True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

(Bruce Johnston Sr. Picture credit: philadelphia.today)

*Please be aware that I will be talking about some sensitive subjects in this post to do with murder and sexual assault. I will try to be as sensitive as I can be with the details without taking way from the facts of this case* 

When it comes to iconic movies of the 1980's especially where thrillers are concerned, At Close Range is right up there as a classic. With Christopher Walken and Sean Penn at the head of a brilliant cast it's no surprising that the film has continued to be a firm favourite. Christopher Walken is just brilliant in everything he does and he can play such sinister roles where he can leave you literally on the edge of your seat, feeling uncomfortable, waiting for him to just explode in a fit of anger but then he will surprise you by suddenly smiling. He is a remarkable actor and is considered to be one of the greatest actors in cinema history. Sean Penn is also a fantastic, versatile actor. But, as much as I would like to go on about how incredible this movie is, it's not a review post (leave that to my Letterboxd account). This post is about the true story that inspired this movie. 

A lot of people are surprised to find that the movie is based on a true story, they can't quite believe it but it is true, well.....most of it. Investigators who worked on the case were contacted during the making of the movie and they refused to be involved with it because they didn't agree with some of the content, especially with how Sean Penn's character was portrayed as a somewhat sympathetic individual. 

At Close Range focuses on the real life case of the notorious Johnston gang (names and certain details in the movie were changed but for the most part the story is accurate) which was founded and led by Bruce Alfred Johnston Sr alongside his brothers, Norman and David, the trio also had long term associates who were part of their gang and as a collective they were something of a criminal mastermind, these guys were no small town crooks who did a bit of shoplifting here and there. These guys were safe code crackers, alarm dismantlers (I don't even know if that is an official word but I'm leaving it in because I know you will know what I mean by that), experts in antiques, firearms, picking locks, stealing cars and mechanics. They also knew the value and quality of precious metals, diamonds and coins. They could tell if certain piece of jewelry was fake or valuable. They also knew about the value of certain car parts, farming equipment including tractors and also knew how to make bombs, When it came to theft and avoiding proper justice these guys were unbelievable so it's no wonder a movie was made about them and to this very day people are fascinated by this incredible story. 

This gang who reportedly never paid for a thing through honest hard work, had built a criminal enterprise that went on for the best part of 20 years having been active in the 1960's and 1970's in their local area of Chester County, USA before branching out to other states. During their crime hey day they single handedly were responsible for most of the crime that had gone on in their local area as well as across state lines. When Bruce Sr estranged sons (Bruce Jr and James Johnstone aka 'Jimmy') became involved with him they went on to create their own gang which was nicknamed 'The Kiddie Gang'. Bruce Sr acted as a mentor to the boys and encouraged them to round up a few of their friends to join them, Bruce Sr, his brothers and associates agreed to teach the boys how to steal and crack codes in return for whatever money was made to be divided up between the Kiddie gang and Bruce Sr (the majority of the money going to Bruce Sr).

Bruce Jr and Jimmy Johnston had no proper relationship with their father Bruce Sr for the majority of their upbringing. They were raised by their mother who remarried. Bruce Sr and their mother had been divorced for many years and Bruce Sr was pretty much an absent father with a notorious reputation. The Johnston gang were well known to the police and the local community but they ruled by fear. If anyone dare say a bad word against them or even try to complain to the police the gang would take action against that particular individual. 

Things did fall apart eventually for Bruce Sr, his brother and his associates in very dramatic fashion as you may know from the movie. This criminal business that had been in operation for decades came to an even more horrific end that was even more shocking than anyone could have anticipated. Bruce Jr (who was 19) and his brother Jimmy (18) were very close but found themselves out of work, no direction in life and no proper guidance. It was Bruce Jr's idea to contact his father out of the blue, they knew the rumours about him and both Bruce Jr and Jimmy were curious. When they finally did arrange a meeting with their father they were completely in awe of the money and lifestyle that Bruce Sr was living in. Bruce Sr appeared to be a man of leisure who almost moved around like he was a celebrity, people would say hello to him at the local bars where he would buy people drinks like money was no object and he appeared to be very charismatic (as long as you didn't get on the wrong side of him). Bruce was sharply dressed, had nice shoes, jewelry and cars, when he pulled out his wallet it was stacked with notes, the boys saw all of this and desired the same. 

In the beginning Bruce Sr wasn't so sure about letting the boys in to his world, he was very careful about who he trusted and even lied to the boys in the beginning that everything he made and owned was completely his own. He would put the boys through tests to see if they were loyal and would keep their mouths shut if the cops ever approached them. When they had gotten to the point where Bruce Sr felt that they had shown their loyalty to him he decided that he he would let his guard down and teach them 'The Family Business'. 

The Johnston gang were able to evade proper justice for so many years because of their methods of intimidating and threatening witnesses. If they found out that someone had been talking to the cops that person would find themselves getting a phone call at 3 am warning them to keep their mouth shut or a device or bullet would somehow magic it's way into that person's car with them or their family members in it. The threatening calls and intimidation always worked and it drove the police crazy. The number of times that the police felt that they finally had them they would lose them again. There was some time spend in jail here and there but only small jail terms and all that did was put a little break in between their crime sprees. The moment any of the gang left the prison gates they were back to business. 

After the shocking murder of two cops who were keeping an eye on the gang occurred, police surveillance on Bruce Sr, his brothers and their associates stepped up full gear. Investigators believed that if they fully committed themselves to keeping an eye on every move that Bruce Sr and co made, they themselves would catch them in the act and be witnesses themselves to the thefts. In their minds, as the witnesses would be cops there would be no way they could intimidate them into staying silent and this would be the perfect way to have them locked up for a very long time if not for good. 

As the end of the 1970's approached it was all starting to fall apart for Bruce Sr and his associates. The kiddie gang had been doing well after a shaky start but they did bring in some money for Bruce Sr however there was a problem for the Johnston gang, Bruce Jr had fallen in love with a local girl named Robin Miller who was only 15 years old. Robin lived with her mother on a farm and was a very bright, well spoken and sharp witted young girl who wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She was quite popular not only at school but with the locals and Bruce Jr was completely smitten with her. There was an age gap as he was 19 at the time and both were from very different backgrounds but the young couple seemed to be happy and Bruce Jr showered Robin with gifts which included gold necklaces and her mother would ask her where these expensive pieces of jewelry came from. 

