The Doctor, the Hitman, and the Motorcycle Gang: The True Story of One of New Jersey's Most Notorious Murder for Hire Plots

by Annie McCormick

Overview

He had a license to prescribe and a motive to kill.

A prominent New Jersey doctor and members of a notorious outlaw motorcycle gang transform the doctor's office into a drug ring pumping thousands of highly addictive opioid pain pills onto the streets in exchange for cash. Everything was going smoothly until one person discovered their plan: the doctor's wife. When she threatened to divorce him, the doctor's unholy alliance with his partners in crime turned deadly and the doctor hired a hitman to kill her.

The Doctor, The Hitman, and The Motorcycle Gang is the true story of the murder of April Kauffman, a beloved and vivacious local radio personality and veterans advocate who was found shot to death in the bedroom of her home in Linwood, the affluent town just outside Atlantic City, New Jersey, in May of 2012. In the months leading up to her death, she had uncovered a tangled web of deceit surrounding her husband. She feared he was trying to kill her and that he may harm her family.

Her daughter, Kim Pack, never doubted her stepfather Dr. James Kauffman was responsible somehow. Reporter Annie McCormick met Kim Pack on the first anniversary of Kim's mother's murder. Over the next five years, McCormick tracked the case even as few clues emerged. She continued to gather information, sorting through gossip, rumors and facts to uncover the doctor's web of lies.

Dr. Kauffman shunned the media and his stepdaughter, moving on with his life in the very same town. Meanwhile, investigators uncovered how the doctor worked with the outlaw motorcycle gang, the Pagans, to run a prescription pill mill out of his New Jersey Office. More illegal deeds would catch the attention of The FBI and DEA. The twists and turns of Dr. Kauffman's lies and schemes would leave Kim Pack, her tight-knit New Jersey community, and even investigators shocked.

The murder case, which has received national attention, was the subject of a 20/20 episode on ABC in the spring of 2018. McCormick details the investigation that dragged on for years until investigators caught an unexpected break that sparked a string of arrests including the arrest of the doctor and several former members of The Pagans. Nearly six years later, authorities charged her husband, Dr. James Kauffman, with her murder. In 2018, a jury convicted a former leader of the Pagans Motorcycle Club with helping to carry out the murder. McCormick includes never before seen or heard details from the investigation through her years of covering the case and she documents the relentless search for justice by April's family, friends, and her daughter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781680980295
Publisher:	Camino Books, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,050,077
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Annie McCormick is an award-winning journalist based in Philadelphia, PA. Since 2012, Annie has worked as a general assignment reporter for ABC affiliate 6ABC Action News.

She has extensively covered crime in the Philadelphia region for close to a decade. A New Jersey native, Annie began her career as a photojournalist during an internship in The White House. From there, she launched her career working for multiple newspapers and wire services.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Premonitions 1

Chapter 2 Mom's Dead 7

Chapter 3 Two Woodstock 10

Chapter 4 The Mad Bomber and the Blond Bombshell 12

Chapter 5 May 10, 2012 20

Chapter 6 Mother's Day 24

Chapter 7 Pagan Brothers 30

Chapter 8 Harry Johnson and the Hitman 40

Chapter 9 Momentum 49

Chapter 10 Standstill 55

Chapter 11 Chutzpah 61

Chapter 12 The D'Arcy Brothers 70

Chapter 13 Never Trust A Pagan 79

Chapter 14 New Sheriff in Town 86

Chapter 15 The Beginning of the End 93

Chapter 16 All I Want for Christmas 102

Chapter 17 Flipping on Freddy 106

Chapter 18 The Wire 111

Chapter 19 November 115

Chapter 20 Killing Kauffman 123

Chapter 21 Who Dat 128

Chapter 22 Round-Up 135

Chapter 23 Bonfire of the Vanities 144

Chapter 24 Doa 149

Chapter 25 House of Cards 152

Chapter 26 The Trial 158

Chapter 27 Ready for Freddy 166

Epilogue 171

Coda 173

Acknowledgments 175