3.06.2010

Greenspan's Body Count: Lawrence Myers and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre

In a tragic tale that won't be surprising to GBC readers, slumlord Lawrence Myers got in over his head in debt. So he turned to arson for a quick payday.
The owner of a Cicero apartment building in which seven young people died in a February fire had his building manager set the blaze in a plan to cash in on a $250,000 insurance policy, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.

[...] Myers was struggling with a mortgage he couldn’t pay on a vacant Wisconsin building, [assistant state’s attorney Mary] Lacy said.

But it's hard to find good help these days:
In a conversation recorded by a wire-wearing witness days after the fire, landlord Lawrence Myers, 60, said he told his manager Marion “Andre” Comier, 47, to “do it during the daytime. . . . I told him do it in the afternoon before the kids come home from school,” [...]

Instead, Comier doused a couch in a vacant first-floor rear apartment with a mixture of oil and gasoline then set it ablaze around 6:30 a.m. Feb. 14 — a bitterly cold Sunday morning when it was virtually guaranteed all those in the building would be home and sleeping, said Lacy and Anita Alvarez, Cook County state’s attorney.

Burned to death in an attic apartment were:
Sallie Gist, 18; her two children, Rayshawn Reed, 3, and newborn Byron Reed; her twin siblings, Elisha and Elijah Gist, 16; her boyfriend, Byron Reed, 20, and family friend Tiera Davidson, 19.

Still happy about encouraging people to overleverage themselves for real estate speculation, Dr. Greenspan? You sick bastard. Greenspan's Body Count stands at 130.

Sallie Gist
Rayshawn Reed
Byron Reed Sr.
Byron Reed Jr.
Elisha Gist
Elijah Gist
Tiera Davidson
Christopher Oetting
Neal Jacobson
Franki Jacobson
Eric Jacobson
Joshua Jacobson
Vincenza Garcia
Bill Sparkman
Debra K. Gibbs
Otis Beckford
Carol Kennedy
Diane Ward
Edith Moreno
Diana Moreno
Scott Peters
Tom Blackmore
Kevin Daniel O'Connell
Julie Fay
Wallis Fay
Siu Fong Ng
Ernest Scherer Jr.
Charlene Abendroth
J.D. Wood
Cynthia Wood
Aubrey Wood
Dillon Wood
Betty J. Lipply
Dwight Deely
Linda Patrick
David Kellerman
Christopher Wood
Francie Billotti-Wood
Chandler Wood
Gavin Wood
Fiona Wood
Gil Weber
Gregory Graham
Randolph Graham
David Kelley
Ramona woman
Del Mar man
Wayne "Mike" Anderson
Jeffrey M. Pearson
Ervin Antonio Lupoe
Ana Lupoe
Brittney Lupoe
Jaszmin Lupoe
Jassely Lupoe
Benjamin Lupoe
Christian Lupoe
Steven L. Good
Adolf Merckle
Mike Upham
Randy Motts
Kristy Hunt
Joseph Nesheiwat
Tom Brisch
Alex Widmer
Brian Pugh
Marilyn Lewis
Sid Agrawal
Kirk Stephenson
Barry Fox
Dallas Dwayne Carter
David Hetzel
Sharron Hetzel
Cliff Kendall
Pamela Ross
Roland Gore
Mrs. Gore
Wanda Dunn
Karthik Rajaram
Subasri Rajaram
Krishna Rajaram
Ganesha Rajaram
Arjuna Rajaram
Indra Ramasesham
Joe X
Isabelle Jarka
Robert Wagner
Lt. Michael Howe
John Roberts
Palmer C. White
Dianne Pittman White
Ed Boesen
Edwin F. Rachleff
Carlene Balderrama
Troy VanderStelt
Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry

Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

Happy Super Tuesday!