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Infamous Mobster Found Shot In The Head On Bronx Street
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 17, 2013
Modified Nov 17, 2013
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 17, 2013
Modified Nov 17, 2013
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On Friday night, police responded to a call about a man who was shot on Elsworth Avenue in the Bronx. Inside a Lincoln LS, they found a man dead from a gunshot to the head sitting in the driver's seat. It turned out the victim was Michael Meldish, a notorious mobster known for being a "ruthless" gang leader in the 1970s and 1980s.
Meldish, 62, lived in Manhattan and it's unclear what he was doing in the Bronx. A resident, Janet Forbes, told the Daily News that she and her daughter were driving home when "they spotted the car’s driver’s side door half-open and a motionless man inside." Forbes said, "We pulled up, I got out and I saw there was blood coming out of his ears."
She added to WABC 7 that she was going to perform CPR—"We thought the guy was either intoxicated or he was with his leg out, like passed out, almost like he was drunk, had a heart attack or a stroke or something"—until she realized it was an execution murder. Her husband, at home, had heard a noise but when he looked out the window, he didn't see anything. He said, "I’m disgusted. It’s a family neighborhood."
According to the Post, the mobster was the head of the Purple Gang, "running drugs in The Bronx and Harlem while also doing jobs for the Luchese and Genovese crime families. His older brother Joe is believed to be responsible for up to 40 homicides." As a source noted, "There’s a very long list of suspects."
Joseph Coffey, former commanding officer of the NYPD organized crime homicide task force, was thrilled with Meldish's demise. He told the Daily News, "Michael was a stone-cold killer," and discussed how no one who testify against him, “We couldn’t get any witnesses. They had the people so terrified they just wouldn’t cooperate." Coffey believes a rival killed Meldish, "It should have happened a long time ago. I call it vermin killing vermin — poetic justice."
Tagged
bronx
gangster
gun violence
hit man
michael meldish
mob
purple gang
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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