Murder, Death & Re-Death

My Dear Fellow,

Today I have a tale of the MACABRE to tell you, courtesy of "The Secret History of Hollywood". The current episode is about gangster movies. Are you seated comfortably?

People assume that the Edward G. Robinson film, "Little Caesar" is based on the career of Al Capone, but they are mistaken. It is based on the career of Sam Cardinelli aka "Il Diavolo" and his erstwhile lieutenant Viana aka "The Choirboy". Viana was so named because of his Catholic upbringing and his time on the choir, and he did indeed have a heavenly singing voice.

This didn't also stop him being a violent thug however. As part of Cardinelli's "Black Hand" gang, he ran a protection racket which terrorised Chicago during the early 20th century. It was eventually brought to an end when Viana was arrested and persuaded to give evidence against Cardinelli in return for protection of his family.

The two men were convicted and sentenced to death. Kept in the same prison, the story went that every night Viana would sing heavenly arias that had the whole prison entranced, except Il Diavolo himself,who would sit in his cell muttering, "Viana...Viana..." 

They thought he was going bonkers. Little did they know he was planning a sinister revenge.

So anyway, Viana went to the hangman first. He sang on his way to the gallows before wishing the warders "Good luck" and facing the noose. As he left, he got an ovation from the warders and prisoners alike. All except for Cardinelli, who continued to mutter, "Viana" under his breath.

Viana's body was collected in a private ambulance supplied by the Black Hand Gang. Some months later, it was Cardinelli's turn. In those weeks his behaviour had become even more erratic. He refused to eat and when the warders came to get him on his last day he became hysterical, screaming and clinging to a chair in his cell. The warders beat his fists with their truncheons and tried to prise his hands away, but he seemed possessed by a supernatural strength.

Eventually the warder growled, "If you love that chair so much, we'll HANG you in it." Rope was brought, he was lashed to the chair and they strung him up, chair and all.

As before, the private ambulance came to collect his body. But this time the warders were surprised to see two nurses and a doctor inside. The warders spoke to the governor about it.

"Don't let that ambulance out of the yard, I need to see this," said the governor. The warders held the ambulance and the governor came down. Banging on the ambulance door, it was eventually wrenched open and the amazed warders found the nurses administering an injection to Il Diavolo's dead body while the doctor attempted some form of early 20th century defibrillation.

The whole lot were arrested, and Cardinelli's body sent to the undertaker. 

But - and here is the MACABRE and DASTARDLY part - 

It seems that this had been on Cardinelli's mind the whole time. He wanted to be hanged in the chair to try and reduce the drop he'd face from the gallows. And he'd stopped eating to make himself weigh less. The idea being that if he could avoid having his neck broken and just STRANGLE to death, he could maybe be revived.

Not only that, but Viana had been an unwitting experiment. After his death, the private ambulance had taken him just one block away where he had been SUCCESSFULLY revived.

Bewildered and frightened, Viana's reprieve was only brief. Cardinelli's men were there, ready to take their revenge. Viana's death was followed by his re-murder - his head blown off by a shotgun.

So that is today's somewhat gothic story, accompanied by a picture of St. Giles Cathedral. And if it seems unlikely or improbable, just check out Wikipedia on the subject.

I love stories.

Parsones