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

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. 

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

It's In The Bag

On October 21, 1932 one time Legs Diamond associate Dominick "Wicky" Bifano was found trussed up in a burlap sack in the back seat of a car. Prior to being bagged he was shot through the head. Bifano was with Legs' brother Eddie in Denver, Colorado back in 1928 when Dutch Schultz gunmen Joe Piteo and Gene Moran failed to bump off the younger Diamond brother. Both Eddie and Bifano barely escaped execution.

What Bifano was up to following Legs' death is unknown but he was well dressed and the recent recipient of a manicure.  It was assumed that foes of Legs Diamond finally caught up with him.

 

Dominick "Wicky" Bifano

Iron Man

In the early hours of September 29. 1932, Aaron "Iron" Barger's bullet-riddled corpse was found in an automobile on Chicago's south side. What constitutes riddled? Nine bullets in the head and body. He was also tortured before giving up the ghost. Unlucky him.

Barger was a suspect in the Evergreen mail robbery from 1928. His brother's garage was used as a hide-out for the bandits. We are told that Barger turned states evidence, and was exonerated while the two masterminds of the job, Frances Keating and Tommy Holden were sent to Leavenworth.

Who riddled Barge? Police speculated that his torture and death were a result of his attempting to muscle in on the Southside beer racket, which at the time was the battle ground for the Spike O'Donnell and Danny McGeoghegan gangs. It was also mentioned that he was involved with a ring of auto thieves and may have had a falling out.

Aaron "Iron" Barger

Code Red

Edward "Red" Patterson was said to be a one time follower of Brooklyn waterfront gang leader Wild Bill Lovett. By 1932 he was known as a "petty and ambitious beer runner." His demise was the result of trying to force his beer into bars that were already buying from Anthony "Little Augie Pisano" Carfano.

On September 3, the ambitious bootlegger was in a speakeasy when some gunmen came in and opened fire. A bartender got in the way and caught the fatal dose of lead while Patterson was only wounded. His rivals caught up with him a few weeks later as he was exiting a second story room in a boarding house on September 20, 1932. As he stepped from the room somebody shot him in the back of the head twice. Once he was down, the gun was pressed to his skull and two more shots were fired. Red was out of the beer business.

Edward Red Patterson

Following Friends

Attilio Pecora was an ally of Pittsburgh's Volpe crime family and best friends with John Volpe. With the deaths of three of the Volpes the previous July, Pecora, it was stated, was setting up to run the numbers and booze rackets in East Pittsburgh, Wilmerding and Turtle Creek.

On September 3, 1932 Pecora was standing outside his fruit store when a car pulled up to the curb down the street and somebody called to him. Pecora made his way to the car. In a flash, a shot gun appeared in the front passenger window and out the back window. Both went off and Pecora crumbled to the ground.

Attilio Pecora

The South(side) Pole

Twenty-seven year old Chicago gangster Walter Zwolinksi, nick-named the "Terrible Pole", was a former member of Spike O'Donnell's South Side gang. He started his career as a car thief and entered gangland under the tutelage of Frank McErlane before changing allegiances and joining the O'Donnells. 

By 1932, Zwolinski outgrew the O'Donnells. In spring, Spike's brother Charles was bumped off and there were attempts made on Spike. It was also stated that Zwolinski and two other defectors approached Spike on the the street and told him he was through. In an attempt to save his own skin, Spike headed to Califorinia for his health.

With Spike out of the picture, Zwolinksi allied himself with the McGeoghegan - Bubs Quinlan gang. Since this was his third known change in allegiance, the underworld to refer to him as boss of the switchmans union.

Chicago gang leader was a precarious position back then and Zwolinski's tenure was cut short in the early minutes of September 2, 1932 (or possibly the last minutes of the first.)

Whether or not it was Spike O'Donnell's loyal minions or not isn't known but somebody fired a shot into the back of Zwolinksi's head, trusted up his body and tossed him into the tonneau of an automobile and abandoned him a few blocks from his home.

