Brownsville Herald, 11 June 1929, page 1: Gang war opens; 1 dead

Front page of the Brownsville Herald, second edition, for Tuesday, 11 June 1929. In the “Late Bulletins” column at right is “Gang War Opens; 1 Dead,” datelined Cleveland, June 11.

It reports that Sam “Black Jack” Todaro was shot and killed in what police called a fresh outbreak of gang warfare, in retaliation for the slaying about eighteen months earlier of “Big Joe” and John Lonardo, bootleg corn sugar merchants.

“Retaliation” is the police theory, as the bulletin reports it. The OCR prints “Todcro”; the scan reads Todaro. For the later indictment and acquittal in Todaro’s death, see the Evening Star of 21 October 1929 and the Indianapolis Times of 15 November 1929.