"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." - Chicago Gangster Ted Newberry. Rubbed out January 7, 1933

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Gopher it!

95 years ago today Owney Madden was sitting in a courtroom listening to a former bed partner, 19-year old Frieda Horner, give damning testimony in his murder trial for Patsy Doyle.

"I used to go around with Patsy Doyle until three days before he was shot. At that time I met Madden at a racket in Tammany Hall. I was with Madden for two nights after that. On the night Doyle was killed I was in a Tenth ave. lunchroom with the Madden crowd. I told them Doyle had said they were a bunch of bums."

They used Frieda to get Doyle on the phone and then headed over to a saloon to kill him.

Frieda went on to say that Madden had planned the murder for weeks. She also stated that she ran into her friend Margret Everdeane who was also privy to the murder and the latter had stated that Owney had told her that he would, "throw her in the river if she didn't stick with [him].

In a previous trial for one of Madden's gunmen Frieda lied to protect Owney. Why the change of heart? Since then she spoke with a priest and decided to come clean.

Will Frieda's confession have an effect on the trial's outcome? Will Owney Madden walk away a free man? Will Bob Hoskins ever play him in a movie? Tune in tomorrow, or possibly a next day to find out.

4 comments:

John DuMond said...

And the most important question of all: Will Frieda get a book deal and a reality show out of it?

Patrick Downey said...

A timely question. Turns out she would later hook up with Art Linkletter for his first radio show;
"Molls say the darnest things!"

Bridget McKenna said...

Frieda changed her mind about the Patsy Doyle shooting more often than she changed her knickers. I wonder why, if Owney actually killed Patsy Doyle, why it was necessary to frame him. God knows he did enough things to go to prison for, but this was his only stretch.

Patrick Downey said...

Thanks for commenting. I don't think he was framed. I think the jury believed he was responsible for the murder. He also did time in the early '30s for parole violation.