"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." - Chicago Gangster Ted Newberry. Rubbed out January 7, 1933

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Freddy's dead

On this morning back in 1920 Staten Island motorist passed a car with what appeared to be guy sleeping in the front passenger seat. Car after car passed assuming that the figure was tired driver who had pulled over to get some rest. One more observant passerby noticed some blood on sleepy Pete's face and called the cops. Turns out the exhausted driver was Frederick Eckert. The leader of a New Jersey car theft ring who had become booze hijacker extraordinaire. On his last ride someone in the back seat (this was the early days of Prohibition when you could still have someone sit behind you without worry) placed a gun to the base of Fred's head and pulled the trigger. The gun was then placed in his left ear and the trigger again pulled. The job complete the car pulled over, but what the hell, lets give him another. Bang a third and final pill to the forehead. Mr. Eckert's demise was quite a story at the time as it involved dirty cops and political intrigue. If you would like to learn more about Eckert I wrote an article about him that can be obtain ed at the On The Spot quarterly journal's past issues.

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