On the Outskirts of Town

On this date in 1932 Chicago hoodlum Otto Fernick, alias Dutch Hill, was found dead in his car on the outskirts of Chicago in the town of Westchester. He was the former chauffeur of recently deceased boss for the Central Teamster and Chauffers union, Timothy Lynch. Police felt that Fernick was bumped off because he started running beer on Chicago's northwest side. Detectives however, felt he was bumped off for his involvement in the union. His record dated back to 1903 when he was arrested for being a pick pocket.

Otto Fernick aka Dutch Hll

Ohio State v Michigan

On this date in 1932, a railroad man was walking near the Dixie Highway in Michigan, about a mile and half over the Ohio border when he came upon the body of Toledo gangster, Joseph Lahey. The bootlegger was lying face up with his hands across his chest. He had been shot three times in the head and once in the neck, with a .45. 

Police said that, three days previous, he had hijacked a liquor truck from Cleveland en-route to Toledo. He had been on the spot for a while having dodged two attempts the the previous May. One of which took the life of a confederate named Aaron Harris.

The following year, the Detroit Free Press stated that Lahey was bumped off by Detroit mobster Yonnie Licavoli. Lahey had a total of twelve arrests.

Jimmy Lahey

Rumble (seat) In Harlem

On this date in 1932, two dead gangsters were found stuffed in rumble seat on 114th Street in West Harlem. According to the Daily News, the gangsters, Wilfred "Wolfy" Burke and Augie Marino, were members of Vincent Coll's gang and wiped out as Coll's enemies finished cleaning out the Mad Dog's confederates.

Burke, 34, had been shot six times. Marino, 33. a total of seven. Both men were accused of shaking down Harlem speakeasies. Supposedly they targeted those that did business with Dutch Schultz or Ciro Terranova's gang. This in of itself, would be enough for a death warrant regardless if they were members of Coll's gang or not.

    

Burke

  

Marino

The car they were found in belonged to a West Harlem speakeasy owner and beer peddler named Stephen Conover who had been missing for a week.

Burke and Marino on their last ride in a rumble seat

Another Rat Bites The Dust

In the early hours of February 13, 1924 in St. Louis, Egan's Rats gang member Eddie Linehan, age 22, was found in a ditch wrapped in a car blanket. To say that he had been merely bumped off would be an under statement. There was some anger behind the murder. Nineteen bullet holes were found in him, fired from all directions. He had one bullet between the eyes,  another had blown away his right eye. He took one to the adam's apple. Three to the back of his head, a straight line of six between his shoulder blades (perhaps a blast from a Tommy gun?) and various other wounds all over his body,

He was do in court later that day along with a confederate named Ray Renard for a mail robbery. Earlier the previous day, he and Renard were captured by police after a chase that started because the gangsters were speeding. Linehan and Renard told them that they were out rounding up witnesses for their trial and asked to be released so they wouldn't miss their case. The police let them go. After that the police found out that Linehan went to gang leader Dinty Colbeck's cabaret during the evening. After that they don't know what happened. Colbeck couldn't or wouldn't shed any light on the subject during questioning.

At about 2:20 am police found Linehan's body and figured he'd been dead about an hour. It was speculated that Linehan was bumped off because the Rats didn't want him to make it to court. Perhaps Linehan made some threats if Colbeck didn't somehow come to his rescue and so the gang took care of him. Another thought was that a few days before the murder, a St. Louis cop was gunned down in front of a speakeasy. He had been shot in the neck and then, when he was prostrate, the killer fired two more shots through his head. Supposedly, Linehane was known as a "cop hater" ever since he'd been shot by a one a few years earlier. However Egan's Rats had an unwritten law that gangsters weren't to shoot cops. The theory arose that Linehan was the guy who murdered the officer and so met gang justice.

Eddie Linehan

Slot Machines Don't Pay Out

Newark, New Jersey - The evening of October 27, 1930 found Joseph Hamley, a slot machine racketeer in a nervous state. He had recently been expanding his slot machine business in Northern New Jersey. Supposedly he had the backing of New York City gangster Jack Legs Diamond.

Word on the street was that Hamley was a former slot machine repairman who talked himself into being Legs' New Jersey slot guy. Supposedly another Legs man, Abe Figura, was Legs' liaison with Hamley. Things were fine until the evening of October 11 when Figura was on his way to Jersey to meet with Hamley but wound up going for a ride; a one-way ride that is. His body was found the next day. The day Figura was found was the same day that Legs Diamond was shot down in his room at the Hotel Monticello. He lived.

Shortly after the two shootings Hamley received a note which read, "You are next on the spot Windy". Windy being his nickname. At around 8 pm on the 27th Hamley's brother visited him at his room at the Newark's Elk Club where the twenty-seven year old told him had a date that night. After visiting with his brother he went to his girl's house. He was nervous and told her that he expected to get bumped off. He left her place around 10 pm. Three hours later Hamley was found near Milburn, New Jersey with, depending which paper you read, either two or six bullets in him. All papers agreed on the fact that a number of them were through the head.

Body of Joseph Hamley

Sugar Not So Sweet

Sam Dalaly was the nineteen year old driver for Chicago's 42 gang. His bullet riddled body was found on a roadside on this date back in 1932. Police determined that Dalaly was bumped off for his part in the hijacking of a sugar truck that was enroute from Indiana to a still.

Police stated that Dalaly was supposed to drive the sugar to a specific location but along the way, he stopped and handed a some of the sugar over to confederates. Police theorized that Dalaly was either bumped off by those who orchestrated the hijacking and found out he held out some of the sugar or was knocked off by the concern that owned the sugar truck that got hijacked.

Sam Dalaly

Curse of the Link?

James Clarke was a gangster from the West Side of Manhattan. He mainly dabbled in robberies and burglaries and did a few years at Sing Sing in the early Twenties. He gained some notoriety in 1927 when he managed to beat a rap regarding the hijacking of truck containing $50,000 worth of aspirin.

He gained a bit more notoriety a year later when he testified on behalf of a gunman named Jimmy "the Gin" Russell who was charged with murdering a West Side gangster, Patrick "the Link" Mitchell, who reportedly hijacked booze from the wrong people.

Clarke got his on this date in 1930. He was hanging out in front of a drug store at the northwest corner of 29th Street and Eighth Avneue, talking with someone. He entered the shop to borrow a pack of cigarettes as he had a bet with the person he was speaking with to how many times the letter "E" was printed on the package.  He returned the package to the proprietor and chatted with him and his daughter for a few minutes. Outside a taxi pulled up and guy jumped out. As Clarke exited the building the man from the cab walked up and placed a gun to Clarke's temple and pulled the trigger. The blast sent Clarke flying through the stores front window. As a crowd gathered the gunman made a getaway.

Babe, they got you, Babe

Martin "Babe" Mullaney was a beer runner in the employ of Chicago bootlegger Joseph "Red" Bolton. Police said that he had decided to go into business for himself and was trying to line up customers. That may be the reason he was bumped off on this date back in 1930.

At approximately 3:00 AM, Mullaney came stumbling into the lobby of the Alto Hotel where he lived. He was noticeably intoxicated and swaggered to his room. A few minutes later two guys entered the Alto and told the night clerk that they were friends of Mullaney and went up stairs.

A short time later, numerous other hotel guest were waken up by shots. The manager entered Mullaney's room and found everything in disarray. Looking into the closet he found Mullaney's body which had been propped up inside the closet. It was noted that the dead man was wearing a deputy sheriff's badge so perhaps he was shaking down other racketeers and was found out.

Babe Mullaney

Baby Daddy

Ninety-one  years ago today a sedan pulled over on a lonely road in the Chicago suburb of Homewood and a body was pulled from the car. In addition to five bullets in the back of the head, the man had been severely beaten; his nose, jaw and right arm had all been fractured. Before leaving, the killers doused the body in alcohol and set a match to it.

There wasn't any identification on the dead man but there was picture of a baby. With photo in hand, a cop went through Chicago's Italian west side trying to find anyone who might recognized the baby.  A woman did and directed the cop to Maria Adragna. Maria accompanied the cop to the morgue and identified the dead man as her husband Charles Adragna. She told police that her husband had been a bootlegger. According to the Maria, Charles had been friends with Diamond Joe Esposito, who had been bumped off himself a short time before, as well as Samoots Amatuna, another gangster who went to his final reward. Mrs. Adragna also said that she had her husband arrested a week earlier on March 24, because he beat her and threatened to kill her. Police didn't rule out that friends of Maria may have killed her husband.

California dreaming

In 1926, twenty-seven year old Dominic Di Ciolla headed from Chicago to L.A. more than two thousand miles all the way. Whether or not he got his kicks on Route 66 or not is unknown but the former Windy City bad man was attempting to get his piece of Los Angeles bootlegging pie. An ambition that cost him his life; his body was found on this date back in 1931.

Di Ciolla, according to law enforcement, sought to be the criminal king of Los Angeles's Italian colony. He was arrested numerous times on "liquor charges" and twice on suspicion of murder. Reconstructing his death, police believe that he was lured to a remote road about five miles outside of Van Nuys. He put his car in park, got out and crossed the street to a waiting car. As he approached the other car he took off one of his gloves, probably to shake someone's hand. Instead of a friendly handshake however he was greeted with a blast from a shotgun that took off a chunk of his head.

