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

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

After Dinner Smoked

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It was about 6 o’clock in the evening of August 4, 1921 when New York City gangster Frank Lorella finished a sandwich and coffee at a Lower East Side food stand and walked to his car. Sliding into the driver's seat he lit a cigarette and released the break in preparation to pull out into traffic. Before he had a chance get moving, a “squat, swarthy man” appeared and opened fire with a .25 automatic pistol. The first shot missed Lorella, who ducked down in the front seat. At the sound of the gunfire pandemonium broke out on the street. The gunman, ignoring the mayhem, walked up to the car and fired four more times hitting Lorella in the throat, arm, side and heart, killing him. His mission complete, the killer escaped through a nearby tenement.

According to his police record, Lorella did a ten-month stretch starting on October10, 1910 and got another two years on July 30, 1913. He also did three years in New Jersey for burglary. He was last in police custody the previous April 16, when he was arrested for carrying a gun.

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Frank Lorella


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