Francis Crowley

Francis "Two Gun" Crowley
Francis "Two-Gun" Crowley
Born	(1912-10-31)October 31, 1912 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	January 21, 1932(1932-01-21) (aged 19) Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York
Other names	Two-Gun
Occupation	Criminal
Criminal penalty	Death penalty
Criminal status	Executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison
Conviction(s)	Murder (1931)

Francis "Two Gun" Crowley (October 31, 1912 – January 21, 1932) was an American murderer and career criminal. His crime spree lasted nearly three months, ending in a two-hour shootout with the New York City Police Department in May 1931. The 18-year-old's stand against the NYPD was witnessed by 15,000 bystanders and received national attention. Crowley would later influence the image of the archetypal Irish gangster, although he wasn't Irish.

Francis Crowley was born in New York City on October 31, 1912. He was the second son of an unwed German mother, who gave him up for adoption. Some speculate that his absent father was a police officer, which may have led to his hatred for police as an adult. In 1925, his brother John was killed following a confrontation with police officers after allegedly resisting arrest over a charge of disorderly conduct. (John Crowley had been involved in the killing of NYPD Officer Maurice Harlow on February 22, 1925.) By his late teens, Crowley had a reputation as a troubled youth with a criminal history.

On February 21, 1931, Crowley and two other young men crashed a dance hosted by the American Legion in the Bronx. When several Legionnaires tried to remove them from the venue, Crowley drew a gun and wounded two men before fleeing. Charged with attempted murder, Crowley went into hiding but was confronted by police on March 13. 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, Westchester County, New York.

A month later, Crowley and two friends committed a home invasion, breaking into the West 90th Street apartment of real estate broker Rudolph Adler. When Adler attempted to resist the intruders, Crowley shot him five times, using the two pistols which earned him his nickname, "Two Gun". Adler's dog Trixie attacked the robbers and drove them from the house, saving her owner's life. On April 27, Crowley was out joyriding in a stolen vehicle with his partner Rudolph "Fats" Durringer and dance hall hostess Virginia Brannen. When Brannen resisted Durringer's advances, Durringer shot and killed her while still in the car. Crowley then helped Durringer dump her body outside St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers.