Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minkey. To anyone
Speaker 1: passing by, the small store on Third Avenue never seemed
Speaker 1: to be open. Locals knew better, though. Behind the unlocked
Speaker 1: screen door and stacks of filthy boxes, proprietor Tony Marino
Speaker 1: operated a small speakeasy. The place didn't look like much,
Speaker 1: just four tables, a sofa that doubled as Tony's bed,
Speaker 1: and apply wood bar along the back. Times were hard
Speaker 1: in the winter of the end of both the Great
Speaker 1: Depression and Prohibition were still a year away. On most
Speaker 1: days when customers paid, That is, Tony made enough to
Speaker 1: occasionally pay bar keep Red Murphy and stay out of
Speaker 1: the breadlines. On a cold January night, four of the
Speaker 1: speakeasies regulars joined Red and Tony at the bar, undertaker
Speaker 1: Francis Pasqual, Daniel Kreisberg, Tough, Tony Bestone, and Joe Magleone.
Speaker 1: Like everyone else, the men were doing what they could
Speaker 1: to keep themselves afloat. Tough times often inspired creative ways
Speaker 1: to make a little money on the side, and the
Speaker 1: men had come up with a doozy. The idea had
Speaker 1: actually come to them back in the summer, but now
Speaker 1: more than seven months later, it still hadn't earned them
Speaker 1: a cent. Not only that, but the expenses kept piling up.
Speaker 1: The men began to think their money maker was more
Speaker 1: of a money pit. Red poured every one another drink
Speaker 1: as they discussed their options. Should they start over, and,
Speaker 1: to make matters worse, Mike, a real regular at the bar,
Speaker 1: had vanished a week before. Until then, you could set
Speaker 1: a watch by Mike, and without him their plan would fail.
Speaker 1: Days had scoured the papers and called around looking for
Speaker 1: a sign of him. Tony even called the local hospitals
Speaker 1: and morgues, but found nothing. Francis had reached a level
Speaker 1: of desperation the others hadn't seen before. Maybe they needed
Speaker 1: someone else, he suggested, anyone that would solve part of
Speaker 1: their problem, but not without additional risks. So the men
Speaker 1: down to their liquor and complained that the whole thing
Speaker 1: had become too challenging, too complicated. And that's when the
Speaker 1: door blew open, bringing in a blast of winter air
Speaker 1: and with it Mike man. Mike said, I sure, I
Speaker 1: am dying for a drink, And that was their problem.
Speaker 1: You see, Mike had more lives than an alley cat.
Speaker 1: So as he settled down at the bar, eager to
Speaker 1: tell his friends what had happened to him, the men
Speaker 1: around him wondered just how many times would they have
Speaker 1: to kill him? Because some people, it seems, just don't
Speaker 1: know when their time is up. I'm Lauren Vogelball, Welcome
Speaker 1: to American Shadows. Before he showed up at the speakeasy,
Speaker 1: no one had known much about Mike malloy. He had
Speaker 1: once told them that he came from Ireland, but he
Speaker 1: had no friends or family to speak of, and like
Speaker 1: many of the men in the Bronx at the time,
Speaker 1: Mike was rarely employed and certainly down on his luck.
Speaker 1: He had once been a firefighter, but alcoholism had cost
Speaker 1: him his job. Now he did whatever he could, working
Speaker 1: the occasional gig as a janitor or a garbage collector.
Speaker 1: Where he went or slept when he wasn't at the
Speaker 1: speakeasy was anyone's guests. He lived a hard life, Yet
Speaker 1: every morning, like the one back in July two, Mike
Speaker 1: often walked into the speakeasy with a smile on his face.
Speaker 1: Another morning's morning, if you don't mind, he'd say in
Speaker 1: his thick Irish brogue. He'd slide up to the bar
Speaker 1: and drink until Tony's arm tired of pouring or he
Speaker 1: passed out. It could honestly go either way. This particular morning, though,
Speaker 1: it was the ladder, and now he lay snoozing at
Speaker 1: the foot of the bar. Mike, along with others like him,
Speaker 1: lived and died on the streets. If the winters didn't
Speaker 1: kill them more, they didn't starve to death, then the
Speaker 1: drink got them. No one noticed guys like Mike, and
Speaker 1: it seemed as if no one cared, and that had
Speaker 1: sparked the idea. Tony had been letting Mike drink on
Speaker 1: credit for a while, but he rarely paid anymore. Tony
Speaker 1: turned to Francis and the others, shaking his head. Business
Speaker 1: is bad, Francis regarded Mike's disheveled sleeping form, and why
Speaker 1: don't you take out insurance on Mike. The men looked
Speaker 1: quizzically at Francis. I'll take care of the rest, he added.
