Paul Jaworski

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Paul Jaworski

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_name = Paul Poluszynski

| birth_date = 1900

| birth_place = Poland

| death_date = {{death date and given age|1929|1|21|28/29}}

| death_place = SCI Rockview, Benner Township, Pennsylvania

| death_cause = Execution by electrocution

| resting_place = Prison Cemetery, Rockview{{cite news |title= Paul Jaworski Paid Supreme Penalty Yesterday; Body Unclaimed |url=http://content.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=7040&iid=NEWS-PA-IN_EV_GA.1929_01_22_0001&rc=4204,1062,4287,1104;4309,1062,4496,1104&pid=487118849&ssrc=&fn=Paul&ln=Jaworski&st=g

|work=Indiana Evening Gazette |location= Indiana, Pennsylvania|page=1 |date= January 22, 1929 |access-date=January 10, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616205008/http://content.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid%3D7040%26iid%3DNEWS%2DPA%2DIN_EV_GA.1929_01_22_0001%26rc%3D4204%2C1062%2C4287%2C1104%3B4309%2C1062%2C4496%2C1104%26pid%3D487118849%26ssrc%3D%26fn%3DPaul%26ln%3DJaworski%26st%3Dg|url-status= dead |archive-date=2011-06-16}}

| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|40.85028|-77.77722|}}

| ethnicity =

| known_for = Coverdale armored car robbery

| weight =

| partner =

| children =

| parents =

| relatives = Sam Jaworski, Tom Pallas, Catherine Logan

| website =

| footnotes =

| criminal_penalty = Death sentence

| criminal_status = Executed

| conviction = First degree murder

}}

Paul Jaworski (born Paul Poluszynski; 1900 – 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."{{cite book |last=Morton |first=James |title=Gangland International: The Mafia and Other Mobs |year=2002 |isbn= 0-7515-2237-6|pages= 235–236 |chapter=10: Cleveland|publisher=Warner |quote= "Of course pre-war crime in Cleveland had not been wholly from the Italian and Jewish element. There were at least two major Polish-led gangs of robbers. One was the Flatheads led by Paul Jaworski. On 13 September 1928 when Jaworski and Frank "Whitey" Kraft were caught in a restaurant, Kraft ran out the back but Jaworski holed up in Chambers Avenue. He was driven out by tear gas and was shot. It was not thought he would survive, but he did so. He has already shot a prison guard escaping from Pittsburgh, and was said to have killed up to 26 people including a former gang member who was also a drug addict. Jaworski, rather than see him suffer, threw his body in the river. Returned to Pennsylvania where he was electrocuted." "Shortly before his execution, Jaworski sent his friends a postcard with his future address - 45 Hellsfire Road, 6/14 miles from Hell. Father Pat O'Brien would not have used him as an example. Frank "Whitey" Kraft was later killed by police in Detroit."

|orig-year=1998}}

First armored car robbery

He was the leader of the Flathead gang, which committed the first-ever armored car robbery, on March 11, 1927.[http://www.atmmarketplace.com/news_story.htm?i=16578 Top 10 Inventions in Money Technology | ATM Marketplace] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051102013914/http://www.atmmarketplace.com/news_story.htm?i=16578 |date=November 2, 2005 }}[http://www.on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/mar11.htm On-This-Day.com - March 11] The gang stole over $104,000 from an armored vehicle on Bethel Road (now Brightwood Road), Bethel, (now Bethel Park), 7 miles outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

{{cite journal |title=Bandits Dynamite Armored Pay Car and Take $104,250 |journal=New York Times |issue=March 12 |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C13FA3C591B7A93C0A81788D85F438285F9&scp=18&sq=Coverdale,%20Pennsylvania&st=cse |date=1927-03-12 |access-date=November 6, 2013}} 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 for the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company.

Detroit News payroll robbery

The gang was also known for the payroll robbery of The Detroit News business offices in 1928.[http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=123&category=events The Great Detroit News Payroll Robbery, Detroit History, at detnews.com, 5/1/2000] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120713051244/http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=123&category=events |date=July 13, 2012 }}

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, until a sanity evaluation could be completed.{{cite news

| title = Tests Sanity of Jaworski

| url = http://content.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=51741&iid=News-PE-MO_HE-51741_1929_01_05_0003&rc=3740,758,3803,787;3819,758,3960,787&pid=487101443&ssrc=&fn=Paul&ln=Jaworski&st=g

| work = The Morning Herald

| location = Uniontown, Pennsylvania

| page = 3

| date = January 5, 1929

| access-date =January 10, 2009

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110616205224/http://content.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid%3D51741%26iid%3DNews%2DPE%2DMO_HE%2D51741_1929_01_05_0003%26rc%3D3740%2C758%2C3803%2C787%3B3819%2C758%2C3960%2C787%26pid%3D487101443%26ssrc%3D%26fn%3DPaul%26ln%3DJaworski%26st%3Dg

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = 2011-06-16

}}

Jaworski was executed by electric chair in Pennsylvania for a separate payroll robbery which resulted in a murder. The execution took place on January 21, 1929.{{cite news

| title = Paul Jaworski to be executed this morning

| url = http://content.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid=51741&iid=News-PE-MO_HE-51741_1929_01_21_0001&rc=108,963,508,1184;608,963,1408,1184;3916,1954,3996,1992;4016,1954,4196,1992;3637,2854,3702,2879;3719,2854,3866,2879&pid=487117825&ssrc=&fn=Paul&ln=Jaworski&st=g

| work = The Morning Herald

| location = Uniontown, Pennsylvania

| page = 1

| date = January 21, 1929

| access-date =January 10, 2009

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110616205433/http://content.ancestry.com/browse/view.aspx?dbid%3D51741%26iid%3DNews%2DPE%2DMO_HE%2D51741_1929_01_21_0001%26rc%3D108%2C963%2C508%2C1184%3B608%2C963%2C1408%2C1184%3B3916%2C1954%2C3996%2C1992%3B4016%2C1954%2C4196%2C1992%3B3637%2C2854%2C3702%2C2879%3B3719%2C2854%2C3866%2C2879%26pid%3D487117825%26ssrc%3D%26fn%3DPaul%26ln%3DJaworski%26st%3Dg

| url-status = dead

| archive-date = 2011-06-16

}}

References

Books

{{cite book|last=Kavieff|first=Paul|title=The Violent Years: Prohibition and the Detroit Mobs (Gangsters and Rum Runners)|year=2001|publisher=Barricade Books|isbn=1-56980-210-6}}

Category:1900 births

Category:1929 deaths

Category:Criminals from Pennsylvania

Category:American people of Polish descent

Category:American bank robbers

Category:American people executed for murder

Category:Polish people convicted of murder

Category:20th-century executions by Pennsylvania

Category:People executed by Pennsylvania by electric chair

Category:20th-century executions of American people

Category:Executed American gangsters

Category:Polish people executed abroad