Mad Dog Coll: An Irish Gangster

What was so fascinating about this Prohibition-era gangster? After all, dozens of such hoods roamed the streets of New York City in those desperate and violent years.

But Vincent Coll took street violence to another level. He was a fearless soldier who became a leader. He forced Dutch Schultz, one of the toughest gang leaders of the era, into hiding. Coll and his crew revolutionized the art of the drive-by shooting, which is still used today by modern street gangs. His kidnapping schemes targeted other gangsters, who couldn’t go to the cops. He systematically cut down his opposition, even though he was outnumbered by more than ten to one.

Then there was the real brains behind the Coll gang — a woman. Known by the name Lottie Kreisberger, she was the quintessential gun moll and, when teamed with Vincent Coll, set their destiny for either greatness or disaster.

In 1931, the year of the bloodiest gang war in New York City up until that time, Coll emerged as front-page news, with the roughest and toughest gangsters in the five boroughs running for cover from this ruthless and fearless killer and as the New York City Police Department hunting him as Public Enemy Number One. Coll’s arrest, trial, and acquittal, and his murder in a drugstore phone booth at the tender age of 23, all served as inspiration to writers of gangster films that followed.

The authors combine the meticulous research of investigative journalism with a novelist’s flair for plot, character, setting, and style to make Mad Dog Coll as entertaining as it is informative.