Speaker 1: One by one. The men nodded. This could work. In fact,
Speaker 1: Tony had done this before with a homeless woman. He
Speaker 1: had befriended her and then convinced her to take out
Speaker 1: a life insurance policy with none other than himself as
Speaker 1: the beneficiary, and had gotten away with it too. No
Speaker 1: one seemed to miss people like her. The men huddled closer,
Speaker 1: working up the details. Francis would befriend Mike, and all
Speaker 1: Tony needed to do was supply the alcohol. Tony glanced
Speaker 1: over at Mike, currently snoring on the Speakeasies floor. Mike
Speaker 1: was fifty and looked sixty. He's all in, Tony said,
Speaker 1: he ain't got much longer to go anyhow. The stuff
Speaker 1: is getting him. The stuff, as Tony put it, was
Speaker 1: alcohol that contained any number of things that could kill
Speaker 1: a person, namely methodon also known as wood alcohol. Most
Speaker 1: came from bootleggers who stole industrial grain alcohol to make whisky,
Speaker 1: another liquor. In nineteen twenty seven, the government, in an
Speaker 1: effort to thwart bootleggers, had mandated that all cleaning supply
Speaker 1: manufacturers double the amount of wood alcohol in their products.
Speaker 1: But that's not all. Some formulas from federal officials even
Speaker 1: had producers add kerosene and puritying to give alcohol a
Speaker 1: truly unpleasant taste, with the side effect of potentially poisoning
Speaker 1: the drinker. None of that, however, stopped people from drinking
Speaker 1: bathtub gin, moonshine and whatever the bootleggers made. Drinking was
Speaker 1: risky and people were dying all over the place, so
Speaker 1: why not Mike. The six men figured the job would
Speaker 1: be easy. They smiled and toasted to their new side hustle,
Speaker 1: the murder Trust, they called it. We should finish it
Speaker 1: all up in a couple of weeks, Tony said, and
Speaker 1: anyone looking at Mike would agree. He drank the worst
Speaker 1: of the bootleg whiskey. People were not only dying on
Speaker 1: the stuff he drank, they were going blind, having seizures.
Speaker 1: Some even became paralyzed. Mike was already on his way
Speaker 1: out the way he drank. It didn't take long to
Speaker 1: get things going. Whenever Mike showed up, the men slapped
Speaker 1: him on the back and welcomed him at the bar.
Speaker 1: Tony and Red kept the drinks flowing, starting with higher
Speaker 1: grade stuff, but then gradually adding more wood alcohol. Mike
Speaker 1: never noticed. On one such night, they told Mike that
Speaker 1: Tony was running for office and handed him a petition
Speaker 1: design and Mike, who thought these men were his friends,
Speaker 1: never read a word. If he had, he would have
Speaker 1: seen had signed an insurance policy application. Mike was happy
Speaker 1: to help them out. He had once told another patron
Speaker 1: they were the only friends he had in the world.
Speaker 1: While the men waited on insurance approval, Mike drank and
Speaker 1: drank some more. But when the insurance agency's reply finally
Speaker 1: came back, it stated that they were denying the application.
Speaker 1: Mike was a bad risk, they said, and refused to
Speaker 1: ensure him. Apparently alcoholics and the prohibition era weren't good investments.
Speaker 1: A second insurance company echoed the first. Finally, a third agency,
Speaker 1: who had never met Mike, agreed, and the gang took
Speaker 1: out three policies on Mike, as well as a double
Speaker 1: indemnity clause. If Mike died, they'd get close to eight
Speaker 1: hundred dollars worth over thirty thousand today. Tony passed to
Speaker 1: the good news to the others. With the double indemnity clause,
Speaker 1: which offers an additional payout in the case of accidental death,
Speaker 1: they stood to make a nice little profit. But Mike
Speaker 1: didn't die for months. He drank his fill of whiskey
Speaker 1: laced with wood alcohol, wiped his mouth on a dirty
Speaker 1: shirt sleeve, thanked Tony for his gracious gift and then left.
Speaker 1: If anything, Mike seemed happier, and he even looked healthier.
Speaker 1: Tony worried he would go bankrupt, and Francis complained that
Speaker 1: the monthly cost of the insurance premiums had started eating
Speaker 1: into their future profits, so the men doubled down their efforts.
Speaker 1: One night, a short while later, Red slid a shot
Speaker 1: glass over to Mike. New stuff came in, he told
Speaker 1: the man, and Mike grinned and drank it down. Red
Speaker 1: refilled it a few more times, each one vanishing into
Speaker 1: Mike's open mouth. Smooth, the drunk said, and then promptly collapsed.
Speaker 1: They dragged Mike to a cotton the back, thinking they'd
Speaker 1: have to pay off a doctor on the death certificate.
Speaker 1: And the new stuff was of their own concoction, you see,
Speaker 1: wood grain alcohol laced with anti freeze. But Mike didn't die.
Speaker 1: An hour later, he shuffled back to the bar and
Speaker 1: asked for more. So the men added even more anti freeze,
Speaker 1: as well as rat poison and finally turpentine, but Mike
Speaker 1: just kept drinking, happy to have finally found friends. To him,
Speaker 1: this was the good life. But what they needed was
Speaker 1: a new plan. Mike loved seafood, so why not spike
Speaker 1: some oysters with d natured alcohol. All the men agreed
Speaker 1: Mike was as good as dead. The next time Mike
Speaker 1: joined them at the bar, they served him a meal
Speaker 1: of the oysters. They waited patiently as he ate each one,
Speaker 1: savoring every bite. Two dozen oysters later, he licked his
Speaker 1: fingers and washed it all down with more tainted alcohol.
Speaker 1: Here it comes. The men thought, there's no way this
Speaker 1: could fail. But Mike just belched, banked his hosts, and left,
Speaker 1: and just like clockwork, he showed up the next night
Speaker 1: for more of the same. Oh, there were a few
Speaker 1: close calls, or so the men thought. One night, after
Speaker 1: Mike collapsed onto the floor, Francis knelt beside his body
Speaker 1: and checked for a pulse. He was still alive, but barely.
Speaker 1: The rise and fall of his chest had slowed, and
Speaker 1: his breathing was ragged. So the men played cards and waited.
Speaker 1: But wouldn't you know it, Mike began to snore, eventually
Speaker 1: sleeping off the liquor. Upon waking, he rubbed his eyes,
Speaker 1: got to his feet and said, boy, and I got
Speaker 1: a thirst, give me some more of the old regular Milad. Frustrated,
Speaker 1: the gang held another planning meeting. This time they let
Speaker 1: a can of sardines spoil for a few days. Not
Speaker 1: satisfied the food alone would do the trick, though, Red
Speaker 1: added shrap knoll and made it into a sandwich. All
Speaker 1: that metal would surely tear Mike's insides to ribbons. But
Speaker 1: he ate the sandwich and liked it so much that
Speaker 1: he asked for another. Annoyed, the gang ditched their concoction
Speaker 1: of laced whiskey and upgraded to straight what alcohol. It
Speaker 1: was a death sentence for sure, but Mike proved them wrong.
Speaker 1: Months of free alcohol, alcohol that had killed upwards of
Speaker 1: fifty that are Americans, mind you, and Mike handled it
Speaker 1: like it was afternoon tea. For the members of the
Speaker 1: Murder Trust, it was time to get serious. It had
Speaker 1: been snowing hard that winter, but that didn't stop Mike
Speaker 1: from showing up for his daily round of free drinks.
Speaker 1: The men came up with another plan. If the alcohol,
Speaker 1: spoiled food, and shrapnel didn't kill him, then maybe a
Speaker 1: New York winter could. One night, after Mike passed out,
Speaker 1: Tony and Frances lugged him into a car and drove
Speaker 1: to a nearby park. There they hauled him out, dragged
Speaker 1: him through multiple snow banks, and then laid him out
Speaker 1: on a park bench. For good measure, they stripped off
Speaker 1: his shirt and doused him with five gallons of water.
