William “Shooey” Bonner
William J. “Shooey” Bonner — Camden Courier-Post, November 23, 1931
WILLIAM JOSEPH “SHOOEY” BONNER was born in Pennsylvania in late 1900. His parents were both born in Ireland. He appears to have come to Camden after January of 1920. William Bonner married Mary Weber around 1922, and by April of 1930 there were five children, Catherine, Eleanor, Elsie, William, and James. William Bonner and family are listed in the 1924 and 1929 City Directories at 907 North Front Street in North Camden. His occupation is given as “watchman.” The 1930 Census states that the Bonner family owned a home at 907 North Front Street in April of that year. William Bonner gave his occupation as “commercial traveler” dealing in “notions,” i.e. a traveling salesman. This apparently was not the case. Shortly after the Census was taken in April of 1930, the Bonners moved to 916 North Front Street.
Newspaper articles of the era indicate that William Bonner was involved in various criminal enterprises in and around Camden in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Along with his brother James, he was picked up and questioned in September of 1928 after the gangland slaying of Joseph “Mose” Flannery at the former Hotel Royal saloon at 101 Kaighn Avenue. James Bonner himself had been the victim of a shooting a few months earlier. Although many were questioned, no one was ever prosecuted for the Flannery killing. “Mose” Flannery refused to talk, telling doctors that if he lived he would settle things, and if he died “my gang will take care of that.”
In October of 1930 William J. Bonner was arrested at 98 Erie Street, where he allegedly was operating a speakeasy. There was enough money in that for Bonner to buy a cabin at Lake Cotoxon, near Medford, New Jersey.
By the fall of 1931 an ex-con named Eddie Metelski had come to Camden and aligned himself with Bonner. Both would come to bad endings.
William “Shooey” Bonner was shot to death in November of 1931. He was buried at New Camden Cemetery on November 25th. He was 31 years old.
Although a number of people including William Pernier and Jimmy Rogers were picked up as material witnesses, apparently the crime was not solved. Eddie Metelski, along with William Pernier and Frank Bunker, was picked up in December for a series of burglaries. Metelski was sent to prison. A few years later he was executed for the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper. Pernier, Rogers, and other Bonner associates would continue to command the attention of local law enforcement throughout the 1930s.
Found Wounded on Sidewalk at Kaighn Point
Camden Evening Courier —
Seals Lips as Police Seek to Learn Identity of Assailant
EIGHT UNDER ARREST IN SUSPECT ROUNDUP
Surgeons at Hospital Find Four Jagged Bullet Holes in Body
Found Wounded on Sidewalk at Kaighn Point
Camden Evening Courier —
Seals Lips as Police Seek to Learn Identity of Assailant
EIGHT UNDER ARREST IN SUSPECT ROUNDUP
Surgeons at Hospital Find Four Jagged Bullet Holes in Body
Victim of the gang feud—he denounced on his death bed, Joseph “Mose” Flannery, 26, picturesque Eighth ward political worker, was dying today in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital.
Mortally wounded, his body riddled with bullets, Flannery was shot some time shortly before 4 a. m. today as he stood on the sidewalk outside a saloon at Front and Kaighn avenue.
Four or five men, grouped closely about the prone body of the political worker, hailed a truck which took Flannery to the hospital at 4.15.
Eight men had been arrested by police, seven charged with being a material witness, and the other being held at police headquarters “on suspicion.”
They were James L. Hawkins, 37, declared by police to be proprietor of the saloon at 101 Kaighn avenue; Walter Novak, 22, 442 Jackson street; Russell Sage, 25, of 407 Mechanic street; Joseph Novak, 34, of 508 Jackson street; Eugene Murphy, 51, of 101 Kaighn avenue; “Cuzzy” Scarduzio, 27, who gave police no home address, and Joseph Moll, 25, of 101 Kaighn avenue, all held as material witnesses; and Patrick Driscoll, 25, of 1225 South Third street, held “on suspicion.”
Cause of Shooting Unknown
Despite a far-reaching investigation, Flannery’s assailant or assailants, the details of the shooting, and its cause remained undetermined this noon. Every available county and city detective was engaged in the probe as Camden gangland’s victim hovered between life and death in the hospital.
Realizing doctors had given him but a few hours to live, Flannery continued to maintain his silence concerning how he was shot, and which he had adopted when he was carried into the hospital on a stretcher.
“My lips are sealed and if I don’t live to get the fellows who did this my gang will get them,” he told physicians when placed on the operating table at 4:30 a. m.
At 9 o’clock this morning, the doctors had given up hope for his recovery, but Flannery still was alive at 2.30 this afternoon.
South Camden virtually buzzed with rumors to the effect that Flannery’s fate was the result of a war in the bootleg ring; that it was the aftermath of a feud over slot machines; that it was a case of “women,” and that it could be linked up with the shooting in January of Joseph Cimini, by Joseph Devon, known as “Polack Joe.”
At Loss for Motive
Police were at a loss to name the motive. Acting Assistant Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando, in charge of the investigation, said the probe had not reached the point where anyone person could be accused of shooting Flannery, or where the gun fire could be traced to anything but a “gang feud.”
“Mose” Flannery had been shot. He probably would die. That much was known. The rumors naturally followed for Flannery was well-known, not only in the close-mouthed circle in which he moved, but throughout the city as well.