Di Ciolla's killers drove off and left him in the road where he was found in the morning. The head lights of his car still burning.

Dominic Di Ciolla

Sam's (Swan) Song

Sam Monastero took precautions. He wasn't naive. His brother was a Pittsburgh Mafia boss who was gunned down. He knew the life, so he took measures to protect himself. His coupe was bullet proof and the glass shatterproof. There was a shot gun strapped to the inside door in case some enemies pulled up along side him. But none of these safeguards are effective when your killers don't come at you on the road, so Sam met a gangsters fate on this date back in 1930.

A witness stated that Sam's car sped his own and a short time later the driver saw two kids flagging him down, and the coupe in a ditch. The rear compartment was on the fire and the driver doused the flames and went to check on Sam who he considered to be an unconscious drunk. Turns out that Sam had been garroted, either in his car, or elsewhere, and his body transferred to the car. Either way before he could be delivered to his final resting spot the driver of coupe crashed and got away unseen.

Sam Monastero

It's the Big Sleep for the Head of the Pillow Gang

Carmelo Fresina was a St. Louis gang leader involved in bootlegging and extortion. He was looking at some bootlegging trials and told his wife, prior to leaving their house at 9 p.m. on the night of May 7, 1931, that he was going away for a few days to “fix those liquor cases against me.” Thirteen hours later an Illinois State Highway patrolman found him reposing in the tonneau of his car. 

At some point during the night of May 7 or the early morning of May 8, Fresina was sitting in the front seat of his car when somebody in the rear fired two bullets into his head. In no condition to drive himself to his final resting spot, Fresina was removed to the floor of the back seat and his assassin(s) drove the car to Edwardsville, Illinois and left it on the side of a road.

Carmelo Fresina

A few years previously he and a few cohorts were involved in a bit of underworld chicanery that resulted in shooting. One of the bullets pierced Fresina’s posterior (though painful, he fared better than his confederates who ended up dead) and since that time, it was said, that wherever he went he carried a pillow with him to sit on. As a result, the local police referred to his mob as the Pillow Gang.

PS.

The Pillow Gang, which operated out of St. Louis and was headed by Fresina, should not be confused with the “My Pillow Gang” currently operating out of Minnesota. Headed by this guy:

Not Carmelo Fresina

For those itching for something new to read...

I have a new ebook out:

The final four years of Prohibition saw over two hundred New York City gangsters shot, garrotted, or stabbed to death with ice picks. Some simply vanished never to be seen again. ON THE SPOT: Gangland Murders in Prohibition New York City 1930-1933 brings these murders back in full detail. In addition to all of the bootleggers, drug dealers, gamblers and other underworld sorts who were "bumped off", "taken for a ride", and "put on the spot", the reader will learn about the victims of the gang wars fought between Dutch Schultz and Vincent Coll, Waxey Gordon and the Bugsy Seigel - Meyer Lansky mob, the Mafia's Castellammarese War and the battle waged between Brooklyn's Shapiro Brothers and the boys from Murder, Inc. Over two hundred gangland executions are discussed, most for the first time since they occurred all those years ago.

Clang clang clang went the trolley, bang bang bang went the gun

Ninety-nine years ago today, Mafia man Joseph "Joe Chuck" Nazzaro was lured to Yonkers by his "friends" under the pretext of killing one of their own. This was a lie however because Navarro was the one on the spot. The four men were seen walking down the street at 10:00pm when the supposed victim complained of a stomach ache and fell behind. When he was in the rear he pulled out a pistol and fired into Nazzaro's back. The remaining gangsters took out their guns and fired into the doomed hoodlum as well. In an attempt to obliterate his identity the killers dragged the dead man onto some street car tracks. A car came along and ran Nazzaro over and dragged him for about a hundred feet. Although he was badly mangled (it took a crew about a half hour to remove "Joe Chuck" from the front of the car) his finger prints were still intact and he was properly indentified.

For more on Joe Chuck and his pals check out Gangster City

The Dead Baron

On March 14, 1930 twenty-nine year old William "Baron" Simpson was added to the list of murder victims in Brooklyn's White Hand* territory when his body was found in an alleyway leading from Furman Street to pier 16 on the East River. Someone had come up behind him and placed a .38 to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. Although the murder took place at around noon next to a tin can factory with two hundred employees that were on lunch break there were no witnesses.
"Baron" was the boss of a small group of dock workers and had a reputation as a fierce street fighter. According to his brother, "Whitie" Simpson, "Baron" had gotten into an argument with three men at a near by pier about an hour before the murder. The argument turned into a fistfight and "Baron" proceeded to savagely beat all three men until they ran away. Simpson was last seen, alone, turning into the alleyway in which he was found a short time later.
Even with the story about the fight with the three men, police stated that they believed that Simpson was another in the long line of Irish thugs murdered in the unending battle for leadership of the dock rackets.

Mad Men

On this date in 1927 Sam Raplansky, a thirty-year old member of the Madison Street Boys, was hanging out at the mobs HQ, the Madison Street Boys club. At about 10:00 p.m. he left for a while but returned around midnight.

At that time the club was crowded with various gang members including his brother Harry. While in the hallway somebody came up to Sam and shot him in the face twice and once in the body.  Rushing into the hallway, Harry and other gang members found Sam and carried him outside to a cab for a rushed trip to the hospital. All was for naught however as Samuel had been killed instantly.

Sullivan's final travel

Ninety-one years ago as this morning, around 9:00am,three shots rang out in the rear room of a speakeasy. This was followed by about eight guys vacating the parlor in speedy fashion. Other fellers who were enjoying their morning hooch hopped off their bar stools and ventured to the back  room where they found Mike Sullivan unconscious on the floor. They sent him to the hospital but he died.

Mike was an interesting guy. A good athlete who had done stunt work for D.W. Griffith, managed boxers and owned a semi pro baseball team. He also owned a speakeasy himself and a cigar store. Past achievements also included getting the vote out with some huskies from the Bronx.

Sports, movies, bootlegging, strong arm work...wonder which one caused his demise?

Don't eat the red snow

Eighty-six years ago this morning an employee of a Brooklyn lumber yard showed up for work and found a trail of blood. His curiosity piqued, he followed said trail which led to a pile of snow. Digging he found one James Tinorello who had been shot three times in the back of the head. Police said that Tinorello, who was 27 and had six arrest under his belt, was involved in a liquor syndicate that operated in Brooklyn and Queens.

Newsie

Today's victim, Louis DeMaria, whose body was found on this date in 1932, was considered by police to be a small time racketeer. That may have been true but he also may have some how been involved with Vincent Coll or his murder five days before.

DeMaria had been shot three times and his body dumped on a road, where it was spotted by a bus driver. Oddly, earlier that day the car used for the murder was found just a hundred feet away, wrecked, with bloodstains and a pistol missing three shots. Apparently the killers tossed DeMaria's corpse out of the car and then crashed moments later. No one inspecting the car however, found the dead man.

How does Coll fit in? Glad you asked. DeMaria's body was found amidst a number of newspaper clippings pertaining to the Coll murder. Police were unable to place the dead man in either Coll's or Dutch Schultz's gangs so were unable to say with any certainty whether his death was a result of the murder. Perhaps he was some how involved either as a spotter or as the mystery man who entered the London Chemist drug store with the "Mad Dog" only to walk out moments later when Coll's killer entered. If in fact DeMaria was involved with Coll then there are three motives for his murder.

One, he was a Coll guy who simply liked to carry around news clippings of his boss and was a natural target as all Coll guys were.
Two, if DeMaria was the mystery man who walked out of the drug store, then the remaining members of the Coll mob figured out that he was the double crosser who set up their leader and meted out their own justice.
Three, if the news clippings were DeMaria's, chances are he was talking about it to anyone who would listen as well, perhaps bragging in his neighborhood to show that he was more than the petty racketeer the police considered him. If the killers of Coll did use him in some capacity they probably decided that his loose tongue was liability and rubbed him out.

A Couple buys it in the Bronx

Carmine Barelli and May Smith had been a couple for about two years. Barelli was a safecracker and gambler and Smith was a hostess at the Dreamland Dance Academy on 125th Street. February 12, 1930 found the couple returning from somewhere and parking their car in the garage at 1416 Inwood Avenue, the Bronx. The couple was exiting the garage when a large sedan pulled up to the curb. The duo must have recognized the men in the car because the attendant on duty said that Barelli and May took off running in opposite directions with panic stricken faces. Four men jumped out of the sedan and two began to chase Smith and two went after Barelli. Smith only managed to run a few yards before tripping and falling down. The gunmen approached her and shot her in the back of the neck and between the shoulder blades. Meanwhile the two men who were chasing Barelli caught up with him on a ramp in the garage and fired five shots at him hitting him in both the chin and the chest, killing him instantly. After the killers got away Miss Smith was placed in a cab and died en-route to the hospital. Vincent Coll was picked up as one of the killers but nothing ever came of it.