The Killing Month August 1978, a new true crime podcast, focuses on the story behind a string of murders in Chester County committed by the Johnston Gang in 1978, writes Amanda Lamb for WRAL News.
The murders were previously used as an inspiration for the 1986 movie At Close Range, starring Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken and then rising stars Sean Penn and Mary Stuart Masterson. However, the movie diverged from the story significantly in several aspects.
“The screenplay tends to make a folk hero out of Bruce Johnston Senior,” said Bill Lamb, the Chester County district attorney who prosecuted the Johnston brothers in a 1985 interview.
Among those who have seen the movie, there is a consensus that while entertaining, it does not tell the real truth of what happened in Chester County.
The new podcast focuses on the facts. It tells the story of the brothers who stole anything they could make money on for years. They got away with it for a long time thanks to threats and later, when threats were not working anymore, murders.
Read more about the podcast at WRAL News.
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Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on VISTA Today in August 2023.
