Axe syndicate

The axe murder gang or axe syndicate was a group of people believed to have been responsible for a four-year spate of brutal killings which started in November 1919 and ended in October 1923.

Though no overall pattern connecting the crimes was established, they appeared to fall into at least two classifications. In many cases small shop owners, often foreign-born, were targeted in robberies. In another group of cases, polices suspected retribution in disputes between thieves and their fences. The attacks on shop owners apparently ended after five African Americans were arrested in the winter of 1923–24.

Accounts of the number of crimes committed by the gang vary, as to the lists of people killed or wounded in their attacks. The New York Times reported there had been 24 killed in 44 attacks, while the Birmingham papers counted only 15 dead and 13 wounded attributable to the "syndicate".

Numerous arrests were made, but few convictions obtained in the attacks. On December 11, 1923 an African American man, Fred Glover, was arrested on suspicion of attacking Mr & Mrs Edwin Sparks two days earlier. Glover, who had recently served time for burglary and grand larceny, was brought to the hospital and identified by Mrs Glover as her attacker. A search of his home produced a short-handled blood-stained hatchet and a pistol.

Four more arrests followed on January 6, 1924. Glover, Peyton Johnson, John Reed, and O'Delle and Pearl Jackson were given doses of the experimental "truth serum" scopolomine, and collectively confessed to eight of the murders. Those confessions were affirmed after the effects of the drug had worn off.

Investigators described a "syndicate" of murderers who drew straws for the privilege of attacking selected targets. A man named Garfield was alleged to have founded the syndicate, but had died of natural causes during 1922. Three members of the gang were presumed to remain at-large.

Incidents

1919

• November 28: G. T. Ary was robbed and killed.
• December 24: John Belser was robbed and killed.

1921

• December 21: Joseph Mantione and his wife were robbed and killed.
• December 21: Mose Parker was robbed and killed.

1922

• January 11: Clem Crawford and his wife were robbed and killed.
• June 3: One of three members of the Lucia family died following an attack on their shop.
• November 6: Abraham Levine was robbed and killed.

1923

• January 10: Joseph Klein was robbed and killed.
• January 24: Luigi and Josephine Vitellaro were robbed and killed.
• May 28: Charles Graffeo was robbed and killed in his store. It appeared as if the attacker had come in and placed a nickel on the counter to purchase a bottle of oil. Graffeo was found behind the counter with his skull crushed by the blow of an axe and his throat cut. A blood-spattered axe with a shortened handle was found behind the shop's door. His pockets and the store's register had been rifled.
• October 22: Elizabeth Romeo and her daughter, Juliet Vigilante, were robbed and killed at Bernard Vigilante's shop. The attacker used a meat cleaver and stole $60 from the cash register.
• November 4: W. T. Conway and Jane Jackson, both African American, were attacked in a downtown alley with an axe or hatchet.
• December 9: Edwin Sparks and his wife were attacked with a hatchet. Mrs Sparks identified Fred Glover as her attacker when he was brought to the hospital.

1924

• May 24: L. M. Watkins and Richard Warner were attacked and robbed. Frank Owens was found with a bloody axe in his possession and shot while trying to elude captors. He later confessed to the attack.
• May 27: J. B. Smith, 60, a night watchmen for the Adamson Motor Company, was found dead with his head crushed. His revolver and purse were stolen.

Convictions

• Peyton Johnspn was convicted of the murder of John Robert Turner and sentenced to death.
• Pearl Jackson was convicted of the murder of John Robert Turner and sentenced to death on May 28, 1924.

References

• "'Truth Serum' Involves Five in Axe Murders, Clearing Up 44 Crimes in Birmingham, Ala." (January 1924) The New York Times
• "Ax Murders - Alabama" (December 11, 2006) at Serial Killer Central