Elena Semander

popular name: Joseph Colombo

date_of_death: May 22, 1978

age: 54

cause_of_death: Cardiac arrest related to shooting

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Joseph Colombo Sr. became the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of five families associated with the American Mafia in New York City. Joseph Colombo’s father Anthony was an early member of the Profaci crime family, forerunner of the family that would eventually bear his name. After Anthony Colombo was found strangled to death in a car with his mistress, a young Joe dropped out to of high school to join the U.S. Coast Guard. He was diagnosed with neurosis and discharged from the service and resumed a normal lifestyle with jobs that included ten years as a longshoreman and six years as a meat salesman. Eventually Joe Columbo drifted back into the life of organized crime and Colombo followed his father into the Profaci family becoming an enforcer and quickly promoted to Caporegime. Separate from his crime family, Colombo went on to create the Italian-American Civil Rights League in 1970, hosting the first Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle later that year. On June 28, 1971, Colombo was shot three times at the second annual rally by Jerome A. Johnson. The shooting left Colombo paralyzed and he died seven years later of cardiac arrest. Many members of the Colombo family claim Joe Gallo, mobster of the Profaci crime family, was to blame for the shooting due to his falling out with Colombo.

popular name: Ludlow Skinner

date_of_death: February 21, 1903

age: 32

cause_of_death: Murdered - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Ludlow Skinner was a quiet, soft-spoken young man who was the son of one of the most respected ministers in the southern region. The murder of Ludlow Skinner begins with Mrs. Gertrude Tucker, Skinner's sister-in-law and one of the most beautiful women in all of North Carolina at the time. Seems while doing work for Mrs. Tucker, her attorney Ernest Haywood had a thing for the beautiful widow and they began a secret affair (which in 1903, was a very big deal). And while there was ample evidence to their marriage, Haywood refused to acknowledge the legality of their marriage or the bastard son born out of wedlock. On February 21, 1903, Saturday afternoon, the young lawyer Haywood met Ludlow Skinner, his mistress's brother-in-law, on the steps of the Fayetteville Street Post Office. After a brief argument Haywood pulled out a pistol and shot at Skinner one time and missed. He then chased Skinner briefly and shot him dead in the street with 100 witness. The murder and subsequent trial achieved nationwide attention and rocked the foundations of turn-of-the-century Raleigh society. As a lawyer and founding member of the Raleigh Bar Association, he was found innocent by a jury of his peers after only 15 minutes of deliberation.

popular name: Antonio Pollina

date_of_death: February 27, 1993

age: 100

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Antonio "Mr. Miggs" Pollina was an Italian-American mobster and was the short lived boss of the Philadelphia crime family during the late 1950s. Shortly after immigrating from Caccamo, Sicily he developed an arrest record dating back to 1927 and included arrests for murder, concealed weapons, untaxed liquor, assault & battery. His legitimate employment was as a cheese salesman for Maggio Cheese Co. (owned by the powerful mobster Micheal Maggio) Pollina was one of the top leaders of the mafia group known as "The Greaser Gang" and controlled a large loansharking operation. In 1959 Pollina was made interim boss of the Philadelphia crime family. It was then Pollina began plotting the murder of his rival and top earner Angelo Bruno. Pollina ordered his Underboss, Ignazio Denaro, to murder Angelo Bruno, but Denaro instead informed Bruno of Pollina's intentions. Bruno used his connections to The Commission to take Pollina's power away from him. The Commission authorized Bruno to murder Pollina. Pollina stepped down and Angelo Bruno replaced him and kept Denaro as his underboss. Upon his death, he was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA.