DASTARDLY DADS FROM THE ARCHIVES (Bayonne, New Jersey - 1977)

Dad NICHOLAS DI PRIMA was charged with 3 counts of murder after he shot his three children to death and critically wounded his wife. Like most of these guys, he was "disturbed over marital problems" (which basically means his wife had grown weary of a chronically unemployed loser with his own private weapons arsenal and a criminal record including an "unprovoked attack" on two police officers in which one officer was shot.)

From the New York Times, October 16, 1977

http://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F1071FF73D5D10738DDDAF0994D8415B878BF1D3

3 BAYONNE CHILDREN ARE SHOT TO DEATH; FATHER IS CHARGED

By Rudy Johnson

An unemployed Bayonne, N.J. man, apparently disturbed over marital problems, shot his three children to death and critically wounded his wife yesterday, according to police.

Charged with three counts of murder was Nicholas De Prima, 48-year old of 40 East 18th Street, according to Detective Francis Maguire of the Bayonne Homicide Bureau. The ages of the children were 5, 8, and 10.

Mr. Maguire said that the children were found dead and the mother wounded in their apartment on the fifth floor of a seven-story low-rent housing project in midtown Bayonne.

The children were identified as Nicholas Jr., 5; Donna, 8, and Kim, 10. Detective Maguire said the bodies of Kim and Nicholas were found in the living room; Donna's body was found in the bedroom, and the mother, Rosemary, 33, was lying semi-conscious in the kitchen. Mrs. de Prima was reported in critical condition at Bayonne Hospital.

"We believe from speaking with people in the area surrounding the building that de Prima was heavily involved in marital problems," Mr. Maguire said. He noted that the suspect would be charged with a fourth murder count should his wife die.

In 1961, the suspect was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted on an "unprovoked attack" on two police officers, in which one of the officers was shot but not killed, Mr. Maguire said.

Arresting officers found an arsenal of weapons in the de Prima apartment, about a thousand rounds of ammunition, seven or eight handguns, a number of shotguns--including a sawed-off shotgun--and rifles.

According to the police, the suspect has a "sporadic" employment record. He had apparently been doing mostly odd jobs in Bayonne, a town of 85,000 people.