Angelo graduated from New York state university as a registered nurse in May 1985, working briefly at two Long Island hospitals before he landed a job at Good Samaritan Hospital, in West Islip, during April 1987. As the new recruit and low man on the totem pole, he worked the hours from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., in the small ward reserved for cardiac patients and other cases requiring intensive care. Angelo never complained about the hours; if anything, he seemed to like the graveyard shift.

The loss of patients in intensive care is not surprising, given the severity of illness and the traumatic nature of their injuries, but doctors on the staff at Good Samaritan recorded some unusual cases in the latter months of 1987. Patients who appeared to be recovering from surgical procedures at a normal pace were dying off without apparent cause, and hospital administrators were alarmed, to say the least. Six suspicious deaths between September 16 and October 11 left doctors bewildered -- until the killer made a critical mistake.

On October 11, following the deaths of two postoperative subjects in a single day, patient Girolamo Cucich was approached by a bearded, heavy-set man who informed him, "I'm going to make you feel better." The visitor injected something into Cucich's intravenous tube, producing immediate numbness and labored breathing. The patient had strength enough to buzz for a nurse, and his life was saved, providing authorities with their first witness in a mystifying case.

On October 12, police routinely questioned Richard Angelo. As the only male nurse on the graveyard shift -- and a bearded one, at that -- he was a natural suspect in the Cucich attack. By November 3, laboratory test results confirmed that Cucich had received a shot of Pavulon, inducing muscular paralysis that could have led to death by suffocation. A search of Angelo's hospital locker, on November 13, turned up hypodermic needles and a vial of potassium chloride, a drug that produces massive heart problems if used incorrectly. The next day, searchers visited Angelo's apartment, seizing vials of Pavulon and a similar drug, Anectine.

Arrested on November 15, while attending an out-of-town conference for emergency medical technicians, Angelo was held without bail pending further investigation. In custody, he swiftly confessed to a series of murders, estimating that he used Pavulon or Anectine to poison an average of two patients per week during September and early October 1987. His motive? Richard sought to make himself a "hero" by arriving on the scene in time to "save" his victims .

As the records clearly indicate, his plan had lethal flaws. In Angelo's last six weeks on the job, his ward had experienced thirty-seven "Code Blue" emergencies, with a loss of twenty-five patients. Prosecutors were more conservative in their estimate, numbering Angelo's victims "in excess of ten," while other published reports placed the body-count as high as thirty-eight.

A legal technicality barred Angelo's confession from the courtroom, and the only charge immediately filed was one of first-degree assault, involving Girolamo Cucich. Angelo was granted bail, but chose to stay in custody, citing various threats against his life. By mid-December, laboratory tests were under way on nineteen corpses, and the end results brought further charges. On January 4, it was announced that victims Milton Poulney and Frederick LaGois had each been injected with Pavulon prior to death. Charges of second-degree murder were filed against Angelo, in the LaGois case, on January 13, with more indictments pending.