Grape Ape

On November 3, 1930 Newark, New Jersey gangster Dominick "The Ape" Paselli, said to have ties to Newark mob boss Richard "the Boot" Boiardo, walked into Newark General Hospital with a slight scalp wound. He claimed that he had an accident but in reality, his head had been creased by a bullet; he was on the spot.

The staff patched him up and told him he could go. "No, if it's all right with you, I think I'll stay here a couple of days." He told them. He was given room thirty-three where he received two male visitors, around three o'clock that afternoon. After a short visit, they left.

A few minutes after six that evening, two men entered the hospital and, accounts vary, some say it was the same two men from earlier, others two different men, who made their way upstairs and asked where they could find room thirty-three.

What happened when the men found room thirty-three is also up for debate. One version has one of the guys guarding the door while the other fired, one has them both firing. What isn't up for debate is the result. Ape Paselli caught two bullets in the head and was dead.

Since some accounts stated that the killers were the visitors from earlier it was suggested that he was bumped off by his own gang. There was also a theory that he was killed by rivals for attempting to muscle in on the "grape racket". A necessary ingredient for wine makers.  

Dominick the Ape Paselli