In the late 1920’s the main underworld fixer in Saint Paul was Irish mobster Daniel Hogan, nicknamed Dapper Dan because of his flashy, snappy dress. He lived in a modest little house at 1607 West Seventh Street, which still stands today, and managed a business called the Green Lantern Saloon in downtown St Paul. The city is known for its colorful gangster past, and a lot of it had to do with the “Layover System”, created by chief of police John O’Connor at the turn of the century. O’Connor was of course concerned about keeping crime rates low, so in a unique strategy to do just that, he extended an open invitation to gangsters from across the Midwest. It became the general rule that if you wanted a place to lay low, hideout, or just take it easy, (even if you had a prison-riddled background) you could live in St Paul and not be bothered. In exchange for agreeing not to commit any crimes within the city’s limits, and to check in with police at your arrival, you would remain free to roam the streets of St Paul without fear of police harassment. The system was a smashing success, both in bringing criminals to St Paul to spend their vacation money, and keeping the city crime free. When a hoodlum came to town, the Green Lantern Saloon would typically be the first stop. Dapper Dan Hogan acted as a liaison between gangsters and police, often introducing one element to the other, and he also acted as a personal banker; keeping his client’s money secure in a backroom safe at the Saloon. Hogan was a local fencer as well, and laundered bonds, securities, stamps, stolen property and marked money. One of Dapper Dan’s most trusted assistants, Harry “Dutch” Sawyer, was often on the job in Dan’s absence, helping manage the details of their profitable business.
Hogan had many enemies, and on December 4th, 1928, one of them was responsible for the event that took place at his West Seventh home. On that morning, at approximately 11:30 am, fat and bloated from a big breakfast, Dapper Dan walked towards his Paige coupe to go to work. He had the car parked in the garage in back. Hogan climbed in, turned on the ignition, and stepped on the starter pedal. Unbeknownst to him, an explosive charge had been hidden between the engine block and the floorboard, wired to the bolt on the top of the engine block and attached by wires to the explosive. As he started the car the bomb detonated, with an explosion so great the car leapt backwards out of the garage. The hood blew off, all the coupe’s windows shattered, the gears flattened, and the steering wheel was blown from its base. Hogan’s right leg was smashed beyond recognition. He was taken to the hospital, slipped into a coma, and nine hours later died from his wounds. According to some accounts, Hogan probably would have perished instantly if he had been the size of a normal man. He was so fat, though, that he had to lean back in his car seat a ways to operate the vehicle, and his head was protected by the distance his stomach created; otherwise his head would have likely been ripped from his body during the explosion.
One of Hogan’s closest friends, Irish gangster Bugs Moran, a rival of Al Capone’s, came quickly from Chicago to tend to Hogan’s family. He was evidently so distraught by the event, that neighbors watched him march and down the sidewalk in front of the home during the days following the murder, guarding the family from further possible harm. No suspects were ever arrested, and Hogan, even on his deathbed refused to name names, but fingers quietly pointed to the Green Lantern Saloon’s assistant, Harry Sawyer. Before his death, Dapper Dan had told his wife Leila that he had $50,000 in cash in a safe deposit box and instructed her to collect the cash in the event of his death. When she went to get the money, the box was empty. The only other person known to have a key was Harry Sawyer. After Hogan’s murder, Harry Sawyer inherited the Green Lantern Saloon, and took over for Hogan as St Paul’s underworld power broker. This, by the way, was the first successful car bomb in American history.