“Mose” Flannery is one of the most picturesque figures in Camden’s political “gangland.” For several years he has been a slot machine distributor in Camden and Philadelphia.
When “Polack Joe” Devon shot and killed Joseph Cimini, Philadelphia gambler in the Sixth Ward Republican Club early in the morning of January 14, last, Flannery was arrested as a material witness. It was disclosed by police that Flannery and Cimini had gone into the club together a few minutes before Devon’s gun pumped death into Cimini’s body after the Philadelphian had quarrelled with Devon.
Flannery was considered the most important of the material witnesses connected with the Cimini murder. Sage, arrested on suspicion this morning in connection with the felling of Flannery, was another “important” witness in the Sixth Ward Club shooting affair.
James Bonner, who was mysteriously shot several months ago, was questioned today by detectives but was not held. Walter Selby, a taxicab driver, also was taken before Chief of Detectives Golden and County Detective Chief Doran, but he too was released after being closeted with the officials for more than an hour.
Sage Ordered Held
After questioning Sage, Acting Assistant Prosecutor Orlando ordered that the man be held.
In the meantime, Flannery lay on a hospital cot, propped up on his side, his pain deadened by opiates. He mumbled incoherently to members of his family grouped about him. At times he lapsed into a state of unconsciousness.
The doomed political worker early today had asked for a priest. Rev. Father John J. Henry went to the hospital. “Joe,” he said, “you’re dying. You’d better give police a statement.”
Flannery was said by doctors to have replied he would tell nothing, that if he lived, “he’d settle,” and that if he died, “my gang will take care of that.”
After a session in which more than a dozen men were questioned, Captain Golden and Detective Chief Doran shortly before noon went to the scene of the shooting. They found evidence that a scuffle in the saloon at Front and Kaighn avenue had preceded the shooting.
Tables had been overturned. Glasses had been broken. Forty cents in change was found on a table beside a picture of a small baby. There was an empty glass on one table, another glass half-filled with beer on the bar.
Bullets Meant for Novak?
It was reported that police had been informed by one of those they questioned that the bullets which ripped their way through Flannery’s body had been meant for Walter Novak who they said had been standing at “Mose’s” side at the time of the shooting. The police officials refused to confirm that rumor. Novak had told them, Capt. Golden said, he was not with Flannery at the time. Later Novak admitted to being on the corner near the saloon, police said.
Police recalled that Novak was arrested several months ago in the alleged theft of a slot machine from the store of Louis Schectman, in Broadway near Line street. Novak was apprehended after a wild chase through South Camden streets.
Schectman at first told police Novak was one of two men who entered his store, and at the point of a gun, robbed him of a nickel slot machine. Testifying in a hearing in police court several days later, Schectman said he hadn’t kept a slot machine in his store, and that two men unknown to him stole a box of cigars and escaped in an automobile.
As far as could be learned by an Evening Courier representative, the case against Novak never was settled.
The bullets were fired from a “pump” gun and were of .32 calibre. According to Detective Thomas Cheeseman, they could have been fired only from a gun of the type common to gangsters who “shoot to kill.” Cheeseman said a “pump” gun was designed to hold nine shells or “wads,” as they are commonly known. The leaden bullet is surrounded by a coating of asbestos, which breaks from the lead upon the firing of the gun and allows the lead to enter its target.
Police were following every clue which developed, no matter how scanty. Detectives combed the Front street and Kaighn avenue neighborhood, it was learned, in an effort to discover the haunts of the gang known by police to center in that part of the city.
Chief of Police Lewis W. Stehr was asked if police would act against the owners of the habitats of the “Front and Kaighn avenue” gang or if a routine investigation into the shooting of Flannery would be conducted. Chief Stehr said the usual investigation was being made and would continue.
While members of the political worker’s family talked with Flannery, and while investigation of the shooting by county detectives and police was under way, doctors said the man who lives at 346 Jackson street, couldn’t “live out the day.”
Flannery had a bullet wound two inches in diameter in his back. Another bullet had pierced his abdomen, and he had been shot in both elbows, physicians said. Doctors said the bullets were two inches long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter.
It was shortly after 4 a. m. when Charles Foulk, of 219 Point street, driver of The Courier-Post delivery truck, was hailed by a group of men standing on a corner at Front street and Kaighn avenue.
“Have you got time to take a man to the hospital?” one of the group asked Foulk, according to the story he told Captain John Golden, chief of city detectives.
Flannery was lifted into the rear of the truck, two men jumped on the running board and the run for West Jersey Hospital began.
Walter Wartman, of 315 North Second street, another Courier-Post employe, who had assisted in the delivery of Morning Posts at the Reading Ferries, was with Foulk.
Foulk said one of the men jumped from the truck when it reached Mt. Ephraim and Atlantic avenues. The other went into the hospital, whispered a few words to Flannery, and then raced out the main entrance.
Mose’s Companion Escapes
Mrs. Edward McGrath, supervisor of nurses, called Policeman Frank Malec who for several days has been guarding a man known as “Two-Gun” Kelly, and Malec gave chase to the unknown companion of Flannery. Malec saw the man disappear on Mt. Ephraim avenue, but couldn’t find him in a search of the neighborhood.
In the meantime, City Detective William Boettcher, who had been working the morning shift, had notified Assistant Prosecutor Samuel P. Orlando; Lawrence T. Doran, chief of Camden county detectives; Capt. Golden, and had called City Detectives George Ward, Louis Shaw, Thomas Cheesman [sic] and Howard Pike to investigate the shooting.
