The Unfair Trial Of A Confessed Outlaw
He was convicted of killing a federal judge but did he do it?
Charles Harrelson was the last of the classic American hitman. That’s how one former friend described the convicted killer. Harrelson claimed to have killed 50 people. His friend countered that it was probably only five or six murders, though did concede that the hitman could have participated in other hit jobs.
One of the claims that Harrelson made was that he was part of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Conspiracy theorists have embraced his words and believe that he was one of the “three tramps.” The FBI investigated his story but determined that it was nothing more than a fabrication.
Harrelson was tied to the 1968 murder of a Texas man, Alan Berg. It was alleged that the hitman had been hired to kill Berg because of his gambling debt. While Harrelson was acquitted of the murder, he later confessed that he had been the one who took out the young man.
Later in 1968, he would stand accused of murder once again. Sam Degelia Jr. was a grain dealer and in business with his best friend, Pete Thomas Scamardo. However, Scamardo was trafficking heroin with Harrelson. He also happened to be deeply in debt and wanted Degelia out of the way so he could collect a life insurance policy on him.
