Go Fish

Twenty-four-year old Chicago hoodlum Richard Fishman was suspected in three murders, including that of another small timer named Herman Horwitz.

Around the beginning of November 1931 Fishman entered a cigar store and made his way to the gambling parlor located in the rear. Once inside, he stated to all there, "From now on, I'm the boss around here." To drive the point home he pulled out his pistol and fired three shots into the floor.

A week later on November 7, Fishman was in the parlor shooting dice with another guy when a "tall, heavy set man." walked in and did some shooting of his own. When the smoke cleared, a gambler was wounded but Fishman was dead. He was no longer boss around there.

Richard Fishman

Don't Bank On It

 

It was supposed to be an easy job; run into the Kraft Bank located in Menomonie, Wisconsin, make everyone lie on the floor, grab the money and run. Driving the getaway car was Frank Webber, going inside were veteran bank robbers Charles Harmon, Francis Keating and Tommy Holden. The date of execution- October 20, 1931.

As planned, Webber parked the car and his three confederates alighted and entered the bank. The drew their guns and demanded money. Above the main floor was a guard who had been ordered not to do any shooting in the event of a robbery. After grabbing less than $10,000 in cash, one of the robbers demanded more money. The bank president, Sam Kraft, declared there was no more. Unsatisfied with the answer, one of the bandits fired into him.

Meantime the guard set off the alarm and headed to the roof of the bank with a rifle. Hearing this, Webber pulled the car up to the bank and stepped out with a Thompson machine-gun and began spraying the streets to ward off any would be heroes. The bandits grabbed a cashier, James Kraft, one of the bank president's sons, and another woman to use as human shields.

Running to the car the woman fell and they left her there, the cashier was pushed into the car. The desired effect of having a human shield didn't work. The guard and various towns people opened fire on the car as it drove away.

About six miles out of town, the posse found the dead bodies of Frankie Webber and James Kraft. Webber had been hit in the head by a vigilante's bullet. It was believed that the bandits had killed Kraft in retaliation. The following day, the body of Charles Harmon was found, he too, it was assumed, hit by bullets while fleeing.

Frankie Webber        Charles Harmon

 

Northwest Passage

Matt Kolb was described as the Czar of crime on Chicago's northwest side and the northwest portion of Cook County. He grew to prominence in 1927 when his former business associate, Charles Graydon, became sheriff. As the sheriff's man, he was able to collect tribute and dole out favors. After Jack Zuta was shot to pieces in 1930, amongst his records were notations regarding payments made to Kolb.

One Capone biographer states that Kolb's enterprise was basically a subsidiary of Capone's organization. Another states that he was an independent whom Capone told to get out and stay out or else. Judging by the description of his murder it appears that he didn't fear his killers.

On October 18, 1931, the day after Capone was sentenced to prison, two men entered Kolb's resort, the Club Morton, located in Morton Grove. They brushed by the doorman stating that they "wanted to see Matt." Kolb was stationed near the dance floor by a door. They approached him and one of the guys said, "Hello Matt." and extended his hand. Kolb shook hands with him. The man said something which made Kolb chuckle and lean in closer. As this happened the other guy pulled out a pistol and shot Kolb a number of times in the head.

Kolb fell to the floor and the men started to leave. After a few steps the gunman said, "I'd better make sure." and went back and pumped another shot into Kolb. The two men walked out. Witnesses told police that the room was too dark and that they couldn't identify the men.

Matt Kolb

Drainage Trouble

James Quigley was a southside saloon keeper who was said to be a one-time member of Spike O'Donnell's gang. He had recently splintered off and formed his own gang. This move put the 45-year old former railroad man at odds with both O'Donnell as well as the Saltis-McErlane gang. It was believed that Quigley had killed McErlane's chauffer George Fitzgerald.

On October 12, 1931 Quigley was found floating in a drainage canal about thirty miles south of Chicago in the city of Lockport with a bullet in his head. The murder was credited to McErlane.

