The Flathead Gang
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The Flathead Gang, also known as The Flatheads, was a group of
bank robber Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank ...
s. The gang was operating in the
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
,
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
area. When the police became a major problem for the gang they decided to move their robberies and other crimes to the state of
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
.
Paul Jaworski Paul Jaworski (born Paul Poluszynski; 1900 – January 21, 1929) was a Polish-American gangster born in Poland. He immigrated to the United States in 1905. Although born to Catholic parents, when offered the services of a chaplain before his exe ...
, the leader of the gang was executed in Pennsylvania in 1929 for murder.


Public notoriety

The Flatheads name first showed up on public record in 1927 when then Flatheads leader
Paul Jaworski Paul Jaworski (born Paul Poluszynski; 1900 – January 21, 1929) was a Polish-American gangster born in Poland. He immigrated to the United States in 1905. Although born to Catholic parents, when offered the services of a chaplain before his exe ...
committed the nation's first armored car robbery. The gang received the most public exposure when they were involved in the payroll robbery involving the Detroit News offices.


Crimes

*December 23, 1922: Gang kills Payroll Clerk/guard John Ross Dennis, Beadling PA during robbery. *December 24, 1925: Gang kills a Mine Payroll Guard Isiah L. Gump Pittsburgh PA during robbery; *Jaworski kills Jack Wright in quarrel over division of loot. *March 11, 1927: Jaworski gang robs an armored car. *March 12, 1927: Jaworski arrested; pleads guilty to killing Dennis and Gump; *May 18, 1927: Jaworski sentenced to death for Gump Killing. *August 18, 1927: Jaworski and another jail inmate shoots way out of Allegheny County Jail; two guards wounded. *June 6, 1928: Detroit Polieman Sgt George Barstad shot by gang during robbery ies of wounds June 6, 1928 *Sept 13, 1928: Jaworski captured Cleveland Ohio; Cleveland Officer Anthony Wieczorek fatally wounded and Cleveland Officer George C Effinger dies of wounds March 20, 1933. Bystander Benjamin Majstrek wounded by a stray bullet.Washington Evening Star September 14, 1928, Page 41, Image 41
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See also

*
Paul Jaworski Paul Jaworski (born Paul Poluszynski; 1900 – January 21, 1929) was a Polish-American gangster born in Poland. He immigrated to the United States in 1905. Although born to Catholic parents, when offered the services of a chaplain before his exe ...
* The Purple Gang *
Detroit Partnership The Detroit Partnership (also known as the Detroit crime family, the Detroit Combination, the Detroit Mafia, the Zerilli crime family (), and the Tocco–Zerilli crime family) is an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Detroit, Michigan ...


References

1. Paul Kavieff, ''The Violent Years: Prohibition and the Detroit Mobs (Gangsters and Rum Runners)'' Barricade Books (2001).


External links


The Great Detroit News Payroll Robbery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flatheads, The American bank robbers Former gangs in Detroit Gangs in Pennsylvania Polish-American organizations