KYW Flashback: Unlikely Defendant Convicted Of Paying Hitman For Double Murder, Jack Lopinson Dies In Prison
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia courtroom was packed on that March day in 1965 as an unlikely defendant from a respected local family went on trial for an unimaginable double murder.
The defendant, Jack Lopinson, had been leading a secret double life when his young wife and business partner were shot to death in the office of their popular Center City bistro, Dante's Inferno.
Two titans among Philadelphia lawyers were on the case. Richard Sprague was prosecuting and A. Charles Peruto, senior was defending Lopinson. But the testimony of a local tough sealed his fate. Frank "Birdman" Phelan admitted on the witness stand that he had been the gunman who killed Judith Lopinson and Joseph Malito.
Lopinson had wanted out of his marriage. Phelan told the jury that the flamboyant man-about-town had paid him 10,000 dollars for the killings. Then he shot Lopinson in the leg and cleaned out the safe to make it look like a robbery. Lopinson was convicted and sentenced to death, a sentence that was overturned.
In 2002, KYW reported that he died behind bars in Graterford prison at the age of 64.
