September 30, 2024 • 52 mins
The Citizen Record reported on Thursday, June 7, 1934: “4 MEMBERS OF MURDER SYNDICATE WHO FINALLY KILLED ‘DURABLE’ MALLOY DIE IN CHAIR TONIGHT – At Sing Sing Prison tonight, in the little room with the horrible chair, the Bronx murder syndicate will sit down to death. One by one the undertaker Frank Pasqua, the speakeasy owner Anthony Marino, the bartender Joseph Murphy, and the fruit dealer Daniel Kriesberg they will die, and the state of New York will have avenged the strangest murder in history.” Listen to this week's episode to hear the story of the man who seemed unkillable--Michael Malloy and members of "The Murder Trust" who wouldn't stop until Michael was dead.
SOURCE:
1) "On the House: The Bizare Killing of Michael Malloy" by Simon Read
SOURCE:
1) "On the House: The Bizare Killing of Michael Malloy" by Simon Read
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode may contain content of a graphic nature, including
descriptions of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi everyone, I'm Tanya and I'm Teleah and we are
Crimes and Consequences, a true crime podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hi Shannon, Hey Tanya, how are you doing pretty good?
How about you?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I am doing great, still acclimating to the new job.
And I won't mention it again, but.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You watch it every time. This is a transition.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's a huge transition. Like I'm still getting used to
getting up early. You know, I'm not an I'm not
an early bird. I've never been an early bird.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I still go morning person.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, I'm not a morning person. No, so I'm trying
to be a morning person and trying to stamp out
the night owl in me. Yeah, you get some sleep, but.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Those are big changes, for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
What about you?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, I am.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Totally loving so today. This is my favorite time of year.
Like you can shut your air off and let the
wind and then you might have to turn on the
keat later.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah tomorrow, turn the air on.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Perfect, shut everything to open the windows again. But you
know we're going to be locked up for your you know,
pretty shortly with the same breathing air in the house.
We need to get these windows some freshness. And I
do love it, and I burn. It's like I burn
my epaculi and the sage and it's so smoky in
(01:52):
the house.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
But it's so fure. So that's all I've been up to.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I do love the fall, it's great. I love the
Chris's weather. And like you said, I will get in
my car in the morning and turn the heat on
and on my way home, I've got the air conditioner.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Eye exactly, sit out on the porch. I got to
put my baja on.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Yeah, you know, it's but it's nice because it's just
the kiss of coolness and then that means Halloween and
all that good stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
So oh yeah, exactly the way you like what you.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Got for us today.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, I have a crazy story. It's an oldie, but
a goodie. It takes place in the nineteen thirties. These
cases always kind of fascinate me because I'm a history nerd,
But you fascinate me because of the shit people did.
Because like nowadays, you can't get away with shit, like
there's cameras out there, your phone gets tracked, like, you know,
(02:45):
you can never cover your tracks one hundred percent, but
back then people could. But before I get into it,
I remind everyone to hit subscribe or follow on whatever
app you're listening to, and I am going to tell
you about the murder of Michael Maloe. Okay, So if
you remember in history, the Prohibition, the Prohibition Act was
(03:07):
ratified into law in nineteen twenty. Okay, it was the
eighteenth amendment to our Constitution, and it made it illegal
to manufacture alcohol, sell it, import it. You couldn't know
nothing to do with alcohol, okay. As the country is
drying up basically because you're not allowed to go anywhere
(03:29):
and drink it. You're not allowed to buy it. Oh
my gosh, places like speakeasies. Have you heard of speakeasies?
Oh yeah, yeah, So speakeasy start to pop up. And
what a speakeasy is it. It came from illegal drinking
establishments that were in England and in the nineteenth century
they were called speak softly shops, So that's where it
(03:50):
kind of evolved, like speakeasies evolved from that. So it
was estimated though that there were more than thirty thousand
speakeasies in New York City alone.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Oh my goodness, in.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Okay, So everybody's drinking.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Skin, yes, everybody's out at night.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Right, So speakeasy didn't have to really be anything fancy either,
you know, like you would see in the movies or something.
They sometimes it would just be a room and some liquor.
So the range of establishments that they had it was vast,
Like it would be you know, luxurious, speak easy. Sometimes
sometimes it would just be a seller and so the house,
(04:31):
you know that I set up some tables.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I'd always picture every speak easy, jazz, the being fun, right,
someone out of the bugle or the coronet. Yeah, everyone's
going to be bopping exactly like then, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You expect this like picture like this glamorous, yes right, yeah,
everybody's dressed and beautiful gowns and furs.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Girls where they had the little swinger dresses.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah right yeah, But it wasn't always like that, no.
So nineteen twenty nine in American history also we had
the Great Depression.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
The stock market crashed in nineteen twenty nine, and that's
where the Great Depression started from. You know, we got
this big crash. People lost their money, some of them
their fortunes and everything. So this is nobody can drink
right and nobody can drink legally. Yeah, it sounded like
air buddies getting drunk, right, yea our buddy, right, air buddies.
(05:29):
So there was a place called Marinos, and it was
just a little place. It had four tables chairs, It
had a well used sofa on one end, a makeshift
twelve foot bar in the middle. There was a toilet
on the other end that was blocked from view, so
you know, patrons could go to the bathroom, sure, but
it was like a little flimsy partition pretty much. The
(05:51):
regulars that came to Marinos were criminals and derel QX,
and those were the people. I think that the whole
prohibition thing was meant to dry out. I don't think
they meant to dry out, you know, mister America next door.
I think it was now focus on people that were
more of the unsavory characters. So Tony Marino himself, the owner,
(06:11):
He was a disaster of a person. He was twenty
seven at the time our story takes place, and he
was riddled with venereal disease. Oh bother he had syphilis
and gonorrhea, oh my gosh, and he really didn't rush
to the doctor at the time to treat any of
his ailments. So they did reach an advanced stage on
(06:33):
him with physical marks which were like absesses that developed
in his growing area. And he spoke about that every
now and then and openly. Yeah, just openly and yeah
in this this charmer, he passed these STDs onto his
wife because he was mom at the time. So his wife, Eleanor,
(06:53):
she wasn't aware that she had any of these diseases
until she was pregnant and visited the doctor. A doctor
told her. So, as you can imagine, it wasn't the
best marriage between Eleanor and Tony. She said. The way
that she described Tony was that she said he had
a nasty temper, He was prone to violent tantrums, and
(07:15):
he would often smash furniture in their house. So yeah,
he once put the stove into the hallway and took
an axe to it. And his wife also said, quote
on several occasions he threatened to turn the gas on
in our bedroom and kill the baby and myself.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Oh my gosh, So this is Tony a real charm yeah, charmer.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
His behavior was attributed to a childhood fall that he
had where he got a concussion and his family said,
you know, ever since then, he kind of wasn't the
same he had. He ended up attempting suicide twice before
he was sixteen, and during his marriage to Eleanor, she
left him a few times here and there. But at
(07:57):
the time of our story, she and Tony and their son,
their baby son were living with Tony's father and his sister,
and both women, Eleanor and Tony's sister, he would he
would beat them every day.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
So he was ane and his own sister and his
own sister okay, and dad.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Would just let this. Dad said nothing.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Apparently, I don't know if Dad's joining in.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Or whatever, but right, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So an Marino's bar, Tony employed a man who went
by the name of Joseph, and he actually went by
Red Joseph Murphy. He was the bartender. So Red first
met Tony as a patron of the place. He was
one of the regulars that would come to Marinos. Tony
eventually hired him to pour the drinks for a dollar
a day. That's how much he earned. And the side
(08:43):
benefit though was sampling the inventory. Plus he had like
a semi warm place maybe to crash when he needed Yeah, right,
you know, he could sleep on that sofa I mentioned,
and so it wasn't bad. It's kind of a cushy
set up for like a home alcoholic.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Really in the middle of the great job, Are you
kidding me?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, you know, like he probably didn't have a penny
to his name, but he's able to earn a little
bit of money and crash there as well. So Joseph Murphy,
I'll tell you a little bit about him. He was
born Archie Mott on May twenty fourth, nineteen oh six.
He was taken off the streets at the age of
ten and placed in the care of several different foster
families and a boys' school. He was taken to Mansfield
(09:26):
State Training School and Hospital at around thirteen years old,
where he would remain a mental patient until his early twenties.
While he was in the hospital, he was found by
psychiatrists to have the mental age of nine years and
six months and an IQ of fifty six, and on
July thirty first, nineteen twenty nine, he snuck away from
the hospital. He was able to make just enough from
(09:49):
odd jobs on the street to keep his alcohol addiction going,
and in nineteen thirty two is when he wandered into
Marino's bar and Tony, you know, took pity on him
and gave him this job. There's a lot of people
in this story, so we have read and we have
Tony so far. Yes, Well, the next guy I'm going
to tell you about. His name is Frank Pascua. Okay.
(10:09):
He was another regular of Marinos speakeasy. He was twenty
four with a wife and son at home, and Frank
began working for his father at the age of seventeen
at Pasqua's burial service, which was located in Harlem. He
found it really difficult to engage in any kind of
meaningful conversation in that career, as you can imagine, and
(10:32):
so he would often stop by Marino's place at the
end of the day to grab a drink and socialize.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
He talked to Tony about you know, being a dad
and husbands, and he was able to speak to him
in Italian because Frank too write their native language. So
Tony and Frank they were often seen talking to another guy.
His name is David Prezberg. So now we have Tony
read the bartender, Frank and Dan yees Daniel and Daniel
(11:04):
Kresburg was a twenty nine year old wholes silk grocher
and father of three. Just to let you know, there
was never any accusations from either Frank or Daniel's spouses
that they ever got abused by their husbands. So you know,
by all accounts, they seem to have loving and good marriages.
So I'm just throwing that out there to kind of okay,
good to pop up the story, right. Yes, so Daniel's
(11:27):
a family man at heart, and desperation kind of drove
him to a life of crime. He regularly partnered with
a woman named Marie who was Tony's cousin, as part
of a gang called the Pants Bandit Duo and Marie.
What she would do was hold victims at gunpoint and
take their wallets, jewelry, and money, and then she would
(11:47):
force them to remove their pants, their trousers. That's why
we call the pants She would take their pants so
that the guys wouldn't chase after her and Daniel and
Daniel was the look out and they would you know,
run away with the with the loot and the pant
pants pants. Okay, So now I'm going to tell you
about another guy Okay. His name is Michael Malloy and
(12:11):
he's our victim. So it's believed that he originally came
to New York from Ireland. He was born in the
County do Google. He immigrated to New York in the
late eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds. He was a loner,
had limited friends, and he didn't have any family to
speak of, at least none that anyone knew about. He
(12:33):
worked several jobs involving like different types of street cleaning,
and there was a period where he worked as a
stationary fireman before he found himself sweeping the streets again.