Robin would of course cover for Bruce Jr but she didn't agree with what he was doing and she herself had heard about the Johnston gang and knew that they had a bad reputation. Bruce Jr, being under the spell of his father at that time tried to convince her that his father was not at all like he was being portrayed. I think it's important to include here that Bruce Sr and the rest of the Johnston gang did have members of the community that kept quiet for them not just out of fear but because they would actually buy the stolen goods from the gang. Bruce Sr would loan people money, give people certain items for cheaper than they would normally have to pay and in some cases if he was feeling generous, he'd give them two tractors for the price of one (depending on the value and condition of the said tractors of course).

Robin eventually met Bruce Sr and it was clear from the start that Bruce Sr saw the young girl as a threat to the family business, he saw her as an outsider and someone who talked too much. Her bubbly personality and intelligence worried him especially as he could see how smitten Bruce Jr was with her. If she was to speak to the wrong person or tell a friend or if Bruce Jr told her the family secrets that would be the gang finished and he couldn't let that happen. 

Despite Robin trying to convince Bruce Jr to leave the kiddie gang and be on the straight and narrow, Bruce Jr found himself torn between her, the lifestyle and his father. Bruce Jr enjoyed the money that came with it all and realised that he would have to get a real job and then there was the consequences of getting on the wrong side of his father who not only taught him the role but gave him money, cars and treated him to delicious food at fancy restaurants. It was a difficult decision to make. With everything going on it was no surprise that Bruce Jr found himself getting caught for theft and put in jail for a short spell. Bruce Sr was furious and blamed his son's involvement with Robin as being the reason why he was starting to get careless. 

With Bruce Jr behind bars the cops were hoping that he would be the key to bringing down the Johnston criminal empire but Bruce Jr kept his word to his father and stayed silent. Robin and Bruce Jr would write to each other whilst he was locked up and this also made Bruce Sr nervous about what Robin could be possibly writing in these letters, he knew investigators were trying to get information out of Bruce Jr and that everything was being watched. 

Bruce Sr came up with a plan to scare Robin away from his son and is a very sadistic way told her that he could take her to see Bruce Jr, knowing how she was missing him so much and getting to the jail to visit him wasn't easy for her. Of course Robin jumped at the chance to go and visit her boyfriend but when Bruce Sr and another male associate picked up Robin, that wasn't what they had in mind. When Robin was in the vehicle the two men put on a pretence that all was well and that they were all going to see Bruce Jr. Bruce Sr pulled out some alcohol and began drinking alongside the other man. They both pressured the young girl to drink and to drink fast, being as small as she was it didn't take much time for her to be affected by the alcohol. They never went to visit Bruce Jr, the sick pair sexually assaulted the frightened young girl and warned her to stay away from Bruce Jr or expect more of the same. 

A month after this horrific ordeal Robin bravely plucked up the courage and wrote a letter to Bruce Jr telling him everything that had happened. Bruce Jr was enraged and sickened as anyone would be, he decided that he was going to give the cops what they wanted which was everything on his father, his uncles and their associates. 

It wasn't all plain sailing though because although the cops knew Bruce Sr and the gang were responsible for various crimes, they needed evidence, more witnesses and soon one by one the kiddie gang were in their sights to be questioned. What resulted in this was bloodshed, at the orders of Bruce Sr and even mostly carried out by him, members of the Kiddie gang (including his own son Jimmy) were shot in the back of the head and buried in a ditch. Bruce Jr and Robin were still alive and there were issues around Bruce Jr being placed on the witness protection program. Robin's mother later tried to sue the police department but the waters were murky in this situation because Bruce Jr would not follow the rules that had been given to him by the cops and one of those rules was to keep distance from Robin which he refused to do.

Both Robin and Bruce Jr were very naive being so young and because the police were involved they may have thought that because Bruce Sr and the others were being watched by the cops that it may have been safe for them to just carry on about their lives. However, this was a gang who had been in operation for decades and knew all the sneaky ways to go about things, Bruce Sr might not have been the one who pulled the trigger but he would find someone, pay them the right price and they would, and that's what sadly happened. 

After a day of spending time having fun at a park, Bruce Jr and Robin pulled up outside her home on the night of August 30th 1978. Their plan was to run away together but it wasn't to be because even before the pair had tried to exit the car they were set upon by a wave of bullets. Bruce Jr had been shot around 8 times and Robin had been shot in the face. The pair had managed to crawl out of the car and get into the house where they ended up in Robin's bedroom. Robin was bleeding profusely, Bruce Jr was barely hanging on and felt helpless having been shot numerous times in his head and chest, he could see that Robin was slowly slipping away. When emergency services arrived it was clear that no more could be done for Robin, she was just 15 years old. 

In the hospital, Doctors worked tirelessly to keep Bruce Jr alive and it was later revealed that members of the Johnston gang had actually tried to get into the hospital to basically finish the job. The gang wanted Robin and Bruce Jr dead so there would be nobody left to tell the truth. Bruce Jr was made of stronger stuff and managed to hang on much to the shock of Bruce Sr and co. The cops finally had the Johnston gang right where they wanted them and these dangerous men were finally put behind bars.

I would love to say that Bruce Jr despite the horrendous trauma and ordeal had somehow made a new life for himself but sadly, so far it hasn't been the case. Bruce Jr himself, even without his father in the picture can not turn himself away from a life of crime and time in prison has become a way of life for him. As I mentioned before, part of the reason people connected in this case were not happy with the way that Sean Penn portrayed the character based on Bruce Jr (although it was an incredible performance) was that Bruce Jr was no angel, he wasn't a complete monster like his father but he still did unforgivable things and continued to do so throughout his life. 

