Pick one

This date in 1929 saw the demise of two Cleveland racketeers. 25 year-old Morris "Skinny" Fuerstman and his partner 43 year-old Isadore Schiller. Both men had long records and were known as shakedown men. They exacted tribute from gambling dens and houses of prostitution. It was also stated that they may have been involved in a kidnapping in Cincinnati and both were involved with a gang in Detroit. Speaking of the Motor City, it was speculated that the two may have been marked for death for hijacking a liquor truck from Detroit.

Whatever the reason, both men were taken somewhere and had their heads were caved in. Someone also drove an ice pick into Fuerstman's head with such force that it took several cops to pull it out. Their bodies were then loaded driven outside of town and dumped in a ditch in Independence Village.

Shots for the Doc

Sam "Doc" Miller was a Kansas City gangster who made his way to the twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. As a member of Solly Weisman's gang back in K.C., it was reported that Miller took part in hijackings as well as kidnapping underworld characters and holding them for ransom. This was on of the motives given for his murder. Supposedly had had been involved in snatching Chicago hoodlums around the time of his execution.

Miller came to Minneapolis sometime in 1928 with some associates and opened a roadhouse called "The Belles", which offered gambling. It closed a short time later. According to police, at the time of his death, Miller had just cancelled a lease on a St. Paul apartment that he intended to use as a gambling joint, after being warned by the St. Paul underworld to stay out.

The end came for Doc Miller at around 1:00AM on this date back in 1930. He phoned his wife from a pool hall saying that he was on his way home. On his way he noticed that he was being followed by two cars. He attempted to lose the tail by going around the block near his house. As he came around the second time, one of the cars pulled out and cut him off. The car following him pulled up and some words were exchanged. One witness stated that Miller cried out, "Don't shoot!"

Miller, who had taken to carrying a pistol a week or so before hand, managed to fire a couple shots just as a sawed off shotgun was fired at him. He was struck by the blast, which was followed up with numerous pistol shots, seven of which, landed in the gangsters.

The killers pulled away and drove around the block and came back around slowly passed Miller's auto to make sure that their job had been successful. It was.

The top three theories for the murder given by police were-
1) Revenge for a previous gangland killing.
2) Chicago or Kansas City gangsters getting even for a kidnapping.
3) St. Paul gangsters not wanting any competition in the gambling racket.

Sam "Doc" Miller