He sometimes worked for Frank at his dad's burial service,
the Pasquad Burial Service. He would sweep floors and polish
(12:54):
the coffins, and Frank would sometimes allow him to sleep
at the mortuary as well. When Michael worked at the
funeral parlor, he and Frank would walk down to Marinos
after work, and eventually the walk to Marinos became a
regular occurrence for Michael, regardless of whether Frank was with
him or not, and he appreciated the company that the
(13:15):
bar provided and the free lunch tray because Tony would
put out a free lunch tray which offered the decent
makings to do like a sardine sandwich, which he really like.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So during the early days of Michael's patronage at Tony's speakeasy,
he was a good paying customer. As he came back
more often, he would ask Tony if he could work
in exchange for drinks, and as his bar tab began
to grow, Tony cut it off in November of nineteen
thirty one. Michael would return to beg for drinks from
(13:47):
now some of Tony's other customers, and when Tony's back
was turned, he would approach Red the bartender behind the
bar and steal twigs from the whiskey bottles.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
He was a bit of a nuisance and Tony's bar
was not performing very well, so things are starting to
build up. In July nineteen thirty two, in the quote
unquote back office of the speakeasy, which was really more
like a walking closet that was really partitioned off with
like a curtain, so there was a lot of privacy. Tony,
(14:21):
Frank and Daniel were sitting around a table and they
began talking. Tony was watching a few barflies taking the
free food from the free lunch tray, and he could
see Michael and Red drinking whiskey from the bottle behind
the bar. It was becoming difficult, like I told you,
for him to cover the expenses of his business. So
(14:42):
Frank looked up and he saw the same scene that
Tony was taking it like, you know, just these people
taking the free food and read and Michael having at it.
Frank is an undertaker and he regularly worked with insurance companies,
so he knew if thing or two about life insurance
and that death was a regular part of his day.
(15:05):
So in that moment, he suggests, why don't you take
a life insurance policy out on Michael, And then he
said I'll take care of the rest. He says this
to Tony.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Okay, right.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So Michael looked like he was about sixty at the time,
and he must have lived like a really hard life,
like those were sixty hard years. Yes, and he was
a drunk, he was an alcoholic, so being that, you know,
he probably looked older than what.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
He really Oh my gosh, how run down that right?
Make yes?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Right?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Nobody's quite sure. So, you know, they all start talking
about this that they're going to maybe you know, look
into this, like getting an insurance policy, and Michael and
Daniel was all for it too because he could use
the extra cash, right like.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Oh for business.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, oh right, And so they all agreed and the
group that the tabloids would eventually call the Murder Trust
was born with this discussion. The first step now would
be to obtain a life insurance policy for Michael, who
was a homeless, unemployed alcoholic, so good, look at that, right, right,
(16:11):
And none of the men were related to him, so
it's going to be difficult. But Frank went to work
on this. The process of obtaining life insurance for Michael
would take nearly five months. Oh some rejections. They stretched
the truth quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
They would have to like that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
And they just blatantly lied on a lack of applications. So,
with his eyes on being a few hundred dollars richer,
Frank approached Michael on July twenty ninth, nineteen thirty two,
and offered to take him to get life insurance. So
Michael's agreeable. I don't know why. He went along with
Frank to meet with an agent from Prudential Life. The
(16:51):
agent was relatively new to the business, He ended up
offering a policy that would cost eight dollars and eight
cents a month. He described the policy as having a
double indemnity clause, which is that if the insured passes away,
like in an accident, the policy would.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Pay double Oh wow, Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
There's a famous old movie called Double Indemnity that I
just remember. It had Barbara Stanwick in it. She was
the She was the them fatale. So anyway, they're like, okay, cool.
They filled out the paperwork. They said that Michael lived
at the address of Marino's Speakeasy and that he was
employed as a porter at Frank's funeral parlor. Michael claimed
(17:36):
no friend or family outside of Frank, and he named
him as beneficiary, saying he gave me a job and
he feeds me. So they pay the eight dollars and
eight cents. They signed the papers and the policy was
sent in. However, during the authentication process, the insurance company
questioned the fact that the person who took out the
policy happened to also be the named beneficiary, and he
(18:00):
was someone that wasn't blood related to the insured. So,
with numerous other discrepancies discovered during this process, the review process,
the policy was rejected at the end of August, and
the eight dollars and eight cents was returned to Frank.
So the same process was repeated in September with Prudential,
and the same outcome happened. Now they're realizing, okay, we
(18:22):
need to find a relative of oh yeah, right, So
Joseph Murphy read he was called on to pose as
Michael's brother, and so now they're like, they're three. Their
trio now goes to four. So they're gonna have to
split this insurance money if it ever yeah control, but
(18:44):
you know, they're like, okay, fine, it's better than not
having I guess the life insurance policy at all. So
in early November, Frank reached out to a Metropolitan agent
regarding a quote unquote friend who wanted some insurance. The
friend had given Frank the money to purchase the policy,
(19:05):
and when asked if the agent could meet the man,
Frank said no. So, I mean that's already shady, right right,
you know, he said, he works late, it's going to
be too difficult. So the agent really didn't want to
push it. I'm sure he just wanted to make the sale,
and he drops off a blank application. The following week
to Frank as a note, this was in violation of
(19:26):
Metropolitan's policies, which required the agent to be there in
person at the time of signing. So this is just.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
All she I was just going to say. The agent
knew exactly what he was doing. He was dropping off
a blank check that he was going to endorse for them.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Just fill it out. I'll be back right.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So Frank provided the agent with the necessary information to
fill in the application and he signs it a phony signature.
The name on the application was Nicholas Mellory, so it's
not Michael molloy, it's Nicholas Mellory on Frank's This is
supposedly Frank's friend, Nicholas Mellory. Joseph Murphy became Joseph Mellory,
(20:07):
Nicholas's brother. That's the beneficiary. And the application was turned
in on November sixteenth, nineteen thirty two, for a forty
four year old Nicholas Mellory. Because they're now fudging.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
They took sixteen years off Michael.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
You know, they're trying to make the application much more.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Palatable for sure.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So with the name change and no other applications lying
in wait, the eight hundred dollars policy with a five
dollars and two cent monthly premium was accepted on December first,
nineteen thirty two.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
So meanwhile at the bar, with all the whispered conversations
and meetings behind the beaded curtain in the back room,
some of the regular patrons had caught onto the fact
that something shady was going on between Tony Frank and Daniel.
One of the people paying attention was a Nan name
Anthony Beststony, and he went by tough Tony. Okay, so
(21:04):
we have Tony Marino, but I'm going to call Anthony
Bestoni tough Tony. Tough Tony was a forty three year
old sometimes bartender, husband and father of five. Although he
said to be unemployed, he made money in the unsavory
underworld by printing counterfeit money. Okay, a lot of money there, sure, yeah.
(21:25):
And he had a partner that he printed this money with.
His name was Joe Maglioni, with whom he had a
combative relationship. The two men would frequently go to marinos
to speak easy. They were overheard discussing their funny money
operation during arguments that they had regarding splitting the prophets. Sure, so, MAGLIONI.
(21:47):
He had four children of his own that he had
to provide for. So the perpetual desperation that people had
during the Great Depression, you know, made pretty much everyone,
I think open to CD behavior.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
That survival behavior.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, exactly. So tough Tony caught wind of the insurance
scheme somehow and he wanted in. So. Knowing tough Tony
was prone to violence and was willing to do just
about anything to make a buck, Tony Marino relented and
the Murder Trust now has five members.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Oh my gosh, right, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So breaking down the math of the new split of
the money, even with a double indemnity, it's sixteen hundred.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Dollars, Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
The profit that each of them are getting now is
shrinking because there's five people that they have to split
it up, and they're taking about three hundred and twenty dollars,
which in today's money is about seventy three hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Oh my goodness. Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So it is a lot of money, but it's not like,
you know, one hundred thousand dollars or something. Right, They
decided that they needed more policies taken out on Michael.
So they're back to the drawing. They reach out to
Prudential and they meet with a different agent, and they
met with him on December tenth with a fake Nicholas
(23:09):
Mellory in tow and ever was playing the role of
Nicholas Mellory. It wasn't Michael.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
It was someone who looked forty four.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Right, yeah, right, it was. It's unknown who actually did it.
The Prudential agent began an application for weekly insurance two
policies using mostly the same information from the MET the
Metropolitan policies, and save for some mistakes, Frank gave a
birthday that didn't match the MET policy. They're being sloppy, right,
(23:37):
They shaved off another four years of Nicholas Mellory, so
now he's only forty Okay. The other inconsistencies was the signature.
Originally Frank had signed it, but he did not sign
the new one for Prudential, So it's clearly two different
signatures on these policies for Nicholas Mellory. Regardless, they were
approved the following week, and both policies that they took
(24:00):
out were for four hundred and ninety four dollars and
they both had this double indemnity clause. So in total,
now there's three thousand, five hundred and seventy six dollars
up for grabs, Like that's the insurance amount on Michael,
which in today's money is eighty one, eight hundred and
forty dollars between five.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So the plan the men came up with, they believed,
was so simple it was laughable. They didn't need to
choot him like drag on. There was no intent on
putting any kind of effort in killing Michael. What they
wanted to do was that Tony was just gonna lift
the closure. Remember I told you he cut off Michael
(24:43):
from alcohol. He decided he was just gonna let it
flow and that they all figured that Michael's alcoholism would
do okay. So they all understood, you know, the plan
might not go the way they anticipated. Frank and Tony
brought brought in a couple other speakeasy regulars they knew
that would be willing to bump someone off for cheap
(25:05):
as a backup plan. Their names were Edward Smith and
John McNally. They both were career criminals and were enthusiastic
to be offered a job no matter if I was
illegal right. It was the magic word during the.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Great Bath's right job.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Mm hmmm. So they signed on for eight hundred dollars
upon the death of Michael. That's pretty big cut, but
they weren't only going to get it if they were needed.