Speaker 1: Mike never woke up through the whole process. Good riddance,
Speaker 1: the men thought, as they left him there to die,
Speaker 1: and someone would find just another homeless drunk frozen to
Speaker 1: death on the bench tomorrow. With the deed completed, the
Speaker 1: men went home. The following morning, Tony went into the
Speaker 1: speakeasy's basement for stock. They're resting on a cot, was Mike,
Speaker 1: I have a wee bit of a chill, he said.
Speaker 1: He went on to explain that he certainly had tied
Speaker 1: one on the night before, in fact, had ended up
Speaker 1: half naked on a park bench. The police had found
Speaker 1: him before he had caught his death of cold, and
Speaker 1: drove him to a welfare house. The good people there
Speaker 1: had supplied him with new clothing, and then had walked
Speaker 1: the quarter mile back to Tony's speak easy. By this time,
Speaker 1: Tony was in a hot blooded rage. He'd go bankrupt
Speaker 1: with Mike drinking so much so a week later, Tony
Speaker 1: did what any desperate scumbag in his situation would do.
Speaker 1: He hired a hit man. At first, he tried to
Speaker 1: hire a professional, but the guy proved too steep, so
Speaker 1: the men asked another speakeasy regular, one Eddie Smith, if
Speaker 1: he would do the job. Eddie seemed a logical choice
Speaker 1: to his shady reputation was well known. All he needed
Speaker 1: to do was run down Mike with his car and
Speaker 1: they'd pay him two hundred dollars cash. Eddie listened, but
Speaker 1: ultimately walked away from the offer undaunted. The members of
Speaker 1: the Murder Trust tried a third time, finding success with
Speaker 1: a cab driver named Harry Green known as Hershey. This time,
Speaker 1: the men dropped the price a hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 1: for the hit, and Hershey still took the offer. The
Speaker 1: following night, Tony and the others loaded Mike up with
Speaker 1: the usual drink until he blacked out. Then Tony, Francis
Speaker 1: and her She took Mike for a ride in the
Speaker 1: back of the cab. They drove to a dark side
Speaker 1: street and tossed him out into the middle of the road,
Speaker 1: and then her She drove down the road and circled
Speaker 1: back with the cab bearing down on him. Mike woke
Speaker 1: up and got to his feet. The cab struck him,
Speaker 1: sending him onto the sidewalk. Her She turned the cab
Speaker 1: around and came at his target again. Mike dodged the
Speaker 1: cab a second time, though so her She circled around
Speaker 1: once more. Mike, teetering on his feet, managed to leap
Speaker 1: out of the way again. On the fourth round, her
Speaker 1: She hit the gas and barreled toward Mike. His body
Speaker 1: thudded heavily against the cab, rolled over the hood, and
Speaker 1: landed behind the vehicle with a softer but audible thud.
Speaker 1: But her she wasn't done yet, Oh no. He wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure Mike wasn't coming back from this one,
Speaker 1: and of course there was a hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 1: at stake, so he threw the cab into reverse and
Speaker 1: backed over Mike. Hershey then pulled over and they all
Speaker 1: got out. They had to be sure as they approached
Speaker 1: to get a better look, though headlights shone from down
Speaker 1: the street. The three men jumped back in the cabin
Speaker 1: took off, leaving the driver of the other car to
Speaker 1: either run Mike over again or at least discover his body.