No excuses to be made but Bruce Jr has been through a lot of traumatic events in his life and no doubt found out the shocking and heartbreaking details of his close brother's death. It was revealed that Jimmy was shot but was still alive when he was thrown into the ditch and buried by his own father and accomplices. 

As for the members of the infamous Johnston gang, well some became informers and broke deals in exchange for information, some had been murdered and the three figure heads of the whole operation (that the cops were hell-bent on getting), were finally brought to justice. Bruce Sr was convicted of the murders of Robin Miller, Gary Crouch, James Sampson , Duane Lincoln and for the murder of his son Jimmy and the attempted murder of his son Bruce Jr. He was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences. He died on August the 8th 2002 at the age of 63 from liver disease. His brothers, Norman and David were were both convicted of the murders of their nephew Jimmy, Robin Miller, Wayne Sampson and Duane Lincoln. both of them were sentenced to four life sentences. 

Norman Johnston is still alive and had managed to escape prison for a short period of time in 1999. He is now in a different prison continuing his sentence. David Johnston, according to some reports passed away in prison in 2015 but not much has been reported about that. If anyone knows any details about the circumstances of his death please leave them below in the comments section if you wish. 

In another sick twist to this unbelievable story, when Bruce Sr passed away his body was buried in Fremont Union Cemetery in Nottingham, Chester County, the exact place where Robin Miller was laid to rest. Robin has a modest grave which from time to time has flowers but Bruce Sr's grave is nowhere to be seen by those who have tried to find it for whatever reason, it has been revealed that he was placed in an unmarked grave. 

The Johnston gang had made millions of dollars in their long lasting era of crime which spanned decades, the majority of the money and items stolen were never recovered. 

With this case, it seems the only person who was completely innocent, who never put a foot wrong was Robin, just a 15 year old girl with her whole life ahead of her, being involved with the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Being so young, naive and in love there was no way that she could have possibly prevented events from happening, she was just a child at the end of the day and the young Johnston brothers, Bruce Jr and Jimmy were just two mixed up young boys, no proper guidance, no money and nobody to show them a decent road to go down. The same could be said about the other young boys that got mixed up in this mess. These kids were not involved with the Johnston gang for that long but Bruce Sr and co were movers and shakers who were fast paced, that's how they got away with it for so long, they'd commit crime after crime after crime and never miss a beat. Bruce Sr was a horrible influence and a very terrible and powerful man who had control over a lot of people. And how many more deaths were the Johnston gang really responsible for? 20 years of crime, how many people were silenced with threats and how many people were silenced for good? I guess that's part if the reason people still talk about this case at the time of me writing this post (2025).

RIP to Robin, Jimmy Johnston and the young boys who may have fallen into that life but who knows what could have happened once the Johnston gang were put behind bars, things may have changed for the better? we will never know but I still pay my respects, obviously first and foremost to young Robin.

Further Reading & Sources: 

- Bruce Johnston Sr | Wikipedia

- Jailing The Johnston Gang | Book by Bruce Mowday

- Interview With Dave Richter

- Johnston Court Documents | Justia US Law

- Robin Marie Miller | Find A Grave

- Chester County | Wikipedia

- Fremont Cemetery | Wikipedia

- At Close Range | IMDB 

As always, if you have made it this far in this post, I am so extremely grateful and appreciative for your time. As mentioned before, I love this movie and I can't go without mentioning the incredible song by the Queen herself, Madonna. 'Live To Tell' is a haunting musical masterpiece and even back then when it was put on the soundtrack to the film, Madonna was putting her foot down. At the time the makers of the movie wanted Madonna on the soundtrack as they believed it would be a good fit plus she was married to Sean Penn at the time. The studio would not allow it but Madonna took charge and actually wrote the lyrics on the spot and the song itself has a special place in people's hearts to this day. 

I hope you will join me inn my next post, in the meantime, I hope to see you on my socials 

Stay safe x 

*Please be aware that I will be sharing some disturbing details in this post and will be talking about s*icide, substance abuse, mental health issues, death and murder. I will, as always, try to be as sensitive as I can be without taking away from the facts of the individual cases* 

I'm sure many of us have watched the disturbing and hauntingly fascinating story (on Netflix) of the tragic death of Canadian student, Elisa Lam. If you haven't had the chance to watch it yet, I highly recommend you do. For those who are not familiar with Elisa's story, a few years ago a strange clip went viral on the internet of a young woman in an elevator acting quite strange. It appeared that the woman was in some sort of distress like she believed someone was following her. She would open and close the doors of the elevator  numerous times and was acting quite paranoid, almost as if she could see something that was not visible to us.

What was even more strange was that this very bright and popular young woman suddenly vanished into thin air not long after this incident. At the time she had been staying at The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, a place that had seen better days to put it politely. Rumours and theories went around, people knew that the hotel was very run down and the area (Skid Row) was infamous for crime, drugs, prostitution and homelessness, so some people believed she had been abducted or possibly had been experiencing some sort of bizarre paranormal event, but it wasn't long before the truth was soon to be known and it horrified and shocked everyone who had been looking into this case. 

The mystery of what had happened to Elisa came to a conclusion in one of the most unbelievable and utterly disturbing ways. The guests who had been staying in the Cecil hotel (some as tourists basically passing through and some were living there full time) had been complaining about how filthy the water was in the showers and from the taps (faucets), not only was the water discoloured, the smell was also disgusting. It's hard to believe that some people put up with this and continued to wash themselves using this water and actually boiled the water too as an attempt to drink it. Some of the people that lived in the hotel didn't have much money so they had no choice but to use this contaminated water. 

After something finally getting done about the water, an inspection of the water tank on the roof revealed a horrifying discovery. Elisa Lam had been found inside the tank, deceased and had been decomposing which was what had discoloured the water and created the horrific smell. This discovery was like something out of a horror movie, nobody could believe it and nobody could figure out how she had ended up in there. 