James Quigley

Train In Vain

Back in 1931 the NY Central Railroad had an elevated train running up Park Avenue. On the evening of September 24, as the train was passing between 132nd and 133rd Streets, a neighborhood resident saw a man fall from the passing locomotive. (another witness stated the body was tossed out of an auto) At first it was considered a freak accident that somebody fell from the train. During the autopsy however, it was discovered that the man had been shot behind the left ear with the bullet exiting his right cheek. It was the first gangster one-way train ride.

Finger prints determined that the dead man was ex-convict David Mazzer who had an extensive police record dating back to 1912 when he was sent to Sing Sing on a seven year rap for robbery. This was followed by numerous arrests and a few more stints in Sing Sing. He was last in police custody on October 11, 1930 when he was shot and wounded trying to escape the NYPD who had picked him on behalf of the Philadelphia police after he jumped bail in that City following his capture after cracking a safe. After recovering, he managed to beat the rap in Philly but was wanted in New Jersey at the time of his death.

David Mazzer

Jersey Justice

September 22, 1931 saw the demise of Philadelphia gangster Joseph "Big Lally" Wlaigovitz. Big Lally was known as bandit who robbed gambling joints and disorderly houses in New Jersey. In addition to about twenty arrests, he had tenuous ties to gang boss Mickey Duffy who was bumped off less than a month earlier in Atlantic City.

One of the many theories regarding his murder was that he was killed for trying to muscle in on some of Duffy's rackets. Whatever the reason, the Big Lally was sitting in the passenger seat of car when, seemingly, two gunman fired a number of shots into the back and side of his head. Afterwards he was dumped in ditch on the outskirts of Bridgeport, New Jersey.

Joseph "Big Lally" Wlaigovitz

The Bell Tolls No More

Four days after Meyer Shapiro was rubbed out. Another Brownsville gangster, Benjamin "the Bell" Meyerson was gunned down in Brooklyn. Though Meyerson was a known associate of the Shapiro brothers, most newspapers speculated that he was was probably killed by associates of a gambler named Max "Coco" Prince, who was shot the previous year. Meyerson was out on bail awaiting a hearing. The New York Daily News however, stated his murder was a result of those who bumped of Shapiro simply cleaning house.

Whatever the reason, Meyerson got his on September 21, 1931, when, after spending a portion of Yom Kippur praying in a synagogue, he agreed to meet a woman on a Brownsville street. As they walked a car pulled up and two men jumped out. Running up to the couple the opened fire and two bullets struck Meyerson in the head. Mortally wounded, the gangster staggered a few steps and collapsed. The woman he was walking with disappeared in the crowd as the gunmen escaped.

Benjamin the Bell Meyerson

Brothers Reunited

A couple months after knocking off his brother Irving in the family foyer, the Combination finally caught up with Meyer Shapiro. Following his brother's demise, Meyer moved into Manhattan for safety. He ventured back into Brooklyn to see a guy called Juey about some weapons. Unfortunately for Meyer, Juey  was loyal to Abe Reles and the Combination, who had informed him that if he saw came across Shapiro he was to shoot on sight.

In the early hours of September 17, 1931, Meyer and Juey were strolling along a Brooklyn street talking business when the latter nonchalantly fell a few steps behind. Producing a pistol, he fired shot into the back of Meyer's head. The job done, Juey  left and returned in truck. He loaded Meyer's body into it and transported it to lower Manhattan where he dumped it in a cellar. 

Meyer Shapiro

Purple Reign

What remained of the gang known as the Little Jewish Navy (so called because they sailed their boozein from Canada), was sunk on September 16, 1931 in Detroit. The members were former Chicago hoodlums named Isadore Sutker (called Joe in the press), Herman "Hymie" Paul, and Joe Lebovitz. In the mid Twenties they had left Chicago for health reasons and hooked up with some Purple Gang members in their bootlegging enterprise. By 1931 they had opened up a bookmaking operation in the Motor City as well as continuing to bring in booze. Problem was, they didn't respect any of the territories set up by the Purple Gang and other Italian gangsters. 

