Tom Sullivan (boxer) - Gangland Slaying

Gangland Slaying

After Edward McLaughlin was beaten, he held a great feeling of contempt and hatred for the former professional boxing celebrity. On December 24, 1957 Thomas was called to the side of a car that was idling in the street near his East Fifth Street home at 6:35 p.m. and was shot five times, killing him. It was originally believed that one of the gunman's shots mowed down Tommy in front of an old cemetery but Medical Examiner Dr. Richard Ford revealed that three shots had nearly torn off his head and two of the shots had lodged in his shoulder. During the initial murder investigation, homicide detectives became quickly convinced that his murder was connected with the Irish Mob wars between the McLaughlin Gang and the powerful Patriarca crime family. Two suspects, including Edward McLaughlin were brought in for questioning about the murder. One provided an airtight alibi clearing him of any suspicion in the murder while McLaughlin remained under suspicion. The case eventually went cold and no one was ever charged or convicted in the murder of Sullivan. Howie Carr states that Sullivan's killer was Harold Hannon. Hannon was later murdered in the ensuing Irish Mob wars.

Harold was garroted with piano wire and had his corpse tossed into the Boston Harbor on August 20, 1964.

Sullivan's bar brawling foe, mob leader Edward McLaughlin was shot dead at a bus stop in West Roxbury, Massachusetts in October 1965.