Edward Bianculli Jr., a 21-year-old from Tinicum, Pennsylvania, was lured from his home on the evening of May 19, 1980, and murdered near the Philadelphia Airport. Michael Rinaldi repeatedly visited Bianculli that night and arranged for Theodore J. DiPretoro to pick up both men. The three drove to a secluded area; DiPretoro and Bianculli walked into tall weeds, and DiPretoro fatally shot Bianculli. Rinaldi and DiPretoro then disposed of the murder weapon in the Schuylkill River. Bianculli’s body was not found until December 1980.

The case remained unsolved until DiPretoro, while cooperating with the FBI on other mob-related killings, confessed to Bianculli’s murder and implicated Rinaldi. In May 1982 both men were arrested. DiPretoro pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a life sentence. Rinaldi was convicted at trial of first-degree murder and criminal conspiracy and was sentenced to life in prison, with a concurrent five- to ten-year term for the conspiracy count.

Did anyone in Tinicum or the Philadelphia area recognize warning signs in the months before May 19, 1980, that might shed light on how Bianculli came to be targeted?