Boettcher said Flannery refused to “talk.” “You are a policeman and I’m no friend of the police. I’ll never tell,” Flannery told the officer, Boettcher declared.
Later Flannery told physicians, “I have learned my lesson and hope this will be an example to other young men.”
Witness in Cimini Shooting
Flannery was held as a material witness in the fatal shooting of Joseph Cimini, 31, in the Sixth Ward Republican Club, early in the morning of January 14.—Joseph Devon, known as “Polack Joe” fired the shot that killed Cimini. Devon was arrested but the case never came to trial.
Devon now is at liberty on bail and is under indictment for manslaughter in connection with Cimini’s death. Flannery also was released under bail.
While police continued their investigation, Flannery, still determined to refuse information to detectives and doctors, was surrounded by his wife, his 4-year-old son, his mother and father, and his 19-year-old brother James. Calling “Jim” to his side, Flannery, according to physicians, said, “I want you to promise me you’ll never get mixed up in these gang wars.” “Jim” promised, Detective Boettcher said.
Novak Under Suspicion
In their search for the “mysterious” companion of Flannery on the ride to the hospital, police pointed a suspicioning finger at Walter Novak who they had held “on suspicion.”
According to information given them by Foulk, the truck driver, Flannery, during the ride from Front and Kaighn avenue to the hospital, whispered, “Where are you taking me, Walt?” He was told the hospital was the truck’s destination, Foulk told police.
Detectives said Novak might have been the “Walt” to whom Flannery spoke. Novak said he was 22, was a “salesman” and lived at 442 Jackson street.
Taken by Strategy
Scarduzio’s arrest resulted from a piece of strategy on the part of Chief of County Detectives Doran. Doran with several members of his staff and city detectives were in the bar-room of the saloon at 101 Kaighn avenue when the telephone rang before noon.
Doran picked up the receiver and the party on the other end asked if Joseph Moll, son of former Policeman Frank Moll, was there.
Figuring that the persons might be some one who could help the authorities unravel the mystery, Doran answered:
“Yes, this is Joe Moll.”
“Well, I want to see you right away,” continued the other party.
“Will you come right down to 674 Fairview street. I want to see you,” finished the unidentified speaker who then hung up.
Doran with Captain of Detectives Golden hurried down to the address given and there found Scarduzio in the home of Garfield Del Duca.
Scarduzio, it is said, was more surprised to see the authorities than they were to find him as Chief Doran had been searching for “Cuzzie” for several hours.
He said he had nothing to do with the shooting of Flannery. Limping when the detectives escorted him from the house, Scarduzio was first taken to West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital to discover whether or not he was suffering from any bullet wounds in the legs.
Scarduzio Not Shot
Doctors later said Scarduzio had not been shot and the man who had been surprised at the Del Duca home was taken to police headquarters.
He “knew nothing about the shooting,” Scarduzio told Captain Golden and County Detective Chief Doran. There were stains, possibly bloodstains, on Scarduzio’s trousers, the police said. “Cuzzy,” as he is known in police circles, wore a clean white shirt, and that fact sent detectives from headquarters on another tangent in their investigation.
Scarduzio was asked where he had left a “bloody shirt” he was reported to have been wearing early today. According to police, he denied his shirt was bloody, and refused to give them any information.
City Detectives David Hunt, Samuel Johnson, and Walter Smith were dispatched on the “side” investigation.
Detective Thomas Cheesman [sic], of the city hall staff, also holds two warrants for the arrest of Scarduzio in connection with the holdup of a saloon in Gloucester several weeks ago and the theft of an automobile.
Moll was arrested while sleeping in a room over the saloon near Front and Kaighn avenue. He was arrested by Chief Doran, Captain Golden and Detective Ray Sapanore. Moll has been in police toils several times recently, the last time in connection with the mysterious shooting of Bonner near the spot where Flannery fell.
Woman Describes Auto
The movements of an automobile bearing Pennsylvania license and containing several men whom she said ran out of the saloon near Front and Kaighn avenue an hour after Flannery was shot, were described to police officials late this morning by Mrs. Mary Brown, who lives near the saloon.
She was questioned at detective headquarters after she had reported seeing the car drive onto the Spruce street pier, four men alight and board a motorboat which set off across the Delaware river in the direction of Philadelphia.
According to Mrs. Brown, the driver of the “mysterious” automobile turned the car about and raced north on Front street.
A city-wide man-hunt had been made for Joseph “Cuzzie” Scarduzio, detectives said after the “surprise arrest” on Fairview street. Police had heard rumors Scarduzio, known by them to be a “pal” of Flannery, had been standing by “Mose” when he was “given the works” by the yet unknown gunman or gunmen. They had heard, detectives announced, that Scarduzio, coatless and hatless, had been seen leaving the scene of the shooting, his clothes spattered with blood from the wounds of his friend.
Camden detectives said they doubted if Philadelphia gangsters were responsible, believing, they announced, that the shooting was local to the Camden gang center they knew existed.
City Detective Walter Smith shortly after noon brought a South Camden bartender into police headquarters for questioning.
The man said he was Frank Smith, and tended bar in a saloon in the 1800 block on Broadway, near Ferry avenue, and said he had overheard three men telephone for a taxicab to take them to Front street and Kaighn avenue. Smith placed the time after midnight, according to police, and detectives doubted if the three men were connected with the Flannery “case.” Smith was not held by police.
