Michael Malloy born on February 22, 1873 in New York was called the Iron man. He was an extraordinary person who survived a number of murder attempts on his life by five acquaintances who were planning to commit homicide and life insurance fraud.
If we read the iron man’s childhood, he can be found to be an unemployed youth addicted to drinking and gambling. His acquaintances were Tony Marino, Joseph Red Murphy, Francis Pasqua, Hershey Green and Daniel Kriesberg.
They all planned to kill Malloy by getting him to drink himself to death in order to gain his life insurance. However, this bunch of crooks collected life insurance policies on Malloy’s life under the name Nicholas Malloy and stood to gain US $ 3,500, if Malloy died an accidental death.
Marino gave Malloy enough money to buy liquor as much as he wanted. His intention was to let him die by taking alcohol. But it did not take a long time for them to understand that this method would not work.
Marino replaced Malloy’s shot of liquor with antifreeze. Malloy drank it in one breath. To their amazement, Malloy came back to the bar like before asking for a shot of liquor. Marino, who was disappointed by his own mixture, decided to change the mixture with another one and added turpentine to Malloy’s drink, supposing that this would be his final drink. As soon as Malloy got the cup of liquor (mixed with turpentine) he drained the whole cup.
Marino’s gang might have thought that this would bring him death. But their dreams did not come true. He came to the bar the following day. Marino was fed up of playing the same game again and again with Malloy and added rat poison to his drink. Unthinkable! Rat poisons too failed to kill him.
Methanol
Anyway, Marino’s bunch of crooks did not give up their plans and were determined to kill him by hook or by crook. But all their attempts failed. Then, Marino thought that the pure methanol would finish this iron man off.
When Malloy came to the bar as usual, Marino gave him a drink mixed with methanol. It did not take even five minutes for Malloy to empty the whole cup. Of course! Their hopes shattered, when they learned that Malloy did not die. The next idea came from Pasqua who intended to end Malloy’s chapter by making him eat spoiled sardines mixed with poison and carpet tacks. And they froze him on an extremely cold night by dumping him in snow and pouring cold water on his bare chest.
Miraculously, their attempts were averted by the police who took Malloy to a homeless charity in which Malloy was re-clothed. But this time, The group decided to kill Malloy by running him down with Green’s taxi, moving at 45 miles per hour. Unfortunately, Malloy, whose most bones had been broken, was hospitalized for three weeks.
Hissing sound
On the night of February 22, Marino challenged Malloy to a drinking match. Marino, who drank whiskey, let Malloy drink wood alcohol. When Malloy appeared drunk. Murphy and Kriesberg hurried him to a furnished room. They dropped him on the floor, stuffed a hand towel in his mouth and attached a rubber hose to a gas jet in the wall. After inserting the hose in the side of Malloy’s mouth Kriesberg turned the jet on. The hissing sound confirmed its working.
They left his still body on the floor and returned to the Speakeasy. They did not forget to hire Dr. Frank Manzella to issue a false death certificate. “Lobar pneumonia.” He wrote, “with alcoholism as a contributing cause.” This gang paid him $50 for the service. Pasqua buried Malloy without embalming him. Mophy posing as Malloy’s brother collected the $800 from Metropolitan life.
However, Murphy was imprisoned on another charge. His imprisonment aroused suspicion among the insurance agents. The insurance agents contacted the police. As a result, the police started investigating into the puzzle of this murder. Green was not paid his full share and started talking, while a professional hit man told friends that an insurance ring had been set to hire him but his fee was too high.
The police learned of another victim, Betty Carison who had died of pneumonia in mysterious circumstances in the same Speakeasy. The life insurance beneficiary for her death was Marino. After the police arrested the gang, district Attorney Foley called for the death penalty. At trial at the Bronex County Court House, the four murderers shifted the blame to each other and then finally accused “Tough” Tony Bastone who could not testify, having been killed a month after Malloy’s death.
In June and July 1934, Tony Marino, Francis Pasqua, Daniel Kriesberg and Murphy were executed in the electric chair at Sing sing in Ossining, New York. Michael Malloy, widely known as the Iron Man, though gone on a returnless journey still stays in our hearts.
