Michael Malloy

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Michael Malloy ( 1873 - February 22, 1933 in New York City ), alias Mike the Durable and Iron Mike (Iron Mike), was a homeless Irish migrant worker from County Donegal who worked during the 1920s and lived in New York City in the 1930s. The former firefighter gained notoriety by surviving several assassinations carried out on him by five acquaintances. These acquaintances wanted to get hold of the life insurance policies they had taken out on Malloy through insurance fraud .

Unsuccessful attempts at murder

The events that led to the deaths of Malloy, began in January 1933. Like many others, was at the time of Malloy Great Depression alcoholics and homeless. Five men he knew - Tony Marino (bar owner), Joseph "Red" Murphy, Francis Pasqua, Hershey Green (taxi driver) and Daniel Kriesberg (later dubbed "Murder Trust" in the headlines) got together to get together get three of them life insurance policies taken out on Malloy . To do this, they wanted to take advantage of Malloy's drunkenness and get him to drink himself to death. The first part of the conspiracy, the insurance, had been successful (probably supported by a corrupt insurance agent), so they expected a sum of more than $ 3,500 (today's value: € 68,921) if Malloy died in an accident. The barman Joseph Murphy had the policies issued to a "Nicolas Mellory, florist", the beneficiary should be his "brother" Joseph Mellory (Murphy). Between 1928 and 1932 there were around 780 deaths from alcohol poisoning (panhandling) in New York, so the victim Nicolas Mellory should not attract any further attention .

Tony Marino's no name whisper bar on 3rd Avenue

Marino was the owner of a so-called Speakeasy (Engl. Speakeasy) at New York's 3rd Avenue and gave Malloy for the project unlimited credit, assuming Malloy will be drinking to death. But while Malloy drank most of the time when he was awake, it didn't kill him. To change that, they swapped the liquor for antifreeze , but Malloy drank that too until he passed out and came back to drink more when he woke up. Then they replaced the antifreeze with turpentine , followed by horse liniment , and finally they mixed rat poison into his drinks. But Malloy was still alive and came back to the pub every time he slept in his intoxication.

The group then tried raw oysters soaked in methanol (alcohol that is distilled from wood and is poisonous). The idea apparently came from Pasqua, who once saw a man die after eating an oyster pickled in whiskey . Then they served him a sandwich with rotten sardines mixed with poison and carpet nails. Malloy ate all of this, too, without dying from it.

Since it now seemed unlikely that Malloy would die of anything he ingested, they wanted to freeze him to death. One night, when the temperature dropped below −26 ° C - Malloy drank until he drove again - they took him to Crotona Park , near the Bronx Zoo , tossed him in the snow and poured 20 liters of water over his bare torso. That should now finally bring him death. Nevertheless, Malloy, visibly unimpressed and unsuspecting, appeared again the next day to drink. Murder Trust decided to drastically brutalize the next attack on Malloy's life and Green ran him over in his taxi at a speed of 72 km / h. Lying unconscious on the sidewalk, Malloy was discovered by two police officers who admitted him to Fordham Hospital in the Bronx with broken bones . This earned him a three-week "break" from his assassins in the winter. The gang assumed Malloy was dead - he didn't show up in the bar for a long time - but couldn't cash the policies because there was no death report. When he came back to the bar after his hospital stay, they decided to try one last time.

The murder of Malloy

On February 22, 1933, after Malloy passed out again at the bar, they took him to Murphy's room at 1210 Fulton Avenue , put a hose in his mouth connected to the town gas outlet, and turned it Tap on. That method then killed Malloy within an hour. His death was announced by Dr. Frank Manuela , a friend of Pasqua, stated " Lobärpneumonia (pneumonia)" instead of the actual cause of death: carbon monoxide intoxication (carbon monoxide poisoning) and he was hastily buried by Pasqua. Although the gang had finally achieved their plans, they failed to divide up the booty fairly. Finally, the police heard rumors of Mike the Durable's death in whisper bars across town and had his body exhumed and post- autopsy . The autopsy revealed that Malloy had not died of natural causes but had been murdered.

The five were quickly tracked down; they were swiftly caught, tried and convicted. Green was the only one who was sentenced to prison; all other members of the Murder Trust were sentenced to death in the electric chair : Kriesberg, Marino and Pasqua were executed on June 7, 1934 and Murphy on July 5, 1934 in Sing Sing .