Speaker 1: Either way, the deed was done and in a day
Speaker 1: or two they'd file for the insurance. Days went by
Speaker 1: with no sign of Mike. Nothing in the newspapers either,
Speaker 1: although that wasn't definitive proof. After all, Mike was a
Speaker 1: homeless drunk. Maybe the papers didn't feel that his loss
Speaker 1: was very newsworthy. And this is why our group of
Speaker 1: co conspirators were panicking that January evening in three. Mike's
Speaker 1: body hadn't shown up at any funeral home, nor at
Speaker 1: any morgue that Tony contacted, nor even the hospitals. And
Speaker 1: no body meant no proof Mike was dead. No death certificate,
Speaker 1: no insurance payout. As Red poured the drinks, they frantically
Speaker 1: discussed their options. Francis suggested finding some other drunk, any drunk,
Speaker 1: who they could pass off as Mike, But as the
Speaker 1: men lamented how complicated things had become, the door opened
Speaker 1: and Mike limped into the bar. Astounded and curious, they
Speaker 1: listened to his story. Mike told them that he had
Speaker 1: been in the hospital. A card hit him and had
Speaker 1: him bad, he said, and for the life of him,
Speaker 1: he couldn't recall much of it. He had no idea
Speaker 1: how he had gotten to the side street, or how
Speaker 1: had managed to get hit so hard. He had a
Speaker 1: fractured skull, a concussion, and a broken shoulder. All he
Speaker 1: knew was just how darn lucky he was to be alive. Now,
Speaker 1: at this point, you'd think the gang would just give up,
Speaker 1: cancel the policy and the offer of free booze, and
Speaker 1: let Mike live out his days. The money they stood
Speaker 1: to earn hardly seemed worth the risk anymore. But they
Speaker 1: weren't going to give up now, not after all they'd
Speaker 1: been through. A showdown was coming. Mike Malloy was just
Speaker 1: another derelict drunk, and there is no way that allow
Speaker 1: him to outsmart them. So collectively, the members of the
Speaker 1: Murder Trust decided that they needed to put an end
Speaker 1: to Mike once and for all. Besides, they had one
Speaker 1: more idea. No one could live forever, not even Mike.
Speaker 1: Mike got hammered on February twenty two, I mean blackout drunk.
Speaker 1: He had help, of course, Tony, Francis, Red and Daniel
Speaker 1: were all there to challenge him to a drinking contest.
Speaker 1: Mike could hardly turn down a little fun with his
Speaker 1: best friends, especially when it involved free drinks. Tony naturally
Speaker 1: drank whiskey, but Mike drank would alcohol, and naturally, Tony
Speaker 1: won the contest. When Mike keeled over at the bar
Speaker 1: out but still not dead. Then they lifted Mike off
Speaker 1: the floor, out the door and carried him down the
Speaker 1: street to a room they rented at a nearby hotel
Speaker 1: on Fulton. Once in the room, they dropped him on
Speaker 1: the floor. As Mike lay snoring, the men put a
Speaker 1: rubber hose into the side of his mouth, wrapped his
Speaker 1: head in a towel, and connected the other end of
Speaker 1: the hose to the gaslight. And then they turned on
Speaker 1: the gas and waited. This time there was no escape.
Speaker 1: It only took minutes from Mike the durable to die
Speaker 1: from carbon monoxide poisoning. After that, the four men lifted
Speaker 1: his lifeless body and put him in the bed. With
Speaker 1: the job complete at last, they returned to the speakeasy,
Speaker 1: where the entire gang celebrated their success. The next day,
Speaker 1: they sent Red to the hotel. He feigned shock upon
Speaker 1: finding Mike's cold body. Francis called a doctor, a crooked one.
Speaker 1: They paid fifty dollars to write up a false report,
Speaker 1: and the doctor signed off on the death certificate. He
Speaker 1: listed the cause of death as pneumonia. Francis being the undertaker,
Speaker 1: didn't bother embalming Mike, and just two days later they
Speaker 1: buried him in a twelve dollar pine box in a
Speaker 1: pauper's grave plot in Westchester County's Ferncliff Cemetery. No fanfare,
Speaker 1: no special funeral, no one mourning at his graveside. At
Speaker 1: long last, the gang was rid of Mike without wasting
Speaker 1: another moment. They filed for the payout, but the insurance
Speaker 1: company told them they'd have to wait a week between
Speaker 1: Mike's death and sending the check. Oh and there was
Speaker 1: one more catch. They also wanted to see the body.
Speaker 1: Mike may have been a drunk and forgettable to some,
Speaker 1: but not everyone. The insurance agent thought Mike's quick burial
Speaker 1: was suspicious and withheld the money until an inquiry could
Speaker 1: be conducted. And the insurance agent wasn't the only one
Speaker 1: who was on to the gang. You see, during card
Speaker 1: games and drinks and other Bronx bars, people had been
Speaker 1: talking about the man who refused to die. That heard
Speaker 1: it firsthand from Tony's regulars. It seems that bits and
Speaker 1: pieces of the murder Trust gang's conversations had been overheard
Speaker 1: at the small speakeasy. And then there was the cab driver, Hershey.
