Introducing: The Killing Month August 1978

The Johnston Gang operated on one simple principle: Don't snitch on the family. People who did found out the hard way how far the Johnstons would go to keep their crimes secret. In August 1978, the family's criminal empire came crumbling down when their threats and intimidation turned to murder. The Killing Month August 1978 is the true story of a rural crime family that would stop at nothing to keep people quiet—even their own children.

The events that took place in Chester County, Pennsylvania in August 1978 were unthinkable. Family killing family. A father calling for the murder of his own son. For years The Johnston Gang got away with everything—theft, burglary, violence—until the brazen attacks of August 1978 crossed a line, and the family crime empire began to crumble. Host and writer Amanda Lamb shares her own memories of the murders and the trials that followed. Her father was the lead prosecutor who helped bring the killers to justice. A fictional account of The Johnston Gang’s downfall was portrayed in the 1986 movie “At Close Range,” but this is the real story of a violent family crime operation and the long task of bringing its leaders to justice. The Killing Month August 1978 is a production of WRAL News in Raleigh, North Carolina.