On this day in 1927, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed by electric chair after being controversially convicted of murder in one of the most polarizing legal cases of the early 20th century. Their trial and subsequent execution sparked worldwide protests and debates, centering on issues of anti-immigrant sentiment, political bias, and the fairness of the American justice system.

On this evening in 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez brutally murdered their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion after years of supposed sexual abuse.