Rumours went wild again with some people believing she had been murdered and placed in there by the perpetrator. After an investigation it was reported by the authorities that Elisa had suffered from mental health problems and they believed that she had taken her own life. They claimed that the strange incidence in the elevator previously had been a psychotic episode due to Elisa not taking her medication. The whole situation was put down to being a very sad and tragic loss of a lovely young woman but a lot of people didn't believe this was the truth. To this day some people believe that there is more to the story and that Elisa was murdered. It's a case that continues to divide opinion. 

The shocking story of Elisa may have brought the world's attention to The Cecil Hotel but this wasn't the only shocking and disturbing event to have happened at the hotel. In fact, this hotel was infamous for being a hotel of horrors with a long history of suicides, mysterious deaths, crime and even serial killers who had lived at the hotel for some time, two of which you may be familiar with, Jack Unterweger and 'The Night Stalker' aka (who I have talked about a few times on this blog) Richard Ramirez. 

Richard Ramirez had been living at the hotel whilst he was actively carrying out some of his horrific murders. When he was finally caught for his despicable crimes (thanks to the determination and bravery of members of the public who had spotted him, grabbed him and held him until the police arrived) he had been living at the Cecil at the time. It was reported that on one occasion he had returned to the hotel after committing a sickening crime to which he was covered in blood and had removed his clothing outside of the hotel and dumped the items in a bin before casually walking into the hotel still with blood on him in front of onlookers but nobody said a word. 

To see someone looking dishevelled, covered in blood or high on drugs was nothing out of the ordinary at the Cecil, it was a regular occurrence. Jack Unterweger was an Austrian serial killer who ended up staying at the Cecil supposedly because he had heard that Richard Ramirez had stayed there previously and the location being so easy for access to sex workers who had been working the streets of Skid Row. Like Richard Ramirez, he was a combination of intelligence, evilness and sickness. He sexually assaulted and murdered numerous women who had been working as sex workers. It's unknown for sure how many women he did kill as he moved around quite a bit and there are cases that he has been linked to but remain unsolved. Authorities believe he has been responsible for 12 murders but possibly more. 

For the horrible crimes he was proven to have committed, he was found guilty of and sentenced to life imprisonment but on the very same night that he was to begin spending his evil life behind bars, he cowardly took his own life by hanging himself in 1994. His case is a whole roller coaster and if you are interested in me covering more of his story in depth please let me know. 

One of the sad facts about the Cecil Hotel was that way back in 1924 when it was first built, it really was quite an extraordinary building with beautiful decor. A lot of time, effort and money went into the creation of what was to be a place where successful people as well as tourists could stay, experience luxury and fantastic customer service. Sadly within two years it was all to fall apart as the great depression hit and that particular area of Los Angeles fell into a dramatic decline. All of a sudden homelessness was at an all time high, people lost their jobs, their homes and ended up on the street, turning to drugs to escape reality and working in prostitution to be able to eat. 

The area spilled into the hotel and the well-to-do guests were soon replaced with drug addicts, criminals, pimps and sex workers. The hotel's reputation continued to spiral in the local press with constant stories of suicides and crime connected to the hotel. On one occasion a woman jumped out of the window of her Cecil hotel room and had struck a man who had been walking along the pavement below, both of them died instantly. A 19 year old girl had been staying there with her boyfriend when she woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating stomach pains only to find that whilst she was in the bathroom, she was pregnant and about to deliver a baby. The girl gave birth and assumed the baby was deceased and (please scroll down further if you would like to avoid this horrific part) for some reason decided to throw the baby out of the hotel window and went back to bed. It was later revealed that the baby had indeed been alive at the time the poor child had been thrown out of the window and this girl was examined and deemed psychologically disturbed. She was placed in a mental health facility. 

There were numerous stories of people taking poison in the hotel rooms as well as various other methods of ending their lives. Some people who died in their rooms had been living there at the time and some people specifically went there to end their lives. 

For years the Cecil Hotel just continued on to be this place of horror and an attempt at a revamp and name change to 'Stay on The Main' did nothing to improve anything. Because of the significance of the building itself, it had been seen as a bit of a marvel when it had first been built and many believed that it was a very important part of American history and architecture. A lot of people didn't want to give up on it and so another revamp was planned in more recent years but during this process it had to be halted due to the Covid pandemic. 

A decision was finally made in 2024 that the building was just not going to cut it as a respectable hotel. The streets of Skid Row has sadly continued to be home to some of the most vulnerable people in America, crime continues and anyone who had thoughts of restoring the Cecil hotel to it's original glory realised that no money would be made to continue to have the building as a hotel. So it was again sold and the decision was made to turn the 14 floor building with it's 700 rooms, into an affordable housing complex. 

The building will never return to the glory of it's infancy but a lot of people still hold it close to their hearts despite the tragedies and dark history that continues to haunt it. I do think that it reflects a sign of hope in my opinion because they could have just demolished this beautiful building but instead they used this historical place to house vulnerable people who had nowhere else to go. That can only been seen as a positive thing. 

Los Angeles is a place like many others, it has it's good areas, it's beauty, it's success and it is often nicknamed 'The City of Angels', some people feel like their dreams have come true when they go there. For others it is a place of struggle, of hardship and hell. It's always heartbreaking when you see someone having to live on the street or struggle to buy food, 2025 you wonder how can it be possible, I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I have given up with the government. Having worked with homeless people I know how easy it can be to find yourself out on the street because you can't afford to pay your bills. It could happen to any one of us. All we can do is pray and help where we can as it is hard in this day and age for all of us just trying to get by.

So, what are your thoughts about The Cecil Hotel? Please leave your comments below or email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

Further Reading & Sources:

- The Cecil Hotel: Article | LA Times

- Elisa Lam: Article | USA Today

- Richard Ramirez | Wikipedia

- Jack Unterweger: Article | Mubi

- The Cecil Hotel | Wikipedia

- Skid Row | Wikipedia

- The Cecil Hotel: Article | Discovery

- Behind The Door | Book by Amy Price

- American Hotel Story | Book by Richard Estep

- The Cecil Hotel | Book by Chris Swinney

RIP Elisa and to those who's lives have sadly ended due to personal struggle, murder and addiction. 

