Timothy O'Bryan

popular name: Paul Vario

date_of_death: May 3, 1988

age: 73

cause_of_death: Lung cancer

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Paul Vario was a prominent New York mobster and high-ranking member of the Lucchese crime family. Born on July 10, 1914, in Brooklyn, he became involved in organized crime at a young age, eventually rising to become a caporegime (captain) in the family. Vario controlled a crew based in Brooklyn that was involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including extortion, loan sharking, illegal gambling, and hijacking. Vario was also involved in legitimate businesses that included a flower shop, a bar, a restaurant, and a taxi stand. One of his businesses, Vario's Bargain Auto Parts Inc., located at 5702 Avenue D, is where Vario conducted illegal business with his associates. At his height, Vario was earning an estimated $25,000 a day from his illegal activities. He gained notoriety through his association with Henry Hill, whose life was chronicled in the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi and later dramatized in the film Goodfellas, where Vario was portrayed by actor Paul Sorvino. Despite his power and influence, Vario was ultimately brought down by law enforcement, thanks in part to Hill's cooperation with authorities. He was convicted on multiple charges in the 1980s, including extortion and fraud. Paul Vario died of respiratory failure in prison on May 3, 1988, at the age of 73. Paul Vario was laid to rest in the Vario Family plot at St. John Cemetery in Middle Village, New York.

popular name: Sir Harry Oakes

date_of_death: July 8, 1943

age: 68

cause_of_death: Murdered - blunt force trauma

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: The Bahamas in the 1940s was, in all reality, a seething cauldron of Nazi sympathizers, British spies, money launderers, narcotics traffickers, gambling mobsters, land swindlers, murderers and paid-for-hire assassins. And then you had the richest man in the world: Harry Oakes. Sir Harry Oakes, 1st Baronet was a British gold mine owner, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. He earned his fortune in Canada and moved to the Bahamas in the 1930s for tax purposes. Though American by birth, he became a British citizen and was granted the hereditary title of baronet in 1939. Oakes was murdered in 1943 under mysterious circumstances, and the subsequent trial ended with acquittal of the accused. No further legal proceedings have taken place on the matter.

popular name: Eliot Ness

date_of_death: May 16, 1957

age: 54

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Influenced by the career of his brother-in-law, Eliot Ness began his own law enforcement career in 1927, with the United States Treasury Department. In 1929, he transferred to the Justice Department and was assigned to the Prohibition Bureau. Ness was chosen to head a newly formed task force for the Bureau and was allowed to select his own men. The special squad, dubbed the "Untouchables" by the Chicago news media, attacked the bootleg empire of gang lord Alphonse "Scarface" Capone and helped cripple him financially. Eliot Ness and his elite team of law enforcement officers was immortalized in Hollywood legend, first as the television show "The Untouchables" and later by a movie of the same title.