Paul Jaworski (born Paul Poluszynski, 1900, died January 21, 1929) was a Polish-American gangster born in Poland. He immigrated to the United States in 1905. Although born to Catholic parents, when offered the services of a chaplain before his execution Jaworski said:

"I preached atheism since the day I quit singing the choir. A man is yellow if he spends his life believing in nothing and then comes crawling to the church because he is afraid his death is near."

First armored car robbery

He was the leader of

the Flathead gang The Flathead Gang, also known as The Flatheads, was a group of bank robbers. The gang was operating in the Detroit, Michigan area. When the police became a major problem for the gang they decided to move their robberies and other crimes to the Stat ...

, which committed the first-ever armored car robbery, on March 11, 1927. The gang stole over $104,000 from an armored vehicle on Bethel Road (now Brightwood Road), Bethel, (now

Bethel Park Bethel Park, officially the Municipality of Bethel Park, is a borough with home rule status in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, located approximately southwest of Pittsburgh. The po ...

), 7 miles outside of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. The bandits placed 500 pounds of black powder (stolen the previous day from nearby Mine 3 in Mollenaur, PA) under the roadbed, and made off with money that was on its way to Coverdale,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

for the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company.

Detroit News payroll robbery

The gang was also known for the payroll robbery of ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

'' business offices in 1928.The Great Detroit News Payroll Robbery, Detroit History, at detnews.com, 5/1/2000

Execution

Jaworski was shot and arrested in Detroit on 13 September 1928, while attempting to escape from the police across Chambers Avenue, after being hunted down to a nearby restaurant. He was sentenced to death in Pennsylvania on January 2, but received a stay of

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

, until a sanity evaluation could be completed. Jaworski was executed by

electric chair An electric chair is a device used to execute an individual by electrocution. When used, the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes fastened on the head and leg. This execution method, ...

in Pennsylvania for a separate payroll robbery which resulted in a murder. The execution took place on January 21, 1929.

References

Books

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaworski, Paul 1900 births 1929 deaths Criminals from Pennsylvania American people of Polish descent American bank robbers People executed for murder Executed Polish people 20th-century executions by Pennsylvania People executed by Pennsylvania by electric chair 20th-century executions of American people Polish people executed abroad American people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania People from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania American atheists History of Detroit People from Cleveland Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Prohibition-era gangsters

First armored car robbery

Detroit News payroll robbery

Execution

See also

References

Books