Knock your Block off

Harry Block was an associate of Owney Madden's who owned a piece of both the Cotton Club and the Silver Slipper nightclubs. In addition to these activities Block was also a bootlegger and police felt that this may have been the reason he was put on the spot on this date in 1930.

Judging by his movements Block didn't know he was a marked man. He picked his wife up at 7th Ave and 47th Street and they had dinner in the restaurant at the Paramount hotel. This was followed by a late show at the Capitol Theater. Afterwards they went to Dave's Blue Room for more food and finally caught a taxi for the ride home to the Sherman Square Apartments at 173 West 73rd Street.

It was 3 am when the Blocks arrived at the apartment and the doorman unlocked the front door and escorted them onto the elevator. Mrs. Block stepped in and to the side behind the doorman who was at the controls. Mr. Block stepped in and turned around to face the door. Just as the doors were shutting two men appeared out of nowhere each brandishing two pistols. One of the gunmen yelled an insult at Block who, seeing the pistols, let out a scream and instinctively threw up his arm to protect his face. The gunmen let loose with a barrage of twenty three shots, some of which hit the gangster in the neck and forearm. The hit men ran out of the foyer and escaped in a tan sedan. The doorman wanted to call an ambulance but Mrs. Block said no since it would attract the police so instead Harry was loaded into a cab and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Harry Block

A pig to the slaughter

John "Piggy" Weller was a member of St. Louis' Cuckoo gang. The 31 year old gangster had been arrested 76 times and did five years for a murder. Along with his partner Louis Mandel, Weller operated the Villa Iris roadhouse located a few miles east of St. Louis.

On this date in 1928, two masked man entered the Villa Iris and ordered the band, staff and customers to lie down. They grabbed a band member and waiter and demanded to know the whereabouts of Weller. They told him he wasn't there so, the killers had the doorman phone him and tell him that something important had come up and he needed to come in.

When Weller pulled up an hour later, the hit squad was waiting for him. As the gangster stepped up on the porch he was greeted with a blast from a machine in the face and abdomen.

John "Piggy" Weller

Tinsletown loses two

Earl "Sprout" Withrow and Victor Harmon were bootlegging partners in Los Angeles. In addition to a handful of arrests for liquor, the former had been involved in a shooting with San Francisco rum runners in 1929 but was exonerated, and the latter, who also had some arrests for alcohol, did time in San Quentin for grand theft auto,

On this date in 1933 both men were found dead.They had been beaten and strangled to death someplace and their corpses driven to a secluded dirt road and dumped outside Downey, California. Rival bootlegger Frank Hugo was picked up for the murders after it was learned he had a meeting with Withrow and Harmon the afternoon before their disappearance.

Earl "Sprout" Withrow

Victor Harmon

You can run, but you...

Joseph Colaura, 50, was a bootlegger who made his bankroll in Somerset, Massachusetts. While there he had a falling out with two other bootleggers and the situation was never resolved satisfactorily. In 1928 Colaura and his family, consisting of his wife and eight kids, moved about an hour north to a town outside Boston called Waltham.

Everything was fine until the two bootleggers that Colaura had his problems with came to town in the spring of 1930. Assuming correctly that his old nemesis'  wanted to kill him, Colaura didn't leave his house for two weeks. Eighty-nine years ago this evening however, one of Colaura's sons failed to show up at home. Concerned for his well being, Colaura left to go look for him. His wife would remember later that after her husband stepped outside, she heard a car horn honk three times.

At around midnight, Colaura's son returned home but said that he never saw his father. Fearing for her husband, Mrs. Colaura went looking for her husband but didn't find him at any of his usual haunts. The following morning Colaura was found in an alley next to a church with a bullet in his forehead and two in his back. Evidence pointed out that he had been killed some place else and dumped in the alley.

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.

One by land, One by sea

Carmine "Blackie" Stillo was a suspected drug dealer who, on this date in 1923, was lured into a yard at 235 Elizabeth Street in Manhattan and shot numerous times in the back.

Meanwhile,

Across town at Pier 56 on the Hudson river, a couple of dock workers heard the hum of a boat motor and after a bit, a 32-foot boat came out from under the pier. The craft was in neutral and there was a dead guy lying in the bow. The corpse proved to be one Juan Ignacio, bootlegger. Police found a list of customers and over six hundred bucks on him. He had been shot three times in the chest.

You shouldn't horse around

Originally from St. Louis, gambler Milton White Henry - Milsey to his pals- made his way to Washington D.C. circa 1926 and opened a gambling joint. On this date in 1932 he was pulling up to his home when he was cut off by a milk truck. As he patiently waited for the truck to move, a man with a sawed off shot gun got out of a nearby car and crept up to Henry's auto. He fired twice into Henry then, climbing onto the running board of the victim's car, fired three more times making sure Henry was officially out of business.

