News Article - Boston Herald - March 8, 1925

Boston Thug Found Crushed in Icebox - Reported State’s Witness

Charleston, March 7

Boston police, called to the scene by an anonymous phone call, found the dead body of Colin McCreary, broken in half and stuffed in an icebox, in an unidentified house last night. McCreary, known to be an associate of notorious gangster Michael O’Connell, himself reputed to work for Frank Boyle, a quiet Irishman residing in Jamaica Plains with no apparent means of support, has a long history of criminal convictions and charges dating back to 1918, when he was a juvenile. Sources have reported that McCreary’s death could be more than a typical gangland slaying, intimating that McCreary might have something to do with a criminal case pending against O’Connell and maybe even Boyle. If so, his death could certainly be in revenge for testimony given as part of that case.

“We’re looking into all the options,” confirmed Det. Oliver Garrett, “and will leave no stone unturned.” O’Connell, himself from Ireland and a reputed relative of Boyle’s, served a year long sentence for violations of the Volstead Act in 1922, and is understood to have played a key role in the reputed gangland war surrounding the South Boston docks two years previous. Boyle, in the Boston area for around the last two decades, has no criminal record in America, but has been implicated in numerous criminal activities in Boston since his arrival.

Garret would not confirm if the Boston Police Department was planning to press any criminal charges against O’Connell or Boyle. Nor would he comment on the possible whereabouts of Elias Johnson or Bernard Rinkatur, both reputed comrades of McCreary’s. McCreary leaves behind his father, Theodore, a laborer, and a sister, Eileen, a garment worker.