New York in the late 1950s was a place where "crazy in love" usually meant buying too many roses or calling three times a day. But for Burt Pugach, a high-flying Bronx ambulance chaser with a private plane and a penchant for nightclubs, it meant something much darker. Most people know the headline: the guy who blinded his girlfriend with lye and then, somehow, married her after he got out of prison.
It sounds like a horror movie plot. Or maybe a very twisted fairy tale, depending on who you ask.
But the reality of Burt Pugach and Linda Riss is way messier than the documentaries usually let on. It wasn't just a single moment of madness; it was a decades-long saga of obsession, manipulation, and a brand of loyalty that most of us can't even wrap our heads around. Honestly, if you saw this in a screenplay, you’d probably tell the writer to tone it down because nobody would believe it.
The Night Everything Changed in the Bronx
Let’s go back to June 15, 1959. Linda Riss was 22, beautiful, and finally moving on from a guy who had spent years lying to her. Burt had told her he was single. He wasn't. He had a wife, Francine, and a daughter with a disability. When Linda found out and tried to dump him—even getting engaged to another man named Larry Schwartz—Burt basically lost his mind.
He didn't just send angry letters. He hired three thugs.
They showed up at Linda’s apartment on Walton Avenue under the guise of delivering a gift. When she opened the door, one of them threw a container of lye directly into her face. The chemicals burned through her skin and scarred her eyes. She was left permanently blinded in one eye and with only minimal vision in the other.
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"If I can't have you, no one else will," Burt had told her. He meant it.
Fourteen Years of Letters from Attica
Burt went to prison, eventually serving 14 years, mostly in Attica. You’d think that would be the end of it. Linda would heal as best she could, and Burt would rot. But Burt was relentless. He wrote her thousands of letters. He begged, he pleaded, he swore he was the only man who could ever truly love "damaged merchandise"—a phrase Linda herself sadly started to believe.
It’s easy to judge Linda for what happened next. But think about the context of the early 70s. She was a blind woman in a world that wasn't exactly accessible. Her fiancé had left her shortly after the attack. She felt discarded.
When Burt got out in 1974, he didn't hide. He went on television. He proposed to her during a live interview. And in a move that shocked the entire world, Linda Riss said yes.
Why Linda Actually Married Her Attacker
People always ask "Why?" Was it Stockholm Syndrome? Was it the ultimate revenge—making him care for her for the rest of his life?
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In the 2007 documentary Crazy Love, Linda is pretty blunt about it. She wasn't some wide-eyed romantic. She was practical. She knew Burt had money (or at least the hustle to get it) and she knew he was obsessed with her. In her mind, she was taking the one person who was responsible for her condition and making him pay for it by being her lifelong caretaker.
They lived together in a messy, loud, argument-filled apartment in Queens for nearly 40 years. They were the ultimate "bickering old couple," except their backstory involved a bottle of acid and a 14-year prison stint.
The 1997 Trial: History Almost Repeats Itself
If you think Burt changed, think again. In 1997, the elderly Burt was back in court. Why? He was accused of threatening to "do a Linda" on a woman he was having a five-year affair with.
The mistress, Evangeline Borja, claimed he threatened to blind her when she tried to break things off. The parallels were chilling. But the weirdest part? Linda Riss Pugach walked into that courtroom, sat on the witness stand, and defended him. She called him a "naughty boy" but insisted he wasn't a criminal anymore.
He was acquitted. They walked out of the courthouse arm-in-arm.
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The Final Years and the $15 Million Twist
Linda died in 2013 from heart failure. Burt seemed devastated, sobbing to reporters that he didn't know how to go on. But Burt’s life had one last tabloid-worthy chapter.
Burt lived until 2020, reaching the age of 93. After he died, a massive legal battle broke out over his $15 million estate. It turns out, in his final years, he had cut out the charitable foundation he and Linda had planned and left everything to a new caregiver, Sheila Frawley. His friends claimed elder abuse and "undue influence," echoing the same themes of manipulation that defined his entire life.
What We Can Learn From the Pugach Saga
The story of Burt Pugach and Linda Riss isn't a romance. It’s a case study in the complexities of human trauma and the strange ways people find to survive.
- Obsession isn't love: Burt’s "love" was a form of property ownership.
- The Power of Narrative: They both spent decades rewriting their story into a "tough-luck romance" to cope with the horror of what happened.
- Systemic Failure: The NYPD failed to protect Linda in 1959 despite her reporting Burt's threats multiple times before the attack.
If you’re interested in the darker side of New York history, the best thing you can do is watch the documentary Crazy Love. It features real footage of the couple and is probably the most honest look at their toxic dynamic you’ll ever find. Just don't go into it expecting a happy ending. It's a tragedy that just happened to last for sixty years.