It was speculated that Henry was rubbed out by Jersey gunmen hired to bump him off by local bookmakers. It seems that Henry had fixed a number of horse races and made a killing. Then, finding out the truth, the bookies decided to make a killing of their own.

Milton White Henry

A stubborn Mule buys the farm

Sam Mule, 37, was called an independent bootlegger in Chicago, hard to believe any still existed in the Windy City in 1932 but there you go. And on this date in said year, Sam went the way of all gangster flesh.

Sam had a headquarters located at 325 Menomonee Street. Two days prior to his death two men and a woman rented a room on the first floor of 327 Menomonee. There was a small passage way between the buildings that Sam had to traverse when leaving his HQ, For two days his killers patiently waited for an opportunity, supposedly one came that night but they didn't get him because he was with his wife and back then killers had some manners. Two days later though, as Mule was exiting his place he passed the window of the apartment at 327, it was at head level and Mule was only about three feet away. One shot was fired from a shot gun and took off the top of Mule's head.

Witnesses reported that two men, also armed with a shotgun, were headed towards the front of the building when the shot was fired and they quickly turned around and jumped into a car and left. It was thought that they were coming to make sure Mule didn't get away if the window shooter missed.

It was hypothesized that Mule was executed for defying the Capone syndicate.

Sam Mule

Mr. Tarallo's Wild Ride

Angelo Tarallo 37, was a booze kingpin of southern Wisconsin. From Kenosha, where he was known as "The Immune" (because of his ability to thwart the law) Tarallo operated a number of stills. The largest, capable of churning out 75,000 gallons of mash and another, 3800 gallons of alcohol, had been raided just the prior week.

Though immune to the law, Tarallo wasn't immune to the bullets of rival gangsters and on this date back in 1932, he got his while speeding along highway 2 between the Illinois towns of Oregon and Byron.

A witness stated that Tarallo's car went whipping past him followed by another, moment's later Tarallo's car flew into a ditch and wrecked. The rear of the car was pockmarked with bullet holes and the rear window had been shot out. The speedometer had been locked at 90mph. Like his car, Tarallo was also spattered with bullets having been hit a reported twenty-two times in his head and shoulders.

Angelo Tarallo

Rossi out

A mere two days after New York City's most powerful Mafia chief, Joe "the Boss" Masseria, was gunned down. Ernest "Hoppy" Rossi was driving his Cadillac in Brooklyn when he was stopped behind a truck. Unable to go anywhere, he was a sitting duck for the car that drove up along side him and let loose with a barrage of fire.  Hit in the head and neck, Rossi slumped over dead. 

Two men who were in the back seat jumped out and ran. It is probable that the two men were mafia guys Carmelo Liconti and Johnny "Silk Stocking" Giustra, loyal Masseria men who were on the spot themselves after the murder of "the Boss."

Hoppy Rossi

Little Boy Blue

Joe Blue was a life long criminal who had been released from the Federal prison in Atlanta the previous January after serving five years for a payroll robbery. While at Atlanta he became a close friend with former Chicago hoodlum Jimmy Murray, who, in addition to being a bootlegger, was serving a sentence for his part in the Rondout mail robbery.

After his release from Atlanta, Blue returned to Chicago and began working as a bootlegger. A job that cost him his life on this date in 1930. Blue's last moments were spent trying to out run a car more powerful than his Ford. His V8 engine could do only so much; the touring car over took his and without slowing down, as it passed, a machine gunner raked Blue's car with fire. The Ford careened into the curb as the driver expired.

Some beer was found in the car as well as a pricing list for whiskey. There was also a list of names including Murray's wife and brother in-law, who police said were bootleggers. It's probable that Murray had told Blue to hook up with his wife after he got out of prison for a job.

Joe Blue

A Thompson for Tommy (and his friends)

 It was just around 1AM on this date back in 1932 when St. Louis gang leader Tommy Hayes was returning from a trip to Chicago with two of his top aides, Harry "Pretty Boy" Lechler, and William "Willie G." Wilbert. Hayes was in his armored Lincoln and Lechler and Wilbert followed in a brand new Plymouth roadster purchased the previous day in Chicago.

Hayes was a former member of St. Louis's infamous Cuckoo gang. He had been involved in robberies and numerous murders, As of late, he was credited with a couple of bombings in an attempt to shake down a racing wire service and bookmaking operation ran by other Cuckoo members. It was also stated the Shelton Brothers, had warned Hayes to turn down the violence because he was bringing down heat on everyone. In short Hayes was a big headache for the St. Louis underworld.

