Crazy Larry

July 8, 1936 saw the bloody demise of Depression Era desperado Lawrence DeVol. A member of the Barker-Karpis gang, DeVol was known as an especially trigger happy psycho who had killed a number of police officers.

DeVol became an associate of Karpis when they both escaped from Kansas State Reformatory in 1929. In 1933 DeVol was arrested after participating in a bank robbery that resulted in the death of three people. DeVol pleaded guilty and was sent away to a prison for the criminally insane. In June of 1936 he lead an escape of fifteen inmates. By early July he and another escapee, Donald Reeder, had robbed a few banks in Kansas and were laying low in Enid, Oklahoma planning future robberies. 

On July 8, DeVol and Reeder stopped into a beer parlor with a couple of dates. The proprietor didn't like the looks of them and thought they might be there to rob him. (Later he would state that a few weeks prior he heard DeVol's description given over the radio on the show Gang Busters and recognized him) Either way, the saloonkeeper called the cops. 

Two police men, officers Cal Palmer and Ralph Knarr, entered and approached DeVol's table and asked him to leave with them. "Let me finish my beer and I'll go with you." DeVol responded. As he drained his stein with one hand, DeVol drew a gun from his pocket with the other and opened fire on the cops, Palmer died immediately and Knarr was seriously wounded. 

DeVol and his companions fled from the place. Other police in the vicinity started to chase the desperado who jumped onto the running board of a car in an attempt to escape but the car came to a halt. Officers opened fire on the gunman who returned the fire as he tried to getaway on foot. After a few rounds the lawmen's bullets found their mark and DeVol dropped to the street dead.

Lawrence DeVol

Kennedy Shot!

 

July 7, 1933 saw the demise of Toledo bootlegger and nightclub entrepreneur Jack Kennedy.  Though only in his early twenties, Kennedy was said to be fearless; so when a gang of Detroit gangsters headed by Thomas "Yonnie" Licavoli came to town in an attempt to monopolize Toledo's underworld; Kennedy refused to kneel.

The first attempt came on December 1, 1932 when Kennedy and his girlfriend, Louise Bell, were riding in Jack's coupe in downtown Toledo. When they stopped for a light, an auto, with Michigan plates, containing four men, armed with possibly two machineguns, pulled up alongside them and opened fire. Kennedy got through unscathed but his girlfriend was struck in the head by a bullet and later died at the hospital. According to witnesses, after the shooting, the gunmen headed towards Detroit.

The following summer the boys from Detroit finished the job when they traced Kennedy to his home in the shore community of Point Place just outside of Toledo. (since annexed by the city). Kennedy and his new girlfriend, Audrey Ralls, left his cottage and walked to the store for some groceries. Upon their return, the realized the milk they had purchased was sour, so headed back to the store. While strolling back home, a man grabbed Ralls from behind and pushed her out of the way while another man fired at least six bullets into Kennedy, killing him.

Witnesses were able to identify the killers and armed with this, as well as evidence from a few other gangland murders, cases were made against Licavoli and his gang and all were sentenced to life in prison.

Jack Kennedy

By Person Or Persons Unknown

James "Red" McGee was a former Chicago cop (he quit the force in 1927) who made a failed attempt to become an alderman. The summer of '32 found him as proprietor of the Del Rio Cafe; a speakeasy he purchased a month previous, just across the Chicago line in Evergreen Park. 

On the evening of July 6, 1932 McGee stood at his bar with an associate named Bernie Larkin. Larkin was known as a former member of Ralph Sheldon's gang. He also had a brother named Thomas "the Goat" Larkin, a one time member of Spike O'Donnell's mob. 

As McGee and Larkin stood together, two men entered the establishment. One carrying a shotgun the other a handgun. "Hello Red," one of the men said. As McGee turned to see who called him, the gunmen opened fire. McGee and Larkin dropped to the floor dead. 

According to McGee's wife Margaret, who worked as a cashier at another roadhouse, Red knew he was on the spot but she didn't why. She mentioned that earlier she told Red that she would pick him up around 1 o'clock that evening and drive him home. "No Peggy, you'd better not. I'm hot."

