Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Eighty-years ago today, a mere week after the bloodbath in the Bronx where some of his gang was decimated [see Feb. 1], the New York City underworld ridded itself of Vince "the Mick" Coll, or "Irish" as his contemporaries also called him (It was the press that dubbed him Mad Dog.) after he and an associate entered a drug store on Manhattan's W. 23rd Street. The victim of a double cross, Irish entered a phone booth to make a prearranged call to underworld powerhouse Owney Madden (the Englishman, ok he was of Irish descent but he was born in England) while his pal took a seat at the counter. While the Mad Dog and Englishman were conversing a car containing a hit squad pulled up front and gunmen got out and covered the store's door. Coll's pal was allowed to leave as a machine-gun toting hoodlum made his way back to the phonebooths. Finding the booth containing Coll, the gunman lined himself up and blasted the Mick into gangster history.