Dead Pool 11th & 18th July 2021

No movement on the league table, but with this bumper two-week newsletter, there is loads to read about.

Look Who You Could Have Had:

• Matīss Kivlenieks, 24, Latvian ice hockey goaltender, injuries sustained from firework blast.  
• Richard Donner, 91, American film director (Superman, Lethal Weapon, The Goonies) and producer. 
• Big Jake, 20, American Belgian gelding, world’s tallest horse.  
• Fay Allen, 83, Jamaican-born British police officer.  
• Jonathan Coleman, 65, English-born Australian radio and TV presenter, prostate cancer. 
• Chick Vennera, 74, American actor (Thank God It’s Friday, Animaniacs, The Milagro Beanfield War), cancer. 
• Robert Downey Sr., 85, American actor (To Live and Die in L.A.). Parkinson’s disease. 
• Charlie Robinson, 75, American actor (Night Court, Sugar Hill, The Black Gestapo), complications from cancer.  
• Paul Orndorff, 71, American professional wrestler (WWF, WCW, GCW).  
• Andy Fordham, 59, English darts player, world champion (2004), organ failure.  
• Dawn Foster, 33, British journalist (The Independent, Tribune, The Guardian) and broadcaster.  
• Tom O’Connor, 81, British comedian and game show host (Crosswits, The Zodiac Game, Name That Tune), complications from Parkinson’s disease.  

In Other News

Pope Francis has been seen leaving hospital in  Rome, 10 days after undergoing surgery to remove half his colon. A car carrying the 84-year-old was spotted leaving Gemelli Polytechnic hospital in the Italian capital on Wednesday morning. Francis had half of his colon removed for a severe narrowing of his large intestine on 4th July, his first major surgery since he became pope in 2013. It was a planned procedure, scheduled for early July when the pope’s audiences are suspended and he would normally take some time off. The Pope on Sunday made his first public appearance since the surgery, standing for about 10 minutes while delivering his weekly prayer from the balcony of his suite surrounded by young cancer patients. Francis will have several more weeks to recover before beginning to travel again in September. There are plans for him to visit Hungary and Slovakia between 12th and 15th September before a brief trip to Glasgow in November to participate in the COP26 climate conference. The Vatican had originally said Francis could be discharged last weekend, but later said he would stay a few days extra for further recovery and rehabilitation therapy. On the eve of his release, he visited the paediatric cancer ward, which is located on the same floor as the papal hospital suite. The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man but has otherwise enjoyed relatively robust health.   

US country singer Ashley Monroe has revealed she is starting chemotherapy after being diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. Monroe, a member of the band Pistol Annies, wrote on Instagram that she had been diagnosed with Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia after going to the doctor for routine lab work. According to cancer.org, Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia is a form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “A few months ago my doctor was doing some routine lab work and found that I was anaemic,” Monroe, 34, wrote. “I was like, FINE, I’ll just double up on cheeseburger patties, take some extra vitamins and call it a day. Well my red blood count just kept falling, and they found out my iron, b12, folic acid numbers were actually fine. short story long, they did a bone marrow biopsy, (ouch), and VOILA… a rare kind of blood c word called ‘Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia’.” Monroe added that she was “thankful” for the support of her family and friends, and for her “angel son”, whom she is “fighting for the most”. Monroe formed the Pistol Annies alongside Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley in 2009. She has also enjoyed a successful solo career.   

The president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro has reportedly been hospitalised after suffering from abdominal pains. He was admitted to the army hospital in the capital city of Brasilia for testing in the early hours of Wednesday, according to media reports. Mr Bolsonaro is expected to remain under observation for 24-48 hours. The 66-year-old had reportedly complained about persistent hiccups in the days before he was admitted to hospital. Mr Bolsonaro’s health has been in the spotlight during his presidency, particularly since he was stabbed and seriously injured on the campaign trail in 2018. His attacker was acquitted in 2019 on the grounds that he was mentally ill. Adelio Bispo de Oliveira pierced Mr Bolsonaro’s intestine, putting his life in danger, when he stabbed the leader with a knife in the streets of Juiz de Fora, north of Rio de Janeiro. The far-right politician was placed in intensive care and lost 40 per cent of his blood but sadly survived and went on to win the presidential election. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (US), non-stop hiccups can be caused by ‘brain lesions, tumours, intestinal diseases, and liver or kidney disorders.’ We can only pray and hope for the people of Brazil that one (or all) are the cause of his hiccups!  

Security minister James Brokenshire has announced he is standing down from the government to concentrate on his fight against cancer. The Old Bexley and Sidcup MP resigned as Northern Ireland secretary in 2018 for surgery to remove a lesion on his right lung, but returned to Theresa May’s cabinet later that year as housing secretary and joined the Home Office under Boris Johnson in 2020. He announced in January he was taking a leave of absence from ministerial duties for surgery on a tumour. But in a letter to Mr Johnson, he today said that his recovery from treatment and return to full duties was “taking longer than anticipated”. “I have therefore concluded that it is best that I stand down from my ministerial role and focus on restoring my health,” he said. Mr Brokenshire said he hoped “to be able to serve again in some way in the future”. The 53-year-old father-of-three has previously said that his lung cancer diagnosis came as a “jolt” as he had never smoked. In a letter written in crayon accepting his resignation from the government, Mr Johnson said: “I look forward to welcoming you back as soon as possible.”   

