this day in crime history: september 25, 1959

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On this date in 1959, Anthony “Little Augie Pisano” Carfano got rubbed out. Carfano, a Capo in the Genevose (formerly Luciano) crime family, had made the mistake of getting on the bad side of boss Vito Genevose. As if one fatal mistake wasn’t enough, rumor has it that Carfano was making a play for Meyer Lansky’s gambling action in Cuba.

Carfano was found dead in his car in Queens, shot twice. Also killed was Janice Drake, a former Miss New Jersey and the wife of comedian Alan Drake. She had made her own fatal mistake: going to dinner with the man who had pissed off two of the country’s most dangerous mobsters.

Further Reading:

Wikipedia: Anthony Carfano

Rick Porello’s AmericanMafia.com: Colletti & Drake: Women In the Wrong Place At the Wrong Time

Find a Grave: Janice Drake

this day in crime history: september 22, 1975

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SJMoore

On this date in 1975, 45 year old Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in San Francisco, CA.  The attempt–which came seventeen days after Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme tried to kill the President–was foiled by a bystander named Oliver Sipple.  Sipple, a former Marine and Vietnam veteran, grabbed the gun as Moore pointed it at President Ford.  The gun discharged, but the bullet missed the President.

Moore had previously been investigated by the Secret Service, but they concluded she was not a threat.  Well, nobody’s perfect, not even the feds.  She was arrested on an illegal weapons charge the day before the assassination attempt, but was released by the police.  I guess the local cops aren’t perfect either.

Sara Jane Moore was convicted of attempted assassination and sentenced to life in prison.  She was paroled on December 31, 2007 at the age of 77.

Further reading:

Time – “The Assailant: The Making of a Misfit”

Wikipedia – Sara Jane Moore

lethal weapon – the series

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Tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern, Lethal Weapon premieres on FOX. I loved the film series –  especially the first two movies – but I’m skeptical about this show. Especially after the debacle that was CBS’s small-screen reboot of Rush Hour. But I’ll give LW a try and watch with an open mind. It airs opposite NBC’s Blindspot, so it probably won’t be on the air long. Here’s the trailer.

this day in crime history: september 16, 1920

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On this date in 1920, an unidentified man stopped his horse-drawn cart in front of the J. P. Morgan building on Wall Street. He got down from the cart and disappeared into the noontime crowd. A short while later, a bomb consisting of dynamite and cast iron slugs detonated on the busy street. Thirty-eight people were killed and over four hundred were injured. Police conducted an exhaustive investigation that lasted over three years, but the case was never solved.

Further reading:

The Street.com: “Previous Terror on Wall Street — A Look at a 1920 Bombing”

FBI: Terror on Wall Street

Wikipedia: “Wall Street bombing”

quarry

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Hey, this is just what I needed, yet another TV show in my already over-crowded viewing schedule. Cinemax’s Quarry tells the story of a Vietnam War vet who gets recruited by a shadowy criminal organization to become a hitman. Quarry is based on a series of novels by Max Allan Collins. I watched episode 1 last week and was duly impressed. It airs on Cinemax at 10 p.m. on Fridays. Here’s the season 1 trailer.