July 1981 - July 18, 1981 (Saturday)

July 18, 1981 (Saturday)

• Jack Henry Abbott, a convicted murderer turned author of the bestseller In the Belly of the Beast, had been paroled in June with the influence of author Norman Mailer. Abbott and two friends walked into a Manhattan cafe called Binibon, and he got into an argument with Richard Adan over use of a restroom. Abbott stabbed Adan to death and then fled the scene. Ironically, Abbott's return to crime took place as the praise of his book was being printed in that Sunday's New York Times Book Review. Abbott was captured two months later, convicted of the murder, and spent the rest of his life in prison until hanging himself in 2002.