18 Persons Are Nabbed, 3 Released by Police
Camden Evening Courier —
Detective Suspended for Beating up Two Witnesses Awaiting Questioning
18 PERSONS ARE NABBED, 3 RELEASED BY POLICE
Cops Cruising in Bandit Chaser Nab Trio Near Scene of Crime
Joseph “Mose” Flannery was shot down and mortally wounded because he challenged another racketeer’s claim to the love of a woman.
Of that police were certain today as they resumed the investigation of the murder of the Eighth ward political worker who died in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital at 6:08 p.m. yesterday.
A startling development, a “tangent” in the probe of the shooting at Front street and Kaighn avenue, came today when a Camden city detective was indefinitely suspended on charges of assaulting two men who were awaiting questioning at detective headquarters.
City Detective John Kowalski, known as “Happy Kowal,” was ordered dropped from the police payroll this morning by Chief of Police Lewis W. Stehr. He is charged with beating up Joseph Moll, 25, son of former Policeman Frank Moll, and James Bonner, of 907 North Front street.
At the same time that the Kowalski suspension order was revealed, County Detective Chief Lawrence T. Doran and Capt. John W. Golden, chief of city detectives, announced that of 18 persons arrested yesterday and today, 13 were being held in police headquarters, two had been released under bail, and three had been cleared of any connection in the Flannery murder.
Funeral services for “Mose” Flannery will be held at 8:00 a. m. Saturday at the undertaking parlors of Frank L. Leonard, 1451 Broadway, and will be followed by requiem mass in Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Broadway and Ferry avenue at 9:30. Rev. Fathers Kelly, Henry and McCorriston will officiate. The body may be viewed in the Leonard parlors Friday evening.
Two of those in cells today are women, and detectives declare the two “know more than they have told of the background of the slaying of “Mose” Flannery.” Of those released after questioning, two were women.
Woman Tells of Fight
The four women were arrested through a strategic move by city detectives made yesterday in a house at 103 Kaighn avenue, which had been raided a month ago. The proprietor had been arrested and fined [illegible] for maintaining a disorderly house. Seven alleged inmates of the place also had been arrested, but released on their promise to leave the city.
Detectives said that the two women detained today were believed to have been in the Kaighn avenue house at the time bullets rained out of an automobile at Front street and Kaighn avenue and found their mark—“Mose” Flannery.
The women are Rita Leslie, 21, of 3816 North Tenth street, and Joyce Harris, 23, of 1011 North Twelfth street, both of Philadelphia.
It was a story of a fight in a house at Sixth and Van Hook streets told by the Leslie girl early today that led the investigators to believe that Flannery’s fatal slaying was the result of an argument “over a woman.”
Detectives were investigating the story of the Lewis [sic] girl when Detective Kowalski made the alleged attack on Moll and Bonner.
It was shortly after 12:30 a. m. today when County Detective Chief Doran and Captain Golden were questioning “witnesses” in Golden’s private office. Moll and Bonner were awaiting their “turn,” and were seated in the main room at the detective bureau. Detectives were at their desks. Among them was Detective Wesley McGrath.
Detective Hits Prisoners
The door from the corridor was flung open and Detective Kowalski entered.
What followed was recounted today by Chief of Police Stehr, whose account of the alleged assault he said was based on details given him by witnesses.
According to Chief Stehr, Kowalski, without warning, approached Moll and with clenched fist, struck him full in the face, kicked his shins, and then turned on Bonner, on whom he repeated the performance. McGrath tried to stop his fellow detective, but Kowalski brushed him aside and struck Moll again in the mouth, the blow cutting Moll’s lip. Kowalski, according to eye-witnesses, then repeated his attack on Bonner.
(Continued on Page Ten)
Three Arrested in Flannery Death
(Continued From Page One)
William D. McDonald, a court stenographer, who had been sitting at a desk, smoking, rushed into Golden’s private office. Doran and Golden hurried into the main room and seized Kowalski. Others who entered the room at the time of the attack were James Hollis, chauffeur for Captain Golden, and several men called into the investigation.
The suspension order was given to Captain Golden by Chief Stehr this morning but had not reached Kowalski, who was scheduled to report for work at 4 p. m. today. He has the right to ask for a trial before the police board.
Stehr said he had received no official statement but had been informed by Captain Golden that Kowalski “might have had a few drinks.” Stehr said he would investigate the reports that Kowalski was intoxicated.
Kowalski had been an efficient detective, Chief Stehr said. The suspended officer joined the city police force in 1919, and has been a detective for a year and a half.
Many Suspects Grilled
Suspected of being Philadelphia gunmen, two men who gave their names as Samuel Katz, 29, of 208 North Franklin street, and James Wallace, 26, of 670 North Eleventh street, both of Philadelphia, were arrested today and held as “material witnesses.”
Questioned last night after they were taken to city hall from the house at 103 Kaighn avenue, Naomi Carey, 19, of 5325 Callowhill street, and Jean Kenny of the Bell Ridge apartments, Fifteenth and Spruce streets, both of Philadelphia, were released shortly after midnight.
William Bonner, 27, brother of James Bonner, arrested “on suspicion” at 9 p.m. yesterday by Policemen Arthur and Bunker, was released in $500 bail as was Patrick Driscoll, 25, of 1225 South Third street.
