Revisiting Murderess Row: Sabella Nitti & Kitty Malm - The Women of CHICAGO

This week we cover two more cases that helped inspire the musical, Chicago. Nathalie starts with the story of Sabella Nitti, who was accused of murdering her husband, Peter Crudele. Even though the case against her was essentially non-existent, the prosecutor relied heavily on her looks as well as sexism, racism, and stereotypes to convince a jury that she was a murderer. After being found guilty, Sabella's case was taken over by a much more competent group of lawyers. One of her new lawyers was Helen Cirese. Helen not only helped with navigating appeals, but also helped give Sabella a makeover, making her more appealing to her new jury. It turns out a haircut and a wardrobe had a HUGE impact during her new trial. Next, Rachel tells the story of Kitty Malm, aka the Tiger Woman. Kitty was a young woman who had the misfortune of marrying the wrong man. After her first marriage, Kitty thought she had found a new love after meeting Otto Malm. Otto had a criminal background and soon Kitty was helping him rob shops all around the city. One night, Otto shot and killed a security guard. The authorities started to go after known criminal, Walter Bockelman, and pegged Ethel Beck, a sex worker, as his accomplice. However, perhaps in an attempt to clear his conscience, Otto sort of confessed to the crime. He claimed that he was there, but it was Kitty who killed the security guard. Kitty tried to escape but eventually turned herself in when she was ready to face her fate. Rachel's Source: The Wolf Woman by Douglas Perry Nathalie's Sources: https://www.librarything.com/character/Isabella+Nitti+Crudelle%2C+%E2%80%9CSabella%E2%80%9D https://news.wttw.com/2017/06/21/ugly-prey-tells-story-first-woman-sentenced-hang-chicago https://www.womansday.com/life/a58890/ugly-prey/ https://scandalsandsweets.com/sabella-nitti-saved-by-a-makeover/ https://www.racked.com/2018/1/26/16927682/makeover-death-penalty-sabella-nitti https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/508498/lawyer-who-fought-free-first-woman-sentenced-death-chicago