“Are you hurt buddy? Are you
hurt?”
George Lee, twenty-six-year-old
over-night cashier for the Public Service Coordinated Transport, was indeed
hurt, mortally. A .32 caliber bullet had
just ripped into his side and the man who fired it, Frank McBrien, stood over
him, panicking. Miller didn’t answer, so McBrien tore the wounded man’s shirt
open and tried to staunch the flow of blood. McBrien’s confederates,
momentarily stunned, continued with the task at hand, looting the garage of its
money. One entered the cashier’s cage where McBrien and Lee were and asked
about the pillow cases that were brought along to carry out the loot.
“To hell with the money,” McBrien
told his confederate, “this poor guy is dying. I’m going to call the cops,” turning
again to the prostrate figure on the floor, he pleaded again, “Gee Buddy, are
you hurt?”
The job wasn’t supposed to go
down like this. They planned it for three weeks. McBrien was a careful bandit,
he liked to rehearse the robbery repeatedly so each man in the gang knew what
to do and they could be in and out without trouble. The mob’s previous job went
much smoother. On September 24, 1928, they hit the Alderney Dairy Corporation,
also located in Newark. In this caper they managed to herd around twenty
employees into a vault, another ten or so were covered while the gunmen collected
five thousand dollars. McBrien fired his gun here as well, but not to hurt
anyone. Only one employee was slightly injured, a woman, who was smacked across
the head with a pistol butt because she wasn’t moving as fast as the bandits
wished.
After the Alderney job, the gang
rendezvoused back at the rooming house where McBrien, the only tenant, lived to
divvy up the loot. High on success and swimming in greenbacks, they decided the
next target would be Newark’s, Public Service Coordinated Transport garage.
The location where the city bus drivers, after finishing their shifts, came to
deposit the day’s fares. It was decided that the time, around 2 a.m. Monday
morning, would be the most lucrative because the weekend receipts would still
be on hand. The gang consisted of six men: Frank McBrien, known in the
underworld as the “Jersey Kid”, Frank “the Wop” Orlando, Victor Giampietro,
Louis “Lefty” Malanga, Andy “Red” Silesia and Joe Rado. The idea to rob the
Public Service garage probably came from Giampietro, a former bus driver.
In preparation for the robbery Giampietro
and Orlando stole a car on October 12 and parked it in a garage. On Sunday
afternoon, Giampietro also gave his old bus driver outfit to Orlando, who would
wear it during the heist. Around midnight of the Fifteenth, the gang gathered
at McBrien’s room where the land lady made them all breakfast. After eating, the
men left the house individually so as not to cause suspicion. Giampietro and
Lefty Malanga went to retrieve the stolen car. Orlando left followed by McBrien
and Rado, who were all picked up by Giampietro and Malanga at different spots.
For some reason Red Silesia stayed behind in McBrien’s room. A decision that
would save his life.
Arriving at the garage, Orlando, dressed
as a bus driver, went in to case the place. After a few minutes he returned to
the street and told his confederates that two men were in the drivers’ room and
six in the garage.
“Let’s
wait until later when the last bus has pulled in,” said Giampietro.
“The
hell with it,” McBrien retorted, “let’s get in and get it over with.”
The five men, all wearing gloves,
exited the car and approached the garage. Lefty Malanga stayed at the door to keep
guard. Orlando and Rado went down stairs and approached the cashier while
Giampietro and McBrien went into the drivers’ room, which had since been
vacated. After a moment they heard a shot. In an attempt to intimidate George
Lee, the cashier, Orlando had fired through his screen. Entering the room,
Giampietro saw Lee, peeking out from a rear room.
“Put
your hands up!” Giampietro barked.
Lee complied. Taking command, McBrien
ran up to Lee and, wanting to get the cashier over to the safe, thrust his gun
into his side and snarled, “Get over there.” As the last word was leaving
McBrien’s lips, he accidentally pulled the trigger to his gun.
Hearing the shooting, Lefty Malanga ran down and met
Giampietro who told him, “Mac shot that fellow.” The bandits quickly filled the
pillowcases with cash boxes and coins. Too many coins in fact, as one of the
cases ripped and spilled money across the floor. While this was taking place, McBrien
picked up the phone and dialed the company operator. “There’s a robbery at the
Lake Street garage, a man was shot, call the cops or send an ambulance.”
Dropping the
phone, McBrien ran from the garage and joined his confederates who were already
in the car. Orlando took off the bus drivers hat and puttees and tossed them
from the window. “I hope the cashier doesn’t die,” McBrien said. Afterwards the
car was ditched, and the men split up.
Returning to
McBrien’s room by twos, the men gathered to divvy up the proceeds from the
robbery, which amounted to about eight hundred dollars per man. After a while,
McBrien went out and bought a paper, returning to the group he said, “Well, the
man is dead, you know what that means.”
