Michael Malloy // New York // 39

For those of you who watch, Shameless, im going to be telling you about the real life Frank Gallagher. 

The year is 1932. Grab your drinks (if you do drink) because this story is a Rollercoaster and most of it takes place in a speakeasy that was located in New York. 
Michael Malloy, is gonna be the main person we are talking about. He was An, out of job firefighter who was Irish asf. He was around his 50s or 60s,, but we don't have a definitive age on him. He had no family or friends, so instead, in true Irish form, he loved to drink. We aren't talking just a drink here and there tho, he would wake up, go to the speakeasy, and he'd start his day by saying, "another mornins mornin, if ya don't mind", then he'd drink until he literally passed out on the floor. For awhile the owner, Marino, would let Malloy open tabs, but the problem was, he never paid them. Business got bad tho and Marino decided this had to end. 

So one afternoon in July of 1932, a group of regulars conjured up a plan. Their names were; Francis Pasquale, Daniel Krieseberg, and the owner of the speakeasy, Tony Marino. They figured, shiiit, Malloy already drank himself half to death, it shouldn't take much more to push him over the edge, its not like anyone would notice anyway. But why would that benefit them, you ask? (Not really, but ima pretend you did) 
Because then Marino no longer has to worry about unpaid bar tabs, and why not take out a life insurance policy on him, so everyone in on it, gets paid when he dies. 
We sure love those good ol life insurance policies!!! 

But as it turns out, THIS ISNT THE FIRST TIME THEYVE DONE THIS. Only a year before, Marino, befriended a homeless woman named, Mabelle Carson. Poor mabelle was convinced by Marino to take out a 2,000 life insurance policy, and of course, naming him the beneficiary, because he's all she had. 
Just gonna throw this out there that this is brutal. 
On a really cold night, Marino, force fed, Mabelle, alcohol, stripped her naked, shoved her onto her bed, doused all her stuff, sheets, and mattress with ice water, and pushed the bed under an open window, in the freezing cold.
Her cause of death was listed as, bronchial pneumonia, Marino got his money, and no one even noticed she was gone. 

So there they sat, at the bar, discussing murder, no big deal or anything, and at this point, the plan was set into motion. 

Pasqua was to be the person that did all the legal work. He had Murphy go to all meetings with insurance agents and everything like that with him. He claimed he was a florist by the name, Nicholas Mallory. It took a total of 5 months, for them to get 3, double indemnity (if its an accident they get double), policies and they were signed by Nicholas Mellory, who would pose as Malloys brother, once he passed away. One policy was with, Metropolitan Life Insurance company and the other was with, Prudential (pause for dramatic effect) 

If everything goes as planned, each person involved would split $ 3,576, which today would be about, $54,000. 

As the plan is now completely set in stone, a few other regulars at the speakeasy decided to join in, because why tf not, so now this plan also includes Edward Smith, who was called "tin ear" (i literally dont understand that because his fake ear was made of wax, not tin, makes no fucking sense) also John McNally, "Tough Tony" Bastone, and Joseph Maglione. 

Now I dont know about you guys, but im starting to wonder just how worth it things were at this point. They just keep adding people, which is gonna make it so each person gets less from the policy (TALK ABOUT) 

Now, they didn't waste ANY time once everything was said and done with the policies, so now we are jumping to an, evening in December, of 1932.  Which is literally the same year, straight up only 5 months after the plan was set in motion.


Malloy is in his usual spot at the bar, when Marino, offers him free drinks all night, a completely open tab, he tells Malloy that other bars that are competition are making it so he has to loosen up on his rules a bit. Malloy basically was like, FUCK YEAH (Same tho), and starts drinking one shot after the other. At this point, their plan is to keep feeding him free alcohol all night, until he drinks himself to death, hits his head, crawls under a bench somewhere in the cold and dies. Its been said that he actually drank SO much, that Marinos arm would get sore from holding the bottles up to pour. So Malloy is just going for it at this point. Drinks ALL day long and finally drags his sleeve across his mouth, and thanks Marino for the drinks as he leaves for the night. So now they're thinking, alright, didnt work on the first shot, but if we give him a few days of free alcohol, he will eventually push himself over the edge. The only time he paused drinking, was when he'd get a sardine sandwich from Marino. (Choke on vomit)
After 3 fricken days of him just going HAM, he walks in on the fourth and I shit you not, he says, "Boy! Ain't I got a thirst"(LITERALLY HOW)


