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

Nose Rubbed Out

August 17, 1936 saw the demise of Philadelphia gangsters John "Big Nose" Avena, 41, and his cohort 39-year-old Martin Feldstein. Avena, who had been gangstering for nearly twenty-years was the main target. He had been on the spot three times previous; twice in 1926 and once the following year. He was also identified by Anthony "Musky" Zanghi as one of the men who killed his brother and another guy named Vincent Cocazza back in 1927.

By 1936 Avena was one of the top numbers guys in Philadelphia. The end came at about two-twenty in the afternoon while Avena and Feldstein were loitering outside 718 Washington Avenue when a small sedan pulled up and a machine-gunner opened fire. A blast hit Avena in the left chest mangling his heart. He fell to the ground, his head hitting an automobile's running board. With a couple of bullets in the chest and arm, Feldstein crunched over and zig zagged around the corner before collapsing. He died later that night.

After the drive-by, the killers drove about six blocks and dumped the car. Witnesses said that two men exited the car, one carrying a suit case or possibly a trombone case, and split up.

                     

                                John "Big Nose" Avena                        Martin Feldstein