An Ace gets shot down

Seventy-seven years ago tonight a twenty year-old Italian hood named John "Aces" Mazza entered an East Villiage restaurant and searched the crowd for a familiar face. When he didn't see it he stepped back out onto the sidewalk where two men standing at the curb suddenly opened fire on him. "Aces" drew his own .45 and squeezed off a few rounds before collapsing dead. A religious fellow Mazza was wearing a number of medals, one of which read, "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth." and another saying "St. Joseph patron of the grace of a happy death. Protect me." Editors note: Neither medal appears to have been effective