A subsequent search of the premises showed that, in addition to owning the Del Rio, McGee had also been financial secretary for the defunct Cemetery Workers Union.  Police chalked the murder up to McGee failing to buy beer from the right vendor. The investigation was closed the following day with the verdict of murder by person or persons unknown.

  

James "Red" McGee

                  

Bernie Larkin

Lefty Leaves the Underworld

Frank "Lefty" Koncil was a top man in the Saltis-McErlane gang, one of the premier gangs of Chicago's Southside. In the fall of 1926 Koncil and Saltis were put on the trial for the murder rival gangster John "Mitters" Foley, an associate of Saltis and McErlane's chief rival Ralph Sheldon. Frank McErlane was also dealing with a murder trial at the time. In early November both Saltis and Koncil were acquitted but the trials of the three executives took a toll on business. With their legal troubles behind them, the gangsters began to make up for lost time.

"We're down. We're broke," Koncil told detectives in early March of 1927, "But we won't stay that way. We're going to get back what we used to have. We won't be pushed around any more. And if anybody gets in the way, we'll take care of him."

On the night of March 11, Less than a week after making those statements at the detective bureau, Koncil was in Saltis's sedan along with gang member Charles "Big Hayes" Hrubrek. It is believed that they had just exited a saloon where they were informing the proprietor that they were back in business. At about 11:45 pm, witnesses saw the Saltis car come flying around a corner followed by another sedan. The second car pulled up alongside the first and the shotguns went off. 

Koncil stopped the car and both he and Hrubrek hit the pavement. Another volley was fired and the latter, mortally wounded, fell face first to the ground. Koncil too collapsed. More shots were fired at him. After a few moments he got up and staggered a few few feet before dropping dead.

Frank "Lefty" Koncil      Charles Hrubek      

The Bad Pope

Erneste Mazzoni better known as, "West Side" Frankie Pope was a Chicago hoodlum who was sent to Leavenworth prison in mid 1931 for violation of the Prohibition Act. Released in November of 1933 Pope, who added the West Side to his name to distinguish himself from the more infamous North Side Frankie Pope, had a small racket going where he would take money from family members of Leavenworth prisoners to help get them paroled. Only problem was, he didn't do anything for them after taking the money.

This was the reason anyway that police gave after two men entered his hotel room on the morning of March 7, 1934 and blasted him into eternity. According to witnesses, Pope returned to his room that morning and a short time later to men entered the hotel. They called up to his room and after a brief discussion went up.

Once they were in his room for a few minutes, a cleaning woman heard lady scream, "My God! Don't do that!" This was followed by about ten shots. All of which hit Pope. Hearing the shooting, the desk clerk called the cops but the gunmen and the woman were gone before they arrived.

It was while searching Pope's room that detectives came across the list of prisoners and their families. On the list were two notorious bank robbers and killers; Thomas Holden and Francis Keating. Perhaps Pope double crossed them in some fashion and they had him knocked off.

Six hours later another West Side hoodlum, Daniel Losce sat in his car smoking a cigarette when another car pulled up and let loose a barrage of gunfire. Losce slumped over dead. The dead man had a record dating back to 1922 including an arrest for murder. Back at his house, police found a small arsenal. Interestingly, he was a suspect in the 1928 Evergreen Park mail robbery which resulted in the theft of $133,000. This job was pulled by a gang headed by Thomas Holden and Francis Keating. This link had police wondering, was Losce working with Pope? Or was it simply a coincidence that they both were bumped off on the same day?

                                           West Side Frankie Pope        Daniel Losce                           

The Fat Lady Sings for the Fat Man

 

Thomas "Fatty" Walsh was a New York gangster who was in the upper echelon of drug czar and criminal king pin Arnold Rothstein. As such, he was a close associate of fellow Big Apple gangsters Jack "Legs" Diamond and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. 

Walsh was one of those who visited Rothstein in the hospital after the latter was shot. He was picked up and questioned after Rothstein died but was not considered a suspect. Afterwards, Walsh moved to Miami, Florida where he was part owner of a casino ran out of the Miami-Biltmore hotel. On the evening of March 6, 1929, while he was watching the evening's play, one of his partners, Eddie Wilson, approached him and shot him twice in the stomach then turned the gun on another partner, "Chick" Clark and managed to wound him. Walsh stood up and pitched forward dead. The reason for the shooting was that Walsh and Clark were trying to squeeze Wilson out of some his share. It didn't help that Walsh also made of Wilson's speech impediment earlier that evening.

