FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 2): New York – Police Thursday charged a 21-year-old woman worked as a hired “hitwoman” to help her partner kill at least six narcotics and gambling figures for $10,000 each.
Westchester
County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Facelle described the woman, Blanche
Wright, and her partner, Robert Young, 35, as a “Bonnie and Clyde team.”
“These
were cold, hard assassins. They came up here to assassinate these people at $10,000
a head,” suburban Mount Kisco police Detective Robert Cercena said of Miss
Wright, described as an attractive well-dressed woman, and Young.
Young
and suspected drug dealer Marshall Howell, 25, died last Friday in a shootout
in the parking lot of a Mount Kisco apartment building where Howell lived.
Cercena
said Young and Miss Wright were an “assassination for profit” team that took contracts
to kill people who were “either involved in drug traffic or in big numbers
operations.”
Police
said Young, who used several aliases, was wanted for escaping from state prison
two years ago.
Young’s
criminal record dates back to 1966 when he was convicted of first-degree
manslaughter and served five years in prison. After his release, he was
convicted of weapons possession and sent back to prison, from which he escaped,
records showed.
He
had also been arrested for burglary, assault, attempted murder, sex abuse,
sodomy and armed robbery and was wanted for crimes in New York, New Jersey and
St. Louis, Mo.
Howell
and Norman Bannister, 25, were leaving the Mount Kisco apartment last Friday,
when they were ambushed by Young and Miss Wright, police said. Cercena said it
appeared that Howell killed Young and was killed in turn by Miss Wright, who
fled. Bannister was not hit.
Police
later found a Mount Kisco cab driver who said he took a woman matching Miss
Wright’s description to a location in the Bronx, just three blocks from Miss
Wright’s apartment. Detectives found Miss Wright Wednesday night.
“She
confessed to being involved in six murders and said Young had been involved
(separately) in two or three others,” Cercena said.
Cercena
said Miss Wright admitted killing Carlos Medina, 47, in the Bronx last Nov. 29
and Martha Navis, 34, and Louis Martine, 35, on Jan. 21 also in the Bronx.
“There’s
also our (the Mount Kisco) homicide and a stickup in a residential area of
Engelwood Cliffs, N.J., last year. Besides that, she’s implicated (in) two
other homicides (and) he’s implicated in two more,” Cercena said.
[“‘Hitwoman’ charged
in 6 slayings,” syndicated (UPI), Pacific Stars and Stripes (Japan), Feb. 16, 1980, p. 7]
***
***
FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): White Plains – A 21-year-old Bronx woman who police described as half of a “Bonnie and Clyde” has been sentenced to two life terms in prison for contract murders she committed in the past year. State Supreme Court Justice Isaac Rubin yesterday sentence Blanche Wright to 18 years to life in prison for the Feb. 8 murder of reputed drug dealer. Her alleged partner in the crime, Robert Young, was killed in the shootout. Following that sentencing, Wright was whisked to the state Supreme Court in the Bronx where Justice Burton Hecht sentenced her to a concurrent term of 15 years to life for a murder-for-hire in the Bronx on Jan. 21. she pleaded guilty to a homicide charge in that case last month.
[“Hired Killer Sentenced,” The Evening Press (Binghamton,
N. Y.), Nov. 11, 1980, p. 7-A]
***
***
***
FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 2): White Plains – A 21-year-old Bronx woman who police described as half of a “Bonnie and Clyde” has been sentenced to two life terms in prison for contract murders she committed in the past year. State Supreme Court Justice Isaac Rubin yesterday sentence Blanche Wright to 18 years to life in prison for the Feb. 8 murder of reputed drug dealer. Her alleged partner in the crime, Robert Young, was killed in the shootout. Following that sentencing, Wright was whisked to the state Supreme Court in the Bronx where Justice Burton Hecht sentenced her to a concurrent term of 15 years to life for a murder-for-hire in the Bronx on Jan. 21. she pleaded guilty to a homicide charge in that case last month.
***
CHRONOLOGY
CHRONOLOGY
Nov. 29, 1979 – Carlos Medina, 47, murdered in Bronx by BW.
Jan. 21, 1980 – murder-for-hire in Bronx; Martha Navis, 34,
and Louis Martine, 35, murdered by BW.
Feb. 8, 1980 – murder of Marshall Howell, 25, drug dealer.
Feb. 13, 1980 – Wright arrested.
Feb. 14, 1980 – charged with killing 4 men & 1 woman.
Nov. 11, 1980, sentenced in White Plains by Judge Isaac Rubin to 18-life for Feb. 8
murder; sentenced in Bronx by Judge Burton Hecht to concurrent term of
15-to-life for Jan. 21 murder.
***
***
***
***
I know her
ReplyDeleteBlanche Wright was a female and mother of a toddler son. She has since been released from prison. An update can be found here:
ReplyDeleteWilson, Michael (April 26, 2019). "Her 'Prince Charming' Turned Out to Be a Crazed Hit Man on the Run". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
I'm glad that I found this page. I read the NYT article and it left out so many important details. The article only mentions the last killing she was involved in. I guess simpifying the full account made for a better story.
DeleteI'm glad that I found this page. I read the NYT article and it left out so many important details. The article only mentions the last killing she was involved in. I guess simpifying the full account made for a better story.
DeleteCheck out this Podcast: The Hitwoman Who Wasn’t: Blanche Wright https://player.fm/1BHrJvS
ReplyDelete