GIUSEPPE ZANGARA THE ASSASSIN (SEPTEMBER 7, 1900 TO MARCH 20, 1933)

80 years ago on this date, March 20, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara was executed by the electric chair for the assassin of Chicago mayor, Anton Cermak on 15 February that year. He was put to death exactly 32 days after the murder, it was a swift and sure execution. As he was arrested on the spot, there is no way any abolitionist can say he was innocent, he was guilty beyond any doubt. I got the information from Wikipedia.

Mug shot of Giuseppe Zangara following his arrest.

Born	September 7, 1900 Ferruzzano, Calabria, Kingdom of Italy
Died	March 20, 1933 (aged 32) Florida State Prison, Raiford, Florida, U.S.
Charge(s)	First-degree murder
Penalty	Death by electric chair
Conviction status	Deceased
Occupation	Bricklayer

Giuseppe Zangara (September 7, 1900 – March 20, 1933) was the assassin of Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, though United States President–elect Franklin D. Roosevelt may have been his intended target. Roosevelt escaped injury, but five people were shot including Cermak.

Early life

Zangara was born in Ferruzzano, Calabria, Italy. After serving in the Tyrolian Alps in World War I, Zangara did a variety of menial jobs in his home village before emigrating with his uncle to the United States in 1923. He settled in Paterson, New Jersey and on September 11, 1929, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Physical health problems

Zangara, a poorly educated bricklayer, suffered severe pain in his abdomen, later attributed to adhesions of the gall bladder, possibly originating from an appendectomy performed in 1926. These adhesions were later cited as a cause for his increasing mental delusions. It became increasingly difficult for him to work due to both his physical and mental conditions.

Anton Cermak

Assassination attempt

On February 15, 1933, Roosevelt was giving an impromptu speech from the back of an open car in the Bayfront Park area of Miami, Florida, where Zangara was living, working the occasional odd job, and living off his savings. Zangara joined the crowd, armed with a .32-caliber pistol he had bought at a local pawn shop. However, being only five feet tall, he was unable to see over other people, and had to stand on a wobbly folding metal chair, peering over the hat of Lillian Cross to get a clear aim at his target. After the first shot, Cross and others grabbed his arm, and he fired four more shots wildly. Five people were hit, including Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, who was standing on the running board of the car next to Roosevelt. En route to the hospital, Cermak allegedly told FDR, "I'm glad it was me instead of you", words now inscribed on a plaque in Bayfront Park.

Aftermath

In the Dade County Courthouse jail, Zangara confessed and stated: "I have the gun in my hand. I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists." He pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to 80 years in prison. As he was led out of the courtroom, Zangara told the judge: "Four times 20 is 80. Oh, judge, don't be stingy. Give me a hundred years." The judge, aware that Cermak might not survive his wounds, replied: "Maybe there will be more later."

Cermak died of peritonitis 19 days later, on March 6, 1933, two days after Roosevelt's inauguration. Zangara was promptly indicted for first-degree murder in Cermak's death. Because Zangara had intended to commit murder, it was irrelevant that his intended target may not have been the man he ultimately killed. In that case, he would still be guilty of murder under the doctrine of transferred intent. Circuit Court Judge Uly Thompson sentenced Zangara to death.

Zangara pleaded guilty to the additional murder charge, and was sentenced to die. Zangara said after hearing his sentence: "You give me electric chair. I no afraid of that chair! You one of capitalists. You is crook man too. Put me in electric chair. I no care!" Under Florida law, a convicted murderer could not share cell space with another prisoner before his execution, but another convicted murderer was already awaiting execution at Raiford. Zangara's sentence required prison officials to expand their waiting area, and the "death cell" became "Death Row".

Execution

On March 20, 1933, after spending only 10 days on Death Row, Zangara was executed in Old Sparky, the electric chair at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Florida. Zangara became enraged when he learned no newsreel cameras would be filming his final moments. Zangara's final statement was "Viva Italia! Goodbye to all poor peoples everywhere! [...] Push the button!"

Motivations

Raymond Moley interviewed Zangara and believed he was not part of any larger plot, and that he had intended to kill Roosevelt.

Alternative theories have circulated, especially in Chicago, where there were rumors that Zangara was a hired killer, working for Frank Nitti, who was the head of the Chicago Outfit (Chicago's largest organized-crime syndicate). Allegedly, Mayor Cermak was the real target, because of his pledge to clean up the rampant gang violence in Chicago. Another speculation is that Cermak was connected to the Outfit's underworld rivals.

Some versions of this story assert that Zangara was a diversion for a second gunman who was to shoot Cermak; but this alleged second gunman was never seen.

Another point is that Zangara had been an expert marksman in the Italian Army (though not with a pistol from a great distance), and would presumably hit his target, so perhaps Cermak was the intended victim.

In popular culture

Zangara was played by Eddie Korbich in the original Off-Broadway production of Assassins by Stephen Sondheim. In later productions he was played by Paul Harrhy in London and by Jeffrey Kuhn in the show's original Broadway production. Appearing in several songs from the play, he has a major solo in the number, "How I Saved Roosevelt".

Zangara plays a significant role in the background provided for Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle. The alternate history novel begins with the premise that Zangara succeeded in assassinating Franklin D. Roosevelt, using this historical event as its point of divergence.

In 1960, in a two-part story line on the TV show The Untouchables, actor Joe Mantell played the part of Giuseppe "Joe" Zangara. This episode focuses on Nitti's plan to kill Mayor Cermak, which fails, thanks to Eliot Ness. But Ness's successful prevention of Nitti's assassination plot is quickly undercut when Zangara does the deed. The shows were originally aired February 25 and March 3, 1960.

Max Allan Collins' 1983 novel, True Detective, first in the Nathan Heller mystery series, features Zangara's attempted assassination of Roosevelt, positing it as an actual attempt on Chicago's mayor at the time, Anton Cermak. The novel won the 1984 Shamus Award for Best P.I. Hardcover from the Private Eye Writers of America.

The 2011 fantasy noir novel Spellbound by Larry Correia features Zangara's attempted assassination of FDR. Zangara is magically enhanced in a plot to inflame bigotry and curtail the civil rights of the magically gifted protagonists of the Grimnoir Society. Instead of using a small caliber handgun, Zangara is made into a living cannon or bomb, and kills nearly 200 onlookers including Mayor Cermak and crippling Roosevelt.