Theodore Baker, 22, of 222 West Merchant street, Audubon, arrested yesterday and suspected of being the driver of a taxicab which carried the Flannery slayers, was released today after detectives marked “no complaint” against his name on the police blotter.
In addition to those arrested yesterday, Henry Matorisch, 26, of 232 Graisbury avenue, Audubon, and John H. Kenny, 33, of the Bell Ridge apartments, Philadelphia, were detained by police as material witnesses.
Matorisch was arrested at 2:35 a. m. today by Sergt. John Skolski. Kenny was “picked up” yesterday by policemen at Front street and Kaighn avenue.
Seven others were in cells, including some of those who asked a truck driver to take the mortally wounded Flannery to the hospital early yesterday.
They were: James L. Hawkins, 37, declared by the police to be the owner of the saloon at 101 Kaighn avenue; Walter Novak, 22, of 442 Jackson street; Russell Sage, 25, of 407 Mechanic street; Joseph Novak, 34, of 508 Jackson street; Eugene Murphy, 51, of 101 Kaighn avenue; Joseph “Cuzzy” Scarduzio, 30, of 419 Winslow street, and Joseph Moll, 25, of 101 Kaighn avenue.
Twice yesterday detectives impersonated racketeers in answering telephone calls in the Front street and Kaighn avenue neighborhood. On one occasion, County Detective Chief Doran answered a call which told him of the whereabouts of “Cuzzy” Scarduzio and which led to Scarduzio’s arrest.
Police “Trap” Women
Arrest of the four girls in the house at 103 Kaighn avenue resulted from similar strategy of other investigators, City Detective Thomas Cheeseman revealed today.
The telephone at 103 Kaighn avenue rang yesterday afternoon while detectives were searching the house which was then vacant. One of the officers answered. The voice on the other end of the line asked for “Joe.” Detectives said Joseph Moll was the “Joe” sought.
“This is Joe,” answered one of the detectives.
“Is it all right for us girls to come over from Philadelphia tonight?” a woman inquired.
The impersonator of “Joe” assured the inquirer “it would be O.K.”
The four women arrived at the Kaighn avenue address shortly after [text missing between crops] which had its climax with the arrest of “Cuzzy,” surprised in the home of Garfield DelDuca, 674 Fairview street, by Doran and Golden.
After Rita Leslie had informed police of a party which ended in a fight in the saloon at 101 Kaighn avenue last Monday night detectives left headquarters shortly before midnight, their mission not revealed, but said to be a search for a man who police said ran a “shady” business near the spot where Flannery was “given the works.”
Says They’re Lying
“I don’t see why the other girls are lying,” Rita was said to have told her questioners. “We had nothing to do with the shooting. I’m just telling you about what happened before. I don’t know anything about how Flannery was shot and I don’t think the other girls do, either.”
Details of the “fight” in the saloon were not revealed by police, but they said they were convinced that an argument “over a woman,” in which Flannery took a prominent part, had a bearing on the case and would be “run down” to the limit.
That there was a “woman in it” police were certain. Tall, strong-featured blonde, Flannery looked more the part of a “model for a collar ad” than he did the underworld “worker” police declared him to be.
“Mose” was a “sheik” to young women in his “set,” police said, as they investigated the report that Flannery struck a woman in a house at Sixth and Van Hook streets last week, and that the woman’s “man” had sought revenge and had been successful.
It was that information which led to the arrest of the four Philadelphia women last night.
‘Cuzzy’ Held as Suspect
“Cuzzy” Scarduzio was questioned more rigidly than any of the others, and shortly before last midnight detectives took a step which they refused to explain, but which was seen as significant.
While they held the other men as material witnesses, they deferred slating Scarduzio in the police docket until the last minute. And when they did, they slated him “on suspicion,” and marked it as an arrest by Lawrence T. Doran, chief of county detectives.
The dead political worker was a son of James and Mary Flannery, who now live at 1123 Princess avenue. Flannery in 1924 married Anna M. Bogga, from whom he had separated after a stormy married life during which Flannery several times was arrested on his wife’s complaint.
“Mose” Flannery was raised in Camden, and in the Eighth Ward. His avocation was politics, and even before he was of age he was a power in the turbulent Eighth Ward. Later his underworld activities led him mostly to South Philadelphia, but always, at election time, he came back to work in the Eighth.
Went to Camden High
He went to the local schools and was widely known. He was a year or two in Camden High School, and would have graduated with the class of 1923. It was often said that he wasn’t even 26, but nearer 24. There were stories that he said he was older so he could vote before he was of age.
His rise in gangdom was meteoric, as it was in politics. His fellow gangsters were wont to say “Mose has got brains.” Judges before whom he appeared at first told him he was making a mistake—that he had a good future before him if he followed the right trail.
He spoke well and dressed well. He looked like an earnest, enthusiastic young professional man.
An order to close the Kaighn avenue saloon and revoke the license of James L. Hawkins, its proprietor, was issued by David S. Rhone, city director of public safety.
Commissioner Rhone instructed Chief of Police Lewis W. Stehr to “close up the saloon at once.” The orders were carried out immediately and two policemen placed on guard at the spot where Flannery crumpled up under gun fire.
Rhone Refuses Statement
Commissioner Rhone absolutely refused to make any statement in connection with the case, nor would he discuss his order to Chief Stehr to close the saloon.