So with the policies and this contingent plan in place now,
the Murder Trust is ready to begin acting on what
they're going to do. Right Well, one evening late in
(25:41):
December nineteen thirty, Michael walks into Marino's bar and he
was strangely welcomed with open arms, no tongue lashing about begging,
no remarks about his bar. Tab Tony explained that the
competition between the speakeasies was becoming fierce and he really
needed to change his rules. So to reward Michael for
(26:02):
his loyalty, his drinks would be on the house from
now on. So as the hours passed, Michael poured whiskey
and gin down his throat while members of the Murder
Truss looked at when a glass was emptied, someone was
always standing close by to fill it up again. Michael
drank and drank, and then drank some more. As the
(26:23):
other patrons began to leave, and the night wore on.
Michael eventually called the quits for the evening. He thanked
Tony and you know, for his gracious hospitality, and he
left to find a place to lay his head for
the night. The following day he was back and Tony
hopped to it to fill his glass up and repeated
the previous day, and Michael drank and he drank some more,
(26:47):
and Tony poured, and after drinking a spill, Michael left
again for the night. So by the third day that
this is going on, Tony's annoyed.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Okay, Tony is cragging because it's like, do you think
that alcoholism is like a plug, you just pull load
them up and everything explain, No, is an irishman to
this man was built.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
You are a whiteotype, right.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
You know, I'm thinking, like one night of drinking hard
ain't gonna do.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
It three and you're irritated.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Like nos an alcoholic. It's gonna take a lot to
poison him.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
But you're gonna need a long game if you're gonna
be playing this hand exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I'm like, these are amateurs, right.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
So this third day, okay, after making himself a sardine sandwich,
Michael pulled up a seat at the bar, and Tony's
watching all of his liquor go down Michael's throat for
free bathing, Yeah, and he's yeah, he's seething. And Michael
looks no worse for wear. And as he left the
bar that night, there was only a faint hope that
(28:05):
he would taken out by being exposed to the elements.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
On the show.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Yeah right, oh, maybe maybe winter will get him right,
you know, in combination with alcohol, the desperation of their
situation starts to settle in for the murder trust, and
Michael's endurance with drink is beginning to become clear to them.
The reality of this easy money that they really hoped
to obtain was just forcing this group to reassess the situation.
(28:34):
Michael was drinking by the bottle, and he was getting
rip worn drunk, but never showed symptoms of being like
pissed drunk. Right, like he was drunk, but he.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Wasn't his body his brain.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yes, there was no like alcohol poisoning. There's no vomiting.
He's not guesting out. Even so, tough Tony began to
argue that it was time for a more or straightforward approach.
He wasn't one to continue with subtlety, as if there
was any other choice, right, But the group discussed and
the majority agreed that they would continue as planned. Red
(29:12):
was the one who came up with the next idea,
Gaining the attention of the other members of the Murder Trust,
he suggested that they switch the whiskey and gin out
for something stronger and toxic. Okay, so why don't they
start pouring wood alcohol into his glass? And wood alcohol
is impure alcohol or denatured alcohol, paint thinner, Oh my gosh,
(29:36):
you know, whatever you choose to call it, it's lethal, right.
Bellevue Hospital stated in nineteen twenty seven that three drinks
of four percent wood alcohol could cause blindness in people.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
So if Red poured a whole glass of this paint thinner,
then Michael fully ingested that maybe he would finally succumb
to right drink like it had to happen, Like they're
all like it's got to happen, right, Sure, So Daniel,
Frank and Tony were enthusiastically on board. The wood alcohol
was purchased for ten cents a can, and the endeavor
(30:12):
began that night. So Michael begins drinking a regular old
Shadow whiskey. That evening, he drank three or four shots
to wunt his wits before they started pouring him straight
shots of paint thinner, and concerned that he would be
able to tell that shots were being played with, Red
(30:32):
watched Michael's expression for any kind of sign of.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
You know, oh yeah, night for sure, but.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Michael continued to ask for more, and the murder Trutch
just watched and stunned astonishment. As Michael continued to drink
the paint thinner and leaving that night, the group was disappointed.
The Daily News reported quote that Michael merely slept it
off and appeared at the speaking the next day, none
(31:01):
for the worse of his exposure.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
The following day, when Michael showed up, they again started
with the whiskey. They tainted it with wood alcohol, which
soon then became glasses of nothing but paint thinner, and
Michael remained oblivious to this betrayal by his so called friends.
He never noticed the taste, and he actually seemed to
like it. He would drink it all and ask for more.
(31:29):
This irritated the gang, seeing that is he immuned, like
what the right, So they set out a challenge to
speed things up. Daniel asked Michael, let's see how much
we can drink. We're gonna have a contest. So Red
sets up to pour Michael some shots of the paint
Thinner and Daniel has drinks of whiskey. Shot after shot,
(31:51):
Michael drank his friend under the table.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I get so much he drank. He drank a quote
and a half of paint Thinner that night. I think
there's what two quarter.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Of a gallon? Yeah, four quurts make a gallon.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
So yeah, a little over a quarter gallon.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah, I'm thinking, were you really sold paint thinner where
you sold water?
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Yeah? Man, I don't get it. What kind of jacket
paint thinner than paint center? Quote unquote air quotes.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
So, the same story would continue several nights in a
row until like these people are like something has to give.
Red would pour Michael shots of what alcohol just as
quickly as they were drinking. Finally, Michael started to lean
and sway. One night, his words were slurred and he
was incoherent. The final drink took him to the floor.
(32:50):
He finally passes out, and the men watching. They've been
waiting for.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
This for days.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Raw Red's success gave him a sense of and the
Murder Trust they had been beginning to lose money on
the scheme. They'd been paying the monthly and the weekly
premiums buying the liquor and the poison. The murder of
Michael wasn't a cheap enterprise that they thought. Shit adds
up when yes, So Michael's passed out on the floor
(33:18):
and Frank bends down to take his pulse to check
and see if he's still breathing, and then, as if
to slap the Murder Trust in the face, Michael begins snoring.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
That is fucking hilarious. I love that.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I know. So they're like, Okay, he's not dead, he's oh,
but maybe he's gone blind, Like maybe this is finally
the tipping point, Like maybe they're thinking is an he's
not nauseous, like his stomach is like an iron stomach.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
I'm not trying to be like gross funny.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
You know what, this reminds me of what's that Jim
Carrey movie Me Myself and Irene?
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Like he used to put down that cow in the.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Road, Ivy walks away the cow You know, it's just
like I'm not trying to say it's funny like that.
This group of idiots just to even keep up, Like,
I don't see how you can not one time in
the days that you're trying to kill this guy.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
No one had a crisis of conscious. This is this
is a sign from God. Yeah, in and nothing.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
This paint thinner is supposedly gonna make somebody go blind
if they have three shots of it. And here he's
drinking quarts and gallons of the ship days per days.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
And then snores. I just wanted to kiss them on
the forehead. Way to go, Mike, way to go, I know.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
So he ended up spending the night on the floor
of Marina tough. Tony once again he brought up the
quick and dirty method.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
He pats the gun on his hip and he's like, Okay,
we've sunk way too much money into this. We need
to move. And Frank and Tony they declined, and they
decided to plan another attempt to ensure now that they
received that double indemnity policy. Oh right, drinking yourself to
death doesn't qualify as an accident, and neither would some
(35:09):
of the other attempts that they were going to follow.
So the thought process was they're going to continue to
do what they need to do. Frank pitched this plan.
He said, Okay, what we're gonna do is we're going
to soak some oysters in a jar of the paint
dinner and serve them to Michael. He had run into
(35:29):
this fatal mixture as an undertaker. I guess it happened
to someone. So they're hoping that this now is going
to cause like a cute indigestion when the oysters go down.
Maybe it's going to be like concrete in Michael's Okay,
So early January, Michael makes his way to the speakeasy
and he took a seat at the bar. Although he'd
(35:49):
been drinking paint dinner for weeks now and the entire
building smelled of this chemical, oh my gosh, he didn't
seem the least bit phased. After a few dreams, Tony
placed a plate of oysters that had been marinating in
the poison for a few days in front of Michael
as they played cards at a nearby table. Frank and
(36:11):
tough Tony look on. Michael down to oyster after oyster,
and he thanked Tony for his generosity at providing him
such a delicious meals after pushing away the plate, and
there's no sign of any kind of illness and no complaints.
They're just looking at him like what the fuck? Absolutely,
and Michael's like another drink, garsone.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
I love your French, Michael Michel.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Yes, a few regular patrons of this place, not involved
in scheme. They began to see something. Yeah right. The
men involved were constantly whispering and huddled in frantic discussions.
The murder plot had become desperate, and it's becoming an
obsession for these guys. But you know it wasn't supposed
(37:02):
to take this long. So rather than give up, the
men continued, almost as a matter of principle, like they're like,
we're going to kill this fucker. So, walking away from
the Oysters that night, Tony asked Michael how he was feeling,
and Michael answered, never felt better in all my life.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
So after a thoughtful discussion, Red's next plan wins out.
They chose to try to poison sardines. On many nights
after beginning his binge, Michael would saunter up to the
free lunch tray and make himself a sardine sandwich. So
the next night Red purchased a can of sardines. After
(37:41):
opening it, he left them open on a shelf to
rat for a few days, and when Michael came in
a few evenings later, Red smeared the rattenfish on a
piece of bread. He added to it metal shavings that
he got from a local machine shop, bits of broken glass,
and carpet tacks, before placing one more slice of bread
(38:02):
on top.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Once he gives this to Michael with your first shot
of the paint thinner, he offers the sandwich and Michael
hungrily accepts it. Yeah, and he begins eating. So Red's waiting,
and he could see in his mind's eye the metal
shavings and the carpet tacks like attacking Michael's organs and.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Try cutting them up. Share.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Okay, he's eating this. Yeah, but Michael didn't seem to
feel a thing. He thanked Red for such a well
crafted meal and asked for another drink after he ate
the entire sandwich.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Hats off to you, irishman.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
Honestly, I am so impressed, and just that they're so dumbfounded.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Yes I would, I can't blame them.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
I I mean, if I was of that mindset and
that was my goal, I would just be like, what
the f.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah, Like honestly, metal shavings, glass, I mean, and the
paint center for now it seems weeks right right, and
carpet tax like you're thinking like, okay, this has to
kill it.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Battle shavings, Oh my gosh, you're not digesting that, noy're
putting your insides up pollary. Oh maybe he doesn't have teeth,
you know, maybe thirties, because I'm like, man, if something
hits my too, them all like what the fuck is that?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Yeah? You know.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
So on his we home one cold winter evening, Tony
was thinking back to early nineteen thirty two when he
had an affair with a lovely blonde hairdresser, and her
name was Mabel Carlson. She was twenty seven. Originally from Washington,
d c. Mabel moved to New York in December of
nineteen thirty one after her mother died and her marriage failed.