Thomas Fatty Walsh

Dingbat Goes for a Ride

John "Dingbat" Oberta was a hoodlum who rose through ranks on Chicago's Southside. Along with crazy man Frank McErlane, he was part of gang leader Joe Saltis's executive board. In addition to bootlegging, Oberta dabbled in local politics as well. 

By 1930 Saltis was in exile in Wisconsin and it appears that his two cohorts, Oberta and McErlane couldn't get along. In February of that year, McErlane showed up at the hospital with a bullet wound to the leg. Most likely fired by his wife during a fight. On the evening of February 24, McErlane lay in bed recuperating; his leg up in traction. At about 9 p.m. two men entered his room and opened fire on him. 

McErlane prepared for just such an emergency. Pulling out a .45 from under his pillow, the gunman returned fire. Though hit three times, McErlane managed to scare of his would be killers. When questioned by the police as to who the invaders were McErlane is reported to have said:

"Look for them in a ditch. That's where you will find them...McErlane takes care of McErlane"

The next day, McErlane was released and taken to his parents house to recover from his wounds.

About a week later, on the evening of March 5, Dingbat Oberta called his wife at about 7 p.m. from their florist shop and told her of his evening's plans. Two and a half hours later, a cop found Oberta's Lincoln off the road in a ditch. Inside on the passenger side was Dingbat with what appeared to be a shotgun wound to the back of his head. Outside submerged in the icy water of the gully was Oberta's bodyguard and chauffer, Sammy Malaga. He had been shot a number of times before being tossed in.  

It appears that McErlane took care of things.

John Dingbat Oberta     Sammy Malaga     

Strawberry Fields For Horton

 "Orlando Jack" Horton was a Chicago hoodlum who fled the Windy City in 1924 when his bootlegging partner, John Duffy, was bumped off. He and his wife were picked up a few days later in New Orleans but no evidence could be found to link him to the crime.

With Chicago being to hot for him, Horton set up operations in Lafayette, Indiana. He was arrested for selling drugs and did about three years in Leavenworth. In mid-August 1929, Lafayette firefighters were called to burning home. After dousing the flames they came across a "monster" still and evidence of a large bootlegging enterprise. A search showed that the house belonged to a Robert Horat. Detectives soon found out that Horat was in fact, Orlando Jack Horton and he was arrested. 

Perhaps, coincidently, the following day, a number of Lafayette speakeasies were raided. After being charged with violating Federal Prohibition laws, Horton was scheduled to appear in court on March 17, 1930 and released on bail. He never made it to court.

On March 5, 1930 Horton's body, with five extra holes in it,  was found face down in a strawberry patch on the outskirts of Lafayette.

Orlando Jack Horton

Ford Not So Tough

On this date back in 1934, Oklahoma desperado and psychopath Ford Bradshaw met his end. He first appeared on police radar three years previously when his bullet riddled body was dumped from a car on the streets of Muskogee, but he refused to say who had shot him. The following year he was involved in a car jacking that resulted in the death of a woman. He was also accused of killing a gambler in 1933.

Bradshaw reportedly joined fellow Oklahoma bad man Wilbur Underhill a.k.a. the Tri-State Terror on some bank robberies. His exploits led to the Sooner-States National Guard being sent out to the Cookson Hills to bring him to justice. Bradshaw managed to elude them.

Bradshaw's downfall was a result of his own violent behavior. On March 3, he and his moll Stella "Boots" Moody patronized a roadhouse in Arkoma, Oklahoma. During their visit, Bradshaw lost a hundred bucks at gambling and then became belligerent, He wrecked a couple of slot machines and sent "Boots" out to their car to get his bullet-proof vest. She left his automatic shotgun in the car.

Back inside, Bradshaw threatened the other patrons and bartender, who happened to be a deputy sheriff and the owners brother, with a pistol and forced them to drink with him. Meanwhile, the proprietors wife and another patron snuck out and alerted the police. Officers came and surrounded the place. Once the police were their, the bartender drew his gun on Bradshaw who raised his hands. The police came in and disarmed the desperado and took his bullet proof vest. As they were escorting him out the back, he tried to make a dash for his car. A number of people tried to stop him and as they were wrestling about, the proprietor arrived with a gun and fired half a dozen shots into the thug.