By the late summer of 1931 it was decided that they had to go. A meeting was set up under the pretense to discuss business. A furnished apartment was rented in the Collingwood Manor apartments at the beginning of September. Nobody moved in. The only trace that somebody was there was can of green paint. Using a mutual friend as an intermediary, Sutker, Paul and Lebovitz, were lured to apartment 211, along with the intermediary. After a few moments one of the Purples left, supposedly to make a phone call, in actuality he went to the alley and started the car. He revved the engine and blew the horn. The signal. At the sound, the remaining three Purples drew their guns and shot down the trio of gangsters in what became known as the Collingwood Massacre.

Being a friend of the Purples, the intermediary was allowed to escape with the gunmen. A decision that cost the murderers over thirty years in prison because he was arrested and his testimony was used to put them away.

Oh, and the green paint, that was there so the gunmen had a place to ditch their guns to obliterate fingerprints.  

For more on this and the Purple Gang check out:

Part Of The Purge?

September 12, 1931 saw the murder of Italian gangster Giuseppi Mannino or Manino depending on which paper told the story. Mannino was arrested in 1918 for a barrel murder but acquitted. This was followed for an arrest in 1920 for stealing alcohol for which he received a suspended sentence.

Mannino had just parked his car on a Brooklyn street and exited the auto along with two cohorts. As they walked, the two men fell behind Mannino and, pulling out pistols, fired a number of times into his back. Mannino staggered up to the nearest building and collapsed in the hallway. The two gunmen ran up and finished him off before escaping.

The Police Inspector suggested that the murder may have been related to the killing of Salvatore Maranzano the day before. The following day the New York Daily News reported that Mannino was the former partner of mob boss Giuseppi "the Clutching Hand" Piraino, who was bumped off the previous year. The same article stated that Mannino was killed by Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who happened to be the architect of Maranzano's demise as well.

Giuseppe Mannino

Stay Out Or Else

Along with his brother in-law Ollie Hipes, 22-year William Fleming was St. Louis bootlegger who started encroaching into new territory. According to his mother, who knew he was bootlegging, he received a call in the middle of August warning him to stay out of the southern part of the county. Mrs. Fleming went on to say that she overheard her son, Ollie and their partner William Shannon discussing the call and saying that it came from Sicilians. They ignored the warning.

Late in the morning of August 30, 1931 Hipes picked up Fleming in his roadster and then they picked up Shannon. According to Hipes, while driving, he heard an odd noise that seemed to be coming from his car tires. He pulled over to investigate. As he got out to inspect the front tires, Fleming and Shannon got out to look at the rear tires. While looking at the tires he heard a gun shot, he turned, ran and dived in a ditch. In that few moments he saw a black sedan behind his car. While face down in the ditch, he heard more gunfire. It is assumed that one gunman fired a shotgun while another opened up with a Thompson. Hipes stayed down until the sedan pulled away.

Clamoring out of the ditch he piled his partners into the car and drove them to the hospital. Fleming was already dead having been shot six times in the chest and taken thirty-five shotgun slugs to a leg. Shannon also caught his fair share of lead but survived. 

William Fleming

Hey Mickey

It was a juster after noon on August 29, 1933 and Philadelphia/South Jersey crime boss Mickey Duffy was in Atlantic City watching a sand lot baseball game near the home of his lawyer Arthur Werblun. Earlier that day the two had visited a congressman to discuss a Federal indictment hanging over Duffy's head. After the meeting they went to Werblun's home and they stopped to watch the kids play ball in a nearby lot. At one point while enjoying the game Duffy said to his lawyer, "I feel fine Arthur, and I don't think I got an enemy in world." 

Shortly after one p.m. Duffy bid farewell to his lawyer and returned to his thousand dollar a week suite at the Ambassador Hotel where he'd been staying for about three weeks. Once there, he called room service, ordering lunch for three. The waiter brought up the food and saw Duffy lying on his bed sans shirt and shoes. He didn't see the other two men whom he brought the meals up for. At 3:25 p.m. a chambermaid near Duffy's suite heard three loud reports and reported them to the house detective. The detective approached Duffy's room and noticed the door ajar. Entering, he saw Duffy lying on his right side, as if sleeping. Both his hands were tucked under his cheek. Had it not been for the three bullet holes in his head he would have assumed the beer baron was sleeping. 