(39:45):
She found herself sitting at Marino's bar regularly, and then
he brought her into his home, much to his wife
Eleanor's dismay.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
Oh fuck that.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
Yeah, that's when Eleanor left her husband after Mabel became
a regular fixture. Yeah, and Eleanor moved in with her
sister in law and father in law. On March seventeen,
nineteen thirty two, at ten thirty in the morning, the
police were called to the Marino apartment where Mabel was
found unresponsive in bed. And this is why I mention it.
(40:16):
You might be sitting there like we were talking about Mike. Yeah,
this is important. So the autopsy said she died of
pneumonia and acute and chronic alcoholism. So Tony had told
authorities that she'd been drinking heavily over the course of
a few weeks, and she'd refused to stop or seek
medical help. There were signs that she'd been physically abused,
(40:37):
and the bruises had been covered up by like makeup.
And Tony had taken out a two thousand dollars life
insurance policy on Mabel, and he collected it in less
than a week after she died. So, after our story ends,
in Michael's death happens, I mean, I told you you'd
begin it was his murder. It would come out that
(40:58):
Tony force fed the whiskey down Mabel's throat until she
could no longer drink. He helped her to bed, which
he had moved under an open window. He poured ice
water on the mattress, stripped her naked, and wrapped her
in cold wet bedding.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yeah, so leaving her under the open window, she succumbed.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, the elements of course, for sure, in.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Being drunk as fast. Right. So Tony's like, he's thinking
back to what he did to Mabel, and now he's
got this new plan that they're going to try and
do this to Michael. He'd been successful, so okay, so
he's like, we're going to do this.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
How we're going to do it.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yeah, So in mid January, Michael came into the bar
and Tony sat with him, had a conversation for hours
with him, making sure that Michael's glass was never empty.
He knew that for this to work, Michael couldn't just
be drunk. He needed to be unconscious. Yes, one weather
report described it to be an arctic day that day,
(42:02):
which would be a perfect setting. Sure man out to
be surrendered to the elements. But after drinking himself into
a stupor, Tony and Frank carried Michael to Frank's roadster,
put him in the back seat to drive him to
Krotona park where he would be dragged to a park
bench and laid down. So they carried a bucket of
(42:24):
water with them, and once he was laid out on
the bench, they stripped the clothes off his chest, poured
water over him, and took off back to the speakeasy,
confident that there wouldn't be any way that Michael was
going to survive this. Right the next day, Tony walks
into his bar to start the day, and he probably
would have been curious as to the fate of his
(42:45):
loyal customer, but it wouldn't take long for him to
discover what happened. During the night. Michael had woke up
to find himself freezing on a park bench. He made
his way half a mile through Cole, New York, winner
to the back of Marino's bar. Red who was not
party to this plan, let Michael in. He was woken
(43:06):
up because he was sleeping in the bar. He was
woken up bicycle and he led him in to sleep
in the bar. So Michael made his way down to
the basement, where Tony found him. The following day, sleeping
next to the heat of the guest.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
Oh my gosh, this is so I'm glad this is
given Tony a hard time because he's not such a motherfucker.
I'm glad that this is a thorn in his side.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
That day, they were like, Okay, we're waving the white
flag for the day. But the group decides they got
up their game because they're determined now they're gonna kill
Michael somehow. It's believed that Michael would have been in
severe amounts of pain struggling to reach warmth that night.
Just as a side note, the next attempt would be
more violent on him. Harry Hershey Green was a cam
(43:56):
driver described as a deeply disturbed young man who saw
very little value in human life. At twenty four, he
hadn't killed anyone yet, but it wasn't due to lack
of interest. He admitted that he was keen on the
idea if an opportunity presented itself, but he needed to
get paid for it. So being a friend of Joe Maglioni,
(44:16):
if you remember he was the other counterfeitter with tough Tony, Yes,
Hershey was finally going to get his chance. He would
happily accept one hundred and fifty dollars to run over
Michael in his cab.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
Okay, that's the next plan.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
So one evening in late January, Hershey came to Marinos
and met the rest of the game. During the discussions
of how to get the job done, he was told, quote,
if there's any doubt, back over the bastard and make
sure the job's done right end Quote her She found
a nice stretch of road where he'd be able to
gain quite a bit of speed. January thirtieth, nineteen thirty three,
(44:52):
Michael was plastered with wood alcohol. The smile, I mean,
the smell was just odd from his schoolers. He fell
limp around me. So they take him to Hershey's cab
and they drove to that stretch of road that her
She had found tough. Tony and Red carried Michael out
of the car and held him up by both arms.
(45:13):
Hers She backed up aways and he reaved the engine
and punched the gas. The car launched. Tony and Red
are now prepared. They're holding up Michael, and they're prepared
to jump out right right at the last possible moment.
And then Joe yelled stop. A woman had lit a
lamp in her window. So this place, they decided wasn't
(45:34):
remote enough. Hers, she had Tony and Red put Michael
back in the car, and they needed to find somewhere
else to carry out this plan. So just around the
corner they found a spot and they pulled Michael out
of the car. Again. They stood him up, and they're
attempting this again. On the first attempt, tough Tony and
Red were holding him up and when they jumped to
(45:55):
get out of the way, so did Michael. For someone
on the edge of consciousness, he moved quickly, so they
stood him up to try it again, and he got
the car for the second time. The third time they
hit him. Okay, his body created a loud thump and
it rolled unto the hood and up the windshield. Michael
wasn't moving on the ground now Hers. She went up
(46:18):
the hill to come back and give him a second go,
But when he came around the corner, there was a
car stopped at Michael's body.
Speaker 3 (46:26):
Oh yeah, her.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
She picked up Red and tough Tony and continued back
to the speakeasy to regroup. So they're not sure. They
they're sure, like he's dead. They're positive he's dead. But
they haven't chucked. Yeah, and they're sure, like the next
day they're going to read all about this body that
was found on the road. But the next day there's
no article in the newspaper, nothing, nothing mentioned of this incident.
(46:48):
So they're thinking, like, how did did he survive? It
happened he was hit at fifty miles an hour, living
at Like, how the fuck did he survive this? Everyone
had seen him fly into the air basically, so where
was he? They couldn't collect the insurance money without proof
of a body, Yeah, So they decided to wait for
a couple of days and if he was alive, you know,
(47:10):
they figured he'd come back.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
Oh, he'd pop in right.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
But Tony wasn't satisfied. Nobody meant no insurance money. They
needed a body, So less than a week after the attempt,
Tony sent everyone on a quest for a substitute victim.
The victim needed to look like Michael so they could
put Nicholas Mellory's ID in his pocket to identify him.
On February sixth, her she took his cab out to
(47:36):
hunt for the five foot six, one hundred and eighty
pound substitute victim, and the speakeases of Harlem with Tony, Joe,
tough Tony and Rhett. They're hunting for a victim. Joseph
Patrick Murray was a thirty one year old unemployed plasterer's assistant.
He'd spent the beginning of February sixth looking for work,
(47:57):
but had gotten quite thirsty and decided to stop at
the speakeasy on the first floor of his apartment building
for a few drinks. On his way out the door,
he was approached on the sidewalk by tough Tony, who
offered him a job. After accepting, they ushered him into
Hershey's cab and took him back to Marina's. Tony was
aghast at the resemblance between Michael and the new victim,
(48:18):
and he poured drink after drink, waiting for the man
to lose consciousness. Once he landed in a crumpled heap
on the floor, they put Nicholas Mellory's ID in his
pocket and piled him into Hershey's cab with everyone else.
Like they all went and midnight, tough Tony and Red
were holding Joseph Murray up the same way they had
held up Michael, and Hershey was aiming the cab right
(48:41):
at him. It took seconds for Joseph Murray to end
up under the wheels with a shocking thumb and crutch.
Just after the cab pulled to a stop to check
the vitals on their new victim, someone shouted that a
car was coming, so Tough, Tony and Red piled back
in the cab and they headed back to the speakeasy,
abandoning another body. Oh my gosh, And this is where
(49:04):
I'm going to end part one.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
What are you Kanya? I know I am.
Speaker 4 (49:15):
I'm fucking hating Tony Tough, Tony fucking Joe right.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
Red, These idiots, idiots, right yeah, Hershey with his fucking cab.
Speaker 3 (49:26):
Yeah, the fucking Hershey and the cab and then they
killed that girl. They're just horrible people.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
They are horrible people. And now you're making us weights
because you're cruel and you're hateful.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
Five. Yeah, I'm kidding.
Speaker 4 (49:42):
That was a This is a fucking excellent story. I
can't believe you know, you think nineteen thirty When I
think nineteen thirty. To be honest, I'm always like, what
am I doing for deodorant? What am I doing for
sanitary napkins? How's my hygi and I'm thinking that alcoholism
(50:04):
is rampant. Yeah, the country is poor, they're in the
depression and there is nothing happening.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
This is like, yeah, there's no jobs, don't job, nothing
for anyone to do all day but get the exactly
or commit crimes.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
I guess yes, print fake money and full life insurance policies.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
That's that's the kind of survival.
Speaker 4 (50:29):
World it is apparently in nineteen thirty, really not seeing
much change one hundred years later.
Speaker 3 (50:34):
But we'll see.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
Everything's just gotten a little bit more difficult.
Speaker 3 (50:39):
It sure has it, Sure has well.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Thanks you shan't it and are sweet, But I am
very much looking forward to the don't google it, none
of you google.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
I'm not. I can't wait, No way, no way.
Speaker 2 (50:55):
Before everyone signs off, just reminding you to hit the
subscriber follow button on whatever app you're listening to. And
we also have a Patreon if you enjoy our weekly
episodes that we publish for free. If you'd like to
join our Patreon or our members only group, you can
go to patreon dot com slash t nt Crimes, or
(51:17):
you can subscribe through the Apple app. And what that
means is you get an extra episode a week if
you subscribe to the highest tier in Patreon. There's lower tiers,
but Apple only offers one price, so you get one
extra episode a week, and you also get this episode
ad free and early release. We use release on Mondays
and you would get this episode a couple of days earlier.
(51:39):
So we have a website, Crimesanconsequences dot com, so if
you'd like to check out some merch that we have there,
you can do that. We have to catch it up soon,
so our episodes.
