Lagerhead Quinlavan

When he was a lad in the tough Yorkville section of Manhattan, Jimmy Cagney ran with a group of poor slum kids sporting nicknames like “Picky,” “Lagerhead” and “Specs.” One of them, Pete Heslin, was nicknamed “Bootah” on account of the over-sized boots he wore. Bootah used to prove how tough he was by hanging off rooftops by his fingertips. Later, he proved how tough he was by becoming a drug addict and killing an off-duty cop during an armed robbery. In 1927, he was sent to Sing Sing and died in the electric chair. Any resemblance between Bootah and Cagney’s portrayal of Rocky Sullivan in Angels with Dirty Faces is purely intentional.

by Jim Knipfel

Drawing by Tony Millionaire

Excerpted from Daniel Riccuito’s The Depression Alphabet Primer