Francis Crowley

Francis Crowley

Francis Crowley was an American murderer. His crime spree lasted nearly three months, ending in a two-hour shootout with the New York City Police Department on May 7, 1931. He became the archetype of the Irish gangster. In 1932 he was executed in New York’s electric chair.

About Francis Crowley in brief

Summary Francis CrowleyFrancis Crowley was an American murderer. His crime spree lasted nearly three months, ending in a two-hour shootout with the New York City Police Department on May 7, 1931. He became the archetype of the Irish gangster. In 1932 he was executed in New York’s electric chair. Crowley was the second son of an unwed German mother who gave him up for adoption. He had a hatred for police, with some speculating that his absent father was a police officer. This hatred for the police was compounded by police killing his brother John when Crowley was 12 years old.

He spent his last year on death row at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Crowley’s last words to Warden Lewis Lawes were to ask for a ragling to be thrown into his cell. He was sentenced to death on June 1, 1932, and remained in prison until January 21, 1932. He reportedly flew into a rage and set fire to his prison uniform down a toilet, setting his bed on fire and setting his cell on fire.