Thomas J. Grasso

Thomas J. Grasso murdered 87-year-old Hilda Johnson in her Oklahoma home on Christmas Eve in 1990 by strangling her with a line of of holiday lights. He then stole $12 from her purse and her television set which he pawned for $125. He was eventually arrested for the 1991 murder of an 81-year-old Staten Island resident, Leslie Holtz, whose Social Security Check he had stolen. While New York state did not have the death penalty at the time, Grasso was extradited to Tulsa where he was executed by lethal injection in 1995.

Grasso’s last meal request consisted of two dozen steamed mussels, two dozen steamed clams, a double cheeseburger from Burger King, half-dozen barbecued spare ribs, two strawberry milkshakes, half a pumpkin pie with whipped cream and diced strawberries, and a 16-ounce can of SpaghettiOs — to be served at room temperature. In one of four press releases he issued on the day before his execution he was quoted saying, “I did not get my SpaghettiOs, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.”