The Jersey Kid
Deciding that Newark would be too hot for them, the gang headed to Detroit where they hid out for a short time. Deciding that it would be better if they split up, Giampietro, Lefty Malanga and Red Silesia headed for upstate New York; Giampietro, carrying the gun McBrien used to kill the cashier. The remaining three men, McBrien, Orlando and Rado headed to Chicago.
After the operator at the Public Service received the phone message from McBrien, a man was sent to the basement to see what it was all about. There he found Lee dead and the police were called. After sunrise there was a search of the neighborhood and detectives found the hat and puttees that Orlando had jettisoned from the car. All bus drivers working for the company were investigated and none were missing the items that the police had found. Next there was a check on former employees and Victor Giampietro’s name came up, working on a hunch, investigators also looked up former employees of the Alderney Dairy Company and there too was Giampietro’s name. They rushed to his house only to learn that he hadn’t been seen there since the day after the robbery.
Detectives visited the haunts in Giampietro’s neighborhood and learned that he hung around with Red Silesia and Lefty Malanga. Follow up investigations proved that both men were also missing since the robbery. Wanted posters of the three men were produced and sent around the country. At the homes of the wanted men the mail was watched, and the phones were tapped but nothing came of it.
On November 10, 1928, Newark detectives received a break. In the upstate town of Lackawanna, New York,
Giampietro, Silesia and Malanga had gone into a roadhouse and, while there, they got into a fight with another patron. The police were called. When they arrived, Silesia was still there so they took him into custody. Back at the station Silesia remained silent, but one of the cops recognized him from one of the recent wanted circular the station had received. They also found a slip of paper with the address where he had been staying. The officers went to the house and managed to capture Giampietro and Malanga as they were leaving with their suitcases in hand. All three were returned to New Jersey where, in hopes of leniency, Giampietro turn states evidence and spilled the story on the robbery and murder.
Seven weeks after the capture of their confederates, McBrien, Rado and Orlando were lunching in a restaurant in Chicago. They finished their meal and stepped to the counter to pay. Perhaps it was planned or a spur the moment decision since two cashiers were counting up receipts. Anyhow, one of the bandits punched one of the cashiers in the face while another grabbed the money. Orlando drew a pistol and held the crowd at bay while his cohorts ran out.
When they hit the streets, McBrien and Rado ran in one direction and Orlando in the opposite. Orlando was pointed out to two nearby cops who saw him run into a furniture store. As they entered, the officers saw Orlando speaking to a salesman, pretending to be interested in a radio. As they neared him, Orlando spun around and, using the salesman as a human shield, opened fire on the police, hitting one in the groin. The clerk managed to pull away from Orlando and then the police opened fire. With bullets in his stomach, chest and forehead, Orlando crumbled to the floor mortally wounded.
The following summer found McBrien back in New Jersey with a new gang. Taking part with McBrien was a former seaman named Robert Tully, a hardened gunman named James Sargert, who went by the nick name “California Eddie”, and Frank “Lefty” Long. There was a successful robbery in Philadelphia on June 17, but things started to go awry after that job. A robbery of a Philadelphia shoe factory was planned for August 2 and a payroll heist planned for Neptune, New Jersey to take place the following day. Philadelphia police learned about the shoe factory robbery and set a trap but at the last moment the bandits became aware of the ploy and fled the scene, returning to New Jersey. Though they were unable to arrest the gang police got a look at the getaway car and license plate. The gang’s driver, Robert Tully, had used his brother’s car and never bothered to change the plates.
The very next day the gang was in New Jersey executing a payroll robbery that had been in the works for ten days. Tully was friendly with Russell Baxter, an employee of Steiner and Sons, Company; a pajama factory located in Neptune City. Through him the gang learned that the company’s $7000 payroll was delivered by sixty-five-year old George Danielson who transferred the money from the bank by himself, armed only with a revolver. At approximately 9 a.m. on Saturday August 3, Danielson was approaching the Steiner and Sons factory. Some witnesses claims say that two of the bandits were loitering in front of the factory prior to Danielson’s arrival, others have them pulling up in a sedan as Danielson approached. What is known as that the sixty-five-year old messenger found himself surrounded. The bandits demanded the payroll and Danielson went for this gun; two shots rang out in quick succession and Danielson dropped to the pavement as one of the bandits grabbed the payroll. The gunmen jumped back into their sedan and drove off.
After the heist the gang rendezvoused at the Verdgemere hotel in Asbury Park to divide the loot. The men had some drinks during the split and sent Tully out for some gin. When he returned McBrien, California Eddy and Lefty Long were gone. He had been double crossed. Tully grabbed his bag and headed out of town. While fleeing he pulled over and tossed his grip into the Shark River. Unbeknownst to him, somebody saw him do it and had the wherewithal to remember part of his license number. The following morning the witness returned to the river and retrieved the bag and turned it over to the police along with the license number.
Since Tully foolishly used his brother’s car in both the botched Philadelphia robbery and the Neptune City job, authorities quickly arrested his sibling, who in turn informed them that he had lent his car to his brother. Detectives managed to trace Tully to his boarding house located at 116 North Fourth Street in Camden, New Jersey. They surrounded the place at 2 a.m. August 9 and arrested him without any resistance.
Robert Tully
After Tully’s arrest, Baxter turned himself in and admitted to being the tipster. Through testimony police learned that the McBrien, James “California Eddie” Sargert, and Frank “Lefty” Long were the other participants in the Danielson killing. By this time however, all had successfully escaped.
Police got their next break on August 28 when New Jersey State Trooper David Reed entered a roadhouse in the New Jersey hamlet of Iona near Vineland. Wearing civilian clothes, his presence caused no alarm. After a bit, Reed’s attention was drawn to a table of men and, having worked in Newark the previous year, he recognized Joseph Rado at the table. Drawing his gun, Reed approached the table and announced that he was arresting Rado, who surrendered without a fight, while his companions fled. Back at the station it was determine that one of the men who had been with Rado was the Jersey Kid, whom Reed failed to recognize.
With Rado in custody police began combing the Vineland area for McBrien but their search was in vain as he managed to allude capture again. As 1929 was winding up, in regard to the Public Service Co-Ordinated Transport job in Newark, authorities had Giampietro, Silesia, Malanga and Rado under arrest but for the Danielson murder, Tully was the only major participant in custody. That changed on November 20, when Lefty Long attempted to single handedly rob a bank in East Orange. The gunman handed a teller a note demanding money then fled empty handed when the clerk pressed an alarm. Police were able to trace him to a speakeasy a short time later and arrest him without trouble.
After the arrest of Long, it was only two weeks before the law caught up with the Jersey Kid. In the end it was Philadelphia detectives that got him. They learned that the Kid’s paramour had moved from Philadelphia to 196th Street in New York City. They began a stakeout of the apartment and learned that the Kid was indeed inside. At 4:30 a.m. on December 4, both New York City and Philadelphia detectives surrounded the building. The element of surprise was lost when the Kid noticed two detectives in the court yard and took a couple of shots at them. They returned the fire. After that a truce was called so that the Kid’s girlfriend could surrender and leave via the rear fire escape. The Kid used that time to barricade the front door and prepare for a battle. Intent on killing himself before allowing capture he penned a quick goodbye note to his mother. Detectives at the door informed him that they were getting ready to open fire with tear gas. Realizing that there was no escape and losing the nerve to commit suicide. The Kid surrendered.
The Kid is Captured
Newark, Neptune City and Philadelphia all wanted the kid, but in the end Newark won out, so the Kid, along with Giampietro, Malanga and Rado went on trial for the murder of transportation clerk George Lee. Hoping to save himself from the electric chair, Giampietro turned States ‘evidence and testified against his codefendants. All were found guilty of murder and all, including Giampietro, were sentenced to death.
All four men were scheduled to be executed on July 22, 1930. When the time came Giampietro was the first to go, which suited the Kid just fine since Giampietro implicated all of them in the murder in an attempt to get out with his skin intact. Hoping against a last-minute reprieve that might save the man who helped put him in the chair the Kid told the warden he wanted Giampietro to go first saying, “ He’s not going to get out of this, the rat.”
Giampietro entered the death chamber at 8:08 p.m. three minutes later he was declared dead. A trio of guards removed the body to the autopsy room and hoisted it onto a large marble slab and forced it to the far side in order to make room for his former confederates who would be joining him. After Giampietro they came for the Kid. “Take it easy, Mac,” Rado and Malanga shouted to their one time leader. “O.k. boys, so long,” he replied. Entering the death chamber at 8:21 p.m., the Kid bit off the end of a cigar and threw it at the witnesses. Taking a seat in the electric chair, the wet helmet was placed on his head and a strap to his right knee. After a moment he relaxed and then the wheel was turned. The Kid shot out of the seat as two thousand volts went through his body. The executioner turned the wheel to off and the Kid slumped back into the chair unconscious. Another sixteen hundred volts were sent through the body and this was followed by another two thousand. In all it a took only a minute. The Kid then took his spot next to Giampietro on the slab. Next came Malanga who went calmly. Rado was the only one of the condemned men to speak out. Claiming he was innocent until the end he addressed the witnesses. “Spectators to the fact,” he announced, “Look at the gate crashers. Well before I go I want you newspaper guys to tell the world I’m innocent as God himself. I was framed. I hope you all enjoy the show.” As they strapped him into the chair, he continued his diatribe but it was cut short as the electricity coursed through his body. Smoke rose from his skull and leg as the executioner turned the wheel off. A second charge sent him from his chair like it did the Kid. The doctor checked his heart, the two jolts were enough.