Speaker 3 (51:52):
New merch, Yes, we're working on Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
We're working on some new merch too. So it's all
very exciting with all of the changes they've been having.
So thank you Shannon for becoming my co host too.
Speaker 4 (52:06):
Yeah, I love you and I love working with you,
so love you. It works out great.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
Yeah, so I'm having fun. So until our next episode, everyone.
Speaker 3 (52:16):
Yes, take care and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (52:19):
You next time. Bye bye
This episode may contain content of a graphic nature, including
descriptions of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hi everyone, I'm Tanya and I'm Teleah and we are
Crimes and Consequences, a true crime podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hi Shannon, Hey Tanya, how are you doing pretty good?
How about you?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I am doing great, still acclimating to the new job.
And I won't mention it again, but.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You watch it every time. This is a transition.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's a huge transition. Like I'm still getting used to
getting up early. You know, I'm not an I'm not
an early bird. I've never been an early bird.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I still go morning person.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, I'm not a morning person. No, so I'm trying
to be a morning person and trying to stamp out
the night owl in me. Yeah, you get some sleep, but.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Those are big changes, for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
What about you?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, I am.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
Totally loving so today. This is my favorite time of year.
Like you can shut your air off and let the
wind and then you might have to turn on the
keat later.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah tomorrow, turn the air on.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Perfect, shut everything to open the windows again. But you
know we're going to be locked up for your you know,
pretty shortly with the same breathing air in the house.
We need to get these windows some freshness. And I
do love it, and I burn. It's like I burn
my epaculi and the sage and it's so smoky in
(01:52):
the house.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
But it's so fure. So that's all I've been up to.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I do love the fall, it's great. I love the
Chris's weather. And like you said, I will get in
my car in the morning and turn the heat on
and on my way home, I've got the air conditioner.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Eye exactly, sit out on the porch. I got to
put my baja on.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Yeah, you know, it's but it's nice because it's just
the kiss of coolness and then that means Halloween and
all that good stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
So oh yeah, exactly the way you like what you.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Got for us today.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Well, I have a crazy story. It's an oldie, but
a goodie. It takes place in the nineteen thirties. These
cases always kind of fascinate me because I'm a history nerd,
But you fascinate me because of the shit people did.
Because like nowadays, you can't get away with shit, like
there's cameras out there, your phone gets tracked, like, you know,
(02:45):
you can never cover your tracks one hundred percent, but
back then people could. But before I get into it,
I remind everyone to hit subscribe or follow on whatever
app you're listening to, and I am going to tell
you about the murder of Michael Maloe. Okay, So if
you remember in history, the Prohibition, the Prohibition Act was
(03:07):
ratified into law in nineteen twenty. Okay, it was the
eighteenth amendment to our Constitution, and it made it illegal
to manufacture alcohol, sell it, import it. You couldn't know
nothing to do with alcohol, okay. As the country is
drying up basically because you're not allowed to go anywhere
(03:29):
and drink it. You're not allowed to buy it. Oh
my gosh, places like speakeasies. Have you heard of speakeasies?
Oh yeah, yeah, So speakeasy start to pop up. And
what a speakeasy is it. It came from illegal drinking
establishments that were in England and in the nineteenth century
they were called speak softly shops, So that's where it
(03:50):
kind of evolved, like speakeasies evolved from that. So it
was estimated though that there were more than thirty thousand
speakeasies in New York City alone.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Oh my goodness, in.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Okay, So everybody's drinking.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Skin, yes, everybody's out at night.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Right, So speakeasy didn't have to really be anything fancy either,
you know, like you would see in the movies or something.
They sometimes it would just be a room and some liquor.
So the range of establishments that they had it was vast,
Like it would be you know, luxurious, speak easy. Sometimes
sometimes it would just be a seller and so the house,
(04:31):
you know that I set up some tables.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I'd always picture every speak easy, jazz, the being fun, right,
someone out of the bugle or the coronet. Yeah, everyone's
going to be bopping exactly like then, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You expect this like picture like this glamorous, yes right, yeah,
everybody's dressed and beautiful gowns and furs.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Girls where they had the little swinger dresses.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah right yeah, But it wasn't always like that, no.
So nineteen twenty nine in American history also we had
the Great Depression.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
The stock market crashed in nineteen twenty nine, and that's
where the Great Depression started from. You know, we got
this big crash. People lost their money, some of them
their fortunes and everything. So this is nobody can drink
right and nobody can drink legally. Yeah, it sounded like
air buddies getting drunk, right, yea our buddy, right, air buddies.
(05:29):
So there was a place called Marinos, and it was
just a little place. It had four tables chairs, It
had a well used sofa on one end, a makeshift
twelve foot bar in the middle. There was a toilet
on the other end that was blocked from view, so
you know, patrons could go to the bathroom, sure, but
it was like a little flimsy partition pretty much. The
(05:51):
regulars that came to Marinos were criminals and derel QX,
and those were the people. I think that the whole
prohibition thing was meant to dry out. I don't think
they meant to dry out, you know, mister America next door.
I think it was now focus on people that were
more of the unsavory characters. So Tony Marino himself, the owner,
(06:11):
He was a disaster of a person. He was twenty
seven at the time our story takes place, and he
was riddled with venereal disease. Oh bother he had syphilis
and gonorrhea, oh my gosh, and he really didn't rush
to the doctor at the time to treat any of
his ailments. So they did reach an advanced stage on
(06:33):
him with physical marks which were like absesses that developed
in his growing area. And he spoke about that every
now and then and openly. Yeah, just openly and yeah
in this this charmer, he passed these STDs onto his
wife because he was mom at the time. So his wife, Eleanor,
(06:53):
she wasn't aware that she had any of these diseases
until she was pregnant and visited the doctor. A doctor
told her. So, as you can imagine, it wasn't the
best marriage between Eleanor and Tony. She said. The way
that she described Tony was that she said he had
a nasty temper, He was prone to violent tantrums, and
(07:15):
he would often smash furniture in their house. So yeah,
he once put the stove into the hallway and took
an axe to it. And his wife also said, quote
on several occasions he threatened to turn the gas on
in our bedroom and kill the baby and myself.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Oh my gosh, So this is Tony a real charm yeah, charmer.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
His behavior was attributed to a childhood fall that he
had where he got a concussion and his family said,
you know, ever since then, he kind of wasn't the
same he had. He ended up attempting suicide twice before
he was sixteen, and during his marriage to Eleanor, she
left him a few times here and there. But at
(07:57):
the time of our story, she and Tony and their son,
their baby son were living with Tony's father and his sister,
and both women, Eleanor and Tony's sister, he would he
would beat them every day.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
So he was ane and his own sister and his
own sister okay, and dad.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Would just let this. Dad said nothing.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Apparently, I don't know if Dad's joining in.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Or whatever, but right, okay.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So an Marino's bar, Tony employed a man who went
by the name of Joseph, and he actually went by
Red Joseph Murphy. He was the bartender. So Red first
met Tony as a patron of the place. He was
one of the regulars that would come to Marinos. Tony
eventually hired him to pour the drinks for a dollar
a day. That's how much he earned. And the side
(08:43):
benefit though was sampling the inventory. Plus he had like
a semi warm place maybe to crash when he needed Yeah, right,
you know, he could sleep on that sofa I mentioned,
and so it wasn't bad. It's kind of a cushy
set up for like a home alcoholic.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Really in the middle of the great job, Are you
kidding me?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, you know, like he probably didn't have a penny
to his name, but he's able to earn a little
bit of money and crash there as well. So Joseph Murphy,
I'll tell you a little bit about him. He was
born Archie Mott on May twenty fourth, nineteen oh six.
He was taken off the streets at the age of
ten and placed in the care of several different foster
families and a boys' school. He was taken to Mansfield
(09:26):
State Training School and Hospital at around thirteen years old,
where he would remain a mental patient until his early twenties.
While he was in the hospital, he was found by
psychiatrists to have the mental age of nine years and
six months and an IQ of fifty six, and on
July thirty first, nineteen twenty nine, he snuck away from
the hospital. He was able to make just enough from
(09:49):
odd jobs on the street to keep his alcohol addiction going,
and in nineteen thirty two is when he wandered into
Marino's bar and Tony, you know, took pity on him
and gave him this job. There's a lot of people
in this story, so we have read and we have
Tony so far. Yes, Well, the next guy I'm going
to tell you about. His name is Frank Pascua. Okay.
(10:09):
He was another regular of Marinos speakeasy. He was twenty
four with a wife and son at home, and Frank
began working for his father at the age of seventeen
at Pasqua's burial service, which was located in Harlem. He
found it really difficult to engage in any kind of
meaningful conversation in that career, as you can imagine, and
(10:32):
so he would often stop by Marino's place at the
end of the day to grab a drink and socialize.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
He talked to Tony about you know, being a dad
and husbands, and he was able to speak to him
in Italian because Frank too write their native language. So
Tony and Frank they were often seen talking to another guy.
His name is David Prezberg. So now we have Tony
read the bartender, Frank and Dan yees Daniel and Daniel
(11:04):
Kresburg was a twenty nine year old wholes silk grocher
and father of three. Just to let you know, there
was never any accusations from either Frank or Daniel's spouses
that they ever got abused by their husbands. So you know,
by all accounts, they seem to have loving and good marriages.
So I'm just throwing that out there to kind of okay,
good to pop up the story, right. Yes, so Daniel's
(11:27):
a family man at heart, and desperation kind of drove
him to a life of crime. He regularly partnered with
a woman named Marie who was Tony's cousin, as part
of a gang called the Pants Bandit Duo and Marie.
What she would do was hold victims at gunpoint and
take their wallets, jewelry, and money, and then she would
(11:47):
force them to remove their pants, their trousers. That's why
we call the pants She would take their pants so
that the guys wouldn't chase after her and Daniel and
Daniel was the look out and they would you know,
run away with the with the loot and the pant
pants pants. Okay, So now I'm going to tell you
about another guy Okay. His name is Michael Malloy and
(12:11):
he's our victim. So it's believed that he originally came
to New York from Ireland. He was born in the
County do Google. He immigrated to New York in the
late eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds. He was a loner,
had limited friends, and he didn't have any family to
speak of, at least none that anyone knew about. He
(12:33):
worked several jobs involving like different types of street cleaning,
and there was a period where he worked as a
stationary fireman before he found himself sweeping the streets again.