So now they're getting pissed because Malloy just won't fucking die. They start throwing around ideas, they consider shooting him in the head and various other ways, but they wanted it to be quick and more subtle than that. So they decide, let's feed him some, wood alcohol.
Wood alcohol is a chemical used in stuff like pesticides, antifreeze, paint thinner, all sorts of toxic stuff.  
If ingested it can cause vomiting, blindness, loss of consciousness, kidney failure, death, i sound like a commercial, but its important. 
It only takes 4% of a drink, to cause complete blindness. And at the time, it was getting mixed into peoples alcohol and over 50,000 people nationwide had passed away from accidental consumption. (So really take in how intense this stuff is) 
The reasoning for it being mixed in was because people were actually making bathtub booze, due to the prohibition. They'd put things in like wood alcohol, iodine, turpentine. Then they'd add flavors and colors to cover it up. Just awful awful things going into it. Speakeasy owners became rich quick off it, but the obvious problem is a lot of people die or became ill from drinking the quote on quote cocktails. 

Anyway, THEY GAVE MALLOY STRAIGHT SHOTS OF WOOD ALCOHOL. 
Yeah, they didn't even try to cover it up, they gave him a few regular shots first, then gave him straight wood alcohol. 
Murphy had actually purchased cans of it for 10 cents a piece, at the local paint shop, just in case anyone was wondering, like I was. 

Now Malloy is downing wood alcohol, literally. He takes multiple shots of it AND ASKS FOR MORE, he is not showing any signs of slowing down or feeling ill. (Again, 4% for blindness) 
You guys, this gets so insane 
This happens for MULTIPLE nights in a row. He comes back, drink a bunch of wood alcohol, goes home, comes back, until one night, he falls onto the floor. Pasqua approaches him and checks his pulse and listens for his breathing, reporting that it was really shallow. So they just sit there, waiting for him to die (what else do ya do at a bar) finally he let's out a long gurgle, that sounded like the death rattle. 
They're rejoicing because they're like, we finally fucking killed this guy 
Aaaaaaaannnnnddd then he starts snoring. 
When he finally awakes a few hours later, his first words are, " gimme some of th' old regular, me lad" 

This whole plan is starting to get spendy now. They only have so much they'll get from his life insurance policy and they're blowing a ton of money trying to kill him. So they come up with a new plan. 
They put oysters in prenatured alcohol, soak them for a few days, and are going to feed them to Malloy. 
This will cause EXTREME food poisoning and can kill someone very quickly. 

So now they wait again as Malloy eats his oysters. He eats every last one they gave him annnnndd HE WASHES THEM DOWN WITH WOOD ALCHOL. 
They are still impatiently watching and waiting for him to keel over, but instead, he licks his fingers, and let's out a belch. 
They figure, if that doesn't kill him, why not just feed him a metal shrapnel sandwich!! So Murphy let's a can of sardines rot for days, mixed metal shrapnel in, stuck it between two pieces of bread and (muah, master piece!). 
Malloy eats his sandwich as they wait for it to tear open his insides, he finishes it, and asks for another. 
They are like mega pissed now and its not even necessarily about money anymore, now they're all just determined to kill Malloy. 
They are again, trying to figure out what tf its gonna take to finally take Malloy out. They discuss possibly throwing ice water on him, like they did to the homeless lady, since Marion had done this successfully before (hes like cmon guys shoulda just listened to me, im the murderer here) 
That night, Marino and Pasqua, toss Malloy in the back of the truck, once he's unconscious from being so drunk. 
They bring him to a park, drag him thru piles of snow, then dump him on the park bench. They took his shirt off and covered him in water. 
I guess Marino wasn't as good as he thought because when he got to his speakeasy the next morning, he finds a half frozen Malloy in the basement, because somehow he made it a half mile back, in the freezing cold, with no shirt or anything, and talked Murphy into letting him in, complaining of a "wee chill" 

Now we are in February, because they've been trying to kill him now for a solid 2 months. And because they took the insurance policy out on him, they're the ones paying it monthly. 
Now they're just done, it's costed them a bunch of money, its become way more than its worth, they're not even going to make that much anymore, with how much they've put into it, and how many people they've had to bring into this, what was dubbed, the "murder trust" 

So why not run him over with a car!? John McNally thought it would be perfect, tin ear was a bit skeptical, for obvious reasons. And the rest went along with it. 
John Maglione asked his cab driver friend, Harry Green, who would get $150 cut, if he was willing to do it. 

Seriously, why tf are so many people so okay with joining in on this murder. 

So everyone involved, piles into Harry Greens cab, and they drag a yet again, very drunken Malloy. 
They drive for a bit and green comes to a stop. Murphy and bastone, jump out and grab Malloy. They hold him in crucifixion style, (one holding arm on one side and the other on the other side) and wait for green to hit him.  Everyone is braced for impact, when Maglione sees a flash of light, he stops green immediately, but then realizes it was just someone turning on their lights in their house. 
As green speeds towards Malloy, he jumps out of the way. Not once, but twice. Remember, dudes belligerant at this point, so its crazy he can even move, let alone jump out of the way of a car speeding towards him. 
On the third attempt, green hits 50 MPH, then makes impact. With two separate thuds, Malloys body drops to the ground. They had finally done it. But for good measure, they backed up over him. 
They didn't have long to check out his body because another car went by and scared them off. 
Murphy comes back into play,, As he is the one who posed as Malloys brother when they were getting the life insurance policy. He calls around to all the local hospitals and morgues to see if he can find Malloys body. 
Nothing. Hes just disappeared at this point. No reports of an accident or anything. 
Now they're just fucking done. They put everything into killing poor Malloy, they FINALLY succeed, and now they can't find his body to get their money. 
Pasqua is fed up and its now been 5 days, so he decides, im just gonna kill another drunk, and pass him off as Malloy. Fool proof plan, except as hes plotting this, the doors to the speakeasy swing open, and in comes Michael fricken Malloy, a little battered, bruised, bandaged, but still alive!!!
And what does he say when he walks in!? 
" I sure am dying for a drink!"  
( i think you're living for one, buddy)
Malloy actually recalls and tells story of the night they took him out, he remembers the cold slap of the wind, coupled with the taste of whisky, and rushing lights. He had awoken that night in a warm bed at the hospital and his only thought was, "I wanna go back to the bar" 

We are now 7 months into this shit. 7 MONTHS. 
And Malloy FINALLY bites the dust. He was in a tenement less than a mile from the speakeasy, with a rubber hose that was attached to a gas light fixture, and a towel wrapped tightly on his face. (Elaborate) 

Now that Malloy is FINALLY dead, yes, he really is this time, a friend of Pasqua, Dr. Frank Manzella, filed the phony death certificate stating that Malloy had passed from pneumonia. Dr.Frank was also responsible for Mabelles phony death certificate (homeless woman) he made a business doing this for, $100 each. 
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company simply hands over the $800 for the policy, with no issues and each man takes their cut AND SPENDS IT ON A NEW SUIT. 
All of that. 
A human. An actual fucking life. Taken. So they could buy suits. 

Prudential on the other hand tho, who they had two policies with, didnt just hand over the money right away, instead, they asked to see the body to confirm. 
Well, now they're fucked because its clear he didn't die of natural causes. 
So pasqua tells them hes already buried. 
Well, thats just not good enough. 
So an investigation began. Rumors begin flying about all the men involved and eventually ended with everyone involved facing charges. 
Pasqua, Kriesberg, Murphy, and Marino all were convicted of first degree murder.  
A reporter was quoted saying, "The grinning ghost of Michael Malloy was present in the Bronx County Courthouse" 
Each men was sent to the electric chair at sing sing, which killed them all, on the very first try.

RESOURCES:
Smithsonianmag.com 
Crimescribe.com 
Wiki