The Sly-Fanner Murders : The Birth of the Mayfield Road Mob; Cleveland's Most Notorious Mafia Gang

The Cleveland Police Department Never Gave Up!

From the moment of the double-murder the police never gave up in the hunt for the six suspects involved in the payroll robbery-gone bad. Cleveland detectives and prosecutors pursued and/or arrested the killers in Los Angeles, Mexico City, San Francisco and finally Sicily, taking some fifteen years to make sure justice was served.

The crime was carried out by members of Cleveland€s infamous Mayfield Road Mob. The plot to rob the local businessmen was hatched after one gang member, convicted of auto theft, was desperate for cash to file an appeal. Short on manpower, the gang€s leader was forced to involve himself and an immature teenager in the daring hold-up. The young man€s inexperience led to the double slaying and the manhunt was on.

In the end, three of the participants would pay with their lives in the electric chair, one would be sent to prison for life, another received 30 years at hard labor; the last one, the younger brother of Cleveland€s first Mafia boss, would go free.

This story also gives a chilling look at one of the most violent periods in the history of Cleveland. When a new prosecutor takes office on January 1, 1921, he is confronted with handling three sensational murder trials in addition to the killings, which just took place the day before. This lawless period resulted in the Cleveland Crime Survey of 1921, the country€s first in-depth study of the justice system of a major United States city