On Christmas Eve of 2000, Los Angeles police were called to the home of journalist and author Susan Berman. Susan’s neighbors had become worried when they noticed that her back door was open, and that her dogs were running loose in their Benedict Canyon neighborhood. Inside the home, police found the body of 55-year-old Berman, who had been killed by a single bullet wound to the back of the head. Police initially suspected that Susan Berman, the daughter of Las Vegas mob boss Davie Berman, had been the victim of a hit. But the case went cold, and it wasn’t until fifteen years later that police arrested and charged the first suspect in her murder: Susan’s long-time friend, Robert Durst. More than 20 years after her murder, Susan Berman and her loved ones may finally have justice.
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Our recommendations for this episode:
-the Netflix series Somebody Feed Phil https://bit.ly/3shXneD
-the book Say Nothing https://amzn.to/2Zxky8m
Sources:
-Kary Antholis, Jury Duty: The Trial of Robert Durst. Crime Story Media.
-Charles Bagli, “Mobster’s Daughter, Writer, Murder Victim: Woman at Center of Durst Trial.” New York Times, December 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/26/nyregion/robert-durst-susan-berman.html
-Susan Berman, Easy Street: The True Story of a Mob Family. Dial Press, 1981.
-Lisa DePaolo, “Who Killed the Gangster’s Daughter?” New York Magazine, 2001. https://www.vulture.com/2015/02/susan-berman-the-jinx.html
-Cheryll Glotfelty, “Susan Berman: Writer of Las Vegas and Murdered Mob Princess.” Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, Winter 2006. http://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/210777-2006-4Winter.pdf
-HBO, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. 2015.
-Cathy Scott, “Cold Case: Friends and family have a strong sense of who killed Susan Berman. So why do the authorities seem so lost?”Las Vegas City Life, 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20040927202211/http://lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2004/02/25/cover_story/cover.txt
-Cathy Scott, Murder of a Mafia Daughter: The Life and Tragic Death of Susan Berman. Barricade Books, 2002.
-Richard Winton, “Robert Durst arrives in L.A. to face murder trial; first court appearance is Monday.” LA Times, November 2015. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-robert-durst-murder-trial-20161104-story.html
-Ned Zeman, “The Fugitive Heir.” Vanity Fair, March 2015. https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2015/03/robert-durst-murders-wife-susie-berman
-This American Life episode #76, “Mob,” Act 2: “Gangster’s Daughter.” September 1997. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/76/mob/act-two-0
-March 2015 search warrant for Robert Durst’s Houston home. Available via LA Times: https://documents.latimes.com/search-warrant-robert-dursts-houston-home/
-Forbes estimate of the Durst family’s net worth https://www.forbes.com/profile/durst/?sh=6155068e3773