Authorities believed that after lunching with his two cohorts, Duffy laid down for a nap and his lunch guests let themselves back into the suite after waiting for the gang leader to doze off and gave him the works.

 

Mickey Duffy

Double Play

It was August 18, 1931 and Joe Cigna and Anthony Justiano stood among eight other guys on a corner in New York City's Little Italy. As the men conversed, four other men approached the group and drew pistols. Cigna and Justiano seemed to realize that they were on the spot because they both took off running followed by the gunmen who unleashed a barrage of gunfire.

Justiano tried for a tenement but dropped dead in the doorway while his partner dropped dead in front of another building. Police said that the dead men were involved in both bootlegging and narcotics and that the killers may have been imported from Buffalo, NY where both men had operated in the past.

      Joe Cigna             Anthony Justiano

Herman's Dead

Early in the day of August 16, 1931, 38-year-old Herman Horowitz, described as a minor hoodlum, sat in his car on Chicago's North Side chatting with a "woman in green", who stood at his door. After conversing for about fifteen minutes, the woman walked away. After the woman left two men approached the car and drew revolvers. Horowitz ducked the best he could but the men fired six shots, which proved fatal, into his body and took off.

Police felt that the "woman in green" had spotted Horowitz for the gunmen. The dead man followed his brother Benjamin and his friend Frank Cawley to an early grave. In addition to two arrests for robbery, Horowitz was also known as a hi-jacker.

Herman Horowitz

The Tie That Binds

Patrolman John McGill was walking his Long Island City beat in Queens, New York when he passed a cleaning and dying business at about six-fifteen in the morning. As he passed he noticed what appeared to be large package of laundry. When he passed the establishment forty-five minutes earlier it wasn't there. Assuming that it was a package for the cleaning business, he walked up to investigate. Instead of laundry he found the trussed up body of Angelo Marino.

Crowds gather where Marino's body was found

Police claimed that Marino, 38, with an arrest in 1928 for felonious assault, was a small time racketeer from Manhattan's East Side. Marino had been bound up with clothesline and death was due to a rope wrapped around the victim's neck. Authorities believed that the murder was committed in Manhattan and then the corpse was driven over the bridge and dumped.

Angelo Marino

They Never Forget

In December 1930, Philadelphia and South Jersey gangster Tony Masino was released from Eastern Penitentiary after serving a sentence for carrying concealed weapons. Upon leaving he asked for a police escort. "If somebody doesn't take me home, I'll never make it alive," he told them. Why rivals wanted him dead was never ascertained.

Masino was a former boxer who became a member of Philly/South Jersey gangster Danny Day's gang. Among other things, they specialized in shaking down legitimate businesses. Masino garnered a bit of media attention, along with his boss, in 1929 when both survived a machine-gun attempt on their lives. Two other gangsters and a young woman were killed.

Masino was keeping clear of Philadelphia in the months following his release, and one report had him involved in some gambling houses in Camden, New Jersey. One can only avoid one's enemies for so long however. It was nearing six-thirty in the evening of July 29, 1931 when two farmers came upon his body on the outskirts of Hammonton, New Jersey. His body was still warm, though perforated with about sixteen shots. Some reports say he was machine-gunned others shotgunned. Regardless the guns used, the desired effect was obtained.

Tony Masino

Chicago Ride Job

In the early hours of July 15, 1931, Milton Winfield sat in his Chicago home. He heard a series of shots and ran to the window. Looking out, he saw two men jump from a sedan and the driver slumped over the wheel.

Another sedan pulled up and a guy climbed out, went over, and pushed the slumped body of the driver off to the side. Perhaps he was just making sure of the job. The men then drove away.

The police were summoned and the dead man turned out to be Edgar Smith, body guard of Al Capone confederate Danny Stanton. Both Smith and Stanton had been arrested the previous year when ballistic test proved that a gun found in their car was used in the murder of Jack Zuta.