Walter Zwolinski

Patty Cake, Patty Cake Bakers Man

Charles Argento had been out of Leavenworth for about six months when he moved into the Hotel Picadilly on Chicago's South Side early in the summer of 1932. The reason for his incarceration was that he was part of large northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin whiskey ring. When he got out of prison he formed the Italian Master Bakers association, collecting dues from the numerous bakers in the city. 

At about noon on August 31, he called his brother in-law, who happened to be the bookkeeper for the union and told him to come to his room with another associate to discuss some bakers who weren't paying their dues.

As the two men arrived they noticed the door to the neighboring room was open, but thought nothing of it. They knocked on Argento's door and after announcing themselves Argento opened the door. As the men entered, Argento noticed a man coming up from behind them. "You better scram; it looks like you'll be killed," he yelled. Immediately after that the bullets started to fly. His two cohorts hit the deck as four bullets plowed into Argento's body.

The killer escaped through the hotel as Argento's cronies went down the fire escape. After walking around town for about an hour Argento's brother in-law went to the police to give his story.

Charles Argento

Goose Island Goose is Cooked

 

Thirty-five-year-old Joseph "Big Rabbit" Connell was proprietor of the Island Tavern, a "Whoopee" joint, on Chicago's Goose Island.  In the early days he was a slugger in the taxi wars. His record consisted of small time infractions. The previous spring he ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the state legislature. 

As owner of the Island Tavern, Connell was paying $55 for a barrel  of beer. The price set by the "Syndicate". Not satisfied with the profits, Connell started brewing his own stuff for only seven dollars a barrel. Soon he branched out and started to sell to other North Side saloons charging only $30 a barrel. 

The competition responded just before eleven on the night of August 10, 1932. Connell stepped out of his saloon for a breath of fresh air when a small sedan pulled up. Someone from the car called to Connell and said that they wanted to speak with him. As the tavern owner approached the car, automatic shotgun(s) came out  the window and went off. Hit by sixteen slugs, Connell staggered to the side of his bar and dropped dead.

Joe may have been friendly with North Side gangsters, as his younger brother, George "Little Rabbit" Connell was said to be friends with deceased North Side gang leader Dean O'Banion. At the time of Joe's murder, Little Rabbit was serving a term in prison for stealing a truck load of whiskey from a pharmaceutical and chemical company. 

Joseph "Big Rabbit" Connell

Three of a Kind

July 28, 1932 saw the Pittsburgh underworld up-ended when three members of the ruling Volpe clan were eliminated at the same time. The patriarch of the Volpe crime family was brother John. He had been picked up numerous times for numerous crimes, including murder, but never convicted. Through the 1920s, the Volpe clan ran the underworld in the town of Wilmerding outside Pittsburgh. By the early 1930s they were making inroads into Pittsburgh.

John Bazzano, the local Mafia chieftain, who took the reigns of leadership the prior fall after the murder of Joe Siragusa, considered the Volpes allies, but with their moving into Pittsburgh he decided that they needed to go.

For a headquarters in Pittsburgh, the Volpe brothers used Bazzano's Rome coffee shop and it was there that Bazzano made his move. John was the first to go, simply because he stepped outside moments before the gunmen arrived. As he loitered out front, a car bearing New York license plates pulled up and three men got out. John seemed to know what was coming because he turned to run back to the shop but, the gunmen were faster and shot him five times. John crumpled to the ground and the gunmen passed him and entered the shop. They knew their targets. Brother Arthur, who was lunching on a bowel of corn flakes, took a bullet or two to the back of the head while his brother James made a dash for a counter but, fell with a bullet through the brain.

While the town of Wilmerding mourned the three Volpe brothers, the surviving siblings plead their case to the National Mafia Commission, who came to the conclusion that Pittsburgh mob boss John Bazzano had no authority to bump of the brothers. Sentence was passed and Bazzano ended up in sack.

John Volpe                James Volpe               Arthur Volpe

Roadhouse Blues

With all the killings and what not, being a labor leader in Prohibition era Chicago was a stressful occupation. Looking for a bit of R&R, Patrick "Paddy" Berrell, vice-president of the Teamsters journeyed north to the resort town of Showano, Wisconsin. 