I hope you will join me in my next post and in the meantime, please stay safe, know that I appreciate your support and I hope to see you on my Socials x

When it comes to dramatic and shocking downfalls in wrestling history, the decline of WWE's 'First Diva' (as she is often referred to) Sunny, is a story that will forever baffle any hardcore wrestling fan. Tammy Lynn Sytch (which is her real name) seemed to have it all in the mid 1990's, originally she hadn't planned a career in wrestling but it was through her boyfriend, wrestler Chris Candido that she became involved.

Chris and Tammy had been teenage sweethearts and had a very rocky relationship from the start so when they eventually got married, people were surprised. To some people it looked as if Chris was more besotted with Tammy than she was with him and she had a reputation for being quite full of herself. Tammy had the looks and natural charisma but Chris was showing a lot of promise in the ring and many people commented on how great a technical wrestler he actually was but when the pair were together it was always 'Sunny' (Tammy's character) who would steal the show. 

Tammy was born in Matawan, New Jersey on the 7th of December 1972 and came from a respectable family. Her parents were firm but fair and as she grew up she was not only academically gifted but she had the personality and looks to match. When she got together with Chris the pair were inseparable and they basically grew up together which was great in some ways and not in others. The relationship could be very toxic at times and when Sunny's career really began to take off with WWE, it seemed that not only did their relationship suffer but their addictions began to spiral out of control. They did everything together as a couple and that also meant taking drugs and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. 

Tammy's popularity in WWE skyrocketed like nobody had seen before with a female in the wrestling world. There had been amazing women involved in the wrestling world in the past but Tammy's character 'Sunny' seemed to have that x-factor and was not only sexy and intelligent, she was quite feisty too and could stand her ground in what was still at the time, a very male dominated field. Men and teenage boys were obsessed with her, girls and women wanted to be like her, it seemed she could do no wrong but it soon became clear that the more fame and adoration she received, the worst she became. 

She was certainly a massive hit with the fans and was making WWE a lot of money as well as helping the viewing figures go through the roof. She was hailed as being WWE royalty and was noted as being the most downloaded celebrity on the internet in 1996. Her popularity was like that of Pamela Anderson in her hay day, the guys just went crazy for her and basically fanboy over her whenever she walked in the ring or presented a WWE segment. 

Things started to turn sour in regards to her reputation amongst other wrestlers, she began reportedly having several flings with various wrestlers, most notably, Shawn Michaels and the pair practically rubbed it in Chris's face. Everybody knew about it and Shawn was a big ticket at the time so it was a very awkward situation. Chis knew about the affair and Tammy even admitted later on that she and Shawn would have sex backstage whilst other wrestlers would keep a look-out incase Chris appeared. It was all pretty humiliating for Chris who had some sympathy from his colleagues in the beginning but this sympathy soon faded as Chris was proving himself to be a bit of a wimp when it came to standing up, confronting the pair of them and leaving Tammy. He was so besotted with her that he just let it happen. The fling with Shawn didn't last and soon there were rumours flying around that she had slept with more of the guys. To this day some of the wrestlers rumoured to have been involved with her have denied these rumours and also denied claims that she has made publicly and previously herself. 

As is the case with certain personalities who believe their own hype, Tammy started letting things slide in a big way, she began to throw herself into her addictions and was becoming unreliable. The fans were tiring of her too and it was looking like her days were numbered at WWE especially when a new blonde bombshell came on board. It was no secret that Tammy (aka 'Sunny') felt threatened by female wrestler 'Sable'. Sable was the new blonde in town and the fans soon became obsessed with her, Sable merchandise was outselling Sunny's merchandise and Tammy wasn't happy with the competition. 

Tammy's battles with substance addiction and alcohol have been noted through the years and her time at WWE came to an end. She tried to regain some of the glory of the early days and had joined other wrestling promotions but was still having issues and ended up being fired. Soon she had a reputation for not only being full of herself and ruthless in her approach to others, but her addictions were so out of control that she didn't even bother hiding it. Chris was struggling too and things took an even tragic turn when after an accident in the ring, Chris ended up in hospital for a routine operation. He was expected to have the surgery and then recover for a while and return to what he had worked hard for all of his life but it sadly wasn't to be. Chris suffered complications in his recovery from the surgery and developed acute pneumonia. He sadly passed away on the 28th of April 2005. He had reportedly been sober just before he had died and was on the road to recovery with his battle against addiction. It was a sad and tragic loss of a promising talent who had so much more to give. 

As for Tammy, she was understandably devastated by Chris's death and her career and reputation in the wrestling world never recovered, in fact, it is forever destroyed due to her selfish actions which ended up with an innocent person losing their life. The downward spiral of Tammy just got worse as time went on. Despite many highlights in her career and being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, she still continued to spiral out of control. She was now a slave to her addictions and soon found herself on the wrong side of the law so many times that wrestling fans have commented that they'd given up trying to keep track of what was going on or had lost track of what was happening with Tammy, it was one disaster after another and WWE did try to step in with offers of support and rehab on numerous occasions but she refused to accept the help.

She just kept getting into more and more mess with the constant arrests and indulging in addictions that it was sadly no surprise that she was either going to end up dead herself or accidentally killing someone. Well, as I write this it may come as no surprise (and you will no doubt already know if you are a wrestling fan) but Tammy is in prison serving a 17 year prison sentence (she was sentenced in November of 2023) for being under the influence and speeding in her car which resulted in her crashing into the back of a 75 year old man's vehicle. The man sadly died as a result of her actions. 

Tammy is currently 52 years old and the years of alcoholism and substance misuse have taken a hard toll on what was once a beautiful face. Everybody ages and if she had taken good care of herself (and others) she would have still been beautiful and would have kept her legacy a respectful one, maybe working in some capacity today for WWE. But she threw it all away and the sad thing is, the help was there, the wake-up calls were there. How many times do you have to be arrested before you realise what you are actually doing to yourself and those around you? How could you go from having a glittering career where you are adored to just allow yourself to continue to destroy all that you are and all that you worked for? 

