June 19, 2013

Crime History: Death row inmate's killings paled in comparison to son's

BY: SCOTT MCCABE MARCH 2, 2013 | 8:00 PM
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On this day, March 3, in 1955, Gerald Albert Gallego Sr., convicted of killing two police officers, became the first person to die in the gas chamber in Mississippi. Gallego's son would grow up to be a lot meaner, killing at least 10 women with the help of his wife.

The elder Gallego's execution didn't go smoothly. Gallego at first only coughed and wheezed on a cloud of cyanide poisoning.

After 45 minutes, prison officials fixed the problem, and Gallego finally died.

Gerald Gallego Jr. never met his father. He and his wife were credited with killing 10 women, mostly teenagers, whom they kept as sex slaves.

Like his father, Gallego Jr. was sentenced to death, but he died of rectal cancer in 2002 at a Nevada prison.

- Scott McCabe

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