The CBS Murders (24 page)

He was followed by Alberto Torres, and there was his story of finding Nash, of introducing Nash to Margolies, and of Nash's revelations on the night of the killings.

There was the private detective, Linwood Lewis, who told of being hired to follow Barbera and get incriminating evidence against her; there was testimony about the phone calls between Nash and Margolies and Oestericher; there was testimony from David Blejwas about threats made against him by Margolies.

Scott Malen, with his grant of immunity, tied the knot even tighter around his brother-in-law as he told of paying Nash's lawyer his legal fees and of his own part in the frauds.

Waples even tried to win the testimony of Nash, but the convicted killer sat stonily on the stand and said he would plead the Fifth Amendment if asked any questions.

There was little Margolies's lawyer, Robert Hill Schwartz, could do to rebut the case against his client except to say, “The police and the FBI zeroed in on Irwin Margolies and paid any price to get him.” It was not Margolies who was behind these “murders most foul,” he declared. “The architect of all the murders … the foulest of a foul band of witnesses” was Henry Oestericher.

But the evidence, Waples countered, showed otherwise. If the witnesses against Margolies had been a foul band, nevertheless, he said, “sometimes you have to make a pact with the devil, so to speak, so you can get the mastermind.”

It did not take the jury long. The six men and six women deliberated only a few hours and then marched back into the courtroom. Their only question, really, had been about the conspiracy to murder David Blejwas. Yes, there had been those tape recordings on which that plot had been discussed. Yes, there had been the testimony of Adair and Calise. But who could really believe such men? Who could find the guilt of anyone on their word? Of that charge, Margolies was acquitted.

But not so the others. The evidence had been overwhelming, conclusive. There were no doubts, reasonable or otherwise. Irwin Margolies was guilty of murder in the second degree in the murder of Margaret Barbera. Irwin Margolies was guilty of murder in the second degree in the murder of Jenny Soo Chin. Irwin Margolies was guilty of conspiracy to murder Margaret Barbera and Jenny Soo Chin.

On June 24, Margolies heard his future. Justice Eve Preminger, her scorn barely concealed, told him that he would spend fifty years of his life, if he had that many years, in New York State prison. She gave him twenty-five years to life on each count of murder, the terms to be served consecutively. And he would not begin serving them until he had finished the twenty-eight years he owed the U.S. government.

It was over. Irwin Margolies had reached for the gold ring on the merry-go-round of life and found it was only worthless brass. He had destroyed the lives of a dozen and more people, and had, in truth, taken the lives of five. He would have all the years of his future to consider what it was he had done and to contemplate the worth of his doing.

Long ago, the poet-philosopher Lao Tzu wrote:

There is no calamity greater than lavish desires.

There is no greater guilt than discontentment.

And there is no greater disaster than greed.

Image Gallery

Body of Leo Kuranuki. (N.Y.P.D.)

Body of Robert Schulz. (N.Y.P.D.)

Body of Edward Benford. (N.Y.P.D.)

Glasses, shoes, headband, and an unidentified towel are the only clues to the abduction of Margaret Barbera. (N.Y.P.D.)

Looking east from the rooftop garage toward the lights of Manhattan's skyscrapers. The body of Edward Benford can be seen to the left. (N.Y.P.D.)

The cars of the murdered CBS employees are still parked side by side the morning after the killings. (N.Y.P.D.)

The body of Margaret Barbera was discovered at 6 a.m. that morning. (N.Y.P.D.)

The kitchen of Margaret Barbera proved to be as messy as her life. Note the
Federal Tax Handbook
lower right. (N.Y.P.D.)

(N.Y.P.D.)

Aerial view of Keansburg, New Jersey, with Donald Nash's home indicated by an arrow. Police feared the swamp area might contain another body. (N.Y.P.D.)