"Don't do that!" Bradshaw groaned before rolling over dead.

Ford Bradshaw

Izzy dead? Yes.

Izzy Presser was a career criminal who cut his teeth on Manhattan's lower east side. He was involved in at least one gangland killing in 1915 as well as robberies, drug dealing and bootlegging.

Over the years his name appeared in the papers numerous times. One reason was for successfully escaping from prison. In 1914 he was arrested as a vagrant and sent to the workhouse, from which he escaped. He was recaptured and finished his sentence. The following year he was sent away for twelve-years on a manslaughter charge following the 1915 murder. In 1921 he escaped from a road work gang and headed to New Jersey. He was arrested a number of times and ended up doing a stint in prison. Upon his release he was sent back to New York to finish his original sentence plus nine-hundred days for the escape. He told the Superintendent of prisons that he he didn't actually escape but was kidnapped. The Super bought it, and the extra three years were scratched and he was released after the original sentence.*

In the afternoon of this date in 1932, Presser borrowed his lawyer's car and, with $1400, in his pocket said he was going to dice game. At approximately 7:10pm a man left his place of business in Newark and saw Presser behind the wheel of a sedan, apparently sleeping. A few hours later he was still there, so he tried to wake him. 

When the sleeping man was found to be dead, the police were called and they identified him immediately. It was their belief that Presser was bumped off for double crossing some bootleggers. He had been shot in the heart and the head.

Izzy Presser

*After a newspaper expose the Superintendent of Prisons was fired. 

Mean to Joe Green

After a failed attempt in 1928, Albany gangsters put thirty-two year old bootlegger Joey Green out of business for good on February 19, 1933.

It was said that Green, also an Albany bad man,  hi-jacked liquor that was traveling along the "rum trail" that lead from Canada to any number of towns in northern New York. In March of 1928, he was taken for a ride and his bullet riddled body dumped on the outskirts of the state capitol. With fourteen wounds, he managed to drag himself to a farm house and rescue.

The end came just after he was released from serving ten days on a traffic violation. Green was at a soft drink parlor in the town of Glens Falls, New York. when somebody pumped two bullets into his chest.

Joey Green

They Didn't Kill Him For Nothing

"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." This was the response that Chicago gangster Ted Newberry gave to police whenever questioned about a gangland murder.

Like those he discussed before him, Newberry too went for a one-way ride; his took place on January 7, 1933.  A product of Chicago's Northside, Newberry got involved with bootlegging in the early days of Prohibition. He muscled his away into the taxi racket and was pals with fellow racketeer Eugene Red McLaughlin during the days of the taxicab wars.

As the Roaring Twenties came to an end, Newberry was allied with George Bugs Moran and his Northside gang. In fact, Newberry narrowly missed being a victim of the St. Valentine's Day massacre as he was with Moran that morning. When they saw the rival gangsters (dressed as police) enter the gangs' headquarters, they dodged into a coffee shop assuming that it was a raid.

"He must have done something."

So what did Newberry do? In the early 1930s Moran was out of the picture and Newberry was allied with Al Capone. After Capone was sent to prison however, Newberry's relationship with Frank Nitti began to fall apart, his response was to have Nitti bumped off. A raid was set up in the latter's office in December of 1932 and Nitti was shot by a cop, but survived. After a few weeks recovery, Nitti figured out who was behind the botched raid and Newberry was removed. His body was found on a lonely stretch of road in Indiana.

Ted Newberry

Toledo Twosome

 

In the wee hours of December 30, 1932 26-year old Roland "Speedy" Lampert and his twenty-five year old pal Clayton Kress sat playing cards in the former's house. Lampert's wife, Minnie, also took part in the game. At 1:45 a.m. Lampert bid farewell to his wife and he and Kress left to go to their job at an alcohol cutting plant. Mrs. Lampert cleaned up and went to bed. Later in the day, police arrived at the Lampert house. Would Mrs. Lampert be able to accompany them on a twenty mile jaunt to a morgue in Monroe, Michigan to look at a couple of corpses?

