GANG MURDER IN CHICAGO
Hands Of Mafia, Capone Seen
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) CHICAGO, December 17. Crime experts today blamed the Black Hand of the Mafia and the dead hand of Al Capone for the murder of a former gangster, Roger Touhy. Touhy, only 23 days out of prison after a 25 year sentence, was cut down by shotguns on the steps of his sister’s home last night either in revenge for old gang battles or to make sure he told all he knew about the Chicago crime syndicate, investigators believed. Touhy died from loss of blood from shotgun wounds in his left leg. The Chicago Police Department’s official stand was that Touhy was the victim of “amatuerish” assassins. Detective chief John Ascher said professional killers would not have fired low and let the 61-year-old beer baron of the 1920’s live on for an hour and a half. He said that experts also would have killed outright Touhy’s bodyguard and longtime friend, retired police sergeant Walter Miller, aged 62. Miller rpanaged to fire five shots at the two killers and clung to life in hospital today. But United States Attorney Robert Tieken looked back a quarter-century to Touhy’s gang wars with the Chicago crime king Al Capone for the motive behind the murder. ‘‘This fits into the Mafia pattern of making members keep their lips sealed,” Mr Tieken said. He added: ‘‘Touhy must have spoken at one time. They killed him to impress other members that no matter how long it takes, they will seal your lips forever.” The Mafia is an international society of crime which originated in Sicily and still restricts its
membership primarily to natives of Sicily. Touhy, the soft-voiced, hardeyed son of an Irish policeman, actually fought the Mafia for his share of beer-smuggling pay-effs in the prohibition era. The little gangster was known around Chicago as the only man Capone feared.
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Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29082, 19 December 1959, Page 19
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315GANG MURDER IN CHICAGO Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29082, 19 December 1959, Page 19
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