He sometimes worked for Frank at his dad's burial service,
the Pasquad Burial Service. He would sweep floors and polish
(12:54):
the coffins, and Frank would sometimes allow him to sleep
at the mortuary as well. When Michael worked at the
funeral parlor, he and Frank would walk down to Marinos
after work, and eventually the walk to Marinos became a
regular occurrence for Michael, regardless of whether Frank was with
him or not, and he appreciated the company that the
(13:15):
bar provided and the free lunch tray because Tony would
put out a free lunch tray which offered the decent
makings to do like a sardine sandwich, which he really like.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
So during the early days of Michael's patronage at Tony's speakeasy,
he was a good paying customer. As he came back
more often, he would ask Tony if he could work
in exchange for drinks, and as his bar tab began
to grow, Tony cut it off in November of nineteen
thirty one. Michael would return to beg for drinks from
(13:47):
now some of Tony's other customers, and when Tony's back
was turned, he would approach Red the bartender behind the
bar and steal twigs from the whiskey bottles.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
He was a bit of a nuisance and Tony's bar
was not performing very well, so things are starting to
build up. In July nineteen thirty two, in the quote
unquote back office of the speakeasy, which was really more
like a walking closet that was really partitioned off with
like a curtain, so there was a lot of privacy. Tony,
(14:21):
Frank and Daniel were sitting around a table and they
began talking. Tony was watching a few barflies taking the
free food from the free lunch tray, and he could
see Michael and Red drinking whiskey from the bottle behind
the bar. It was becoming difficult, like I told you,
for him to cover the expenses of his business. So
(14:42):
Frank looked up and he saw the same scene that
Tony was taking it like, you know, just these people
taking the free food and read and Michael having at it.
Frank is an undertaker and he regularly worked with insurance companies,
so he knew if thing or two about life insurance
and that death was a regular part of his day.
(15:05):
So in that moment, he suggests, why don't you take
a life insurance policy out on Michael, And then he
said I'll take care of the rest. He says this
to Tony.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Okay, right.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So Michael looked like he was about sixty at the time,
and he must have lived like a really hard life,
like those were sixty hard years. Yes, and he was
a drunk, he was an alcoholic, so being that, you know,
he probably looked older than what.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
He really Oh my gosh, how run down that right?
Make yes?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Right?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Nobody's quite sure. So, you know, they all start talking
about this that they're going to maybe you know, look
into this, like getting an insurance policy, and Michael and
Daniel was all for it too because he could use
the extra cash, right like.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Oh for business.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, oh right, And so they all agreed and the
group that the tabloids would eventually call the Murder Trust
was born with this discussion. The first step now would
be to obtain a life insurance policy for Michael, who
was a homeless, unemployed alcoholic, so good, look at that, right, right,
(16:11):
And none of the men were related to him, so
it's going to be difficult. But Frank went to work
on this. The process of obtaining life insurance for Michael
would take nearly five months. Oh some rejections. They stretched
the truth quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
They would have to like that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
And they just blatantly lied on a lack of applications. So,
with his eyes on being a few hundred dollars richer,
Frank approached Michael on July twenty ninth, nineteen thirty two,
and offered to take him to get life insurance. So
Michael's agreeable. I don't know why. He went along with
Frank to meet with an agent from Prudential Life. The
(16:51):
agent was relatively new to the business, He ended up
offering a policy that would cost eight dollars and eight
cents a month. He described the policy as having a
double indemnity clause, which is that if the insured passes away,
like in an accident, the policy would.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Pay double Oh wow, Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
There's a famous old movie called Double Indemnity that I
just remember. It had Barbara Stanwick in it. She was
the She was the them fatale. So anyway, they're like, okay, cool.
They filled out the paperwork. They said that Michael lived
at the address of Marino's Speakeasy and that he was
employed as a porter at Frank's funeral parlor. Michael claimed
(17:36):
no friend or family outside of Frank, and he named
him as beneficiary, saying he gave me a job and
he feeds me. So they pay the eight dollars and
eight cents. They signed the papers and the policy was
sent in. However, during the authentication process, the insurance company
questioned the fact that the person who took out the
policy happened to also be the named beneficiary, and he
(18:00):
was someone that wasn't blood related to the insured. So,
with numerous other discrepancies discovered during this process, the review process,
the policy was rejected at the end of August, and
the eight dollars and eight cents was returned to Frank.
So the same process was repeated in September with Prudential,
and the same outcome happened. Now they're realizing, okay, we
(18:22):
need to find a relative of oh yeah, right, So
Joseph Murphy read he was called on to pose as
Michael's brother, and so now they're like, they're three. Their
trio now goes to four. So they're gonna have to
split this insurance money if it ever yeah control, but
(18:44):
you know, they're like, okay, fine, it's better than not
having I guess the life insurance policy at all. So
in early November, Frank reached out to a Metropolitan agent
regarding a quote unquote friend who wanted some insurance. The
friend had given Frank the money to purchase the policy,
(19:05):
and when asked if the agent could meet the man,
Frank said no. So, I mean that's already shady, right right,
you know, he said, he works late, it's going to
be too difficult. So the agent really didn't want to
push it. I'm sure he just wanted to make the sale,
and he drops off a blank application. The following week
to Frank as a note, this was in violation of
(19:26):
Metropolitan's policies, which required the agent to be there in
person at the time of signing. So this is just.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
All she I was just going to say. The agent
knew exactly what he was doing. He was dropping off
a blank check that he was going to endorse for them.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Just fill it out. I'll be back right.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So Frank provided the agent with the necessary information to
fill in the application and he signs it a phony signature.
The name on the application was Nicholas Mellory, so it's
not Michael molloy, it's Nicholas Mellory on Frank's This is
supposedly Frank's friend, Nicholas Mellory. Joseph Murphy became Joseph Mellory,
(20:07):
Nicholas's brother. That's the beneficiary. And the application was turned
in on November sixteenth, nineteen thirty two, for a forty
four year old Nicholas Mellory. Because they're now fudging.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
They took sixteen years off Michael.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
You know, they're trying to make the application much more.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Palatable for sure.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
So with the name change and no other applications lying
in wait, the eight hundred dollars policy with a five
dollars and two cent monthly premium was accepted on December first,
nineteen thirty two.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
So meanwhile at the bar, with all the whispered conversations
and meetings behind the beaded curtain in the back room,
some of the regular patrons had caught onto the fact
that something shady was going on between Tony Frank and Daniel.
One of the people paying attention was a Nan name
Anthony Beststony, and he went by tough Tony. Okay, so
(21:04):
we have Tony Marino, but I'm going to call Anthony
Bestoni tough Tony. Tough Tony was a forty three year
old sometimes bartender, husband and father of five. Although he
said to be unemployed, he made money in the unsavory
underworld by printing counterfeit money. Okay, a lot of money there, sure, yeah.
(21:25):
And he had a partner that he printed this money with.
His name was Joe Maglioni, with whom he had a
combative relationship. The two men would frequently go to marinos
to speak easy. They were overheard discussing their funny money
operation during arguments that they had regarding splitting the prophets. Sure, so, MAGLIONI.
(21:47):
He had four children of his own that he had
to provide for. So the perpetual desperation that people had
during the Great Depression, you know, made pretty much everyone,
I think open to CD behavior.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
That survival behavior.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, exactly. So tough Tony caught wind of the insurance
scheme somehow and he wanted in. So. Knowing tough Tony
was prone to violence and was willing to do just
about anything to make a buck, Tony Marino relented and
the Murder Trust now has five members.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Oh my gosh, right, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So breaking down the math of the new split of
the money, even with a double indemnity, it's sixteen hundred.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Dollars, Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
The profit that each of them are getting now is
shrinking because there's five people that they have to split
it up, and they're taking about three hundred and twenty dollars,
which in today's money is about seventy three hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Oh my goodness. Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So it is a lot of money, but it's not like,
you know, one hundred thousand dollars or something. Right, They
decided that they needed more policies taken out on Michael.
So they're back to the drawing. They reach out to
Prudential and they meet with a different agent, and they
met with him on December tenth with a fake Nicholas
(23:09):
Mellory in tow and ever was playing the role of
Nicholas Mellory. It wasn't Michael.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
It was someone who looked forty four.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Right, yeah, right, it was. It's unknown who actually did it.
The Prudential agent began an application for weekly insurance two
policies using mostly the same information from the MET the
Metropolitan policies, and save for some mistakes, Frank gave a
birthday that didn't match the MET policy. They're being sloppy, right,
(23:37):
They shaved off another four years of Nicholas Mellory, so
now he's only forty Okay. The other inconsistencies was the signature.
Originally Frank had signed it, but he did not sign
the new one for Prudential, So it's clearly two different
signatures on these policies for Nicholas Mellory. Regardless, they were
approved the following week, and both policies that they took
(24:00):
out were for four hundred and ninety four dollars and
they both had this double indemnity clause. So in total,
now there's three thousand, five hundred and seventy six dollars
up for grabs, Like that's the insurance amount on Michael,
which in today's money is eighty one, eight hundred and
forty dollars between five.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So the plan the men came up with, they believed,
was so simple it was laughable. They didn't need to
choot him like drag on. There was no intent on
putting any kind of effort in killing Michael. What they
wanted to do was that Tony was just gonna lift
the closure. Remember I told you he cut off Michael
(24:43):
from alcohol. He decided he was just gonna let it
flow and that they all figured that Michael's alcoholism would
do okay. So they all understood, you know, the plan
might not go the way they anticipated. Frank and Tony
brought brought in a couple other speakeasy regulars they knew
that would be willing to bump someone off for cheap
(25:05):
as a backup plan. Their names were Edward Smith and
John McNally. They both were career criminals and were enthusiastic
to be offered a job no matter if I was
illegal right. It was the magic word during the.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Great Bath's right job.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Mm hmmm. So they signed on for eight hundred dollars
upon the death of Michael. That's pretty big cut, but
they weren't only going to get it if they were needed.
So with the policies and this contingent plan in place now,
the Murder Trust is ready to begin acting on what
they're going to do. Right Well, one evening late in
(25:41):
December nineteen thirty, Michael walks into Marino's bar and he
was strangely welcomed with open arms, no tongue lashing about begging,
no remarks about his bar. Tab Tony explained that the
competition between the speakeasies was becoming fierce and he really
needed to change his rules. So to reward Michael for
(26:02):
his loyalty, his drinks would be on the house from
now on. So as the hours passed, Michael poured whiskey
and gin down his throat while members of the Murder
Truss looked at when a glass was emptied, someone was
always standing close by to fill it up again. Michael
drank and drank, and then drank some more. As the
(26:23):
other patrons began to leave, and the night wore on.
