14. The plot to kill Michael Malloy, Part Three
It was decided to use nature to finish off Michael Malloy, it being in the dead of winter. After allowing the old man his usual amount of alcohol one night, a drunken Malloy was escorted to a bench in a nearby park in the Bronx, liberally dowsed with water, and left in his wet clothes to spend the night exposed to the elements, in the belief that pneumonia would kill him if exposure did not. When Marino arrived at the speakeasy the following night he found Malloy waiting for him, having awakened and returned to the bar, where an employee who slept in the basement had let him in. Malloy reported that he had suffered a bit of a chill, which a couple of shots would ward off.
The next attempt to dispatch Malloy consisted of getting him drunk and then dragging him with a car, to create a scenario of a drunken man stumbling into traffic and becoming a victim of a hit and run. After executing the plan one night to the conspirator’s satisfaction – they were certain that Malloy was killed – the conspirators began contacting morgues to verify he was dead. Five days passed before Malloy came into the bar, with only a limited memory of what had transpired, other than waking in a hospital desirous of a drink. He enjoyed several as he regaled Marino and the other utterly befuddled conspirators with his tale, which consisted of few details other than awakening at Fordham Hospital.