere. In all probability, his trips to Bayonne were in fact dry runs, testing the ferry system from Bayonne to Staten Island. The small-town atmosphere of Bayonne, with its mom and pop commercial establishments mixed with residential neighborhoods and an easy-to-navigate road system, was more appealing than the laughing and smiling faces at a skating rink.
The ferry system, in operation since 1750, transports people across the Kill van Kull to both shores. The first ferry was a small, open scow propelled by oars; the modern one is operated by an engine, with passengers being able to sit inside or out. Considering what would follow, the ferry system proved to be the best route to exit Bayonne — or at least so Dick Biegenwald had concluded.
In the first days of November, Dick met James Sparnroft through a mutual acquaintance. Sparnroft — or Jimmy, as Dick called him — was eighteen and came from Staten Island. He had a slim build, weighing about 155 pounds, and long black hair that he wore in a pompadour reminiscent of Elvis Presley. With his dark hair and green eyes, Sparnroft was a good-looking kid whom others called "Elvis" or "Presley." Raised in a God-fearing Catholic home, his parents taught him right from wrong and to have manners. However, in 1954, an incident in Bayonne caused the Staten Island youth to be arrested. Standing five feet, eleven inches, and with a strong New York accent, he towered over the shorter Biegenwald. Whereas Sparnroft seemed to have a normal upbringing, Biegenwald did not. While Sparnroft was attending the public school system, Biegenwald had been committed to hospitals for the mentally ill. It didn't take Sparnroft long to realize the stark differences between them. However, despite this, he continued to hang out with Biegenwald, even though he said Biegenwald was cold, uncaring and a "lunatic."
Sparnroft speaks of an incident in the old Port Richmond section of Staten Island, the oldest community on the island composed of blue-collar workers and lower-income homes. It was once a thriving seaport lined with beautiful Colonial and Victorian houses for the rich; now, those same buildings are lower-income apartments. A few wealthy families still are present, but they are elderly people trapped in a neighborhood in decline. For Biegenwald, this was his type of neighborhood, where mischief and mayhem could go undetected by police, who rarely patrolled this part of the island. "Dick," recalled Sparnroft, "somehow wound up in a liquor store and bought a bottle of Chianti wine." Sipping on the booze, the two met a young woman, whom Dick sweet-talked into hanging with them. They talked under the Bayonne Bridge and then went to John's Street, where they sat on the railroad trestle. According to Sparnroft, they were sitting and passing the bottle to one another with their feet dangling off the trestle when, out of the blue, "Dick hauls off and hits this girl alongside the head with the bottle of wine." Shocked and appalled, Sparnroft expressed his anger but knew enough to let it go. He didn't want to be the next causality.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Jersey Shore Thrill Killer"
by .
Copyright © 2014 John E. O'Rourke.
Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
