The Violent Years (15 page)

Detroit police were tipped off about the Fein kidnapping shortly after Fein had been “snatched.” According to Fein, when Burke found out that the police had been notified, he threatened to kill Fein and called him a “rat” and a “dirty stool pigeon.” Fein told the court that he had begged for his life. His tears evidently prevailed, and later that same day, Fein, Burke, and O’Riordan sat down together amiably and enjoyed a bottle of whiskey.

Fein testified that Purple Gangsters Ray Bernstein, Eddie Fletcher, and Abe Axler were also associated with the kidnapping Mob. At the time of the trial, Ray Bernstein was serving a life sentence, and Fletcher and Axler were dead, having been taken for a ride in November of 1933. When O’Riordan had first been brought back to Detroit in October of 1933, Fein had named only O’Riordan, Burke, and Jones as his kidnappers. He admitted to the court that he had been afraid to name Purple Gangsters Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher while they were alive. He added that he had not cared to tell the truth about Bernstein. Fein’s wife testified that Axler and Fletcher had come to Fein’s home shortly after Abe had been kidnapped. The two Purple Gangsters had threatened her. According to Mrs. Fein, Fletcher had said that she should “turn over 25 grand to the captors of your husband.” Mrs. Fein borrowed $5,000 from her brother-in-law, which was all that she could raise. She then made arrangements to meet Axler and Fletcher to make the initial payment for her husband’s release. They met at Benny Golden’s blind pig in Detroit. Mrs. Fein paid the ransom money to Fletcher in the presence of Abe Axler. She admitted that she did not reveal this information to the police while Abe Axler and Eddie Fletcher were still alive. “I wasn’t going to take a chance on my life,” Mrs. Fein told the court. “They told me never to tell who I paid the money to.” Fein was held prisoner by the gang for five days. A total of $14,200 was eventually paid for his release.

On January 25, 1934, O’Riordan was convicted in Recorders Court for the kidnapping of Abe Fein. The jury deliberated for three hours. On February 15, 1934, O’Riordan was sentenced by Judge Cotter to serve from 15 to 45 years in Marquette Prison. After pronouncing sentence, Judge Cotter said to O’Riordan, “I want you to serve your sentence like a man.”

“Your Honor, I have always been a man,” replied O’Riordan.

• • •

In the end, most of the Laman Gang were either killed or sent to prison for long terms:

Joseph “Legs” Laman
—Convicted of Extortion in the kidnapping of David Cass and sentenced to two years in Jackson Prison. He was returned from prison shortly afterwards and tried and convicted for the kidnapping of Fred Begeman in December of 1929. He was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. He would eventually become a state’s witness and testify against the gang.

Stanley DeLong
—Convicted in the kidnapping of Reubin Cohen and sentenced to 30 to 40 years in prison. Faced with the hopelessness of his situation, DeLong became a state’s witness.

Benny Rubenstein
—Convicted of the kidnapping of Reubin Cohen and sentenced to 25 to 35 years in prison in August 1930.

Henry “Ray” Andrews
—Convicted in the kidnapping of Fred Begeman and sentenced to 35 to 50 years in prison. Andrews later became a witness for the state.

Frank Hohfer
—Convicted in the kidnapping of Matthew Holdreith in October of 1929 and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. Later named as one of the slayers of David Cass but never brought to trial for the Cass murder. Hohfer was also named by Laman as one of the men involved in the murder of William Gunn in 1929. Hohfer killed himself in Marquette Prison after an unsuccessful prison break attempt August 27, 1931.

Edward Wiles
—Convicted in the kidnapping of Mathew Holdreith and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. Also named by Laman as one of the men involved in both the Gunn and Cass murders. Died of natural causes, Marquette Prison, August 6, 1931.

Andrew Germano
—Convicted in the 1929 shooting of a Birmingham, Michigan, police officer and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. Also implicated as one of the murderers of William Gunn. Killed himself in Marquette prison after unsuccessful prison-break attempt on August 27, 1931.

Roy Cornelius
—Found guilty in the Mattler kidnapping and given 20 to 30 years in prison.

