America’s long fascination with true crime memorabilia

Items from the Oct. 1 Las Vegas Strip shooting have entered the marketplace for so-called murderabilia True crime memorabilia dates as far back as the Great Depression when passersby dipped handkerchiefs in the blood of gangster John Dillinger So-called Son of Sam laws started in New York in the 1970s to block killers from profiting from their crimes. The Nevada Supreme Court struck down the state’s own version of the law in 2004 eBay’s 2001 ban on crime memorabilia and similar actions by online marketplaces paved the way for murderabilia auction websites In 2011, the federal government raised about $232,000 selling the belongings of the Unabomber, responsible for multiple bombings between 1978 and 1995 Money went to survivors like Yale University professor David Gelernter One collector said he’s sold 2,500 pieces of murderabilia ranging from $10 to $5,000