Michael "Mickey" Duffy (born William Michael Cusick; 1888 - August 30, 1931) -- also known as John Murphy and George McEwen -- was a Polish- American

mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

and rival of Maxie "Boo Boo" Hoff during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

. He became one of the most famous and powerful beer bootleggers in Philadelphia and in Atlantic City.

Career

Born William Michael Cusick to Polish immigrants in

Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Grays Ferry, also known as Gray's Ferry, is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia bounded (roughly) by 25th Street on the east, the Schuylkill River on the west, Vare Avenue on the south, and Grays Ferry Avenue on the north. The section of this ne ...

, he changed his name to fit in well with the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

gangs in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. Duffy became involved in petty theft and other misdemeanors during his youth before more serious crimes during his teenage years, including armed robbery and hijacking prior to entering bootlegging during Prohibition. In May 1919, Duffy was arrested for assault and battery with intent to kill serving two years and eleven months at the

Eastern State Penitentiary The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of the city, and was operational from ...

, Philadelphia. Upon his release, Prohibition was law and

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

syndicates began smuggling, making and selling illegal alcohol. He married Edith Craig shortly after his release.

Rise to power

By the early 1920s, Duffy had become one of the most dominant bootleggers in the Delaware Valley possessing breweries in Philadelphia, Camden, and South Jersey. His associates included former rival Max Hassel, Harry Green, James Richardson, Charles Bodine and Nicholas Delmore although he would be in frequent battle against rivals such as Hoff and the Bailey brothers throughout the decade. During this time, Duffy expanded into legitimate businesses including owning several prominent clubs, including the Perkin and the fashionable Club Cadix at 23rd and Chestnut streets in Philadelphia in 1924. He ran his bootlegging and

numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

businesses from the old Ritz-Carlton hotel. Duffy was shot three times leaving the Club Cadix late on the night of February 25, 1927 by Francis Bailey and Peter Ford. His bodyguard, John Bricker, was killed, and Earl Brown, the club's doorman, was also wounded. This shooting was the first instance of a

Thompson submachine gun The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun, invented by United Sta ...

being used in Philadelphia's underworld. Duffy was treated at Hahneman Hospital in Philadelphia and returned to his bootlegging business. In the mid-1920s, Duffy's violent methods brought him into conflict with

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

-based bootlegger Max Hassel. Along with Waxey Gordon, Hassel controlled a number of breweries in Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey. The aggressive Duffy forced his way into the lucrative Jersey territory forcing Hassel to hand over a brewery to him. Duffy earned such great profits from both beer and

businesses that by 1930 he had built a mansion for himself and his wife Edith in Penn Wynne, Pennsylvania. Duffy's home was on the Penn Wynne side of City Line across from 77th Street. Built by McWilliams & Maloney in the style of a Mediterranean villa, the structure had white with green satyrs on the sides and black palm trees painted on the facade. Following the death of John Finiello, an agent of the

Bureau of Prohibition The Bureau of Prohibition (or Prohibition Unit) was the United States federal law enforcement agency formed to enforce the National Prohibition Act of 1919, commonly known as the Volstead Act, which enforced the 18th Amendment to the United S ...

killed during a September 19, 1930 raid on one of Duffy's breweries in Elizabeth, New Jersey, local authorities began cracking down of Duffy's criminal operations causing some animosity among his partners including his bodyguard and chauffeur Joseph Beatty.

Death

While staying at the Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City, Duffy was shot to death by unknown assailants on August 31, 1931. Although the case remained unsolved, it was suspected by authorities at the time that the alleged assailants may have been associates who had been disgruntled with Duffy and had conspired to seize control of Duffy's bootlegging operations. Initially, Mafia member and future boxing promoter

Frankie Carbo Paul John "Frankie" Carbo (born Paolo Giovanni Carbo, ; August 10, 1904Bureau of Narcotics, Sam Giancana, The United States Treasury Department. ''Mafia: The Government’s Secret File on Organized Crime''. 2007(pg. 85)/ref> – November 9, 1976) w ...

of the

Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as ...

was charged with Duffy's murder, but was not prosecuted after furnishing an alibi, due to a lack of evidence. Within several months, two individuals alleged to have been involved, Samuel E. Grossman and Albert Skale, were gunned down at a club on Watts Street and

Girard Avenue Girard Avenue is a major commercial and residential street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For most of its length it runs east–west, but at Frankford Avenue it makes a 135-degree turn north. Parts of the road are signed as U.S. Route 13 and U.S ...

in December 1931 beginning a wave of violence among various factions among the Philadelphia underworld. He was interred in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia. Duffy's funeral was an event. Thousands of people flocked to the cemetery but a police line kept them outside the entrance gate. Friends and family of Duffy required a special pass to enter.

In popular culture

In the HBO TV series '' Boardwalk Empire'', a fictional character Mickey Doyle is based on Mickey Duffy, played by

Paul Sparks Paul Sparks (born October 16, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as gangster Mickey Doyle in the HBO period drama series ''Boardwalk Empire'', writer Thomas Yates in the Netflix political drama series '' House of Cards'', m ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Micky 1888 births 1931 deaths American gangsters American people of Polish descent Burials at Mount Moriah Cemetery (Philadelphia) Deaths by firearm in New Jersey Gangsters from Philadelphia Murdered American gangsters People murdered in New Jersey Prohibition-era gangsters Nucky Johnson's Organization