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

Sunday, November 1, 2020

Wild Bill Tamed


In the wee hours of this day back in 1923, Brooklyn waterfront gangster Wild Bill Lovett was sent to his final reward whilst sleeping off a drunk in a river front shanty.

As head of Brooklyn's infamous White Hand gang, Wild Bill had numerous notches on his gun which resulted in numerous enemies that wanted him dead for any number of reasons. For a time it looked as though Bill may have dodged a gangland execution. The previous summer he had married Anna Lonergan, sister of his right hand man, Richard Peg Leg Lonergan. They moved from Brooklyn out to the New Jersey suburbs in an attempt to make a normal life for themselves. After a few months away Bill headed back to Brooklyn and went on a bender, hitting a number of his old haunts. 

Word spread that Wild Bill was back in town and somebody or somebodies with an ax to grind trailed him to the stevedore shack where Bill passed out. Once Bill was deep in la-la land his enemies entered and bludgeoned and shot him to death. His killers were never identified.


Wild Bill Lovett

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