Murder in McHenry

by Paul Scharff, Keith Bettinger

What would you do if you received a phone call twenty seven years after your father s murder and a friend told you they finally knew who killed him? You would venture forward to bring the criminal to justice and clear the case. However, good guys aren't always the heroes and bad guys the villains.
A career criminal turns government witness after a mobster places a murder contract on him. He tells investigators about crimes that happened. He has no reason to lie. If he lies, he will face life in prison and that life sentence will be a short one thanks to the contract. He tells federal agents of unsolved murders and the federal agents bring in the local authorities from McHenry County Illinois.
Twenty eight years later, Paul Scharff receives a phone call that directs him to a biography of this government witness. This rekindles his desire to bring his father's murderer to justice. All the while he is doing this he uncovers the truth about the justice system in the corrupted town of McHenry.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

249 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

My name is Paul Scharff. I am the co-author of Murder In McHenry. Murder in McHenry is my true story. On June 2, 1981 my father Ronald Scharff, was gunned down with his employee Patricia Freeman at our bar, the PM Pub. The PM Pub was located in a sleepy little town called Lakemoor Illinois. We were 40 miles Northwest of Chicago but not far enough away to be out of the reach of the Chicago Outfit (Chicago Mob). My father's case went unsolved for 27 years until one day my former babysitter, Holly asked her dad who he thought killed my dad. One of the names he said was Larry Neumann. Holly was able to trace Larry Neumann back to a book called CULLOTTA. The book CULLOTTA was about a former gangster turned government witness, Frank Cullotta. When I was told about this information I went to Amazon.com to get the book CULLOTTA. On Amazon.com I read an excerpt from the book CULLOTTA and it was my father's unsolved murder that I was reading after 27 years. That is where my story begins. My tenacious desire to name Larry Neumann as the murderer of my father and Patricia Freeman. My book Murder In McHenry is my pursuit of justice. I hope that you read my story and follow me on the web at www.mchenrycounty1981.com and on my facebook group Murder In McHenry as I continue my pursuit of Justice.

Reviews

[Ronald Fino · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Paul Scharff has suffered and lived with is unimaginable for most and once you puck up this book you will not put it down.

Ronald Fino

[Rob Mcniff · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know a regular citizen can solve actual crime this is the book to read. He and his friends show true strength to find the truth and bring it to those who can finish the job.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

... I feel rather bad not giving this a better rating because the story is compelling and the tragedy heart-wrenching. The miscarriage of justice, the wilfull blindness, the mob connections... It's all there. Unfortunately, the story loses a lot due to its handling. To be honest, I have read more well-put-together books in the mid-grade section of the library. There is constant repetition, doubling back on information, occasional slips with dates or numbers - things that a good editor should have caught. Not even a story as fascinating as one told by a mobster can stand up to being retold twenty times in the same book and with only slight variation in word usage.

And the fact that nothing has still been done about this, that the killer (though already dead) has not been named? Just makes you feel angry and exhausted. Seriously. We're well passed the point where the old police force members are active anymore. The victim's family aren't asking for retribution. They aren't asking the police to say, okay, that previous group totally screwed up/took bribes/etc. They're just asking for a name to be named. Do it. Let them move on.

[Denise Beggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Living in McHenry for the past 25 years I do not know the Scharff or Freeman families or even hearing of this until maybe 5-10 years ago. What the families went through was hell. Not only living through this, but trying to get these murders solved. This should not have happened when so much information was given to the McHenry County Sheriffs Office. My low rating of the book has to do with the poor editing, the repeating of information over & over; NOT the investigation Paul done or what he did to make the community of McHenry & Lakemoor informed. Because of the repeating, I found myself skipping pages.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite the story, but repeating the info got a bit tiresome. Interesting read but needed a better editor

[Heather Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I live in McHenry, where this murder took place and vaguely know the Scharff family. While the premise was on the murder of Paul Scharff’s father and employee the underlying message was the incompetency of the McHenry Police Department. It took 27 years and the family to finally solve the case, plus the police never really admitted their negligence. I found the book scary because of the poor investigating by McHenry County since I still live here. However, the book was so poorly edited and continually repeated the same facts over and over throughout the chapters it literally drove me crazy. I kept saying to myself “You already told us that”. Therefore, my 2 star rating is based on the way the book was edited and written. I feel the actions by Paul, his family, and the others involved did a remarkable job at making the community aware of how McHenry County Police Department poorly handled the investigation of these murders.

[Ann Williams]

Very informative about the matter of the book. A bit too long for me. But a true accounting of the legal system with the mob.

[Kc · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writer's choice of repeating the same information made the book almost unreadable