Episode 663: Count Dante Part II - The Dojo War of 1970

Count Dante escalated his self-made myth as Chicago's "deadliest man alive" through comic book ads, mail-order fighting pamphlets, and branded merchandise sold via a nun-run business. By the late 1960s, he paired with high school acquaintance Carrie Anders, rebranded as the "Dragon Lady," a Playboy Bunny turned dojo assistant despite limited karate skills. Together, they performed martial arts shows, but Dante's tournaments faltered: a 1967 bull-fighting spectacle shut down by police before his student Arthur Rapkin could face the animal, and a 1968 event hyped with false Muhammad Ali rumors ended in low turnout, prompting Rapkin to stage a theft of $9,000 in ticket money for Dante to dodge creditors.

Failed Tournaments and Personal Violence

Dante's events highlighted his reckless "Dante system"—full-contact fighting targeting eyes, throat, and testicles. The bull fight mimicked Japanese master Sosai Oyama but used a gentle Brahmin bull paraded on a truck, canceled for animal welfare. Financial woes strained his inheritance, leading to abuse of Anders; he beat her after the 1968 flop, gave her a black eye, stalked her post-breakup, and threatened her father to force breakfast. These incidents revealed Dante's bullying under a comic-book anti-hero persona modeled after Anton LaVey.