The New York herald., 1921-07-28
ONE KILLED,.3 HURT
IN MOTT ST. BATTLE
Crowds on Sidewalks and Kids
Playing in Streams Of Water
Scatter as Bullets Fly.
8 MEN START SHOOTING
One Tumbles i'm Gutter, One
Falls Dead, Other Escapes
Two Women Wounded.

1t was swelteringly hot in Mott
street last night. From curb to curb
the street swarmed with pushcarts:
the fire escapes Of the tenements and
the sidewalks were jammed with rest
less groups of men and women gasp
ing in the heat, and the cutters were
crowded with kids scrambling in the
streams of water that gushed from fire
hydrants that had been opened by the
Fire and Street Cleaning departments.
The people who live in that district
were as nearly comfortable as thev are
ever able to get In the summer. when
three men who had been standing in
front of 70 Mott street began shoot
ing at each other. throwing the push
carts into confusion and sending the
crowds on the sidewalks scattering for
shelter into the tenements
Between fifteen and twenty shots were
fred by the three men. and one of the
first struck Frank Gratano of 124 Third
street In the left breast. He tumbled
into the gutter and was almost drowned
In the stream of water there before
some one pulled him out Another shot
struck Mrs. Carolina La Sala Of 10
Mott street before she could dodge into
the doorway of a tenement, and still an
other struck Mrs. Agatha Ciccone Of
6709 Fourteenth avenue. Brooklyn. In
the right thigh as she was passing the
tenement with friends she had been
visiting.
Final Shot Kills Man.
The firing ended and the remaining
when a bullet struck william Sperduto
of 20 Mott street in the back. He had
already been shot In the head. but that
wound was not very serious and he had
been able to continue shooting at the
other men. But they crowded him
closely. Gratano firing from where ne
lay in the gutter.
The third man was shooting from the
edge of the sidewalk when Spcrduto
turned and stared TO crawl into a tene-
ment where he had a flat on one of the
upper floors. Apparently he had just
crossed the threshold when the final
him, for he was lying on his back with
his head resting on the first step OF the
stairway Nearby was a revolver in
which we're five discharged cartridges.
which was turned over to the police by
a boy who picked II up.
All the policemen on post In the Sec
tIon and the detectives Of the Italian
SQUAD whose beats are In Mott and ad-
iacent streets hurried TO the scene when
they heard the shooting They reached
the place after the trouble was over. but
they found the dead man lying IN the
hallway, Gratano lying In the gutter.
almost unconscious. and the two women
wing on the sidewalk Pushcarts were
niled in the streets where their fright
ened owners had abandoned them the
fruit and vegetables and shoe strings
and goods of all sorts piled about In
discriminatory.
Tragedy over, Play Resumed.
The police found the water still pour
ing into the cutters. but the kids had
been frightened indoors. They found
the sidewalks deserted and only a few
persons on the fire escapes. and those
the upper ones The entire population
had fled into the sweltering heat OF the
flats as soon as the shooting began.
They didn't emerge again until the body
OF sperduto had been removed. the WON.
on and Gratano taken 20 hospitals ana
the reserves had left the scene. Then
the kids again scrambled in the cutters.
the crowds swarmed along the Sidewalks
and on the fire escapes, and the pusncart
men ouarrelled for hours over the owner
sh,p OF goods abandoned In the street
Detective Michael Fiaschetti said he
thought the shooting was the result OF
a quarrel between bands OF Italian
criminals. Sperduto. he said. was a
man we'll known TO and wanted by the
police. He had been concerned IN
number of robberies the detectives said.
among them the holdup OF twenty men
in the Harvard Cafe In Mott street re-
Gently. and the holdup and shooting OF
man in the Atlantic Gardens In the
Bowery He was known as The Ma
chine" because he once owned an au-
tomobile. Gratano, taken to Bellevue
Hospital. is being held as a witness.