2008-09-06 10:43:31 - Black Widow Grannies turned a classical comedy movie into a real life nightmare. Were they extremely clever or mad?

Two women, from Los Angelos, originally natives of Hungary, have been dubbed the ‘Black Widows'. Helen Golay, 77 and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, sat stony faced in court, as they were sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole. (Whatever that means to women in their late seventies.)

The duo were found guilty, after having befriended two homeless men,

aged 73 and 50, at an Eastern European church. They found somewhere for the men to live and proceeded to take out ‘insurance-with-intent-to-murder' policies on the men. They had found an insurance company which pays regardless of illness, or accidental cause. ‘No Hassle, No investigations', is their slogan.

The two women used rubber stamps, on which they had transferred the men's signatures, to sign the forms. They then arranged to have the homeless men killed in hit-and-run accidents, in dark alleys.

Rutterschmidt said she was a cousin, while Golay claimed she was the fiancé of both victims. The women collected $US2.8 million, before their scheme was uncovered. The men had been only looking for a little human kindness, plus shelter, food and water, but they got a lot more than they bargained for.

Judge Wesley's closing comments summed it up, 'The two men you killed needed a helping hand. They thought they were getting this from you. Instead these unfortunate men were sacrificed on your altar of greed." Wesley said he had researched the word greed and among other things, found the definition, ‘A selfish desire for money, not to purchase anything, but just to have it.'

What were women in their late seventies going to do with all that money? Even more alarming is the question of whether or not the women are responsible for other deaths, involving six life insurance policies, which were not paid out, because of suspicious circumstances. In 1999 and 2005 Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid were crushed by cars. Both men were insured by Goly and Rutterschmidt.

For unknown reasons some things become classics, like the 1934 song ‘Blue Moon', or films such as ‘Arsenic and Lace'. Very few classics have the opportunity to become real life. You be the judge of whether Goly and Rutterschmidt were extremely clever, or plain mad? Perhaps they are lunatics, who have no logic, morons with twisted logic, or fools who were simply confused and only looking for entertainment.