At the time of Smith's murder, Stanton was at war with another South Side of Chicago gang headed by James Quigley. It was also hypothesized that friends of Zuta pumped the three bullets into the back of Smith's head.

Edgar Smith

House Call

As the Roaring Twenties came to a close, brothers Meyer and Irving Shapiro were the top underworld dogs in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. Together they controlled the slot machines and other nefarious activities in their bailiwick. Irving's main concern was floating crap games. One of their goons was a young thug named Abe Reles, who decided that since he was taking all the chances that could find him in jail or the cemetery he was entitled to a bigger slice of the pie. The Shapiros saw it differently and war broke out out.

Reles and his band shot it out with the Shapiro gang for about year, each side losing members, Finally on July 11, 1931, Reles though that he had both Shapiros in his sites. He knew that they  were both at the Democratic Social club and so he, Happy Maione, Dasher Abbandando and Vito Gurino waited outside in order to gun them down. 

As the Shapiros exited, another group of men followed them out so Reles called off the assassination. Assuming that they were going to head to the family home, Reles and company drove there and beat them home. The reason being was that Meyer wanted to go to the turkish baths so was dropped off. Irving was going to join him but had their driver, Smokey Epstein, take him home first for a change of clothes.

While this was taking place Reles and his confederates entered the foyer of the Shapiro house and removed the light bulb and waited. They heard the car pull and idle as Irving jumped out and ran up to the house. Entering the dark foyer he could nothing. His enemies pulled their triggers and two bullets ripped into Irving's face, spinning him around, the gunmen stayed long enough to empty their guns in the prostrate hoodlum's back. It was one Shapiro down, one to go.

Irving Shapiro

Sorry Charlie

Charles Entratta was a former associate of Jack "Legs" Diamond with dealings go back to the 1920s. He was with Diamond in the Hotsy-Totsy club when the guns went off  in the summer of 1929 leaving gangland fellows, William Cassidy and Simon Walker dead.

Like Diamond, Entratta disappeared while the homicide detectives searched in vain for them. Eventually arrested in Chicago, Entratta was sent back to New York City to face a murder trial. He beat the rap, which allowed Diamond to come out of hiding and to be himself, exonerated.  Since none of the boys helped Entratta during his troubles, his relationship with Diamond soured.

Fast forward to the summer of 1931. In addition to a box factory and dress manufacturing plant, Entratta is part owner of Winkenfeld Bottling Company in Brooklyn. Using his underworld connections, it is assumed that Entratta was bottling beer and sales skyrocketed. Though lucrative, his enterprise was most unwelcome by the local beer barons and on July 6, of that year he was put out of business; permanently.

Moments after arriving at the bottling office in his chauffeured sedan, Entratta was gunned down by three men while talking to his partner. His partner was physically unharmed...economically? Sales probably plummeted.

Charles Entratta

A Gopher Gets it

May 9, 1929 saw the demise of New York City gangster Vincent Gaffney. Born in 1897, the racketeer was a member of the infamous Gopher gang during his youth. His record dated back to 1914 with arrests for burglary and assault. He gained some fame in 1918 when he murdered another hoodlum named Charles "Chick" Tucker.

Gaffney was sentenced to 18 years but managed to escape from the Tombs prison and remain free for about four months before being picked up in New Jersey. After serving eleven years, Gaffney was released in 1929 and married his girl friend who had waited for him.

The Gaffneys moved to Queens where the self proclaimed rehabilitated gangster open a few "cordial" shops, which were speakeasies. He came to the westside of Manhattan regularly where it was said that he wanted to form a new Gopher gang and "take the whole west side over." The west side was currently controlled by another former Gopher named Owney Madden.

Whether it was Madden or friends of Chick Tucker or someone else entirely, Gaffney went out in an ugly way. He had been stabbed upwards of forty times. The palms of his hands were sliced to ribbons so he had attempted to ward off the blows. After he was dead (or perhaps dying) his body was run over numerous times by the killers' auto. To make it worse, there was no tire on the rim that had gone over him, slicing and smashing him up even worse.

Vincent Gaffney