As a union head, one of Berrell's headaches was gangster George "Red" Barker, who attempted to unite all the Teamster unions under his leadership. Berrell fought him at each turn until a machine-gunner took care of Barker the previous June 17. A few weeks later Berrell headed for the peaceful seclusion of the Wisconsin woods. Could just be a coincidence that Berrell felt the need to leave Chicago after Barker's death or maybe...

On Wednesday July 20, 1932, former North Side gangster Willie Marks and his brother in-law drove up to visit Berrell. Marks was said to be Berrell's bodyguard. Willie's claim to fame was that he was with Bugs Moran on the morning of February 14, 1929 when the two men saw what they believed to be a police raid on the gangs' headquarters. Marks and Moran ducked into a coffee shop believing that they had avoided a raid when in fact it was rival gangsters who mowed down seven of the gang in what is referred to as the St. Valentine's day massacre. 

Berrell and Marks spent the following evening at the Lime Kiln Inn, a roadhouse situated on Highway 29 between the towns of Showano and Bonduel. In the wee hours of July 21, Berrell and Marks exited through the back door. Barely had the duo taken a few steps when a machine-gun lit up the night and both men dropped dead. It was assumed that Berrell's enemies followed Marks out from Chicago assuming correctly that he would lead them to Berrell.

Patrick Berrell         Willie Marks

On the Outskirts of Town

On this date in 1932 Chicago hoodlum Otto Fernick, alias Dutch Hill, was found dead in his car on the outskirts of Chicago in the town of Westchester. He was the former chauffeur of recently deceased boss for the Central Teamster and Chauffers union, Timothy Lynch. Police felt that Fernick was bumped off because he started running beer on Chicago's northwest side. Detectives however, felt he was bumped off for his involvement in the union. His record dated back to 1903 when he was arrested for being a pick pocket.

Otto Fernick aka Dutch Hll

Ohio State v Michigan

On this date in 1932, a railroad man was walking near the Dixie Highway in Michigan, about a mile and half over the Ohio border when he came upon the body of Toledo gangster, Joseph Lahey. The bootlegger was lying face up with his hands across his chest. He had been shot three times in the head and once in the neck, with a .45. 

Police said that, three days previous, he had hijacked a liquor truck from Cleveland en-route to Toledo. He had been on the spot for a while having dodged two attempts the the previous May. One of which took the life of a confederate named Aaron Harris.

The following year, the Detroit Free Press stated that Lahey was bumped off by Detroit mobster Yonnie Licavoli. Lahey had a total of twelve arrests.

Jimmy Lahey

Rumble (seat) In Harlem

On this date in 1932, two dead gangsters were found stuffed in rumble seat on 114th Street in West Harlem. According to the Daily News, the gangsters, Wilfred "Wolfy" Burke and Augie Marino, were members of Vincent Coll's gang and wiped out as Coll's enemies finished cleaning out the Mad Dog's confederates.

Burke, 34, had been shot six times. Marino, 33. a total of seven. Both men were accused of shaking down Harlem speakeasies. Supposedly they targeted those that did business with Dutch Schultz or Ciro Terranova's gang. This in of itself, would be enough for a death warrant regardless if they were members of Coll's gang or not.

    

Burke

  

Marino

The car they were found in belonged to a West Harlem speakeasy owner and beer peddler named Stephen Conover who had been missing for a week.

Burke and Marino on their last ride in a rumble seat

Five bullets for Two Gun

In the fading minutes of Valentine's Day 1932, Philadelphia gangster Joseph Magitz a.k.a. Two Gun Murray, stepped from his third story apartment and headed for the stairs. The door to the rear apartment opened and two guns went off. One bullet blew Magitz nose off and two more went into his belly. As the desperado dropped to the floor, the two gunmen ran up and fired two more shots into his head. Their job complete, they and their woman companion, stepped over Magitz and ran down the stair and got away. 