Was it too much fame going to her head? Did she just have too big an ego? Those who know her best say that she had always been over-confident about herself and when her career with WWE really took off, it all just made her worse and it was like nobody mattered but her, Chris was pushed to the side and humiliated when she slept with other wrestlers and now she's in a prison cell and she has nobody to blame but herself. 

What are your thoughts on Tammy aka 'Sunny'? I would love to hear your thoughts either below n the comments section or by email: jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com

RIP Chris, you will never be forgotten and thoughts also to the 75 year old man who sadly lost his life, RIP x

Further Reading & Sources:

- Tammy Lynn Sytch: Article | Daily Mail

- Sunny: Biography | WWE

- WWE Hall of Fame | WWE

- WWE Hall of Fame | Wikipedia

- Tammy Lynn Sytch | Wikipedia

- Chris Candido | Wikipedia

- Chris Candido | Pro Wrestling

- Chris Candido | IMDB

- Tammy Lynn Sytch | Reddit Discussion Thread

- Tammy Lynn Sytch: Article | Sky News 

- A Star Shattered: The Rise & Fall of A Wrestling Diva | Book by Tammy Lynn Sytch

- Chris Candido | Find A Grave

Thank you if you have been with me the past nine weeks as I have looked back over some of the dark events and moments in wrestling history, I really appreciate it. This post was the last in this series.....for the time being. I will be writing about more moments in wrestling history in a future series but for now I will be taking a break for a few days. It won't be long break, I have my next series planned and I hope that you will join me for that. 

In the meantime, I thank you again for all of your support and I hope to see you on my Socials 

Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you in the next post x

There's no end of dark and disturbing stories from the world of wrestling, that's why I could fill hundreds of blog posts with endless shocking details of events, murders, scandals, steroid related deaths, cover-ups, mysteries and so much more. In this seventh instalment of my Dark History From The World of Wrestling series, this story is another one of those that is both shocking, disturbing and will leave you with a feeling of anger, injustice and scratching your head in disbelief. I am of course (as you can see from the title) going to be talking about the legendary Bruiser Brody. 

Delving into these stories in the past seven weeks has been like an education in wrestling history for me. I thought I knew a lot of the details of tragic events and the sad endings to some of our legends who are no longer with us but I have learned so much more along the way. In many ways I'm grateful to have gained so much more knowledge, but in another way I am sad because the details of things that have happened have turned out to be so much worse than I originally thought. 

The murder of Bruiser Brody was brought to my attention when I was putting together a list of who I was going to cover and I knew the basics of what had happened to him and that was bad enough. The more I researched the more in disbelief I was at the cold, dark-hearted and self-centred way some people can be and this was something that was quite prevalent in the wrestling world. So many people wanted to get to the top and they would stop at nothing to get there. As well as huge egos, competitive streaks that were off the charts....throw in steroids, money and matches and you potentially have a disaster on your hands. Some people get into wrestling because it is their passion, they do it for the sport and some do it for the money, the power and the fame. Some do it for all of those things but what happens when tensions and rivalries go too far and someone ends up losing their life? Is it worth murder?, cover-ups? and money? No, but in the tragic story of Bruiser Brody you find a legend who was taken out by a fellow wrestler, and other wrestlers who covered it all up. You also find in this story an incredible friendship and a true hero who did his best to protect his friend as well as speak up in an effort to bring the people responsible for his death to justice.  

Bruiser Brody was a man who never needed an introduction, at 6ft 8, weighing 300 pounds he was a mountain of a man who was intimidating and could be tough in the ring and with fellow wrestlers, but at home he was like a teddy bear to those who knew him privately. His shocking death at the age of just 42 on the 17th of July 1988 has forever left a painful mark in wrestling history. Brody was murdered and the people he thought were his friends and colleagues covered it up to protect their own careers and further their own ends. Only one man stood up and tried to do what was right and that was the legendary Tony Atlas. He had a nickname 'The Black Superman' and I think that's very apt for him. 

Tony and Brody had a friendship that had gone back years, first beginning in the 1970s when Brody first appeared on the wrestling scene. They were both old school and helped inspire some of our favourite wrestlers of present time as well as helping shape the world of wrestling to what it is today. Brody had earned his stripes participating in many wrestling promotions all over the world, born Frank Donald Goodish on the 18th of June 1946 in Michigan, USA he was always quite stocky, even as a child. he excelled in sports and put 100% into everything he did. At school he played football and later became a sportswriter before dedicating himself fully to a career of wrestling. He soon found himself under the guidance of wrestling legend Fritz Von Erich so to say that he started at the top was an understatement but it was also his natural strength, build and ability that enabled him to progress and take part in various promotions all over the world. 

Brody was a powerhouse of a wrestler but he could also be a diva too, especially with his attitude around wrestling promoters and bookers. It was no secret that he wasn't happy with some of the paychecks he received over the years but push comes to shove, when he was needed to help draw a crowd he would throw himself into the matches. Brody was a popular wrestler and a fan favourite he knew the industry inside and out and had bags of experience he had accumulated over the years wrestling as far away as Japan for some time. He was a happy family man who doted on his wife and son. 

The incredible contribution to wrestling history that Brody has given is undeniable, despite sadly passing away at just 42 he left behind a huge legacy. He had been everywhere from (WCW) World Class Championship Wrestling to (AJPW) All Japan Pro Wrestling, to (WWWF) the Worldwide Wrestling Federation. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as well as being included in the St Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame, Southern Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newspaper Hall of Fame. 

In July of 1988, Brody along with his wrestling colleagues were in Puerto Rico preparing for a show at a popular venue. it was tipped to be a huge turn out with the fans and that was as understatement, the parking lot was packed and there was fans everywhere. Whenever Bruiser Brody was on the bill to perform, so many fans would be excited to see him in action. At this point in his life, he was a happily married man who had already established his name in the wrestling world and had a son who he adored. There was no love lost with fellow wrestler Jose Gonzalez but the two men had learned to tolerate each other (or so it appeared) and both had been in each other's company on the run up to Brody's shocking death. A friend from way back in the beginning of his career, Tony Atlas, was also there. 