“You’ll get no statement from me,” Rhone told a newspaper man. “I don’t care to be quoted in the newspapers. I’ve given my orders to Chief Stehr. If you want to know about them, talk to him.”
“As head of the department—the
Girl Narrowly Escapes Death in Volley Fired From Motor in Camden
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Bullets Aimed at Man in Machine Miss Child, 8, at Play; Cars Carry Penna. License Tags
An eight-year-old girl, at play at Eighth and Chestnut streets, Camden, shortly before 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon, narrowly missed being struck by bullets fired from the guns of two men who are believed to have tried to put a third man in another automobile “on the spot.” The intended victim drove his car away rapidly, while the other car, containing the two believed gunmen, disappeared in the opposite direction.
The girl who narrowly escaped injury is Regina Boskowski, of 824 Chestnut street. Two bullets struck the front of a brownstone house in front of which she was standing and took nicks out of the stone an inch from her body. Both cars bore Pennsylvania license tags, witnesses told police.
Earlier in the day, at Third and Pine streets, in Camden, a car containing six men drove past another machine in which a man, believed to have been William J. Bonner, notorious police character, was seated. The men in the first car fired dozens of shots into the other machine and then sped away. The man said to have been Bonner appeared to have escaped the gunfire. He drove away rapidly. Police were looking for him in vain yesterday.
Jersey Gangster Names Slayers Before He Dies
Bridgewater Courier-News —
Camden—(U.P.)—Gangsters were successful in their second attempt to kill Edward A. Kenney, 31.
But before Kenney died in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital yesterday, it was reported he violated the underworld code and named his slayers.
Kenney was shot as he sat in his parked car yesterday morning, a .45 calibre slug striking his knee and glancing upward into his abdomen.
Detective-Lieut. Louis Shaw said the police knew Kenney as a small-time trafficker in women and a racketeer preying on disorderly houses. He was shot at on June 12, last, but the lone gunman missed that time.
William Pernier and William Bonner, who were picked up shortly after the shooting and held on suspicion, and George Leventhal, held as a material witness, were taken to the hospital to confront Kenney, but when they arrived, Kenney was dead.
According to the police, the windows of Bonner’s car are missing and there is a bullet hole in the rear mudguard. Police said he told them the hole was made during the summer when shots were fired at him and Pernier. Patrolman William Hall fired six shots at the car from which Kenney was wounded. Chief Lawrence T. Doran of county detectives, said “Kenney told us we had the right men.”
Gunmen Slay Racketeer on Camden Street
Philadelphia Inquirer —
William Bonner, Trapped in Crossfire From Machine Guns in 2 Autos, Riddled With Bullets
Attempts to Flee Into Home From Withering Blast; Twice Escaped Unhurt From Attempts on Life
After two previous unsuccessful attempts to put him on the spot, two automobiles, each carrying four or five men, last night cornered William Bonner, 32, reputed Camden small-time racketeer, caught him between the cross-fire from what are believed to have been sub-machine guns and literally tore his head off his body with shots.
Bonner ran after one warning shot had been fired as he tried to put his automobile in a garage at Front and Erie streets, Camden, a hundred feet from his home. That was, apparently, what his slayers wanted him to do, for he ran between the two automobiles and was raked with fire.
Riddled With Shot
At Cooper Hospital, Camden, it was said that there were ten bullet wounds in his head and nearly a score in his body from the hips to the ankles. The slugs, police reported, appeared to be of .45-calibre.
His wife was at home with their four small children at the time of the shooting and heard the fusillade which killed her husband.
From a bus driver who witnessed the slaying police got the only eye-witness report of the tragedy. Bonner had come from a nearby speakeasy, it was learned later, and drove his car up to the small garage in view of the bus driver.
Two automobiles, each bearing Pennsylvania tags, apparently had followed him. He had stepped out of his car—it is believed—when one shot was fired. He turned to run, but one car had gone ahead of the other and he was caught between the two from which gunfire came in a veritable stream.
The brick walls and wooden doors of the garage showed marks of at least fifty slugs, police said. The entire neighborhood was thrown into a state of terror, and scores of persons rushed to the street.
Once Arrested in Phila.
The man police said, once had been arrested by Philadelphia police on a dope charge. He also had been arrested several times in Camden on charges of operating disorderly houses and fined on occasion, but he had no criminal record.
The first attempt on his life was made last August 9 in a cafe at Third and Cherry streets. While he sat at a table with Harry Hawkins, a gunman entered and fired three shots, one of which killed Hawkins. The second attempt came about two months ago when he escaped unhurt after a gunman had fired several shots into a motorcar in which he sat at Third and Spruce streets, Camden.
Three Held in Slaying
Bridgewater Courier-News —
Camden—Three men were arrested for questioning yesterday in connection with the slaying of William Bonner, an alleged beer runner and owner of disorderly houses, who was shot near his home here Sunday night. William Pernier, a close friend of Bonner, was released in $500 bail as a witness. He was shot four years ago in Philadelphia while riding in a taxicab. The others held are James Rodgers, a former boxer, and Thomas Donavan, who lives with him. Rodgers arrested at the scene of the shooting said he did not witness the slaying, but ran to the place when he heard shots.
