Oct. 4, 1961 - A gangland figure was shot dead today on a busy Brooklyn streetcorner. He was Joseph Magnasco, 36-year-old lieutenant of the notorious Gallo brothers, Joseph (pictured) — also known as “Crazy Joe” and “Joe the Blonde” — and Lawrence, jukebox and vending machine racketeers. Lawrence Gallo was the victim of an attempted strangling in a Flatbush restaurant in August. Magnasco was slain by a gunman who fired three bullets into him as he walked out of the College Restaurant on Fourth Avenue. The killer was one of five men in a 1961 Buick that stopped near where Magnasco was standing. The assailant fired four shots at point-blank range and stepped back into the car, which then sped north along Fourth Avenue. According to sources, the Gallos have upset entrenched elements in jukebox and vending machine interests by trying to muscle in on their territory. When the Gallos refused to back off, word went out that they would be dealt with.