Tony was on his way to the venue that night with a couple and on the way out of his hotel he spotted Brody and Dutch Mantell sitting outside of his hotel. When Tony asked them why they were sitting there and Brody explained that they were waiting for Jose Gonzalez which surprised Tony. Tony ended up convincing Brody and Dutch to get into the car with them and head to the venue to which they agreed. The vehicle was packed and Brody had to sit in the front because he was too big and muscular to sit in the back.

When they got to the venue, they took their bags into the dressing room to find Jose Gonzalez, Carlos Colon and another wrestler sitting close to each other but saying nothing, the air was tense. Jose got up and walked out of the room. Tony Atlas is an incredible artist and would love to sketch drawings in his spare time. As Tony sat down he began putting the finishing touches to his latest creation before moving on to a drawing of Brody's son that Brody had requested. Tony was so passionate about his work (and still is) that he would refuse to take any money for his pieces. He claimed that he just loved creating art. 

So, just as Brody had produced a photograph of of his son and Jose came back into the dressing room requesting to have a quiet word with Brody. Tony noticed that Jose had a white towel wrapped around his arm. Jose approached the shower and Brody followed him and after a short space of time there was a  dull yell. At first Tony and the others assumed that Jose had punched Brody in the stomach but it soon became clear as Tony tried to keep the pair apart that Jose had stabbed Brody. Tony explained in an interview how incredibly difficult it was trying to hold on to Brody on one hand and trying to keep Jose away with the other. Jose was holding the knife up in the air (that was still dripping with Brody's blood) and as he swung the knife trying to get at Brody again, he clipped his ponytail. It was a miracle at that point that he didn't cut Brody's neck which was what was believed to have been his intention, he really wanted this man dead. Carlos Colon swooped past Tony and Brody and pinned Jose up against the wall telling him to stop. 

There was no way Brody could have defended himself from the unsuspected attack, he followed Jose into the shower area to have the private chat, still holding the picture of his son in one hand, and his gym bag in the other. There's no doubt that if Brody had been aware or planning to harm Jose in any way, he wouldn't have walked in there with his hands full, unknowingly leaving himself open to attack. The way in which Jose stabbed him was cowardly but also in the way that he had caught Brody with the very sharp knife as he aimed from the side. It all happened so fast. Tony was an incredible and brave friend in that moment and as he tried to protect Brody, Brody clung to him as he lay on the floor saying ''Don't let them hurt me any more.'' Tony assured him that nobody was going to come near him and that he would keep him safe until the ambulance arrived. 

In the middle of the commotion, Carlos (who turned out to be another treacherous snake who was also in on the whole plan with Jose) tried to come closer to Brody to which Tony made it clear to back off, he told him ''You come over here, I'm going to knock your freakin head right off your shoulders. Anybody come over here and I'll knock their head off their shoulders.''

Carlos tried to plead with Tony that he was just wanting to check if Brody was ok but Tony knew these guys were not to be trusted, he saw their faces when he saw them all sat together when they first walked in. the whole thing was a set-up. Tony was determined to protect Brody and get him out of there as soon as possible when the paramedics arrived. Brody was still conscious at this time as he tugged on Tony's trouser leg telling him it was ok for Carlos to come over to see him. Tony kept his eye on Carlos as Carlos asked Brody ''Is there anything I can do for you?.'' 

This was the level of callousness Carlos and the others were at. To ask a dying man who you've helped set up, what his last wishes were and furthermore, continue to be complicit in what was to become the cover-up of the circumstances of this man's murder just shows you how coldhearted they were. Brody responded to Carlos with ''Take care of my family.'' 

Tony was trying to keep Brody calm and stop the blood flow as much as possible. Brody was losing a lot of blood and some of his intestines were visible, it was an agonising wait because the ambulance didn't reach them for nearly 2 hours due to the fact that the parking lot was packed full of cars and fans who were still coming into the venue. The show had not begun yet and people were still arriving so it was pure chaos. Eventually a female and male paramedic arrived at the scene and they struggled to lift Brody on to the stretcher. Tony helped and managed to get him on to which Brody, despite the sheer pain he must have been going through, made a joke as Tony was lifting him ''Don't drop me.'' 

Tony responded ''Brother, I curl more than you weigh,'' When Brody was on the ambulance one of the paramedics asked who was going to accompany Brody to the hospital. Without hesitation, Tony climbed on board but dragged another wrestler (who was not connected to the murder plot of Brody) on to the ambulance despite the man saying that he didn't want to be involved 

As soon as the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Tony was horrified to see that nobody seemed to be taking the situation with Brody seriously in Puerto Rico and this was because apparently, the medical staff had previously seen that many stabbings that it had become as common as the cold. Tony was not a man to just sit and wait, he wanted his friend seen to asap, he was losing blood, time was of the essence. He spotted a Doctor sauntering down the lobby reading a newspaper and he told him to please attend to Brody. The Doctor had a half-assed attitude and ended up leaving the room not appearing to be in any hurry. Tony went after him and picked the Doctor up and told him straight that he WILL give Brody the treatment he needed. With that, the Doctor examined Brody properly and could see that this was a matter of emergency so Brody was rushed to the emergency room to be operated on. 

Tony waited an agonising hour which felt like a lifetime, not sure what the outcome was going to be. At this point, Brody was so strong that he had held on for so many hours. It was a miracle that he was still alive after Jose first stabbing him and then having to wait, bleeding profusely until the ambulance arrived nearly two hours later. a Doctor finally came back to the room and fortunately told Tony that Brody was in a stable condition, his vitals were fine and it all looked good. It was great news and basically a miracle. The Doctor told Tony, that Brody was going to be pretty much sleeping after having the surgery and suggested he could leave, get some sleep, some food and return in the morning. Tony didn't feel 100% about leaving but he felt that Brody was in good hands. 

Instead of going back to the hotel, Tony returned to the venue because he had been scheduled to participate in a match that night with the legendary wrestler, The Iron Shiek. As he walked into the dressing room that had been the scene of the horrendous crime just hours before, he recalled being disgusted at the sound of laughing and cheering voices. The same monsters who were all part of the attempted demise of Brody seemed to be in high spirits despite the fact also that Brody's blood was still on the floor and tiles. 