At Final Rites for Slain Racketeer
Camden Courier-Post —
—Courier-Post Photo
Part of the 400 persons who crowded into the house and lined the sidewalks and street near it are shown in the above photo, taken this morning after funeral services were held for William “Shooey” Bonner, who was killed by gangsters’ bullets Sunday night. Services were held in Bonner’s home, 916 North Front street. Photo shows casket being placed in hearse which bore the remains to New Camden Cemetery.
Funeral Is Held for Bonner At Home as Cops Stand Guard
Camden Courier-Post —
Slain Racketeer Buried in New Camden Cemetery After Brief Service—No Mass Said at Church
William “Shooey” Bonner, murdered North Camden racketeer, was buried today after simple funeral rites were held at his home, 916 North Front street.
While about 400 morbidly curious persons crowded in front of the small dwelling, Carroll P. Stanton, funeral director, read services over the bier at 11 a. m. Bonner’s widow and five children, and about 50 friends and relatives of the family, attended the services. Interment was in New Camden Cemetery.
An hour before the services, a Courier-Post reporter and a photographer were informed that Bonner’s friends did not want any photos taken of the funeral. They issued a warning that if pictures were taken, they would break the camera and beat the two newspapermen. The police were asked to prevent the taking of a picture.
Although four detectives and five patrolmen had been stationed at and near the house this morning, Sergeant Walter Rowand, of the First Police District, asked headquarters for more men. Five motorcycle cops under Sergeant James Wilson arrived in response to the call. A Pennsylvania car repeatedly circled the block in which the Bonner home is situated, and once parked directly in front of the newspapermen’s car. However, the pictures were taken without event.
Cops Escort Cortege
Two motorcycle policemen led the funeral cortege to the cemetery at 11.15 a. m. Another motorcycle cop and a bandit-chaser brought up the van. Mrs. Bonner was pale but composed as the cortege left the house, but she broke down and cried at the grave.
Rev. Father Thomas J. Whelan, rector of the Holy Name Roman Catholic Church, Fifth and Vine streets, today emphatically stated that no mass was said for Bonner in his church. Father Whelan said no arrangements ever had been made for any mass. In today’s Morning Post it was stated that mass was to be said in Holy Name church, while the burial was taking place. This was printed on information given a Post reporter by a woman at the door of the Bonner home last night. The Courier hereby makes the correction in fairness to Father Whelan and the Holy Name church.
2000 Visit Home
More than 2000 persons visited the Bonner home last night to pay last respects to the slain racketeer and to offer their condolences to his family. At midnight the last of the crowd departed.
Two patrolmen, however, remained on guard at the front of the house, in the faint hope that some person wanted by police in connection with “Shooey’s” death might seek to enter.
But known figures of the underworld were scarce at the Bonner home last night. Aside from a few neighbors and relatives the greater portion of the crowd had never seen in life the man that was Bonner.
Thoroughness Shown
Mute evidence of the thoroughness of the killers who murdered “Shooey” near his home, late Sunday, could be seen as the body lay in its flower-banked casket. Bonner’s closest personal friends expressed the thought that “they would never have known it was ‘Shooey’ lying there” if they hadn’t known what had happened.
Efforts of undertakers to cover the scars of more than 20 machine-gun slugs were successful, but in “making over” the face they left not the slightest resemblance of Bonner’s real countenance.
Those who called to pay respects—or to satisfy curiosity—were greeted at the foot of the bier by James “Jimmy” Rodgers, former pugilist, and William Pernier, both of whom are under bail as material witnesses in the slaying. The two kept the long line constantly moving. They were among the pallbearers today.
‘Sin Sermon’ Opposite
As a strange coincidence of the sombre scene at the Bonner home, special services were held in Gospel Hall, directly across the street, where Herbert Genz, a missionary worker, had as his text the sixth chapter, twenty-third verse, the book of Romans: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”
A large electrified sign bearing that scripture was displayed on the front of the hall.
Acting Sergeant of Detectives John Opfer and Sergeant Albert York were in charge of the police details at the home last night.
Photos
Grave of William “Shooey” Bonner, New Camden Cemetery
3 Get Prison Terms in Attack on Pair
Camden Courier-Post —
‘Shooey’ Bonner Gangsters Sentenced in North Camden Beating
Three men described by the police as members of the late “Shooey” Bonner’s gang were given state prison sentences yesterday on charges of beating and robbing a North Camden couple.
The prisoners are Albert E. Morton, 32, of 129 North Eleventh street, Philadelphia, who received two years; Frank Bunker, 22, of 1440 Haddon avenue, sentenced to two years, and Harry Metzler, 23, of 1138 South Fourth street, sentenced to 18 months.
Sentence was pronounced by Judge Austin H. Swackhammer in Camden Criminal Court, where the three were convicted by a jury last Friday. Morton and Bunker were indicted jointly for assault and battery and given one-year terms on that count. All three were named in a second indictment citing larceny. Morton and Bunker were given another year each on that bill, while Metzler received 18 months on the larceny charge.
They were identified as three of five men who on Dec. 3 invaded the apartment of James and Edith Cranston, 312 North Third street, presumably in search of several girl acquaintances. An argument ensued and police were called. The five were chased away by police, but returned an hour later, demanding to know who had called the police. Another altercation started and Cranston was badly beaten. When she went to her husband’s rescue, Mrs. Cranston was punched. Her handbag containing $26 was stolen, but later recovered by police.
The other two intruders, Charles Hurtz, 20, and Ralph Murphy, 33, of the Haddon avenue address, were also arrested. Hurtz jumped bail and did not appear for trial. Murphy is serving a seven-year term in state’s prison for a Mt. Holly robbery.
