Really good documentary on U.S Prohibition

[Gust]

.... and how very wrong it went, with false liquor.

wait,, it started with prohibition and has now gone into poison.

[Gust]

now it's about radium as a wonder drug.

[Gust]

now it's about gangsters during the depression who take out three insurance policies on an old barfly and try killing him naturally,,, seriously funny and sad.

Channel 14 in cowtown;

This is the story of Mike "The Durable" Malloy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Malloy

[TBD]

[Matt L.]

Originally Posted by TBD

You're one to talk.

[TBD]

and you'd be third man in .....


TBD


PS ...... since I'm a gentlemen and can look past your rudeness,

Originally Posted by Matt L.

There is a reason why I don't think it would matter if Obama and crew or whoever the GOP managed to put in office were handling this new Sino-Japanese kerfuffle ....

What was your reason ?

[Matt L.]

Bahahaha, if you haven't figured it out by now you never will pal.

[TBD]

Originally Posted by Matt L.

Bahahaha, if you haven't figured it out by now you never will pal.

.... feeble minds.

[jaylow?]

I watched the program on PBS , it was pretty cool. It was interesting how the ladies making the watch faces for soldiers had slowly died from that small amount of radium over long periods and how their bones stored enough radium to produce images on film.

[Gust]

Originally Posted by jaylow?

I watched the program on PBS , it was pretty cool. It was interesting how the ladies making the watch faces for soldiers had slowly died from that small amount of radium over long periods and how their bones stored enough radium to produce images on film.

I missed the first 5 mins of the doc,, and realised it was about a very astute coroner realising that common things in our cupboards were our killers. The radium part was sad and brilliant how he figured it out. I'll upload the documentary tomorrow when it becomes available. Sometimes TV has good value. Glad someone else saw it.

[Gust]

Seeing as TBD is interested in my thread (or at least I'm guessing as I have him on ignore),, this blurb from the Internet was in the documentary,, I doubt anybody opened the link I posted. He's NY's version of Rasputin for tough kills;

Failed murder attempts

The events that led to Malloy's death began in January 1933. He was, at the time, alcoholic and homeless. Five men who were acquainted with Malloy, Tony Marino, Joseph Murphy, Francis Pasqua, Hershey Green, and Daniel Kriesberg (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 was successful (probably achieved with the aid of a corrupt insurance agent), and they stood to gain over $3,500 (more than $61,000 by 2011's standards by the CPI) if Malloy died an accidental death.

Marino owned a speakeasy and gave Malloy unlimited credit, thinking Malloy would abuse it and drink himself to death. Although Malloy drank for a majority of his waking day, it did not kill him. To remedy this, antifreeze was substituted for liquor, but still, Malloy would drink until he passed out, wake up, and come back for more. Antifreeze was substituted with turpentine, followed by horse liniment, and finally mixed in rat poison. Still, Malloy lived.

The group then tried raw oysters soaked in wood alcohol. This idea apparently came from Pasqua, who saw a man die after eating oysters with whiskey. Then came a sandwich of spoiled sardines mixed with poison and carpet tacks.

When that failed, they decided that it was unlikely that anything Malloy ingested was going to kill him, so the Murder Trust decided to freeze him to death. On a night when the temperature reached -14 °F (-26 °C), Malloy drank until he passed out, was carried to a park, dumped in the snow, and had five gallons (19 L) of water poured on his bare chest. Nevertheless, Malloy reappeared the following day for his drink. The next attempt on his life came when they hit him with Green's taxi, moving at 45 miles per hour (72 km/h). This put Malloy in the hospital for three weeks with broken bones. The gang presumed he was dead but was unable to collect the policy on him. When he again appeared at the bar, they decided on one last approach.

Malloy's murder

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 Malloy, death occurring within minutes.

He was pronounced dead of lobar 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 over the division of the loot.

Eventually police heard rumors of "Mike the Durable" in speakeasies all over town, and upon learning that a Michael Malloy had died that night, they had the body exhumed and forensically examined.

The five men were put on trial. Green went to prison, and the other four members were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing.