In the early 1980s Gary Smith, 37, was staying at the York Motel in North Bergen, New Jersey, after members of a burglary gang told him to lay low while police closed in. Smith wanted to leave the criminal life and go straight, a wish the gang leader Richard Kuklinski viewed as a threat because Kuklinski feared Smith might inform on the group.

When the poison did not act quickly enough, associate Daniel Deppner reportedly strangled Smith with a lamp cord. His body was then concealed between the mattress and the box spring and remained there for several days while the room was rented to other patrons. Investigators recorded ligature marks on his neck, and Kuklinski was later found guilty of Smith’s murder and received a lengthy prison term.