Speaker 1: The gang had stiffed him, paying just twenty dollars of
Speaker 1: the hundred and fifty that they owed him. Disgruntled insiders
Speaker 1: are always likely to talk, and talk he did, not
Speaker 1: to the police, of course, but to just about everyone else.
Speaker 1: Even the professional hit man chimed in, telling patrons and
Speaker 1: various bars that had been approached to kill Mike, but
Speaker 1: Tony and the others couldn't afford him. Before long, everyone
Speaker 1: in the area along Third Avenue was talking about Mike
Speaker 1: the Durable. The story was so incredible that even the
Speaker 1: beat cops had caught wind of it, and one of
Speaker 1: them passed the story along to a homicide detective. After
Speaker 1: a little sleuthing, the detective realized this wasn't some off
Speaker 1: the wall fabrication, and he contacted the Bronx's district attorney.
Speaker 1: Before long, Mike's death was under investigation from the insurance
Speaker 1: company and the Bronx authorities. Meanwhile, the talk on the
Speaker 1: street set the gang on edge. Joe Maglione and Tony
Speaker 1: Bastone got into a heated argument one night over how
Speaker 1: much Bastone's part in the scheme was worth. Joe felt
Speaker 1: sixty five dollars was fair. The men took it outside,
Speaker 1: and with Red looking on, Joe shot and killed Bastone
Speaker 1: right there in front of the speakeasy. Both Red and
Speaker 1: Joe were taken into custody by the police that night.
Speaker 1: On May night, the d A had Mike's body exhumed.
Speaker 1: The coroner knew immediately that Mike hadn't died of pneumonia.
Speaker 1: The color of his skin strongly suggested monoxide poisoning. An
Speaker 1: autopsy and toxicology reports soon proved this, and within two
Speaker 1: days the four remaining members of the murder Trusts were
Speaker 1: arrested and indicted for murder. Police also arrested Harry Hershey
Speaker 1: Greene and charged him with felonious assault, and the doctor
Speaker 1: who had falsified the death certificate was arrested and charged
Speaker 1: as well. Upon their arrest, Tony Marino, Frances Pasqual, Daniel Kreisberg,
Speaker 1: and Red Murphy all pled insanity. When the judge didn't
Speaker 1: buy their plea, they turned on each other and then,
Speaker 1: in a last ditch effort to explain themselves blamed the
Speaker 1: only dead member of their gang, Tony Bastone. He had
Speaker 1: forced them into the plot and was a known gangster,
Speaker 1: They said, of course, it wasn't like he could defend
Speaker 1: himself by this time, though. The badly botched insurance fraud
Speaker 1: and murtyr scheme fooled no one, and honestly they had
Speaker 1: told so many lies who would believe them at this
Speaker 1: point it didn't work. All of them were charged with
Speaker 1: Mike Malloy's death, except for Joe, who was already facing
Speaker 1: charges for the murder of Baston. Joe was found guilty
Speaker 1: of that crime and sentence to fifteen years in prison.
Speaker 1: Despite the mountain of evidence. He proclaimed his innocence to
Speaker 1: the bitter end, saying it had only killed Bastone in
Speaker 1: self defense. The others, however, met a different fate. The
Speaker 1: d A sought the death penalty for Mike Malloy's murder,
Speaker 1: and the jury spent little time seeing through the men's lives.
Speaker 1: They were quickly found guilty, and Tony Marino, Francis Pasqual,
Speaker 1: Daniel Kreisberg, and Red Murphy were all sentenced to the
Speaker 1: sing Sing Correctional Facility to await their execution. Justice had
Speaker 1: finally come for Mike malloy. In the summer of ninety four,
Speaker 1: all four of the men were sent to the electric chair,
Speaker 1: and as of highlighting the resilience of Mike, the durable,
Speaker 1: the chair known as Old Barque, was successful. Like killing
Speaker 1: the members of the Murder Trust on the first try.
Speaker 1: Mike is gone, of course, but he's not forgotten. He
Speaker 1: was reburied, and his story lives on in history, not
Speaker 1: only for being the most tenacious of murder victims, but
Speaker 1: also for becoming the first death that the New York
Speaker 1: Medical Examiner's Office ever investigated. Mike lived a hard life,
Speaker 1: that much is true. But even though the Murder Trust
Speaker 1: killed him, he still managed to outsmart the people who
Speaker 1: called themselves as friends. Despite their plotting, their lies, and
Speaker 1: their deception, Mike could have offered them one piece of advice.
Speaker 1: Honesty isn't always enjoyable, but it's a lot easier than
Speaker 1: the alternative. Deception. You see, is hard work, and that's
Speaker 1: the truth. We can all raise a glass too. There's
Speaker 1: more to this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor
Speaker 1: break to hear all about it. The Prohibition era lasted
Speaker 1: from ninety three. It was an attempt by the government
Speaker 1: to reduce crime, improved family life, and prevent industrial accidents,
Speaker 1: among other things. After all, statistics showed that the average
Speaker 1: man drank half a pint of whiskey a day, and
Speaker 1: since it was so readily available and cheap, alcoholism was
Speaker 1: on the rise, but the US was making a lot
Speaker 1: of money off of taxing alcohol. People found a solution though,
Speaker 1: running everything underground and paying off the politicians, judges, and police.
Speaker 1: And while the materials used by most bootleggers were tainted
Speaker 1: to reduce the allure, it didn't stop people. And it
Speaker 1: turns out that even while Congress was voting to ban alcohol,
Speaker 1: it was thriving in the city around them. Some estimates
Speaker 1: put the number of speakeasies in Washington, d C. At
Speaker 1: that time at around three thousand, and they were close
Speaker 1: to five thousand bootleggers working to make and sell the stuff.
Speaker 1: The biggest supplier to those on Capitol Hill was George Cassidy,
Speaker 1: also known as the Man with the Green Hat due
Speaker 1: to the green felt hat he always wore. He had
Speaker 1: become DC's most prolific bootlegger after his return from World
Speaker 1: War One, all while serving a very small highly select
Speaker 1: number of clients members of Congress. Like many bootleggers, George
Speaker 1: didn't go completely unscathed. He was eventually busted for supplying
Speaker 1: liquor and was sentenced to eighteen months in jail, but
Speaker 1: he never spent a single night there. You see, every
Speaker 1: evening he would check out of his cell, go home
Speaker 1: to his business, sleep in his own bed, and then
Speaker 1: check back into jail in the morning and George's clients. Unsurprisingly,
Speaker 1: not a single member of Congress was ever charged. During
Speaker 1: the days as he served his sentence, George had a
Speaker 1: lot of time on his hands, so in October of
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty he wrote detailed notes on his dealings with Congress.
Speaker 1: He never named a single politician, though he was a
Speaker 1: proper gentleman after all. Still, it wouldn't take much speculation
Speaker 1: to uncover those names. You see. By George's account, of
Speaker 1: Congress were drinkers of hard alcohol despite what they voted for,
Speaker 1: and of course they got the good stuff, while most
Speaker 1: other Americans were left with the tainted stuff that could
Speaker 1: kill them. Critics used George's findings and ran newspaper articles
Speaker 1: in the week before midterm elections that year, when all
Speaker 1: the votes were in. The results showed just how disastrous
Speaker 1: the confessions of the Man with the Green Hat had
Speaker 1: been for supporters of prohibition. In fact, historians believe that
Speaker 1: George and his notes might have even paved the way
Speaker 1: for repeal in the cases of the Murder Trust and
Speaker 1: those hypocritical politicians. I think that this line from Sir
Speaker 1: Walter Scott sums up the eam of both quite nicely.
Speaker 1: Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first
Speaker 1: practice to to see. Oh and one more thing before
Speaker 1: we go. While George Cassidy doesn't have a statue or
Speaker 1: monument in d C, he does have a place dedicated
Speaker 1: to him, a Gin distillery aptly named the Green Hat.
Speaker 1: American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was
Speaker 1: written by Michelle Muto with researcher Robin Miniter, and produced
Speaker 1: by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Minky,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show,
Speaker 1: visit grim and mil dot com. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts.