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

Friday, February 19, 2010

Two Gun rising

This weekend marks the 79th anniversary of A no.1 punk Francis Two Gun Crowley getting his first real blip on NYC police radar. Crowley wasn't totally unknown to the police he had been picked up a handful of times two years earlier for car theft but was always released.

They also knew him because his older brother was killed in a shootout with a cop whom also died. The boys in blue weren't to happy with any Crowley kids after that so chances are Frances received a few elbows during questioning about the cars.

On February 21, 1931 Crowley and three pals stopped in at a dance at the American Legion hall in the Bronx. They were not welcome and were forcefully removed. Since punk egos are easily bruised a couple of the boys pulled out their gats and let a few rounds fly before high tailing it out of there.

The diminutive Crowley liked the gun business so ventured over to Philadelphia and bought a few. Over the course of the next few weeks a Bronx detective named George Schaedel managed to pick up Crowley's three playmates but didn't want to rest until he had the whole collection.

And that is the cut off point until next month... If you can't wait and want the full story complete with pics pick up a copy of Bad Seeds in the Big Apple.

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