Michael Malloy

Background

Beginning in January 1933, while Malloy was unemployed, alcoholic, and homeless, five of his acquaintances Tony Marino, Joseph "Red" Murphy, Francis Pasqua, Hershey Green, and Daniel Kriesberg (later dubbed "the Murder Trust" by the media) plotted to kill Malloy by getting him to drink himself to death to collect life insurance. Presumably achieved with the aid of a corrupt insurance agent, they obtained insurance policies on Malloy's life under the name Nicholas Mellory and stood to gain over if Malloy died an accidental death. Antifreeze was replaced with turpentine, followed by horse liniment, and finally rat poison was mixed in. After these mixtures failed to kill Malloy, Marino mixed shots of wood alcohol in with his normal shots of liquor. This did not kill Malloy, presumably because the normal liquor helped negate the methanol poisoning.

The group then gave Malloy raw oysters soaked in wood alcohol

Concluding that it was unlikely that anything Malloy ingested was going to kill him quickly enough before the insurance policies ran out, the group decided to freeze him to death. On an extremely cold night, after Malloy drank until passing out, he was carried to a park, dumped in the snow, and had of water poured on his bare chest. However, shortly thereafter, Malloy was rescued by police who took him to a homeless charity where he was re-clothed. Police heard rumors of "Mike the Durable" in speakeasies around the town, and upon learning that Michael Malloy had died that night, they had the body exhumed and forensically examined. Green was convicted of attempted murder with a prison sentence of a minimum of 10 years, while the other four accomplices were sentenced to death and were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing in Ossining, New York. Kriesberg, Marino, and Pasqua were executed on June 7, 1934, and Murphy was executed on July 5, 1934.

In popular culture Episodes of the radio drama Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - The Indestructible Mike Matter originally broadcast on June 6, 7, and 8, 1956, starring Bob Bailey and Howard McNear (as Mike Flynn), are based on the case. A 1986 episode of Amazing Stories, called "One for the Road", is a fictionalized version of this incident, in which a group of friends conspire to kill a drunk named Mike Malloy for insurance money. Alternative rock band Primus included the Matt Winegar-penned instrumental (which Winegar also performed) "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" for their 1990 album, Frizzle Fry. A 2015 episode of True Nightmares, produced by Wilma TV/Discovery Channel Season 2, Episode 3 "Friends Like These", is a telling of the story of Michael Malloy and his murder. The jazz musical "The Man Who Wouldn't be Murdered" is based on Malloy's story. The song "That Man Malloy" by Celtic folk trio House of Hamill recounts the story of Malloy's murder. A 1983 short story from the book "Palabra mágica / Magic word" written by Augusto Monterroso called "Las ilusiones perdidas/ The lost illusions" is a fictionalized version of this incident, in which a group of friends conspire to kill a drunk named Mike Malloy for insurance money. In 2025 Malloy's story was adapted for the stage by writer/director Luke Adamson in "The Unkillable Mike Malloy". Malloy's story was adapted into the musical 'Yield Not to Evil', produced by the Abernethy Bennett Company and had its debut concert performances in September 2025