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Dead Mans Eyes - A superstition
Dead Man's Eyes: Mob Superstition There is an old belief, said by some to go back to the Old World, that when a person dies, the last scene he sees is forever imprinted on the retina of his eyes. In the case of an underworld hit, that often means the mob killers. Thus it is logical for hitmen to shoot out victims' eyes and so remove damaging evidence.
The superstition was evidently heeded widely in New York City around 1900, a period coinciding with a number of Black Hand and Mafia murders. The origin of the belief, thought by some to be particularly strong in Sicily from where the mafiosi and numerous Black Handers emigrated, is most difficult to determine. But it affected non-Mafia killers as well. Dead Man's Eyes was explained to Monk Eastman, the infamous Jewish gang leader, after he noted that some murder victims were getting their eyes shot out. After his next murder, he recalled the custom, and, whether or not he believed it, decided to err on the side of caution. He trudged back up three flights of stairs to blast out the eyes of his latest corpse.
Some observers of criminal behavior attribute the increase in eye shootouts around 1900 with the criminals' growing awareness of the miracles of scientific detection. Fingerprinting and other advances had proved effective, so it seemed possible a retina-picture development method might be found.
For many years, doctors at the New York medical examiner's office explained to the press they had studied and studied the eyes of corpses and found no such image. Evidently the underworld acknowledges the lessons of medical research—eye shootouts have decreased in recent years.
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Contributor's Note
This intel reflects only one of my activities. I also write about and/or have websites on Vespa Scooters, Lambretta Scooters, Hardy Banana plants, Medical memorabilia, reborn baby dolls and much more. Hope you enjoyed the read, Philip Davey
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This intel was contributed by Phildave
Phildave
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May, 2012
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