Gangsters were buried in "concrete shoes"?

[Skeptic]

Has there ever been a case of someone being dropped into the water with their feet stuck in a concrete block, as crime fiction so often mentions?

[Jay Tea]

Outside of fiction, very unlikely. What has occured here is a blending of scriptwriting largesse and the very real practice of weighing down corpses for disposal in water...

I'm sure people probably have been thrown in alive with weighted feet at one time or another. But the idea that they would stand around waiting for concrete to set while a few chains and weights would do just as good seems too fanciful.

[diddy]

Odd, my post is gone. Must be sleeping with the fishes. Anyway. Wikipedia claims that it is uncertain if it happened outside of Hollywood.

[diddy]

Originally Posted by lazerus the duck

I'm sure people probably have been thrown in alive with weighted feet at one time or another. But the idea that they would stand around waiting for concrete to set while a few chains and weights would do just as good seems too fanciful.

What if they were restrained, held at gunpoint, or injured?

[tagurit]

Well, everybody knows that the gangsters all own cement companies and you've got all this cement just sitting around, so while you have your victim all tied up, giving him a piece of your mind, making him squirm, you just add a tub of cement under him and voila! You've made him squirm even more and you don't have to play around with chains or rocks.

What? You've never heard of quick setting cement?

[A Turtle Named Mack]

It happened all the time - that way they could claim it had been an accident.

[Majorsam]

The concept of Concrete Overshoes isn't too far-fetched, putting it on live people seems so.

Gansters (and common murderers for that matter) need to dispose of the body/evidence. Dumping it into the ocean isn't that good, since the corpse will quickly bloat & float. Burying it is risky because the act might be witnessed.

With that said, I've always been of the assumption that the victim wasn't alive when he was put in the shoes. That would be silly for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that they'd squirm as Lazerus points out...but also if he was alive he could yell for help whilst being driven to the bridge or struggle as they lifted the helpless cementee over the railing.

Using it on a corpse makes a lot more sense, but is by no means a certain way of dealing with the body. I remember two cases in the last twenty years or so around San Francisco where the body either poppped up with insufficient weight or washed ashore. In both cases, if I recall, they simply had old concrete blocks tied to the body rather than set.

[BoKu]

This reminds me of one of my favorite XKCD strips.

Originally Posted by diddy

What if they were restrained, held at gunpoint, or injured?

I'm talking about the gangsters doing the killing waiting around. There are a lot faster ways of killing someone and lot more efficient ways of torturing someone to.

[Jay Tea]

This thread got me thinking, I wonder how many corpses currently occupy our motorway overpasses, pilings and foundations?

There are ways and means of disposing of cadavers, and the method you use depends on the resources and geography at your, um, disposal...

[High Eight]

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

This thread got me thinking, I wonder how many corpses currently occupy our motorway overpasses, pilings and foundations?

The Bow flyover, east London, (alleged) last resting place of Frank 'the mad axeman' Mitchell, placed there by the Kray gang.

[Brad from Georgia]

We just used to wire 'em to concrete blocks. Much neater and faster than waiting for concrete to set.

[catty5nutz]

In 1955, there was a case of a man, who along with his wife, who while still alive, was weighted, and thrown overboard. Much to the shock of his killers, he remained afloat, and even started swimming.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/co...ll50_0615.html

[diddy]

Originally Posted by lazerus the duck

I'm talking about the gangsters doing the killing waiting around. There are a lot faster ways of killing someone and lot more efficient ways of torturing someone to.

Oh. My bad. Must have misread. for me.