A Family Drama Rife With Vendettas and Grudges, Accusations and Rumors

August 9, 2023 10:07 AM

With his combative style and a business model centered on grabbing revenue that would otherwise go to big drugmakers, Sherman had accumulated his share of enemies in the pharma industry. In an interview for Prescription Games, a 2001 book by Jeffrey Robinson, Sherman had said he wondered why a big drug company didn’t “just hire someone to knock me off.” He’d continued: “Perhaps I’m surprised that hasn’t happened.” from Murder, Money and the Battle for a Pharmaceutical Empire [Bloomberg; ungated]
posted by chavenet (18 comments total)

note: I can't get the ungated link to work, it wants me to do a captcha and then isn't showing the captcha.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:49 AM on August 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Works for me. It is a link to archive.is
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:57 AM on August 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm still amazed that after all these years no killer has been found. I expect that if I were to be murdered the cops would just shrug their shoulders and go on with ripping off the taxpayer but for them to be this useless with regards to the murder of billionaires makes me wonder if they have any competence at all.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:27 AM on August 9, 2023 [7 favorites]

I have never heard of this before, but am now fascinated by it. I'm waiting for Benoit Blanc to show up...

I'm going with the "walking man" theory. But also some one mentioned in this story was employing the walking man. Amazing what large amounts of money can drive people to. What a nest of vipers.
posted by Windopaene at 12:06 PM on August 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Not only have the cops been useless on this case, but the original investigators have all since been promoted. Imagine being a detective going into a case where a billionaire with a habit of making enemies was found tied up and murdered, your first reaction is "looks like a suicide to me" and come out of it a few years later with a promotion instead of being a laughingstock.
posted by thecjm at 12:33 PM on August 9, 2023 [4 favorites]

I only scanned the article briefly. Did it mention the recent CBC podcast series on the Sherman murders: The No Good, Terribly Kind, Wonderful Lives and Tragic Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman. (Link goes to an RSS feed of the eight-episode series. Each episode is about 30-40 minutes long.)
posted by fuse theorem at 12:57 PM on August 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Would make sense if a cop or someone associated with cops was the perpetrator.
posted by Mitheral at 1:11 PM on August 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Presumably, the cops are being paid off, because why take money from only taxpayers when you can also take it from other people?
posted by Jon_Evil at 1:12 PM on August 9, 2023 [4 favorites]

It’s also useful to remember that except in the movies, “hitman“ isn’t a standalone career. I don’t have great evidence about how things work today, but a lot of old-time murders were done by paying a cop to pull the trigger and then smooth over the administrative abnormalities.
posted by Jon_Evil at 1:17 PM on August 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

Never thought of that!

That is an interesting perspective.But, you have to admit, dude is sketchy As Fortold

Could certainly be a cop.
posted by Windopaene at 1:24 PM on August 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

Could certainly be a cop.

It could be almost anyone because there is no real evidence beyond the two dead bodies. Someone dual-classing as a cop / hitman is a huge leap with no support. The son at least has motive and is suspected by one of his sisters, but again there is nothing substantive to point to anyone.
posted by Dark Messiah at 1:50 PM on August 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

I know. That is what makes it so Knives Out. I too want to finger Johnathan, but sketchy PR? guy-is also so interesting. And then all the other siblings, and etc. Glad I don't have this kind of inheritance
posted by Windopaene at 2:10 PM on August 9, 2023 [1 favorite]

→ Not only have the cops been useless on this case, but the original investigators have all since been promoted.

This is Toronto Police we're talking about, remember: To (Self) Serve & Protect (Our Own Asses). The one that only recently closed down the wet bar in HQ because the number of DUIs from officers was getting embarrassing. The one where the officer sons of the officer in charge of conduct and standards beat the shit out of a Black kid, and Conduct & Standards Dad may have interfered with the process. The one where officers investigating stolen whisky from a provincial liquor store were found to have taken the stolen goods home and hide the tracking devices. The one where the head of the police union calls out the very new mayor for lack of support to counter violence against police*. The one that gave up on traffic enforcement because it was too hard. The one that uses (much) more force against ethnic minorities. The one that … fuck it, you get the idea.

This Bloomberg article has none of the depth of the lengthy coverage the Star has given since the start: Barry and Honey Sherman Murders | The Stra [sic: they really did spell their own name incorrectly there]. Anyone following those articles would quickly come to the conclusion it would be easier to create a list of people who didn't want the Shermans dead.

I'm shocked — shocked — that the municipal police force whose clown car antics take up far too much of my property tax bill are unable to solve this case.

---
*: props to Olivia for not immediately replying with: "You're the assholes with all the guns. Figure it out."
posted by scruss at 4:56 PM on August 9, 2023 [6 favorites]

There seemed to be a lot of people getting a lot of money from Sherman, attracting some pretty shady types. A quarter of a billion dollars to D'Angelo! That's some impressive return on basic grifting. And then the odd case of his handpicked CEO who may have slept with a Teva employee to steal IP? This guy attracted a type, that's for sure.

But who had the motive? Absent some completely imagined story about a dramatic confrontation, there's no benefit to killing him for any these people. Maybe the kids? But they were getting plenty of money already.

If it were a hit man, you'd still have the question of who hired them. Cop-hit-man is like the opposite of Occam's Razor.
posted by mark k at 6:28 PM on August 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

I recently listened to the podcast mentioned above. It spends a lot more time on Winter, including his claim that Barry once asked him to hire a hitman for Honey, and on Barry's supposed temper and difficulties with his wife. It doesn't come anywhere near a conclusion either. File this under maddening mystery.
posted by blue shadows at 1:44 AM on August 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Canada is another country, but take a look at the Rampart scandal if you think big city cops aren’t up to a paltry few murders
posted by jamjam at 2:17 AM on August 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

Frankie D does seem like the kind of person that knowns actual mobsters AND would think that real life is like his crappy mob movies, and that cutting him off required that they be taught a "lesson."
posted by thecjm at 7:27 AM on August 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

"Frankie D" lol. "hey Frankie D, come sit down and youse and I can have a chat".

Fits...
posted by Windopaene at 4:23 PM on August 10, 2023 [1 favorite]