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"Headless Body in Topless Bar" Killer Denied Parole Again
By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Feb 22, 2010
Modified Feb 22, 2010
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By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Feb 22, 2010
Modified Feb 22, 2010
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Back in 1983, the Post penned its most famous headline of all time, "Headless Body in Topless Bar," but to this day the man incarcerated for the humorously described crime claims innocence. For the third time in his 27 years behind bars, Charles Dingle asked for parole, claiming he wasn't responsible for the blood bath in a Queens strip club, where one man was decapitated, a stripper was raped, and several women were robbed and held hostage. For the third time he was denied. "They expect you to come in and plead guilty and take responsibility for the crime," he said of the parole board. "I can't do it because I didn't do it." A gruesome flashback follows the break.
At 23, Dingle shot the owner of the strip joint and held four women hostage—raping one and robbing others—all the while drinking heavily and snorting coke, reported the Post. While going through the club manager's purse, he found a business card that identified her as a mortician. The card led him to his next brilliant idea: demanding that she cut off the dead man's head with a steak knife and dig out the bullet. When the deed was done, he hijacked a gypsy cab taking two of the strippers and the severed head to Manhattan where he blacked out at the wheel. His hostages ran for it, and alerted the police, after which Dingle was arrested, tried and sentenced to 25 years to life.
Still, the convicted murderer/rapist says "Everything is not as it appears," vaguely claiming that one of the witnesses in his case was disreputable. He's spent some of his prison time studying law and plans to continue his crusade. "Don't think I don't have hope," he said. "The board might let me go one day, but until then, I'm gonna fight. That's all I can do."
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charles dingle
dancer
decapitation
gypsy cap
headless
headline
hijack
murder
parole
rape
stip club
stripper
topless bar
Sabrina Jaszi
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