Michael eventually called the quits for the evening. He thanked
Tony and you know, for his gracious hospitality, and he
left to find a place to lay his head for
the night. The following day he was back and Tony
hopped to it to fill his glass up and repeated
the previous day, and Michael drank and he drank some more,
(26:47):
and Tony poured, and after drinking a spill, Michael left
again for the night. So by the third day that
this is going on, Tony's annoyed.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
Okay, Tony is cragging because it's like, do you think
that alcoholism is like a plug, you just pull load
them up and everything explain, No, is an irishman to
this man was built.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
You are a whiteotype, right.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
You know, I'm thinking, like one night of drinking hard
ain't gonna do.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
It three and you're irritated.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Like nos an alcoholic. It's gonna take a lot to
poison him.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
But you're gonna need a long game if you're gonna
be playing this hand exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I'm like, these are amateurs, right.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
So this third day, okay, after making himself a sardine sandwich,
Michael pulled up a seat at the bar, and Tony's
watching all of his liquor go down Michael's throat for
free bathing, Yeah, and he's yeah, he's seething. And Michael
looks no worse for wear. And as he left the
bar that night, there was only a faint hope that
(28:05):
he would taken out by being exposed to the elements.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
On the show.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Yeah right, oh, maybe maybe winter will get him right,
you know, in combination with alcohol, the desperation of their
situation starts to settle in for the murder trust, and
Michael's endurance with drink is beginning to become clear to them.
The reality of this easy money that they really hoped
to obtain was just forcing this group to reassess the situation.
(28:34):
Michael was drinking by the bottle, and he was getting
rip worn drunk, but never showed symptoms of being like
pissed drunk. Right, like he was drunk, but he.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Wasn't his body his brain.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yes, there was no like alcohol poisoning. There's no vomiting.
He's not guesting out. Even so, tough Tony began to
argue that it was time for a more or straightforward approach.
He wasn't one to continue with subtlety, as if there
was any other choice, right, But the group discussed and
the majority agreed that they would continue as planned. Red
(29:12):
was the one who came up with the next idea,
Gaining the attention of the other members of the Murder Trust,
he suggested that they switch the whiskey and gin out
for something stronger and toxic. Okay, so why don't they
start pouring wood alcohol into his glass? And wood alcohol
is impure alcohol or denatured alcohol, paint thinner, Oh my gosh,
(29:36):
you know, whatever you choose to call it, it's lethal, right.
Bellevue Hospital stated in nineteen twenty seven that three drinks
of four percent wood alcohol could cause blindness in people.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
So if Red poured a whole glass of this paint thinner,
then Michael fully ingested that maybe he would finally succumb
to right drink like it had to happen, Like they're
all like it's got to happen, right, Sure, So Daniel,
Frank and Tony were enthusiastically on board. The wood alcohol
was purchased for ten cents a can, and the endeavor
(30:12):
began that night. So Michael begins drinking a regular old
Shadow whiskey. That evening, he drank three or four shots
to wunt his wits before they started pouring him straight
shots of paint thinner, and concerned that he would be
able to tell that shots were being played with, Red
(30:32):
watched Michael's expression for any kind of sign of.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
You know, oh yeah, night for sure, but.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Michael continued to ask for more, and the murder Trutch
just watched and stunned astonishment. As Michael continued to drink
the paint thinner and leaving that night, the group was disappointed.
The Daily News reported quote that Michael merely slept it
off and appeared at the speaking the next day, none
(31:01):
for the worse of his exposure.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
The following day, when Michael showed up, they again started
with the whiskey. They tainted it with wood alcohol, which
soon then became glasses of nothing but paint thinner, and
Michael remained oblivious to this betrayal by his so called friends.
He never noticed the taste, and he actually seemed to
like it. He would drink it all and ask for more.
(31:29):
This irritated the gang, seeing that is he immuned, like
what the right, So they set out a challenge to
speed things up. Daniel asked Michael, let's see how much
we can drink. We're gonna have a contest. So Red
sets up to pour Michael some shots of the paint
Thinner and Daniel has drinks of whiskey. Shot after shot,
(31:51):
Michael drank his friend under the table.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
I get so much he drank. He drank a quote
and a half of paint Thinner that night. I think
there's what two quarter.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Of a gallon? Yeah, four quurts make a gallon.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
So yeah, a little over a quarter gallon.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah, I'm thinking, were you really sold paint thinner where
you sold water?
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Yeah? Man, I don't get it. What kind of jacket
paint thinner than paint center? Quote unquote air quotes.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
So, the same story would continue several nights in a
row until like these people are like something has to give.
Red would pour Michael shots of what alcohol just as
quickly as they were drinking. Finally, Michael started to lean
and sway. One night, his words were slurred and he
was incoherent. The final drink took him to the floor.
(32:50):
He finally passes out, and the men watching. They've been
waiting for.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
This for days.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
Raw Red's success gave him a sense of and the
Murder Trust they had been beginning to lose money on
the scheme. They'd been paying the monthly and the weekly
premiums buying the liquor and the poison. The murder of
Michael wasn't a cheap enterprise that they thought. Shit adds
up when yes, So Michael's passed out on the floor
(33:18):
and Frank bends down to take his pulse to check
and see if he's still breathing, and then, as if
to slap the Murder Trust in the face, Michael begins snoring.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
That is fucking hilarious. I love that.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
I know. So they're like, Okay, he's not dead, he's oh,
but maybe he's gone blind, Like maybe this is finally
the tipping point, Like maybe they're thinking is an he's
not nauseous, like his stomach is like an iron stomach.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
I'm not trying to be like gross funny.
Speaker 4 (33:48):
You know what, this reminds me of what's that Jim
Carrey movie Me Myself and Irene?
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Like he used to put down that cow in the.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Road, Ivy walks away the cow You know, it's just
like I'm not trying to say it's funny like that.
This group of idiots just to even keep up, Like,
I don't see how you can not one time in
the days that you're trying to kill this guy.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
No one had a crisis of conscious. This is this
is a sign from God. Yeah, in and nothing.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
This paint thinner is supposedly gonna make somebody go blind
if they have three shots of it. And here he's
drinking quarts and gallons of the ship days per days.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
And then snores. I just wanted to kiss them on
the forehead. Way to go, Mike, way to go, I know.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
So he ended up spending the night on the floor
of Marina tough. Tony once again he brought up the
quick and dirty method.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
You know.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
He pats the gun on his hip and he's like, Okay,
we've sunk way too much money into this. We need
to move. And Frank and Tony they declined, and they
decided to plan another attempt to ensure now that they
received that double indemnity policy. Oh right, drinking yourself to
death doesn't qualify as an accident, and neither would some
(35:09):
of the other attempts that they were going to follow.
So the thought process was they're going to continue to
do what they need to do. Frank pitched this plan.
He said, Okay, what we're gonna do is we're going
to soak some oysters in a jar of the paint
dinner and serve them to Michael. He had run into
(35:29):
this fatal mixture as an undertaker. I guess it happened
to someone. So they're hoping that this now is going
to cause like a cute indigestion when the oysters go down.
Maybe it's going to be like concrete in Michael's Okay,
So early January, Michael makes his way to the speakeasy
and he took a seat at the bar. Although he'd
(35:49):
been drinking paint dinner for weeks now and the entire
building smelled of this chemical, oh my gosh, he didn't
seem the least bit phased. After a few dreams, Tony
placed a plate of oysters that had been marinating in
the poison for a few days in front of Michael
as they played cards at a nearby table. Frank and
(36:11):
tough Tony look on. Michael down to oyster after oyster,
and he thanked Tony for his generosity at providing him
such a delicious meals after pushing away the plate, and
there's no sign of any kind of illness and no complaints.
They're just looking at him like what the fuck? Absolutely,
and Michael's like another drink, garsone.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
I love your French, Michael Michel.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Yes, a few regular patrons of this place, not involved
in scheme. They began to see something. Yeah right. The
men involved were constantly whispering and huddled in frantic discussions.
The murder plot had become desperate, and it's becoming an
obsession for these guys. But you know it wasn't supposed
(37:02):
to take this long. So rather than give up, the
men continued, almost as a matter of principle, like they're like,
we're going to kill this fucker. So, walking away from
the Oysters that night, Tony asked Michael how he was feeling,
and Michael answered, never felt better in all my life.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
So after a thoughtful discussion, Red's next plan wins out.
They chose to try to poison sardines. On many nights
after beginning his binge, Michael would saunter up to the
free lunch tray and make himself a sardine sandwich. So
the next night Red purchased a can of sardines. After
(37:41):
opening it, he left them open on a shelf to
rat for a few days, and when Michael came in
a few evenings later, Red smeared the rattenfish on a
piece of bread. He added to it metal shavings that
he got from a local machine shop, bits of broken glass,
and carpet tacks, before placing one more slice of bread
(38:02):
on top.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Once he gives this to Michael with your first shot
of the paint thinner, he offers the sandwich and Michael
hungrily accepts it. Yeah, and he begins eating. So Red's waiting,
and he could see in his mind's eye the metal
shavings and the carpet tacks like attacking Michael's organs and.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Try cutting them up. Share.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Okay, he's eating this. Yeah, but Michael didn't seem to
feel a thing. He thanked Red for such a well
crafted meal and asked for another drink after he ate
the entire sandwich.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Hats off to you, irishman.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
Honestly, I am so impressed, and just that they're so dumbfounded.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Yes I would, I can't blame them.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
I I mean, if I was of that mindset and
that was my goal, I would just be like, what
the f.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Yeah, Like honestly, metal shavings, glass, I mean, and the
paint center for now it seems weeks right right, and
carpet tax like you're thinking like, okay, this has to
kill it.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
Battle shavings, Oh my gosh, you're not digesting that, noy're
putting your insides up pollary. Oh maybe he doesn't have teeth,
you know, maybe thirties, because I'm like, man, if something
hits my too, them all like what the fuck is that?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Yeah? You know.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
So on his we home one cold winter evening, Tony
was thinking back to early nineteen thirty two when he
had an affair with a lovely blonde hairdresser, and her
name was Mabel Carlson. She was twenty seven. Originally from Washington,
d c. Mabel moved to New York in December of
nineteen thirty one after her mother died and her marriage failed.
(39:45):
She found herself sitting at Marino's bar regularly, and then
he brought her into his home, much to his wife
Eleanor's dismay.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
Oh fuck that.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
Yeah, that's when Eleanor left her husband after Mabel became
a regular fixture. Yeah, and Eleanor moved in with her
sister in law and father in law. On March seventeen,
nineteen thirty two, at ten thirty in the morning, the
police were called to the Marino apartment where Mabel was
found unresponsive in bed. And this is why I mention it.
