Anyone here remember when?

This town's got an embarrisment of riches when it comes to hobbying lore. In the early 1970s there was an outstanding panderer named Mike Carmody. When anyone was craving a SAC co-ed Mike was the one to call. All this came to an end in January 1975 when he was found dead. The cause of death was heroin poisoning, but the amount found in his body was way too much for an overdose. I've heard rumors that it was Bunny Ekert who did the deed, but Ekert was never so crafty as to use anything other than a shot gun. I've been wondering for years what really happened. He was far more beloved than people like Ekert.

What nationality was Mike?

Kinda sounds like the Arabic guy that was hot in the club scene opening trendy places to go.

I think Carmody is an Irish name, and there's lots of them around and they're definitely not anything but European.

A lot of people knew him by the jagged scar he had on his forehead. He got that from diving off a bridge into the Comal river in New Braunfels. He was in the same High School class there as someone else from there who became a U.S. Senator and Ambassador.

In the 1960s he had five or six hamburger joints here but was put out of business when someone got the phone book to drop his ad one year. Remember when you used to have to phone in your burger orders?

Then he became a go-to guy for all kinds of stuff like diamonds, cars, and then girls. His family members owned business here, and none of them were poor. They are all perfectly respectable and the family was always solid middle class if not better.

He was a gentlemen and much admired by many but he had his enemies. Once just before he died I saw him and he had a large caliber hole just behind the driver's side rear pylon of his Grand Prix. Someone had been shooting at him on the road and almost hit him. He was able to get two of those Pontiac emblems though and just put them on either side thus covering up the hole on the left. So everything was cool. No biggie.

Bunny Ekhert would have been the kind to have shot at him on the freeway, but I would have taken someone more crafty to have done him in the way it actually happened.

sounds creepy
so they never caught the guy?

Creepy? Hell no, that's normal. Or it used to be.

Caught the guy? Hell no. Caught by who? The police? That's funny.

You've gotta understand that in San Antonio in days gone by homicide was routine. And I don't mean street gang drive by stuff. I mean that killing was a professional matter carried out by gentlemen, such as Woody Harrelson's father, Charlse, who was a well respected hit man here for many years. In those days hit men wore suits and diamond rings, and you would meet them at a restaurant to discuss business. If some punk from the street formed a gang and tried to do a drive by or something like that he would be put down fast. That kind of disorder and chaos wasn't permitted. Nobody had bars on their windows and doors then. People lived with a sense of security. No Sheriff would be re-elected otherwise. Things were organized, UTR and quiet.

Another hit man who used to ply his trade here was Malcom Wallace. Try googling his name and see what you come up with. He was the President of his University class at UT, and then taught Economics there after getting his Phd at Columbia. But that didn't stop him from indulging in his avocation of murder for hire. Everytime he would get caught the judges or jury members would just get bribed and he'd be back on the street shortly.

In the San Antonio underworld there were many such characters. "The Turk," who used to work as a killer for the Parrs in Duval County, used to come here from time to time. Everyone here who owned gambling houses or houses where girls were kept had such people at their service, and everyone knew about it. It made for a lot of courtesy. People were well-behaved and polite because of it.

This is all part of the colorful history of our city.

btw how many people here know who stole the McFarlan diamond? All the old school people here know who did it. Here's a hint. He used to play pro football.

ps MsPrettiKitti you look awesome. Your avatar is gorgeous, and I like the vintage car too.

yup. sounds creepy to me...oganized street crime! at its finest. jk
i do find it interesting tho. i guess its just "creepy" bc its so close to home...this is stuff i like to hear about..but never would imagine that happened/coukd happen here
....idk how many times ive watched the interviews of the "ice man" ...i think that was his name....that mob hit man thats murdered all those ppl....like a lot & freezed their bodies before dumping it...

thanks!

The Iceman worked for a mafia family in New Jersey. He was very unlike the characters around here in that he was a sociopath who liked to torture animals and often killed for amusement. Someone like that would have been a target around here rather than the hitter, and we have to thank for that the fact that around here the sick values of the mafia were not tolerated. In the depression days sometimes gangsters from Chicago or elsewhere would travel down here and knock over a gambling joint thinking we were easy pickings and would learn to regret it later. One such house where this happened was over on Saunders just a few blocks west of Zarzamora. The hidden second floor still has the old wires from the dozen or so telephones that were in there to take bets.