Whether it was the Sheltons or the Cuckoos, or possibly members of his own gang, the end came for the the top tier of the Hayes gang as they approached home. Just prior to 1 AM, the Plymouth, driven by Wilbert, pulled over on a road near Granite City, Illinois. Why they pulled over is unknown. Was it a police car? Associates? Whatever the reason, that Wilbert and Lechler were apprehensive about stopping was apparent because Wilbert grabbed a Thompson and held it between his legs while Lechler armed himself with a pistol and a "whippet" gun (A sawed off shotgun with a reduced stock.) Before they had chance to use them however their car was raked with gunfire from he right side. Wilbert was killed outright and slumped over the wheel. Lechler was mortally wounded. The car was seen at around 1 o'clock and when the same person saw it a few hours later he called the cops. Lechler was still alive but died en-route to the hospital.

At about the same time Lechler and Wilbert were getting it, a few miles a head in the town of Madison, Illinois, Hayes pulled his Lincoln over to the curb. A watchman working nearby saw the car stop, "As I watched it," he told a reporter, "I heard a lot of shots. They sounded like they were from a machine gun." After the shooting Hayes car drove across the sidewalk, through a fence and came to a stop in a vacant lot. The witness saw two men get out and walk away.

The watchman approached the Lincoln and found Hayes lying on the ground with his hands up and his legs tucked under him. He had been shot numerous times in the back, right side, face and hands.  The dashboard also had a number of bullet holes.

Judging by reports, it sounds like Hayes was at the wheel and shot from someone in the rear passenger side seat. Apparently Hayes didn't put his machine in park before he got shot and that's how they ended up in the vacant lot.

 

Tommy Hayes

 Pretty Boy Lechler           Wille G Wilbert

Labor Pains

Around 4:45AM on this date back in 1929, a cop noticed a sedan pull into the alley behind the Western Hotel, in Chicago suburb of Cicero. The Western was formally called the Hawthorne and was used as the headquarters for Al Capone and his gang.

As the cop approached the car two guys climbed out and one of them yelled, "Look out for the cop!" and both men started to run. The officer fired a couple shots at them, but they managed to get away. Returning to the car the patrolman looked inside and found two guys crumpled on the floor.

The dead men turned out to be Michael Reilly, 28, and his partner, William Clifford, 24. Together with their partners George "Red" Barker and Thomas Cauley, Reilly and Clifford were known as labor racketeers. The foursome would muscle their way into unions and take over with either threats of violence or in the case of stubborn union heads, murder and terrorism.

The duo, with Barker, had recently beat a the rap after shooting a policeman. In their bid to take over a parking garage union, they killed a man. Supposedly returning to kill a witness, a police officer stopped them and they shot the cop. The trio fled to California where they were subsequently captured. During the trial the wounded cop refused to identify them and they walked. Barker was imprisoned on a different charge but Reilly and Clifford went free.

To help refill their coffers, Reilly and Clifford starting leaning on the unions, and other gangsters in general, to ante up. The result was that the two hoodlums were stood up against a wall and machine gunned. Their corpses were then loaded into Reilly's car and dumped behind the Western Hotel.

Mike Reilly     Bill Clifford

Two Maxs' One Hit

Today marks the eighty-sixth anniversary of the double murder of Max Greenberg and Max Hassell, both top executives in Waxey Gordon's brewery empire. Both Max' were in a six room suite in side the Elizabeth-Carteret Hotel in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Greenberg had a lengthy police record going back over a decade in his home town of St. Louis, Missouri where he was a member of the infamous Egan's Rats until the gang's namesake felt that Greenberg had double crossed him on a liquor deal. Greenberg survived an attempted murder and Egan was bumped off later. Whether or not Greenberg was behind the murder is not known but Greenberg left town. By the mid 1920s he had hooked up with Waxey Gordon and became a wealthy bootlegger, buying into a number of hotels in both New York and New Jersey.

Hassell was an immigrant from Russia who opened a string of breweries in Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

At the time of their murder, there was a meeting going on between Greenberg and Hassell with a handful of men. It may have been a hit from the onset or perhaps the meeting didn't go the way the gunmen wanted so the shooting irons came out. Either way, it was lucky for Gordon that he wasn't in the meeting or he would have went as well. These murders were the opening salvo in the war to exterminate Waxey and his minions.

Max Greenberg                    Max Hassell

Taps for Papp

On this date in 1933 Akron, Ohio lost its corn sugar king, Joseph Papp. Corn sugar was a main ingredient in manufacture of booze. So there was a needy market for the product. Unfortunately the customers and competition were gangsters who settled their differences with the gun.

The end came for Papp in the Bartges Street Pool Room, which was located next door to the grocery store that Papp owned. He was sitting on a stool when two men entered with guns drawn and hollered "Stick 'em up everybody!" Papp stood up and like the other patrons raised his hands. "Turn around Joe," one of the gunmen said. When Papp turned both men fired into the back of his head. Another round of shots were sent into his back and he dropped to the floor. Once prostrate, Papp's body was twitching, so one of the gunmen stood over him and fired into him again. Both killers then exited the pool room and jumped into a waiting car and were whisked away.