Jimmy “Jumpy” Kane
—Given a life sentence for his role in a Millberg, Michigan, bank robbery.

Jimmy Walters
—Shot to death by unidentified gangsters in the driveway of his Detroit home on April 13, 1930.

Louis Ross
—Found guilty in the Charles Mattler kidnapping and sentenced to 35 to 50 years in prison.

Jerry Mullane
—Found guilty in the kidnapping of Charles Mattler and sentenced to 30 to 40 years in prison.

William Cardinal
aka Gerald “Skin” Murphy—Shot in a gun battle by Detroit police. He later died of his wounds.

Virgil Hartman
aka Luke Hartman—Convicted in the Begeman kidnapping and sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison.

Joseph “Red” O’Riordan
—Implicated in the Fein, Mattler, and Cohen kidnappings. Convicted in the kidnapping of Abe Fein and sentenced to 15 to 45 years.

Martin Feldman
—Connected to the kidnapping of Charles Mattler by Legs Laman. Laman claimed that Feldman was one of the fingermen. Later taken for a ride and burned to death.

As a result of their testimony, Laman, Andrews, and DeLong were subsequently granted reductions in their original sentences by Michigan Governor William Bruckner. Laman’s original sentence of 30 to 40 years was reduced to 10 to 20. Andrews’s original sentence of 25 to 50 years was reduced to 20 to 40 years, and DeLong’s sentence was reduced from 30 to 40 years to 15 to 30 years in prison.

Many years later, in his autobiography, Harry Bennett, ex-chief of the Ford Motor Company’s Service Department, explained how he had first met Legs Laman. In 1929, when the Detroit police were desperately looking for leads in the Cass kidnapping case, Bennett was supposedly contacted and asked if he could get any information. Because the Ford Service Department employed many ex-Detroit gangsters at that time, Bennett was thought to have a handle on what was going on in the Detroit underworld. One night while he was driving home from the plant, Bennett noticed a car parked on a curve in the road, where police often waited to ambush bootleggers. Bennett pulled off the road to talk to the officers, when he noticed the lights immediately go out in what he had thought was a police car. Suspecting trouble, Bennett slouched down in the seat of the car. Suddenly, a shotgun blast blew out his windshield. He stopped the car and got out. Bennett noticed there were four men sitting in the dark car. According to Bennett, “One of these men walked up to me and shoved a shotgun in my belly. He said, ‘You S.O.B., you’re looking for information, aren’t you?’ The man on the other end of the gun was Joseph ‘Legs’ Laman. I talked like 16 lawyers for what seemed like eternity, but it could not have been over 10 minutes.” Laman eventually took the shotgun off of Bennett and walked back to the car, leaving Bennett shaken but alive. The men then drove off.

After Laman’s prison sentence was reduced, both he and DeLong were offered jobs at Ford Motor Company by Bennett, who helped to get them their paroles. According to Bennett, “I got Laman in my office. I told him, ‘You know, the only reason I got you out is that you could have killed me that night and you didn’t.’ Laman looked at me coldly and said, ‘Oh no, if I’d had another slug in my gun you’d have got it!’ I believe there was something of a silence after this remark,” Bennett would later state. The reformed Legs Laman soon faded into obscurity.

Sam Giannola, last of the three Giannolas killed during the Giannola/Vitale Gang War.

(Photo courtesy of the
Detroit News
collections at the Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University)

Chester “the Racket King of Hamtramck” LaMare and wife.

(Photo courtesy of the
Detroit News
collections at the Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University)

Detective Sergeant Emmanuel Roggers, was an undercover officer working on the Detroit Police Department‘s Black Hand Squad.

(Photo courtesy of the author‘s collection)

Angelo Meli. Meli was a gunman during the Giannola/Vitale Gang War.

(Photo courtesy of the author’s collection)

This is one of the earliest known photographs of Detroit Mafia boss Joseph Zerilli. Zerilli was also a product of the Giannola/Vitale War.

(Photo courtesy of the author’s collection)