Michael Malloy
|
|
- For the host on Air America Radio see Mike Malloy
Michael Malloy was a vagrant in New York City, in the early 20th century. He is solely known for his constitution, rivalled only by that of Rasputin. It is said that 30 attempts were made to murder him, all unsuccessful but, of course, the last.
The events that lead to Malloy's celebrity began in January 1933. He was at the time an alcoholic, and a bum. Five men who were acquainted with him, Tony Marino, Joseph Murphy, Francis Pasqua, Hershey Green, and Daniel Kriesburg (later dubbed "the Murder Trust" by the headlines), plotted to take out three life insurance policies on Malloy, and then get him to drink himself to death. The first part of the plot went fine, and (probably with the aid of a corrupt insurance agent) they stood to gain over $3,500 if Malloy died an accidental death.
Marino owned a speakeasy, and gave Malloy unlimited credit, thinking it would soon put an end to him. It didn't; Malloy was in danger of drinking the bar into bankruptcy. Antifreeze, a deadly poison, was substituted for liquor, but still Malloy would drink until he passed out, wake up, and come back for more. Antifreeze was substituted for turpentine, followed by horse liniment, and finally mixed in rat poison. Still Malloy flourished. The gang began to get creative, thinking raw oysters soaked in wood alcohol would do the trick (this idea apparently came from Pasqua, who saw a man die after eating oysters with whiskey, which was probably an anomaly). Then came a sandwich of soiled sardines, carpet tacks, and metal shavings (none of which would likely lead to death in any case).
Realizing it was unlikely that anything Malloy ingested was likely to kill him, the gang decided to freeze him to death. On a night when temperatures reached -14 degrees Fahrenheit, Malloy drank until he passed out, was carried to a park, dumped in the snow, and had five gallons of water poured on his bare chest. (The gang had used a similar method on their first victim the previous year.) Needless to say, Malloy reappeared the following day for his drink. After that they hit him with Green's taxi at 45 miles per hour. This put Malloy in the hospital for three weeks. The gang presumed he was dead, but were unable to collect their policy on him. When he again appeared at the bar, they finally decided to kill him outright. On February 22, after he passed out for the night, they took him to Murphy's room, put a hose in his mouth that was connected to the gas jet, and turned it on. This finally killed Michael Malloy.
He was pronounced dead of pneumonia, and quickly buried. However, the members of the Murder Trust proved to be their own worst enemies — they talked too much and squabbled among themselves. Eventually police heard the rumors of what they did, and upon learning that a Michael Malloy had died that night, they had the body exhumed. When they discovered the actual cause of death, the five men were put on trial for murder. Green went to prison and the other four members were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing.
Michael Malloy in popular culture
- The story of Malloy's murder was clearly the basis for an episode of Steven Spielberg's television series Amazing Stories .
- "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" is an instrumental piece on the album Frizzle Fry by the band Primus.
- In 1993 a play based on Malloy's murder was made, titled The Killing of Michael Malloy, by Erik Jendresen.
- In October 2005 Penguin Book Group will release a non-fiction book on the Malloy case titled On the House: The Bizarre Killing of Michael Malloy by Simon Read.