Death record of Mike Malloy alias Nicolas Mellory.jpg
Death certificate from "Nicolas Mellory" (Mike Malloy)
Tony Marino, after his arrest.jpg
The Bar Owner Tony Marino (Police Photo)
Frank Pasqua, after his arrest.jpg
Frank Pasqua, the undertaker (police photo)


In popular culture

  • You Can't Kill Michael Malloy is an instrumental piece by The Spent Poets . A clip of this song appears on the album Frizzle Fry by the band Primus .
  • The Münster-based band Mr. Irish Bastard deals with the story of Mike Malloy in the song of the same name from the album "Desire for Revenge".
  • In 1993 Eric Jendresen wrote the piece entitled The Killing of Michael Malloy .
  • Michael Malloy is the title of a song by the grindcore band Gob together with Agoraphobic Nosebleed .
  • The episode The Durable Mike Malloy Case of the 1952 television series "Gang Busters" seems to have been inspired by this incident.
  • The story is the plot of the 1949 novel All Dames Are Dynamite , by Timothy Trent .
  • The story of Malloy's murder was part of the 2011 BBC series QI (Quite Interesting).
  • The episode One for the Road of Amazing Stories is about a bar owner who is trying to kill the drunk Mike Malloy for insurance money.
  • The episode The Indestructible Mike Matter of the radio series Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar appeared to have been inspired by this incident. Howard McNear was Mike.
  • Malloy's death was described in The Poisoner's Handbook as one of the cases investigated by the then newly established New York City Medical Examiner's Office under the direction of forensic toxicology pioneer Charles Norris .

See also

Web links

Commons : Murder Trust  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Simon Read: On the House: The Bizarre Killing of Michael Molloy . Berkley Books, 2005, ISBN 978-0-425-20678-2 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Deborah Blum: The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York . Penguin Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1-59420-243-8 , 10 “Carbon Monoxide” (see also Blum's article The Strange Death of Mike the Durable in Women in Crime Inc, March 23, 2010).
  3. ↑ Irving Wallace: New York Gangs Murder Trust and Michael Malloy Part 1. About the New York gang in the 1930s known as Murder Trust and Michael Malloy, survivor of over 30 murder attempts. Trivia Library, archived from the original on December 26, 2016 ; accessed on December 26, 2016 (English).
  4. ↑ Isabelle Keating: Doctor and Undertaker Held in 'Murder Trust'. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle; Brooklyn, New York (via Newspaper.com) May 12, 1933, archived from the original on December 26, 2016 ; accessed on December 26, 2016 (English).
  5. ↑ a b c Dan MacGuill: Iron Mike Malloy: The Donegal you They tried nine times to kill - Greed, murder and whiskey: How to indestructible Irishman finally fell foul of New York City in the 1930s. The Journal, December 26, 2015; archived from the original on December 26, 2016 ; accessed on December 26, 2016 (English).
  6. ↑ Karen Abbott: The Man Who Wouldn't Die. The plot to kill Michael Malloy for life-insurance money seemed foolproof — until the conspirators actually tried it. Smithsonian Online, February 7, 2012, accessed December 28, 2016 .
  7. ^ A b Michael O'Connor: The Durable Mike Malloy. New York Daily News October 7, 2007, archived from the original December 26, 2016 ; accessed on December 26, 2016 (English).
  8. ↑ 4 Men Go On Trial in Old Insurance Plot. Sarasota Herald-Tribune, October 18, 1933, accessed March 30, 2010 .
  9. ↑ 4 Murder Attempts Cited in Weird Insurance Plot. Altoona Tribune, Pennsylvania, May 13, 1933, archived from the original on December 22, 2016 ; accessed on December 26, 2016 (English, via Newspaper.com).
  10. ↑ John Harris Trestrail III: Criminal Poisoning . Investigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, And Attorneys. 2nd Edition. Humana Press, Totowa 2007, ISBN 1-58829-821-3 , pp. 15 (English).
  11. ^ Executions in New York 1926–1940. Juan Ignacio Blanco, accessed December 26, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Christopher Meeks: Review: 'The Killing of Michael Malloy'. Variety.com, October 14, 1993, archived from the original on December 28, 2016 ; accessed on December 28, 2016 .
  13. ^ Cary M. Mazer: The Killing of Michael Malloy. Penn Arts & Science; Department of English, November 1, 1993, archived from the original December 28, 2016 ; Retrieved December 28, 2016 (English, Bristol Riverside Theater, 120 Radcliffe St., Bristol).
  14. ↑ Timothy Trent: All dames are dynamite . Diversey Pub. Corp., 1949 (English).
  15. ↑ Video, QI XL - An Irishman Can't be Killed with Alcohol on YouTube
personal data
SURNAME Malloy, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mike the Durable; Iron Mike
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish-American migrant worker and murder victim
DATE OF BIRTH 1873
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1933
Place of death New York City , USA