The New York herald., 1922-08-30
GANG CHIEF KILLED
in SIDEWALK CROWD
Sitting on Stool in Front Of
Shop When Someone Presses
Gun to His Head.
SHOT sINGEs HAIR OFF
Pelletier Had SO Many Foes
Police Are in Dark as to
Slayer's Identity.

John Pelletier. 33. known to the police
and throughout the East Side as n
burglar. gangster and gunman. with a
criminal record covering nearly twenty
years. was, shot to death late yesterday
as he sat on little stool in front of
his coffee house at AZ Monroe street.
The man who shot him--and the police
are trying to pick the murderer out OF
the hundreds who hated Pelletier enough
to kill him--stole up quietly behind him
and shot him through the head.
Pelletier's coffee house, situated In the
dark angle of Hamilton and Monroe
streets. is a popular rendezvous for
dozens of young men of the East Side
whose apparently large incomes come
from sources which continually puzzle
the police. But none. Of the customers
were there at o'clock. Pelletier drew
his little stool upon the pavement In
front Of his shop, crossed his legs. lit
cigarette and leaned backward. A
dense crowd was passing by few feet
away.
Singed His Hair Off.
There Is rear entrance on Hamilton
street through which customers may en-
ter Pelletiers coffee house. Through
that entrance came the murderer. He
slipped up behind Pelletier. jammed the
rnuSzle OF the gun against his skull and
fired. The gun. the police say. must
nave. been jammed there, for his hair
was singed of.
Whatever happened just then hap
pened very quickly. Certainly the
crowd was In an uproar. The murderer
must have thrown the revolver behind
him with a lightning flip of the hand
the moment he fred the shot. The gun
was several feet behind Pelletier. whose
stool fell out from under him and let
him slide to the sidewalk dead. The
assassin, the police agree. must have
leaped into the midst of the crowd and
either fought his way through to an
other street or else he might have Joined
the crowd In It's scramble and scream
Ing about the body Of the slain coffee
house proprietor.
No one could be found by the police
who was sure Of having seen the mur-
derer at all. One man, who may have
been the murderer. though there Is no
proof of it, was seen running east In
Monroe street. and part of the crowd
ran after him. He turned into Market
street and south to Hamilton street. and
there he lost himself And all that any
body could tell the police was that he
wore brown suit.
Detectives from the Oak street station
Immediately began mn investigation that
led them into dokeri trails and gave
rise to as many cofijectures as to who
killed Pelletier and why.
Was Hated ana Feared.
Pelleticr was hated and feared. and
he was reptIted to be the leader OF some
sort OF a gang, thought It never had any
official name more than "Pelletier's
gang" Il feud must have been behind
the murder, detectives agree, but whether
II was a bootlegging feud. feud over n
woman or some other sort OF quarrel
no one knows.
Pelletier was arrested last April at
Freehold. N. j.. as material witness
In a murder at Keansburg, ". ]. He
was out on bail in this city on charge
Of violating the Sullivan law. an offense
which he committed frequently.
Detectives went to S6 Mott street to
question Kate Alessio, 21. who was re-
leased In $500 bail In Freehold at the
same time that Pelletier was. The
Alessio girls brother also was ques-
toned. but neither was arrested. The
detectives said that at least once In
the last week Pelletier had struck the
GIRL and that she had declared he
planned to kill her.
The first criminal record of Pelletier
was in 1905, when he was sent to Elmira
for burglary. In 1907 he was sent to
Sing Sing for burglary. A year later he
was sent to Sing Sing for a year and a
half for the same offense. In 1914 he
was sent to the penitentiary for carry
ing concealed weapons. In 1917 he was
sent to Sing Sing for from two and one
half to five years for robbery. In 1920
he was arrested for robbery but dis
charged