No one can argue the fact that the public loves a good gangster story — especially when it’s true. While much has been written about the notorious mob boss Dutch Schultz, not many people are familiar with his most feared enemy, a man who had Schultz so terrified that he locked himself in his fancy Fifth Avenue apartment in fear of his life. Who was this man that had the rough and tough Dutch Schultz quaking in his boots?  None other than Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll!

1931, the year of the bloodiest gang war in New York City, had some of the roughest and toughest gangsters in the five boroughs running for cover and hiding, while Mad Dog Coll, a ruthless and fearless killer, hunted them down, as the New York City Police Department sought him as Public Enemy Number One. 

 

Mad Dog Coll: An Irish Gangster takes us through the life of Vincent Coll in a typical biographical manner. The early chapters describe his heritage, family, and formative years growing up in the Bronx, while the subsequent chapters take us through his rise and fall in the criminal world.

For three months in 1931, Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll was the most wanted criminal in the country. On July 28, 1931, Coll accidentally shot and killed five-year-old Michael Vengalli on an East Harlem street during a drive-by shooting that went bad. A nationwide manhunt followed, until Mad Dog Coll was captured in a New York City hotel on October 4, 1931. Defended by the legendary criminal defense attorney, Sam Leibowitz, Coll was acquitted just before the new year of 1932, only to get gunned down some weeks later in a Manhattan telephone booth. But before his demise, Mad Dog Coll made his mark in the New York criminal world. He was different from the other gangsters of that era; rather than focusing on the working public, he chose to terrorize other criminals.