On this day in 1931 one of the early crime bosses, Carmelo Fresina, died at the age of 38. He was found with two shots to the head, near a river at Edwardsville, Illinois.
Fresina reigned over the St. Louis, Missouri area with his gang, known to the police as the Pillow Gang. The name came about when a ‘sit-down’ went wrong, two of his associates were killed whilst Fresina took a few shots to the buttocks. He would then attend future sit-downs with a pillow that he would sit on.