The landlord, who lived on the second floor, heard the shots followed by the trio running out of the building. He told police that he had rented the rear apartment to the woman about three days prior. A search of the room turned up only some half eaten sandwiches and a large number of cigarette butts. 

Can you hear me now?

88-years ago this evening, New York City rid itself of Vince "the Mick" Coll, or "Irish" as his contemporaries also called him (It was the press that dubbed him Mad Dog.) after he and an associate entered a drug store on Manhattan's W. 23rd Street.

The victim of a double cross, Irish entered a phone booth to make a prearranged call, supposedly, to underworld powerhouse Owney Madden while his pal took a seat at the counter. While the Mad Dog and Owney were conversing, a car containing a hit squad pulled up front. Gunmen hopped out and covered the store's front door. Coll's pal was allowed to leave as a machine-gun toting hoodlum made his way back to the phone booths. Finding the booth containing Coll the gunman lined himself up and blasted the Mick into gangster history.

Early Birds Get The Doyle

Well before sunrise on this date back in 1932  the life and times of one John Doyle came to an abrupt end. Known as both Jocko Doyle and Jackie Doyle, he was a career criminal with fourteen arrests and three convictions on his record. The convictions were for burglary and assault, with intent to kill, but it was for moving into the drug trade that police believe he was put on the spot.

At the time of his death Doyle was out on bail following an arrest in Philadelphia for a hold up. It was also in the City of Brotherly Love, nine years previous, that Doyle and a partner named “Big Frank” Watkins were sought for a gangland murder. Police traced them to a house on the west side and a shoot out ensued. Watkins was killed and Doyle was arrested but later cleared of the killing. Philly police also said that Doyle was active in South Jersey as a beer runner.

The end came at 3:00 am the morning when two gunmen entered the restaurant where Doyle was eating and shot him seven times. Other then saying that they thought Doyle was stealing drug customers from established dealers the police didn’t elaborate on their theory as to why he was killed or who killed him.

Jocko Doyle

Dead Men Write No Tales

After two of his brothers had met a gangster's fate, Francis Fabrizzio, the oldest and probably the first of the brothers to venture into the New York underworld, decided that if he couldn't lick them, he would expose them.

The first brother to go was Louis, who was gunned down on a lower East Side street in February of 1928. Next, brother Andrew was found in a sack in New Jersey. The murder was committed at the behest of Louis "Pretty' Amberg, but the last place Andrew was seen was the garage used by the Bug & Meyer (Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lanksy) Mob. Francis supposedly sought retribution by bombing the garage. Though Siegel was wounded, nobody was seriously hurt and little damage was done.

Unable to kill those whom Francis held responsible for Andrew's death, he decided to blow the whistle on the entire works. To that end, Francis wrote a book naming the gangsters who ran things and spilling the beans on who murdered who. Not wanting such publicity, the underworld went about eliminating Francis.  Gunmen caught up with the would be author on this date in 1932, while a lawyer was helping him put the finishing touches on the manuscript. As the two men worked at Francis' parents apartment, there was knock at the door. Some "detectives" flashed their badges and demanded to see Francis. The hoodlum author stepped into the hallway to see what it was all about and never made it back inside.

During the ensuing investigation, real detectives confiscated the manuscript and it disappeared.

Homer goes Home

Horse Shoe Lake, Madison County, Illinois -

The skeletal remains of former Cuckoo gangster Homer DeHaven were found on this date in 1932. DeHaven had left the Cuckoos along with faction headed by Tommy Hayes. When Hayes and two confederates were murdered that spring DeHaven was brought in for questioning.

DeHaven was arrested for murder on June 14, but released three days later due to lack of evidence. A short time after being released he was at his girl friends place in East St. Louis when a call came. It was another girl who asked him to meet her at a drug store. He put on his hat an coat and told his girl that he would be back later. He was never seen again until somebody discovered what was left of him in the woods. There were three holes in his skull, assumed to be caused by .45 caliber bullets. He was identified by a signet ring and dental work.

Police theorized that DeHaven was bumped off by the same people who killed Hayes just in case DeHaven wanted to avenge the murders.

Homer DeHaven