Earlier that morning two teenage brothers were on their way to do some ice skating when they came up on car bearing Toledo license plates. Looking inside they saw two guys, each had his hands bound behind them and a rope around the neck. A bullet had been fired into the heads of both men as well.

Mrs. Lampert showed up at the morgue and confirmed what the police had suspected. The duo was her husband and Kress. The murders were chalked up to Toledo gangsters who killed them and then drove the car into Michigan.

Roland  Lampert             Clayton Kress

When Gangland Gets There First

November 29, 1933 saw the demise of gangland killer and one time South Dakota sheriff, Verne Miller. A veteran of WWI, Miller became the sheriff of Huron, South Dakota but fled office with about $2800. He was captured and sent to prison where he was released after serving 18 months.

Upon his release he became involved in bootlegging and then drifted into bank robbery in the late 1920s and early 1930s. On June 17, 1933, in a botched attempt to free his friend Frank "Jelly" Nash from the FBI, Miller and two cohorts, supposedly Pretty Boy Floyds and Adam Richetti, ended up killing Nash and five of the law men with him in what is known as the Kansas City Massacre.

After the KC Massacre the FBI was determined to bring Miller in. The hottest man in the USA, Miller found himself unwelcome in the Midwest underworld. He headed east where he was friendly with New York syndicate boss Louis Lepke Buchalter. A Lepke associate named Al Silvers helped Miller with a car and some optometry equipment to use as a front as an eyeglass salesman.

Knowing the Lepke was friendly with Miller, the FBI paid the gang lord a visit and let him know that things could get hot for him if he aided Miller. On November 1, Miller escaped a shootout with the FBI but dumped his bullet riddled car. Inside the auto the FBI found the optometry equipment and were able to trace it back to Al Silvers, who went into hiding.

Lepke had a dilemma; if the FBI caught either Silvers or Miller what might they spill in an attempt at leniency? Silvers was the first to go on November 20. Lepke's boys caught up with Miller in Detroit nine days later. Liker Silvers, Miller was garroted by those he knew and probably trusted. He was then bludgeoned to death with a hammer. His naked body, like that of Silvers, was found tossed on stretch of road covered with a blanket.

Verne Miller

Cuckoos Get Two Birds

Lester Barth and Dewey Goebel were former Cuckoo gang members who sided with Tommy Hayes when the latter split with the St. Louis gang. It is believed that the duo were responsible for the deaths of some of their former gang mates.

Like most men of their ilk, Barth and Goebel met a violent death. On November 22, 1930 both men had just exited a grocery store they visited nearly every day at the same time (a fact no doubt known to the Cuckoo gunmen in the Hudson sedan that was following them) and, after loading the groceries into Goebel's Ford couple, the duo pulled away.

As they drove along, the Hudson, containing four or five men, pulled up along side of them and three of the men, each armed with a Thompson machine-gun, opened fire.

Bullets ripped into the coupe and crashed through the rear window. The groceries exploded as bullet after bulled poured into the car. Hoping to lose their pursuers, Goeble turned onto a side street, but the gun men made the turn as well, continuing to fire their weapons. After a couple of blocks Goebel jumped the curb and came to a stop as the Hudson continued.

Witnesses approached the coupe and pulled the duo, both of whom had bullet wounds to the head, from the car. Both died later at the hospital. A search of their homes turned up a Thompson machine-gun, two pistols and ammunition in the coal bin of Barth's house.

L. Lester Barth     R. Dewey Goebel

The death car

The Price of Friendship

Around noon on November 20, 1933 the naked body of New Jersey racketeer Albert Silvers was found on a lonely stretch of road outside of Somers, Connecticut partially covered with a blanket. He had been stabbed twice in the heart with an ice pick and garroted with a sash cord and neck tie. When found, his tongue protruded from his mouth and blood still oozed from the stab wounds. 

Though an east coast racketeer, Silvers, who was a lieutenant of New York racket chief Lepke Buchalter, was murdered for his loyal friendship to a mid-westerner; South Dakota ex-sheriff Verne Miller. Miller was the hottest criminal in America during the second half of 1933 due to his orchestrating the Kansas City Massacre, which resulted in the deaths of five law enforcement officers, including an FBI agent.