(40:16):
You might be sitting there like we were talking about Mike. Yeah,
this is important. So the autopsy said she died of
pneumonia and acute and chronic alcoholism. So Tony had told
authorities that she'd been drinking heavily over the course of
a few weeks, and she'd refused to stop or seek
medical help. There were signs that she'd been physically abused,
(40:37):
and the bruises had been covered up by like makeup.
And Tony had taken out a two thousand dollars life
insurance policy on Mabel, and he collected it in less
than a week after she died. So, after our story ends,
in Michael's death happens, I mean, I told you you'd
begin it was his murder. It would come out that
(40:58):
Tony force fed the whiskey down Mabel's throat until she
could no longer drink. He helped her to bed, which
he had moved under an open window. He poured ice
water on the mattress, stripped her naked, and wrapped her
in cold wet bedding.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yeah, so leaving her under the open window, she succumbed.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, the elements of course, for sure, in.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Being drunk as fast. Right. So Tony's like, he's thinking
back to what he did to Mabel, and now he's
got this new plan that they're going to try and
do this to Michael. He'd been successful, so okay, so
he's like, we're going to do this.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
How we're going to do it.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Yeah, So in mid January, Michael came into the bar
and Tony sat with him, had a conversation for hours
with him, making sure that Michael's glass was never empty.
He knew that for this to work, Michael couldn't just
be drunk. He needed to be unconscious. Yes, one weather
report described it to be an arctic day that day,
(42:02):
which would be a perfect setting. Sure man out to
be surrendered to the elements. But after drinking himself into
a stupor, Tony and Frank carried Michael to Frank's roadster,
put him in the back seat to drive him to
Krotona park where he would be dragged to a park
bench and laid down. So they carried a bucket of
(42:24):
water with them, and once he was laid out on
the bench, they stripped the clothes off his chest, poured
water over him, and took off back to the speakeasy,
confident that there wouldn't be any way that Michael was
going to survive this. Right the next day, Tony walks
into his bar to start the day, and he probably
would have been curious as to the fate of his
(42:45):
loyal customer, but it wouldn't take long for him to
discover what happened. During the night. Michael had woke up
to find himself freezing on a park bench. He made
his way half a mile through Cole, New York, winner
to the back of Marino's bar. Red who was not
party to this plan, let Michael in. He was woken
(43:06):
up because he was sleeping in the bar. He was
woken up bicycle and he led him in to sleep
in the bar. So Michael made his way down to
the basement, where Tony found him. The following day, sleeping
next to the heat of the guest.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
Oh my gosh, this is so I'm glad this is
given Tony a hard time because he's not such a motherfucker.
I'm glad that this is a thorn in his side.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
That day, they were like, Okay, we're waving the white
flag for the day. But the group decides they got
up their game because they're determined now they're gonna kill
Michael somehow. It's believed that Michael would have been in
severe amounts of pain struggling to reach warmth that night.
Just as a side note, the next attempt would be
more violent on him. Harry Hershey Green was a cam
(43:56):
driver described as a deeply disturbed young man who saw
very little value in human life. At twenty four, he
hadn't killed anyone yet, but it wasn't due to lack
of interest. He admitted that he was keen on the
idea if an opportunity presented itself, but he needed to
get paid for it. So being a friend of Joe Maglioni,
(44:16):
if you remember he was the other counterfeitter with tough Tony, Yes,
Hershey was finally going to get his chance. He would
happily accept one hundred and fifty dollars to run over
Michael in his cab.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
Okay, that's the next plan.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
So one evening in late January, Hershey came to Marinos
and met the rest of the game. During the discussions
of how to get the job done, he was told, quote,
if there's any doubt, back over the bastard and make
sure the job's done right end Quote her She found
a nice stretch of road where he'd be able to
gain quite a bit of speed. January thirtieth, nineteen thirty three,
(44:52):
Michael was plastered with wood alcohol. The smile, I mean,
the smell was just odd from his schoolers. He fell
limp around me. So they take him to Hershey's cab
and they drove to that stretch of road that her
She had found tough. Tony and Red carried Michael out
of the car and held him up by both arms.
(45:13):
Hers She backed up aways and he reaved the engine
and punched the gas. The car launched. Tony and Red
are now prepared. They're holding up Michael, and they're prepared
to jump out right right at the last possible moment.
And then Joe yelled stop. A woman had lit a
lamp in her window. So this place, they decided wasn't
(45:34):
remote enough. Hers, she had Tony and Red put Michael
back in the car, and they needed to find somewhere
else to carry out this plan. So just around the
corner they found a spot and they pulled Michael out
of the car. Again. They stood him up, and they're
attempting this again. On the first attempt, tough Tony and
Red were holding him up and when they jumped to
(45:55):
get out of the way, so did Michael. For someone
on the edge of consciousness, he moved quickly, so they
stood him up to try it again, and he got
the car for the second time. The third time they
hit him. Okay, his body created a loud thump and
it rolled unto the hood and up the windshield. Michael
wasn't moving on the ground now Hers. She went up
(46:18):
the hill to come back and give him a second go,
But when he came around the corner, there was a
car stopped at Michael's body.
Speaker 3 (46:26):
Oh yeah, her.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
She picked up Red and tough Tony and continued back
to the speakeasy to regroup. So they're not sure. They
they're sure, like he's dead. They're positive he's dead. But
they haven't chucked. Yeah, and they're sure, like the next
day they're going to read all about this body that
was found on the road. But the next day there's
no article in the newspaper, nothing, nothing mentioned of this incident.
(46:48):
So they're thinking, like, how did did he survive? It
happened he was hit at fifty miles an hour, living
at Like, how the fuck did he survive this? Everyone
had seen him fly into the air basically, so where
was he? They couldn't collect the insurance money without proof
of a body, Yeah, So they decided to wait for
a couple of days and if he was alive, you know,
(47:10):
they figured he'd come back.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
Oh, he'd pop in right.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
But Tony wasn't satisfied. Nobody meant no insurance money. They
needed a body, So less than a week after the attempt,
Tony sent everyone on a quest for a substitute victim.
The victim needed to look like Michael so they could
put Nicholas Mellory's ID in his pocket to identify him.
On February sixth, her she took his cab out to
(47:36):
hunt for the five foot six, one hundred and eighty
pound substitute victim, and the speakeases of Harlem with Tony, Joe,
tough Tony and Rhett. They're hunting for a victim. Joseph
Patrick Murray was a thirty one year old unemployed plasterer's assistant.
He'd spent the beginning of February sixth looking for work,
(47:57):
but had gotten quite thirsty and decided to stop at
the speakeasy on the first floor of his apartment building
for a few drinks. On his way out the door,
he was approached on the sidewalk by tough Tony, who
offered him a job. After accepting, they ushered him into
Hershey's cab and took him back to Marina's. Tony was
aghast at the resemblance between Michael and the new victim,
(48:18):
and he poured drink after drink, waiting for the man
to lose consciousness. Once he landed in a crumpled heap
on the floor, they put Nicholas Mellory's ID in his
pocket and piled him into Hershey's cab with everyone else.
Like they all went and midnight, tough Tony and Red
were holding Joseph Murray up the same way they had
held up Michael, and Hershey was aiming the cab right
(48:41):
at him. It took seconds for Joseph Murray to end
up under the wheels with a shocking thumb and crutch.
Just after the cab pulled to a stop to check
the vitals on their new victim, someone shouted that a
car was coming, so Tough, Tony and Red piled back
in the cab and they headed back to the speakeasy,
abandoning another body. Oh my gosh, And this is where
(49:04):
I'm going to end part one.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
What are you Kanya? I know I am.
Speaker 4 (49:15):
I'm fucking hating Tony Tough, Tony fucking Joe right.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
Red, These idiots, idiots, right yeah, Hershey with his fucking cab.
Speaker 3 (49:26):
Yeah, the fucking Hershey and the cab and then they
killed that girl. They're just horrible people.
Speaker 4 (49:33):
They are horrible people. And now you're making us weights
because you're cruel and you're hateful.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
Five. Yeah, I'm kidding.
Speaker 4 (49:42):
That was a This is a fucking excellent story. I
can't believe you know, you think nineteen thirty When I
think nineteen thirty. To be honest, I'm always like, what
am I doing for deodorant? What am I doing for
sanitary napkins? How's my hygi and I'm thinking that alcoholism
(50:04):
is rampant. Yeah, the country is poor, they're in the
depression and there is nothing happening.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
This is like, yeah, there's no jobs, don't job, nothing
for anyone to do all day but get the exactly
or commit crimes.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
I guess yes, print fake money and full life insurance policies.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
That's that's the kind of survival.
Speaker 4 (50:29):
World it is apparently in nineteen thirty, really not seeing
much change one hundred years later.
Speaker 3 (50:34):
But we'll see.
Speaker 2 (50:36):
Everything's just gotten a little bit more difficult.
Speaker 3 (50:39):
It sure has it, Sure has well.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Thanks you shan't it and are sweet, But I am
very much looking forward to the don't google it, none
of you google.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
I'm not. I can't wait, No way, no way.
Speaker 2 (50:55):
Before everyone signs off, just reminding you to hit the
subscriber follow button on whatever app you're listening to. And
we also have a Patreon if you enjoy our weekly
episodes that we publish for free. If you'd like to
join our Patreon or our members only group, you can
go to patreon dot com slash t nt Crimes, or
(51:17):
you can subscribe through the Apple app. And what that
means is you get an extra episode a week if
you subscribe to the highest tier in Patreon. There's lower tiers,
but Apple only offers one price, so you get one
extra episode a week, and you also get this episode
ad free and early release. We use release on Mondays
and you would get this episode a couple of days earlier.
(51:39):
So we have a website, Crimesanconsequences dot com, so if
you'd like to check out some merch that we have there,
you can do that. We have to catch it up soon,
so our episodes.
Speaker 3 (51:52):
New merch, Yes, we're working on Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
We're working on some new merch too. So it's all
very exciting with all of the changes they've been having.
So thank you Shannon for becoming my co host too.
Speaker 4 (52:06):
Yeah, I love you and I love working with you,
so love you. It works out great.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
Yeah, so I'm having fun. So until our next episode, everyone.
Speaker 3 (52:16):
Yes, take care and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (52:19):
You next time. Bye bye
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com