Joe Bruno's Mobsters - Six Volume Set by Joe Bruno Read Free Book Online

hospital.
    Incensed at the killing of a child, the New York City newspapers ran frightening headlines about the “Baby Killer.” They dubbed Cole -- Vincent “Mad Dog” Cole. And like any “mad dog,” the public, and the underworld, demanded that Cole be put down. New York City Mayor James Walker offered a $10,000 reward for anyone who provided information that led to Cole's arrest. Madden and Schultz upped the ante, each offering $25,000 to any mug who could put the “Mad Dog” down with bullets.
    Cole hid out in various parts of the Northeast, before finally returning to New York City with Lottie. They were holed up in the Cornish Arms Hotel on West 23 rd Street, when the cops, acting on a tip, barged in and arrested Cole. Cole's trial was expected to be a slam-dunk for the prosecution, but the brilliant legal tactics of Cole's lawyer, Samuel Liebowitz, got Cole off the hook.
    After his trial, Cole held court with the press outside the Criminal Courts Building.
    He told the reporters, “I've been charged with all kinds of crimes, but baby-killing was the limit. I'd like nothing better than to lay my hands on the man who did this.”
    Cole was back on the streets, but still a marked man by the mob. He married Lottie at City Hall, but they were constantly on the run, moving quickly from hideout to hideout.
    On February 1, 1932, four men busted into a home in the north Bronx, guns blazing. They shot a table full of people playing cards. Two Cole gang members were killed (Fiorio Basile and Patsy Del Greco), and another one wounded. Also killed was Mrs. Emily Torrizello, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Another unidentified woman was wounded. Miraculously, two babies lying in their cribs were found unharmed. Luckily for Cole, he showed up at the house a half hour later, just as the police arrived.
    As a result, Cole went on the run again. After hiding separately for a while, Cole wound up back with Lottie at the Cornish Arms Hotel. Cole decided this was a good time to start kidnapping again, but this time with a twist. Cole phoned Madden, and told him he wanted $100,000, not to kidnap Madden.
    “Imagine how the Dagos and Kikes is gonna feel when they have to shell out a hundred grand to save your sorry ass,” Cole told Madden. “Pay me now, up front, and I'll save you the trouble.”
    Madden said he needed some time to think it over.
    On March 8, 1932, Madden phoned Cole, and told Cole to call him from the phone booth at the drug store across the street from his hotel. At 12:30 am, Cole strode into the New London Pharmacy on West 23 rd Street, and he headed for the phone booth in the back. While he was talking to Madden on the phone, a man with a machine gun hidden under his coat, calmly walked to the back of the drug store and opened fire. The gunman riddled Cole's body with 15 bullets.
    Hearing the commotion, Lottie arrived a few minutes later, to see her husband's dead tattered body. Lottie Cole refused to speak with the police, but she cried to someone standing nearby, that their life savings, at the time, was a measly hundred dollar bill, she had stuffed inside her bra.
    This proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that Vincent “Mad Dog” Cole, despite his dreadful bite, had died doggone broke.
     
    C rowley - Francis “Two Gun”
    They called him a “Half-Pint Moron,” and “The Puny Killer.” Yet for a short three-month span in 1931, Francis “Two Gun” Crowley was the most dangerous man in New York City.
    Crowley was born in New York City, on October 13, 1912. His German mother was not married, and as soon as little Francis saw his first light of day his mother gave him up for adoption. It was rumored Crowley's father was a cop, which explained his hatred for anyone in a blue uniform. Crowley was brought up by a woman named Anna Crowley, and he took her name, calling her his only mother.
    By the time Crowley was 18, despite the fact that he stood only 5-foot-3 inches and