Tony did his match with the Iron Shiek and returned to the dressing room to see a policeman there. It turned out that everyone there had given a statement, a completely different version of events and a fake story about a crazed fan stabbing Brody. Tony tried to tell the policeman the truth but found himself out in the cold as the others were trying to create a cover-up. With so many witnesses saying this horrific result was by the actions of a crazed fan the policeman could only go with what the majority were saying. It also was revealed later that Carlos was a huge figure on that particular island who had a lot of money and powerful friends in high places, even in politics. 

Tony decided he was not going to back down and planned to make a proper statement himself and take another fellow wrestler with him for added protection, not that he needed it. He probably did this as way of having someone else witness that he had reported the truth to the police. Tony later went to the police with none other than Sika Anoa-i (for the younger wrestling fans, this is Roman Reign's late and legendary father). Sika actually volunteered to go with Tony. Watching the interview in which Tony was telling this story made me smile because he said that Sika (who was also built like a man mountain) was tough and if you had Sika Anoa-i with you, you didn't need anybody else. 

Tony decided to go back to his hotel room but as he made his way up the stairs he was stopped by a wrestler Savio Vega, who was stood in front of him holding Tony's bag. In the confusion Tony asked him if everything was ok and Savio told him that there was a bunch of guys waiting for him in his room and it sounded like they were planning to kill him. Tony left the hotel and to this very day he is forever grateful to Savio for saving his life for they were indeed waiting for Tony because they knew he was telling the truth about what had happened. 

After spending hours and hours walking around, Tony did a lot of thinking and decided that he was going to go to his hotel and just confront them, to hell with the consequences, he would fight for his life if needs be. When he got to the hotel room, there was nobody to be seen. He just wanted to get off of that island. Brody was still in the hospital and Tony believed him to be stable and in safe hands as he got on the plane and travelled home. However, he was later to find out that Brody had shockingly died reportedly as a result of his injuries which further confused Tony as to why the Doctors seemed so confident that all was ok. 

Tony later revealed that he was later told that after he had left the hospital, two guys apparently had arrived looking for Brody and confronted the medical staff. These men threatened the staff to stop working on Brody and the next thing anyone knew, Bruiser Brody (real name: Frank Donald Goodish) was deceased at the age of 42. 

Fans and fellow wrestlers who had known Brody since the 70s, were heartbroken. His family were overcome with grief as one could imagine. There was a pathetic farce of a trial which was unbelievable and just goes to show how corrupt certain people can be. Jose Gonzales got away with the murder, it was declared self-defense. Apparently the jury didn't seem to care that there was a true story to all of this and the fact that they men had lied, originally telling the police that it was a crazed fan. It was obvious what had gone on but witnesses were not even contacted until later. There was a convenient delay in information getting to them so they didn't find out that they had been summoned to trial until the trial had come to a conclusion. Tony, who was the key witness to the whole situation, was not even called to testify. It was a whole cover-up and they let these people away with murder. Jose may have been the one with the knife (who physically stabbed Brody and wanted to keep on stabbing the poor man and had to be held back) but the others helped set it all up and covered it all up too. There was no investigation as to what went on in the hospital as soon as Tony was told to leave. 

To this very day, nobody had been held accountable for the death of Bruiser Brody. The truth has come out and it has spread far and wide thanks to the internet, a lot of wrestling fans know the full truth now but these men never faced justice and a young married father lost his life at the age of 42. The people responsible are now in their 70s and it's highly unlikely now that they'll face justice in a court of law but the public know them and see them for what they truly are. Brody is continually remembered, not only for his shocking death but for his incredible legacy as one of the all time wrestling greats. Tony Atlas is a global treasure in my opinion who deserves to be protected. What an incredible person Tony is and even to this day he has never changed his story of the events and he talks of Brody with such fondness. 

It's such a sad story and another example of how you think you can trust people but you just never know what some people's true intentions are. Jose and Brody had their moments, there was a lot of tense moments between the pair of them but on the run up to the murder, they appeared to be friends. Jose had spent some time with Brody that week and all was well, obviously he was planning his murder the whole time. I guess these heartless men didn't count on Tony Atlas standing up against them and so they ended up planning to murder him too,  thankfully they failed. If there's any justice in this, it is that these guys are remembered as murderers, Tony and Brody are thought of as heroes. To think that Brody was holding the picture of his beloved son is heartbreaking but he loved his family so much and his character 'Bruiser Brody' was so much different to the man he was at home. His family miss him dearly as do many of his fans. It was a terrible waste of a huge talent that never should have happened. In a dressing room full of witnesses and Tony was the only one with the decency and bravery to stand up for what was right. 

RIP Frank Donald Goodish, your legacy continues. RIP also to Sika Anoa'i . I also wish the best for Brody's family, Tony Atlas and Savio Vega. 

Brody was cremated and his ashes were given to his family. 

What are your thoughts on this very dark part of wrestling history? I would love to read them below or by email (jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com)

Further reading and sources: 

- Bruiser Brody | WWE Superstars

- Bruiser Brody | Wikipedia

- Brody: The Triumph And Tragedy of Wrestling's Rebel by Larry Mattysik & Barbara Goodish

- Tony Atlas Interview | Monte & The Pharaoh

- Tony Atlas | Wikipedia

- WWE | Wikipedia

- Jose Gonzalez | Wikipedia

- WWE Network 

- WWE Encyclopedia by DK

- WWE 50 by Kevin Sullivan

- WWE Ultimate Superstar Guide by Jake Black

- Tony Atlas: Too Much Too Soon by Tony Atlas

- The History of Pro Wrestling: And 30 Iconic Personalities by Taylor K Reade

I am nearly at the end of this series, I have two wrestlers to write about in my upcoming posts, please let me know what your thoughts have been on this series and if there's anyone you would like to see me cover. 

In the meantime, I hope you will join me on my Socials and I hope you will come back for the eight instalment in my Dark History From The World of wrestling series. Stay safe and take care until next time....x