Papp's family noted that he seemed tense and worried in the days leading up to the murder but chalked it up to bad business due to the Depression. Local authorities felt that Papp was most likely bumped off by rival gangsters from Cleveland.

 Joe Papp

The spot

The Last Delivery

Frank De Laurentis, a nephew of Chicago politician Diamond Joe Esposito, and John Tucillo, whose family was also well acquainted with the Espositos, were, according to a report, former members of the defunct Genna brothers gang who were now pushing booze for Ralph Sheldon's gang. 

Roman Duchovitz, who ran a saloon in the territory controlled by the Saltis-McErlane gang started buying his product from De Laurentis and Tucillo.

Not one to sit idle while his customers were poached, Joe Saltis paid a visit to Duchovitz and demanded to know when the two Sheldon men made their deliveries. On this date in 1926,  De Laurentis and Tucillo showed up at Duchovitz's saloon with some alcohol. Moments later a Lincoln sedan pulled up and four armed men entered the speakeasy. De Laurentis and Tucillo were marched out back to their own car and forced inside with three of the gunmen. The fourth followed in the Lincoln.

Later that night, with the curtains in the rear windows pulled close, a man pulled up in front of Sheldon's home in the De Laurentis and Tucillo auto. A neighbor stated that the man went to the front door and knocked but received no answer. Not surprising, because Sheldon, since his troubles with the Saltis-McErlane gang, was seldom seen at his house. With no answer at the door the man left in another car.

The De Laurentis- Tucillo car sat undisturbed in front of Sheldon's hose for nearly a week before the police were called to investigate. Thinking that it may have been stolen, officers looked inside and found the two alky peddlers in the back seat covered with a blanket.

L-R Frank De Laurentis and John Tucillo

Your dirty rat, you killed my brother...and me.

Alexander "Red" Applequist and his brother, Ernie, were  tending bar in their Chicago speakeasy.  Adorning the walls of their establishment were posters supporting the Republican candidates of an upcoming election. Red had a history of political activism having been arrested for killing a guy during some election day terrorism back in the teens. He got off on plea of self-defense. Ernie was said to have had close ties with North Side gangsters Dean O'Banion and George Bugs Moran. In addition to co-owning the speakeasy, Ernie was also the head of the City Chauffeur's union.

In recent weeks, Red confided to a friend that Capone henchman, Lawrance "Dago" Mangano had stopped by and told him to stop selling beer. Red told the friend that he did stop, but was hoping that if the politician he was promoting won the election, he'd be able to operate without worrying about the Capone forces.

On this night back in 1932, a couple of guys stopped in the Applequist speakeasy. Moments later both Applequist' lay behind the bar, each with a shotgun blast to the head. Police found four glasses of beer on the counter. Apparently Red didn't actually stop selling.

Two theories given for the double murder- Bumped off for defying Mangano or possibly troubles within the Chauffeur's union.

L: Alexander Red Applequist R: Ernie Applequist

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

Red's dead baby, Red's dead

Forty-five year old Frank "Red" Kreuger had a nice gangland resume in Chicago. Most likely a member of the Valley Gang and  good friends with the gang leader Paddy "the Bear" Ryan, before the latter's demise. In the 1920s he was involved with the Druggan-Lake bootlegging gang, which evolved out of the Valley Gang.

It was reported that Kreuger had left the Druggan-Lake combine and joined forces with the West Side's Red Bolton gang. Perhaps that's the reason he was rubbed out on this date in 1929. The end came for Kreuger as he was sitting in his car outside his father in-law's restaurant located at 734 West 22nd Street. As he sat there, a coupe pulled up next him and guy leaned out and fired two shots into his head.

Police were called and rushed the gangster to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Frank Red Kreuger

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.

Pulpy goodness

It's just a jump to the left.

And a step to the ri-i-i-i-i-i-ght.

Shoot your gun from your hip.

Bring your knees in tiiiiight.

Here's mud in your...mouth?

The fact that he had mud stuffed in his mouth and mud all over his clothing led police to believe that Camello Licarti, age given as 41, was shot through the head out in the boonies somewhere and his corpse carted back to Cleveland's East Side, on this date in 1930, and dumped in the gutter.

Licarti was a long time gangster who was sent to prison for killing a cop in 1917. After serving about ten years, he was released and deported to Italy, but somehow managed to get back into the States.

Papers found on his person showed that he was acquainted with Anthony and Joseph Borsellino, who were bumped off about a week prior. Since their deaths were so close, police took a guess that Licarti was killed in retaliation for the Borsellino murders. One suspects that they could have just as easily  guessed that Licarti was knocked off because he was involved with the Borsellinos.

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