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

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Frankie and Johnny

Twenty-four year old Frank Napolitani was sitting in the front seat of sedan with fellow mobster John Gagnese, twenty-five and in the back seat was Angelo Eterni. At about 12:30am on this date back in 1934 another car pulled up to them and a series of shots rang out. Both Napolitani and Gagnese slumped over dead with bullets through their heads.

A cop who happened to be nearby saw Eterni jump out of the car and run away, throwing something into an empty lot as he ran, while the car with the killers sped off. The officer caught Eterni and a subsequent sweep of the lot turned up two guns. The car in which the two men were killed belonged to Frank Perez, who happened to be a block away at a “political meeting” when the killings took place. Mr. Perez denied knowing either of victims and had no idea what they were doing in his car.

Both Napolitani and Gagnese had police records. The former had been arrested numerous times for assault and the latter had only been out of jail for a week when killed. According to Mob informer Ernest “The Hawk” Rupolo the double murder was ordered by Frank Costello, Mike Miranda and Vito Genovese.

No comments: