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Love is Blind: The Story of Linda Riss Pugach
15 Plays1 year ago
This week, it’s Part 2 of 2 very female-focused sinister sister stories!
Sometimes love is blind…but sometimes love blinds you! Lauren tells the tragic 1970s true story of Linda Riss, a beautiful Bronx woman who fell in love with an older man - a New York City-based lawyer named Burton N. Pugach. But when she found out he had a whole other life, with a wife and a family, she ended the affair abruptly. This enraged Burton, even to the point that he hired men to throw lye in Linda’s face, blinding her for life. And yet shockingly this is not where their tabloid love story ends…but you’ll have to listen to find out why they were in the news again (and even went on to have a documentary “Crazy Love” and a book “A Very Different Love Story” published about them) for what has been called “one of the most celebrated crimes of passion in New York history!”
If you have requests for future episodes or just want to hang out, follow us on Instagram @sinistersisterspodcast
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Transcript
Introduction to Sinister Sisters Podcast
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome to the Sinister Sisters podcast. I'm Lauren. I'm Felicia. We're best friends. And we like spooky stuff. Yes, we do. We're back this week.
Linda's Challenging Upbringing
00:00:32
Speaker
Mine is also a wild story about a woman. So I am talking about Linda Eleanor Riss and she was born in the Bronx. She's a real New York gal on February 23rd, 1937.
00:00:50
Speaker
So she also had kind of like a not the best upbringing, her parents divorced when she was very young. And she was ultimately like over the course of her childhood raised by her mother, grandmother and an aunt. Her father left home when she was four years old, then her mother had to, you know, start working. And so she was sent away to live with her aunt.
Linda Meets Burt
00:01:15
Speaker
She eventually had to go back to her mother and grandmother's house when she was about 12 years old because she got rheumatic fever. And I don't know why, I guess she couldn't live with the aunt's family at that time. And so she had to go back.
00:01:28
Speaker
But as she grew up, she was a very beautiful woman. When she was like, you know, 20 years old, people compared her to Liz Taylor. She had this like very dark hair, these kind of like, you know, that like bluish purplish eyes like Liz Taylor.
00:01:45
Speaker
and was very fashionable. So in 1956, a man named Burt, and I should know how to say his last
A Toxic Relationship Unfolds
00:01:55
Speaker
name. I think it's Pugock, maybe? Pugock? Saw her on a park bench. I know it's a bad last name. It's P-U-G. There's a lot of people that are going to make fun of that kid. I know. It's P-U-G-A-C-H. It's possible.
00:02:14
Speaker
But so this man, Burt, saw her on a park bench, was immediately taken by her beauty. And so he went up to her, and she kind of thought he was like, so there's a documentary where you can watch both of them. And she is like a, I don't know, she just cracks me up. She was like, I don't know, I thought he was crazy. He was trying to woo her. And she just gave him her phone number to get rid of him.
00:02:42
Speaker
And so when she got home, he had somehow had a dozen roses delivered to her place. And so she was a little smitten and started a romantic relationship with him.
00:02:59
Speaker
So this man, Burt, was 32 years old. She was 21, so he was 11 years older than her. He was a New York-based lawyer and just kind of obsessed with her. So in the wooing process, he was always sending her flowers and taking her out to fancy meals. He flew her in this plane that he had. He had all this flashy stuff that really made her attracted to him.
00:03:28
Speaker
And he wasn't very attractive physically, but kind of won her over with all the gifts and money and all of that. So he was the only child of Russian immigrants.
Breaking Away from Burt
00:03:40
Speaker
He talks in the documentary about having a very overbearing mother who
00:03:45
Speaker
Basically like wouldn't let him do anything on his own he claims his mother would beat him. Even like belting him in the face when he misbehaved so another kind of just like sad weird upbringing but he grew up to be a successful lawyer and he bought this beautiful home in New Rochelle New York.
00:04:06
Speaker
And plot twist, he started a family. So he had a wife while he was wooing our girl, Linda. So not great. So he married Francine Riefen in June, 1951. They were seemingly, you know, relatively happy until he met Linda on that park bench six years later.