The son of former middleweight boxing champion Chris Eubank died on Friday, a month after becoming a father. His widow, Salma Abdelati, said the 29-year-old had the heart attack while in the sea in Dubai. She said she was grateful “he was able to spend a few short and happy weeks with his son before his death”. Sebastian, who had followed in his father’s footsteps to become a professional boxer, had been due to turn 30 on 18th July. In a statement, his widow said: “Dubai Police and the coroner have confirmed that after a full post-mortem Sebastian Eubank tragically died from a massive heart attack whilst in the sea and probably could not have been saved even if out of the water. There was evidence of a pre-existing heart condition we were all unaware of. While still very painful, it is of some comfort that Sebastian died after having one of his favourite meals with one of his closest friends whilst doing his favourite thing at his favourite place in Dubai where he often went to swim. He was standing in the water close to shore watching the sunset at Cove Beach in Dubai.” Figures from around the boxing world and beyond paid tribute to Sebastian, the middle child of Eubank’s five children, following the news of his death. His father called his son a “deep thinker who liked to challenge accepted wisdom” in an earlier tribute to him. Eubank said the family was devastated at the loss of Sebastian, who grew up in Hove but had been living in Dubai, where he was “a leader in the adoption of a healthy lifestyle and of alternative therapies”. Sebastian, who boxed using the name Alka Lion, made his debut in February 2018 against Polish fighter Kamil Kulczyk. His brother, Chris Eubank Jr, also a professional boxer, said on Twitter: “Rest easy little brother, I love you and you will be missed always.”   

A Los Angeles rapper was shot dead in his car in a brazen daylight attack last week while he was live-streaming on Instagram in what police believe was a gang-related killing. Zerail Rivera, who went by the name Indian Red Boy, was murdered in Hawthorne on July 8th at about 4.10pm while speaking to a friend on Instagram from inside his car. The disturbing video, which is being shared widely online, shows the 21-year-old smiling and laughing with his friend as the gunman approached his window. Rivera could be seen glancing out the window just as the gunshots started to ring out. He could be seen trying to cover his head with his arms as at least 12 shots were fired. His friend, social media influencer Kapone, can be heard saying: ‘What the fuck? Bro, what the fuck? Where you at?’ A bloodied Rivera could be seen mouthing ‘help’ repeatedly to the camera before whispering ‘I’m in Hawthorne’. He dropped his camera seconds later and the live-stream ended. Police responding to reports of the shooting found Rivera ‘slumped in the front seat’. He had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene. The gunman fled before authorities arrived. No one has been arrested in relation to the shooting. Police are still reviewing surveillance video from the area but they believe it was a walk-up shooting and that Rivera was targeted. They say it was likely gang-related but have not provided further details.

On This Day 11th July

• 1804 – A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.  
• 1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, in the United States.  
• 1962 – First transatlantic satellite television transmission.  
• 1979 – America’s first space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.  

On This Day 18th July

• 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. 
• 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11’s crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.  
• 1982 – Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.  
• 2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.  

Deaths on 11th July

• 1937 – George Gershwin, American pianist, songwriter, and composer (b. 1898). 
• 1989 – Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer (b. 1907).  
• 2000 – Robert Runcie, English archbishop (b. 1921). 
• 2005 – Gretchen Franklin, English actress and dancer (b. 1911). 
• 2006 – John Spencer, English snooker player and sportscaster (b. 1935). 

Deaths on 18th July

• 1923 – Pancho Villa, Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (b. 1878). 
• 1973 – Bruce Lee, American actor and martial artist (b. 1940). 
• 2005 – James Doohan, Canadian-American actor (b. 1920). 
• 2011 – Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (b. 1922). 
• 2012 – Alastair Burnet, English journalist (b. 1928). 
• 2017 – Chester Bennington, American singer (b. 1976). 

Last Meals

Francis Crowley was an American murderer. His crime spree lasted nearly three months, ending in a two-hour shootout with the New York City Police Department on May 7th 1931, that was witnessed by 15,000 bystanders and received national attention. In 1932 he was executed in New York’s electric chair. 

Crowley was born in New York City on October 31st 1912, the second son of an unwed German mother who gave him up for adoption. He had a hatred for police, with some speculating that his absent father was a police officer.

This hatred for the police was compounded by police killing his brother John when Crowley was 12 years old. John was alleged to be involved in the killing of NYPD Officer Maurice Harlow on February 22nd 1925. Shortly thereafter John Crowley was killed in a confrontation with police officers while resisting arrest on a charge of disorderly conduct. By his late teens, Francis Crowley had a reputation as a troubled youth with a criminal history. 

