12. The plot to kill Michael Malloy, Part One
Michael Malloy was a patron of a speakeasy in the Bronx during Prohibition who became the victim of a murder plot perpetrated by the bar’s owner, Tony Marino, and confederates. They decided to take out a life insurance policy on their customer, with one of them posing as the beneficiary, and then kill Malloy for the money. They ended up purchasing more than one policy, from different companies. Since Malloy was a dedicated consumer of liquor, the conspirators decided to help the old man drink himself to death, to which end he was given an unlimited tab at the bar, where he was served whiskey liberally laced with wood alcohol. Unfortunately for the conspirators, Malloy demonstrated a capacity for alcohol which was inconvenient to their plans. Day after day he drank himself to unconsciousness on free booze, only to return for another bout on the morrow.
Frustrated, Marino decided to serve Malloy pure wood alcohol, which during Prohibition killed over 50,000 consumers before 1929. Yet Malloy seemed to be immune. The conspirators were both frustrated and astonished as their victim consumed all the wood alcohol placed before him, with little seeming effect other than that which could be expected from consuming legitimate bonded whiskey with untoward exuberance. According to the New York Post, which covered the story in its aftermath, “…what he didn’t know apparently didn’t hurt him”. As the nights went on, dispatching Malloy became as much a matter of personal pride as a plot for illicit financial gain. The old man simply kept drinking, after which he somehow stumbled home, only to return the next day, none the worse for wear.