00:04:31
Speaker
So Linda finds out that he has a wife and daughter and basically is like, you got to file for divorce.
00:04:42
Speaker
gives her divorce papers and then she figures out that they're fake divorce papers. No, fake divorce papers. I know, I know. Like why even, yeah. What year was this? Was this before Google? How did he get them? Yeah, 1957. So yeah, he must have
00:05:01
Speaker
made him himself. So she finds out that the divorce papers are fake, breaks things off with him again. And she moves to Florida at this point.
Burt's Obsession Turns Dangerous
00:05:12
Speaker
She's like, get me away from him. In Florida, she meets this like very buff, very handsome, poor man named Lawrence Schwartz.
00:05:23
Speaker
So he unfortunately goes away to the army and Burt reappears. He apparently like had his father get in contact with Linda somehow and say like he's divorced. He's a good man. Like take him back.
00:05:38
Speaker
And Burt's wife calls her and says, no, we're still married. We're not gonna divorce him. She tells her, like girl to girl on the phone, he cheated, you know, constantly in our marriage. It's not a good situation. So Linda, happy with her, you know, army boyfriend, gets engaged to him at some point. And Burt did not take this well.
00:06:05
Speaker
So Bert, I guess just like, I'm like, how do they figure out any of this in the 1950s? Maybe she told them, I don't know. Maybe she said, like, leave me alone. I'm engaged. So he gets suicidal. And I think at some point she, I'm not sure the timeline, but eventually she's back in New York, I think, because.
00:06:24
Speaker
where all this goes down is New York. So he starts following Linda and he threatens her. He says, if I can't have you, no one will. When I get through with you, no one will want you, all of that kind of stuff. So he makes good with this threat. This is a wild story. No, I'm scared.
The Attack and Its Aftermath
00:06:46
Speaker
Yes, so he uses all this money that he has to pay men to go rough her up basically. So this was all in 1959. So three attackers rang her doorbell explaining that they had an engagement present for her. So she answers the door and they threw lie in her eyes.
00:07:11
Speaker
What is that? What is that? It's basically just acid. So it left her scarred for life. I don't know if acid is the right word. It's in like cleaning supplies. It's like chemicals.
00:07:27
Speaker
That is so scary. It's so scary. So she is like semi-blind and scarred. And during this, this is really sad. When she goes to the hospital at some point in the months that she spent in the hospital following Lawrence, her, you know, young buff, poor guy decides to leave her because she's no longer beautiful. Oh my God. That is horrible.
00:07:56
Speaker
So it was already starting to obviously get media attention at this point. Someone so young and beautiful, being disfigured, very intense story.
A Controversial Marriage
00:08:09
Speaker
So Burt was convicted of masterminding the attack, and he spent 14 years in prison. So not as long, but at least they punished him. Yeah, at least he went to prison.
00:08:24
Speaker
So Linda moves to, or like flies to Europe, has like a fun little trip is like wearing dark sunglasses and enjoying her time, but didn't marry anyone. Even like at that time, she always like in the, in the documentary, she talks about like, she always thought of herself as like damaged merchandise ever since she was scarred. It's so sad, but Bert didn't give up.
00:08:53
Speaker
he in prison. This is wild. It's all wild. When he's in prison, he keeps writing her right? Like he sends her love letters telling her how beautiful she is saying I want to marry you when I get out of prison. I don't care that you're disfigured. I'm so sorry. Like I just had a I just like got crazy for a little bit. So she never goes and visits him in prison or anything.
00:09:18
Speaker
but he starts working out in prison as well. So he's like getting buff, writing her love letters and her life sadly kind of like starts going downhill. So she's like living in this tiny apartment in Manhattan. She doesn't have any relationship. She's like facing this kind of, you know, what she thinks will probably be like a future alone.
00:09:44
Speaker
So I guess when he's released from prison, he proposes to her on TV, like on the news, says like, will you marry me, Linda? This woman that he paid people to throw a lie in her face. And when he gets out of prison, she decides to marry him. Linda! No! Oh, God. This terrible story.
00:10:12
Speaker
It can't even, it's just sad. So in 1974, this is all when this is going place or taking place. It's like a huge media sensation, right? People are like, how is she marrying this man that did this to her? There was a book written about them that was called A Very Different Love Story that was published in 1976. They're also on this documentary, as I said, called Crazy Love.
00:10:41
Speaker
reporters were all up in their business. You know, they talked about how they were they were fighting all the time. But then the couple would like go back to the newspapers or like do a television thing and say how they're completely devoted to each other. And they're very in love. And she always you know, she would always wear these like big dark glasses that hide a lot of her face. So she's still like very glamorous looking and like very beautiful. I'm sure you know, I really don't think there's
00:11:09
Speaker
pictures of what she really looked like. I found one, sorry. Oh, you did? I was dying to see. I think there is one of her at a party. I don't know what it is. Is it bad? Yeah, she's very beautiful. She's before? Her before is very beautiful. Oh, before. I was like, is there anything of what her eyes look like? No, all the other pictures I see, she's always wearing the glasses. But the before, she's very beautiful.
00:11:37
Speaker
Oh, it's just so sad. Isn't she glam? Like she's very, she's very glamorous. Yeah. So the story gets crazier in 19.
Harassment Charges Resurface
00:11:47
Speaker
Yes. So they're married. You know, media is like kind of like tracking them, but like they're having fun. He's wealthy. She's like, whatever. In 1997, they come back into the spotlight.
00:12:00
Speaker
when Burt went on trial in Queens on charges that he had sexually abused a woman and threatened to kill her.
00:12:09
Speaker
So I know so he represented himself in the trial Linda even testifies for him saying that he's a wonderful caring husband and The woman claims that she was Burt's mistress for five years so yeah, so He represented himself
00:12:31
Speaker
which is such a psychopathic thing. People do like serial killers. It's like, yeah, not. I will say, I will say he was at least a lawyer, but I don't know what kind of lawyer it might not have been like, but still crazy. Right. Yeah. And he was convicted, but only of harassment and the second degree. So she had like, I guess there was like 11 different things that she was charging him for.
00:12:59
Speaker
and he was only sentenced to 15 days in jail. Kind of sad. So obviously I have like a million questions, right? But when Burt was interviewed later in life, like basically like how do you like live at night knowing that you like permanently, you know, damage supposedly like the love of your life, right? Like blinded her.
00:13:24
Speaker
And he just says that it was like a neurotic reaction to a terrible situation. He said every day of his life, he regrets what he did. They also decided not to have children because they were worried about like how these possible children would look at Burt because so many people needed him.
A Complex Relationship Analyzed
00:13:45
Speaker
And I'm like, that's pretty fair. Like you had to tell your child.
00:13:51
Speaker
Not to be judgmental, but it sounds like a couple that should not bring children into the world. No, I agree. I think it's right, probably. It seems like they got along in their relationship by never really discussing what had happened.
00:14:08
Speaker
which is I'm just like, it's so crazy. But she did forgive him seemingly. And he tried to make up for it by like giving her this, you know, very nice life by doing everything that he could. He does say in the documentary, which I just don't believe.
00:14:25
Speaker
that supposedly he just hired the attackers to like, as I said, like rougher up and that he didn't intend for them to throw the lie and like that they did that. But I'm like, that just feels like so specific, right? Especially because you said the part of like, no one's going to love you after what I've done or whatever. It's like, yeah, no way.
00:14:48
Speaker
No way. And she's so beautiful and he was obsessed with how beautiful she is and then was like, I'm going to do something that makes you not beautiful. Yeah, exactly. So again, the story does not stop there. So she dies very sadly in 2013.
The End of an Era
00:15:06
Speaker
She was 75 years old. Yes. At a hospital in Queens of heart failure, seemingly just normal older person thing. She was still married to Bert.
00:15:18
Speaker
They had been married for more than 38 years and he was like her only survivor. So only real person in life. So Burt passed away December 24th Christmas Eve in 2020 in Queens. So he was very, I think he was like 93 at this point. So he was very old, lived a long life. But the scandal doesn't end there.