On February 21st 1931, Crowley and two other young men crashed a dance hosted by the American Legion in the Bronx. Several Legionnaires tried to remove them from the venue, so Crowley drew a gun and wounded two men before fleeing. He was charged with attempted murder and went into hiding. He was confronted by police on March 13th. He escaped into an office building on Lexington Avenue after shooting Detective Ferdinand Schaedel. Two days later, Crowley and four others robbed a bank in New Rochelle, New York.

A month later, Crowley and two friends broke into the West 90th Street apartment of real estate broker Rudolph Adler. Adler attempted to resist them, and Crowley shot him five times using two pistols, which earned him the nickname “Two Gun”. Adler’s dog Trixie attacked the robbers and drove them from the house, saving her owner’s life. 

On April 27th, Crowley was out joyriding in a stolen vehicle with his partner Rudolph “Fats” Durringer and dance hall hostess Virginia Brannen. Brannen resisted Durringer’s advances, so Durringer shot and killed her while still in the car. Crowley then helped him dump her body at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers. New York City police found Brannen’s body and escalated their efforts to find Crowley. 

On April 29th he was spotted in the Bronx driving a green Chrysler Imperial sedan along 138th Street near the Morris Avenue Bridge. Police pursued him, but he escaped after a running gun battle. Detectives found that the bullets extracted from a police car matched those that killed Virginia Brannen and those from other unsolved shootings. The following day, Crowley’s car was found abandoned with bullet holes and bloodstains on the inside. On May 6th, Crowley was sitting in a parked car with his 16-year-old girlfriend Helen Walsh on Morris Lane in North Merrick, Long Island when he was approached by police officers Frederick Hirsch and Peter Yodice, who asked for identification. Crowley fired at them, killing Hirsch and wounding Yodice. He then sped off. 

The following day, Crowley, Walsh, and Durringer were tracked down to a fifth-floor apartment in a rooming house on West 91st Street. The residence belonged to a former lover of Crowley’s, who notified the police upon seeing Crowley with another woman. Outside the building, a force of 300 police officers armed with rifles, machine guns, and tear gas assembled. The events attracted 15,000 bystanders. 

Crowley and the police exchanged gunfire for nearly two hours, with the police firing an estimated 700 rounds into the building. While Walsh and Durringer reloaded Crowley’s pistols, Crowley threw back several tear gas grenades that the police had thrown into the apartment through a hole cut into the roof. After suffering four gunshot wounds and bleeding heavily, he finally surrendered. Arresting officers found two pistols strapped to his legs.  

On May 29th, less than three weeks after his arrest, Crowley was tried and convicted of the murder of police officer Frederick Hirsch. His partner, Fats Durringer, was found guilty of the murder of Virginia Brannen. Both men were sentenced to death on June 1st. Crowley was sentenced to death by electric chair.

Crowley spent his last year on death row at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. He remained a disciplinary problem – stuffing his prison uniform down a toilet, setting fire to his bed, and frequently crafting homemade weapons. His attitude became somewhat more serene as his execution neared: He reportedly adopted a starling that frequently flew into his cell. For his last meal, Crowley enjoyed steak and onions, french fries, apple pie, ice cream and melted ice cream?!?! 

On January 21st 1932, Crowley’s last words to Warden Lewis Lawes were to ask for a rag. Referring to Durringer’s death in the same electric chair, Crowley said, “I want to wipe off the chair after this rat sat in it.” It is not clear if the request was granted.

Crowley was only 19 when he was executed.

Last Two Week’s Birthdays

Vin Diesel (54), Kristen Bell (41), Elizabeth McGovern (60), James Brolin (81), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (39), Paul Verhoeven (83), Richard Branson (71), Donald Sutherland (86), Alex Winter (56), Eric Winter (45), David Hasselhoff (69), Will Ferrell (54), Phoebe Cates (58), Corey Feldman (50), Travis Fimmel (42), Diane Kruger (45), Brigitte Nielsen (58), Forest Whitaker (60), Celia Imrie (69), Jesse Ventura (70), Adam Savage (54), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (36), Jackie Earle Haley (60), Matthew Fox (55), Kyle Gass (61), David Mitchell (47), Harrison Ford (79), Sharon Horgan (51), Patrick Stewart (81), Ken Jeong (52), Michelle Rodriguez (43), Anna Friel (45), Melissa O’Neil (33), Bill Cosby (84), Tamsin Greig (55), Cheryl Ladd (70), Stephen Lang (69), Caroline Quentin (61), Craig Charles (57), Sofía Vergara (49), Chiwetel Ejiofor (44), Jessica Simpson (41), Peter Serafinowicz (49), John Simm (51), Tom Hanks (65), Kelly McGillis (64), Pamela Adlon (55), Courtney Love (57), Fred Savage (45), Scott Grimes (59), Richard Roundtree (79), O.J. Simpson (74), Richard Wilson (85), Kevin Bacon (63), Anjelica Huston (70), Jaden Smith (23), Jeffrey Tambor (77), Shelley Duvall (72), Jack Whitehall (33), Ringo Starr (81), Eva Green (41), Sylvester Stallone (75), Kevin Hart (42), Burt Ward (76), Geoffrey Rush (70), Jennifer Saunders (63), 50 Cent (46), and Huey Lewis (71).