The short lived but murderous spree of the ‘Mad Dog’ and his accomplice, ‘Meatball’, was one of the most horrific in New England history.
For ten weeks, liquor store, convenience store, gas station owners and those who ran other small businesses lived in a state of increasing terror. A set of small-scale robberies were accompanied by beatings and murder completely out of proportion to the situation, all for the sake of a few dollars.
Joseph Taborsky, the ‘Mad Dog’, killed seven innocent men and women, and seriously injured many more, leaving them for dead. The vast majority of these killings took place in that short, ten-week spell. His semi moronic, illiterate accomplice, Arthur Culombe, known as ‘Meatball’, added to the tally as the merciless pair struck repeatedly.
But there was much more to Taborsky’s wanton evil than just homicide, assault and robbery. From the case against he and Culombe, the journey towards the establishment of the now universal Miranda rights was begun. And more, there were unseen victims. Those were the families of the twin killers; good people whose own lives were ruined by the crest of hatred that rocked the usually passive state of Connecticut during those crime filled weeks, and for many, revenge filled, years after.