Legal Battle Over Burt's Estate
00:15:44
Speaker
So there was a New York
00:15:47
Speaker
like New York Police Department veteran and his cop son who were accused of being part of a plot to basically steal Burt's money. It was $15 million from his estate. She was very wealthy. So Burt was supposedly conned because he had this caregiver and girlfriend woman.
00:16:12
Speaker
whose name was Shaman Sheila, I guess she went by Sheila Frawley. So she was 41 years younger than him. She started taking care of him after he had a stroke in 2016. So for basically the last four years of his life, she was his girlfriend and his caregiver. And so basically like when he died, that $15 million was going to her
00:16:42
Speaker
but they're sort of like, you know, basically like some hearsay about, you know, whether she loved him or whether she just wanted his money. But a group of Burt's friends filed a lawsuit arguing that Sheila manipulated Burt into changing his will to give her the money and then apparently like stopped giving him food and starved him to death. Yes. Oh my God.
00:17:09
Speaker
I know. So she was married to a man named William Frawley, even though she claims that their marriage was dead even before she met Bert. But Bert's friends just feel like this is a crazy situation that he would leave his money to Sheila instead of previously his will said that he was giving his money to this charitable foundation for the blind that he had set up with his wife, Linda.
00:17:40
Speaker
And then it was somehow in the last four years of his life switched over to be just going to Sheila or a lot of it going to Sheila. And so the lawsuit said that Sheila, her husband William and her son were in on this scam. He even pretended like her husband pretended to be her father at some point and that they both use their cop knowledge to use surveillance technology and
00:18:09
Speaker
whatever, handle all the stuff on that side. And so I literally cannot, I mean, please write into this podcast. So I was like Googling, you know, a ton and a judge did freeze the funds temporarily. So she wasn't able to get the money right away, but I can't find an update on whether she won the case or got the money or not. So maybe I'm just not doing a thorough enough research job.
00:18:35
Speaker
But I'll post it maybe we'll post on Instagram if I find it after we edit this or you know after this recording. But it's like all these headlines right when he died and the money was going to her and all this about the lawsuit but I can't figure out like what happened if she got the money. I'm so curious.
00:18:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was kind of recent. So yes, I don't know. So I'm like, we should have, you know, an update
Reflecting on a Wild Story
00:19:02
Speaker
on it. But I feel like maybe if I listen to like a, there are a lot of other podcasts you can listen to as well about this case. But it's really a wild story from start to finish. So wild. Yeah. Oh my God. I mean,
00:19:21
Speaker
That is a bad man. That is a bad man. A bad man, but I'm also like, I don't know. How do you sleep in the same bed as someone who took your spider away? Yeah.
00:19:39
Speaker
It's just, it's really, it's really a wild story. It's called crazy love, but they are both characters. Like they both feel so like Bronx, New York, you know, like, I wonder if like, in some way they liked the attention of the spotlight.
00:19:58
Speaker
Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I wonder if that also helped them together. Yeah. Yeah. And if she was like, I want to be, you know, she was so beautiful like before all of this and she like wanted to keep that, you know, whatever. Totally. The attention. It's just crazy. And honestly, like, she was like, I've got this millionaire husband who feels super bad. I don't know. He probably did like give her a bunch of stuff.
00:20:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's wild. Man, that's a crazy story. I want to watch the documentary because I want to like hear them talk. They are really, it's really entertaining. I didn't watch the whole thing. I like bounced around, but they have like, they also have like, I mean, I guess it makes sense, but they have like a ton of friends, right? Like they have all these people that are like speaking about it. I'm like, can you imagine being friends with them? No, I cannot. What would you say to your girlfriend if she was like, oh yeah, like I'm marrying the guy that blinded me?
00:20:52
Speaker
No, no. That's crazy. That's amazing. Both stories this week. I feel like we're like it was fun to do some like, you know, I guess true crime style stories. Yes, for sure. But cool. All right, everybody. Well, thanks for listening and we hope you have some sweet, sweet nightmares. Bye.