Silvers helped Miller elude capture with the help of his brother who was an optometrist. The Silvers supplied Miller with a salesman's case full of optometry equipment so he could travel the country posing as a salesman. Silvers also set Miller up with an automobile.

On November 1, 1933 Miller escaped a shootout with FBI and police and they later found his shot up car with the optometry equipment. The FBI was able to trace the equipment to Silvers, who lammed it. Since Silvers was a close associate of Lepke, the syndicate leader had a decision to make. If the FBI got hold of Silvers, what might he say to get out of trouble? Men, no doubt associates of Silvers, were sent out to him, Possibly in Hartford where he was known to stay, or at a hotel in Massachusetts; no one knows for sure. Wherever they met him, they left him on that lonely road in Somers, Connecticut.

Al Silvers

Pain In The Leg

Jimmy Cox had already lost an arm to gangster bullets. On November 8, he almost lost a leg as well. The gangster had just left a funeral home where he paid his final respects to fellow hoodlum James Darmondy who himself had survived a machine-gun attack that took the lives of two of his comrades back in 1928.

Darmondy was rubbed out on November 5, after a run in with a cop. Cox visited the funeral parlor and left at...well, I'll just let him tell the story: "I left the undertakers about midnight...and started to drive east. I had just started when a large car with three fellows in it came up the street, and one of them started firing with a machine-gun."

Three of the bullets ripped into Cox's leg but he managed to get to a hospital with the help of a friend. Though he survived this attempt, he had a date with destiny a few years later.

James Wingy Cox

Go Fish

Twenty-four-year old Chicago hoodlum Richard Fishman was suspected in three murders, including that of another small timer named Herman Horwitz.

Around the beginning of November 1931 Fishman entered a cigar store and made his way to the gambling parlor located in the rear. Once inside, he stated to all there, "From now on, I'm the boss around here." To drive the point home he pulled out his pistol and fired three shots into the floor.

A week later on November 7, Fishman was in the parlor shooting dice with another guy when a "tall, heavy set man." walked in and did some shooting of his own. When the smoke cleared, a gambler was wounded but Fishman was dead. He was no longer boss around there.

Richard Fishman

Shot Heard Around The Underworld

November 6, 1933 saw the demise of Boston gangster John "Keeno" Keenan. The 29-year old gun-toter was the owner of the exclusive Club Chalet. He was on hand that night when fellow gangster Thomas Callahan showed up with a friend. Callahan was drunk when he arrived and began to insult women and make a general nuisance of himself. Being a classy joint, the bouncers evicted Callahan in a non-to-polite manner. 

Some time passed and Callahan returned to the club, climbed the stairs to the entrance and was stopped at the iron gate that kept people like him out. He exchanged some words with the bouncer who, again, escorted him from the premises. Callahan refused to leave.

An employee of the club approached Keenan who was entertaining at the table and told him about Callahan and asked him if he couldn't do something about it. Keenan excused himself from the table and as he approached the gate, Callahan pulled out a pistol and opened fire. Mortally wounded, Keenan dropped to the floor. On the ground he drew his own gun and returned fire. During the shooting, the clubs patrons broke a window and headed down the fire escape.

Keenan's pals picked him up and took him to the hospital where he died the next day.

John Keeno Keenan

We're So Sorry, Uncle Eddie

It was on November 5, 1928 when Philadelphia gangster Handsome Eddie Rafferty pulled into his brother's gas station. His niece ran up to and jumped into the back seat of Eddie's car. Being a good uncle, Eddie produced some grapes and handed them to her and she began to snack away.

As Eddie sat behind the wheel conversing with his brother, a car drove by and men with shotguns and pistols opened fire. His brother hit the deck while Eddie, hit by some of the shots, slouched over the steering wheel. A second car drove by and once again lead was hurled at Eddie. More bullets plowed into the gangster's body and he slumped to the floor mortally wounded. A third car drove by and fired another round which peppered the walls of the filling station.

It was said that Eddie Raffery was associated with the Eddie Reagan gang whom were supposedly responsible for the murder of a gangster named Robert Haggerty and that Eddie was killed in retaliation. Another theory was that Rafferty had double-crossed another bootlegger named William "Hop" Reilly. The latter was picked up but denied that there was any trouble between him and Rafferty.

Handsome Eddie Rafferty