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

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Sorry Charlie

The police chalked Charlie Caffrey's demise, on this date back in 1926, to a "thieves fight". Mr. Caffrey, twenty-five, was an ex-convict with ten arrest on his docket. Somebody pumped a couple of bullets into his chest and dumped him in the back seat of a Chrysler sedan. Said sedan was driven to a west Harlem neighborhood and parked. The killer(s) left. Charlie stayed.

After a few hours some of the locals who didn't recognize the car as belonging to anyone in the vicinity took a closer look and thus, Charlie was discovered. Police believed that Charlie had been shot in an apartment building in another section of Harlem as they received a report of a shooting and a witness said that he saw three men walk out supporting a fourth. A hat at the apartment fit Charlie's head and two empty shells were found in an upper apartment so it looks as though Charlie did get it in that locale.