Mob Assassin and Kidnapper
Coll's ruthlessness made him a valued enforcer to Schultz at first. As Schultz's criminal empire grew in power during the 1920s, he employed Coll as an assassin. At the age of nineteen, Coll was charged with the murder of the owner of a speakeasy who refused to sell Schultz's bootleg alcohol. He was eventually acquitted, though many suspect this to have been from Schultz's influence. Coll later pulled a robbery at the Sheffield Farms dairy in The Bronx without Schultz's authorization. Schultz confronted Coll about this, but rather than being apologetic, Coll demanded to be an equal partner; Schultz declined. These combined incidents led to a shooting war between the Schultz and Coll gangs. One of the earliest victims was Vincent's brother Peter, who was shot dead on May 30, 1931, while driving down a Harlem street.
To finance his new gang, Coll would kidnap gangsters and hold them for ransom. He knew that the victims would not report the kidnappings; they would have a hard time explaining to the Bureau of Internal Revenue why the ransom cash had not been reported as income. One of his best-known victims was gambler George "Big Frenchy" DeMange, a close associate of Owney Madden, boss of the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob.
Read more about this topic: Mad Dog Coll
Famous quotes containing the word mob:
“Are we aware of our obligations to a mob? It is the mob that labour in your fields and serve in your houses—that man your navy, and recruit your army—that have enabled you to defy the world, and can also defy you when neglect and calamity have driven them to despair. You may call the people a mob; but do not forget that a mob too often speaks the sentiments of the people.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)