Pernier Convicted in Gun Case, Faces Three to Seven Years in J[?]
Camden Courier-Post —
![Pernier Convicted in Gun Case, Faces Three to Seven Years in J[?] - Camden Courier-Post, January 25, 1933](https://assets.dvrbs.camdenhistory.com/people/prom-2019/williampernier-012533-1a.jpg?w=960&fmt=auto)
![Pernier Convicted in Gun Case, Faces Three to Seven Years in J[?] - Camden Courier-Post, January 25, 1933](https://assets.dvrbs.camdenhistory.com/people/prom-2019/williampernier-012533-2a.jpg?w=960&fmt=auto)
![Pernier Convicted in Gun Case, Faces Three to Seven Years in J[?] - Camden Courier-Post, January 25, 1933](https://assets.dvrbs.camdenhistory.com/people/prom-2019/williampernier-012533-3b.jpg?w=960&fmt=auto)
ONLY 12 MINUTES REQUIRED BY JURY TO REACH VERDICT
Three Cops Tell of Warm Weapon in His Hand in Fight With Enemies
PAL OF SLAIN BONNER
A jury of 12 men after deliberating 12 minutes yesterday convicted William Pernier of carrying a revolver.
The trial of the former pal of William “Shooey” Bonner, slain gangster, was one of the shortest in the history of Camden County Criminal Court. The trial consumed but 2[?] minutes from the time the jurors were sworn until they were sent out for their deliberation.
Pernier, who is 32, and who gave an address of 293 Liberty street, through his attorney Julius Sklar, offered a defense which Assistant Prosecutor Rocco Palese termed a “smoke screen.”
After three policemen testified that they found Pernier with a revolver in his hand on the night of Oct. 30, after he had allegedly fired on thugs who shot him at Locust street and Kaighn avenue, Pernier said the weapon was not his.
“I was walking along Kaighn avenue with my wife, Mary, and three men friends,” he said, “when as we reached Locust street, this car pulled along the curb and the occupants fired at me. I was shot in both legs and after shooting me they threw the revolver at me. I picked it up and tried to shoot at them with it, but it would not go off. I never owned a gun.”
Policemen William Whaland, Joseph Lack and Joseph Leonhardt, however, testified that the gun with four empty shells and one cartridge in it, was still warm when they took it from Pernier’s hand.
After the jury announced that they had found Pernier guilty, Palese stated that he would ask for sentence this morning. Judge Samuel M. Shay remanded Pernier to jail without bail pending sentence. He faces a sentence of from three to seven years in prison.
Convicted Gun-Toter
Camden Courier-Post —
WILLIAM PERNIER
The former pal of the murdered gangster, William “Shooey” Bonner, was convicted of gun-toting in 12 minutes yesterday by a jury in Camden County Criminal Court.
2 Year Sentence Is Given Pernier
Camden Courier-Post —
Pal of Shooey Bonner Jailed on Gun-Carrying Charge
Despite his plea that he was still suffering from a gunshot wound received October 30, William Pernier, 32, of 293 Liberty street, was sentenced to serve from two to three years in the state prison for carrying deadly weapons. Pernier’s wife, Edith, screamed and was led from the courtroom when the sentence was pronounced by Judge Samuel M. Shay.
Pernier, former pal of the slain William “Shooey” Bonner, was arrested by three policemen who found him lying wounded and holding a revolver which they said was “still hot” at Locust Street and Kaighn Avenue.
When tried in Criminal Court, Pernier’s defense was that he had been wounded by gunmen and that he had picked up the revolver dropped by one of his assailants. A jury deliberated only 12 minutes before returning a verdict of guilty after a short trial on January 24. Request for postponement of sentence was made at that time by Julius Sklar, Pernier’s attorney.
Judge Shay remanded Pernier to jail to await sentence after setting yesterday as the date when he should learn his fate.
Rodgers, Ex-Boxer Nabbed Again in Raid
Camden Courier-Post —
Whisky and 65 Bottles Also Seized by Cops in Segal Street Speakeasy
Modest Moonshinery Found in ‘Empty’ House
James “Jimmy” Rodgers, 28, former boxer, fell into the hands of police again last night when they raided a speakeasy at 1000 Segal Street, allegedly operated by him.
One gallon of whisky and 65 pint bottles were confiscated by the raiders, who were led by District Detectives Walter Smith, Marshall Thompson and Harry Kyler.
Three others were arrested. One of them, James Greer, 35, of 332 North Second street, placed a charge of possession of stolen goods against Rodgers when police unearthed some articles stolen from Greer two months ago.
Others arrested were Thomas Spencer, 33, of the Segal Street address, and John D. Wood, 35, of 928 Kimber Street.
Rodgers has fallen afoul of the law on numerous occasions. He has been arrested several times for operating speakeasies. He was also arrested as a material witness in the “Shooey” Bonner murder two years ago.
He will be given a police court hearing today.
Detectives raided a vacant dwelling at 225 Chestnut Street last night and seized a “moonshine” plant consisting of two stills, 36 barrels of mash and oil and gas stove cookers.
The place had been under observation by Detective Vernon Jones for two weeks.
No one was inside when Jones and Patrolmen George Hemphill and John Houston entered. A 50 gallon still was on the second floor and a 35 gallon still on the first floor.