The Wacky World Of Murder: Daniel Rakowitz




Daniel Rakowitz	VICTIMS : 1
In every town or city we all have well known nutters. Sometimes they are just old drunks, sometimes crazy old ladies that talk to garbage bins, and sometimes they can be very dangerous. This story is about a guy who was both loony and dangerous. Daniel Rakowitz was pretty well known in his neighbourhood on the East Side of New York. He was a small time drug dealer. He only dabbled in pot, hash and speed, no real reason for anyone to take notice of the guy. But this wasn’t the reason everyone knew him. They knew him because of his pet cockerel (a bird). Daniel was quite fond of his cockerel, in fact he was so fond of it that he took it everywhere with him. It sat on his shoulder, which led many to jokingly refer to him as a pirate. He was also well known for his idiotic religious beliefs. He originally believed in God, but then received word from above, or below, that Satan had changed his ‘number’ from the well known 666 to 966. Brian Lane refers to a “Church of 966” in his summary on this case in The Encyclopedia of Occult and Supernatural Murder, so I have to assume that Daniel started this movement. Some time after his ‘revelation’ Dan’s girlfriend, Monika, a Swiss dance student, became very tired of his eccentricities and was preparing to throw him out of her apartment. Dan didn’t like the idea of having to leave, and since Monika refused to swear allegiance to the ‘Church of 966’ Dan had no alternative, he had to kill her. So on August 19, 1989, Monika was stabbed to death. Dan then dismembered the body. He then boiled up all the pieces of Monika, stripping the flesh from the bone. He placed some of his favourite pieces of her bones into a bucket, and disposed of the rest. At this time I’m sure most reading this are thinking, “can this Dan get any dumber?” Well - Following Monika’s ‘disappearance’, Dan went out and told many of his disciples what he had done. This is always a stupid tactical mistake, and Dan was never going to get away with it following this action. Not surprisingly a couple of his followers were not into murder and went straight to the police. Dan was in custody not long after. So was his bucket of bones. Some time after being arrested Dan asked to be referred to only as “The New Messiah.” The police went along with his game and he gave them a full confession. For some reason I feel that they probably stopped calling him by his chosen name following this confession. On September 14, 1990, Dan was found guilty murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. I don't know what happened to the cockerel.
MY OPINION Okay, so he only killed one person, but anyone fucked up enough to believe in the whole 966 thing deserves a place at the Wacky World of Murder. I think Christianity is pretty stupid, and I find Satanism even dumber, so this 966 thing is so over the top I can't help but laugh. Someone this stupid really does deserve his spot here.