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The bombing of Greene residence at 15805 Waterloo Road. The bomb exploded just after 4 a.m. while Greene (46) and his girlfriend, Collinwood High School senior Denise Schmidt, slept in the building’s second story apartment. Both escaped the explosion with minor injuries. William Kiraly was later convicted of the crime.
This was the location of Cleveland gangster Danny Greene’s iconic trailers and office building. It is still a vacant lot, just like after the bombing, when Greene fenced it off, installed two trailers and raised the Irish flag. He sat outside sunning himself — shirtless to show off his broad, bronzed chest and the Celtic cross dangling from his neck — and, with a TV camera rolling, dared all his bomb-throwing enemies to come get him.
Greene, 45, was at his home at 15805 Waterloo Rd. NE when a bomb was thrown through a downstairs window at 3:50 a.m. The explosion destroyed the building that Greene also used as an office to run an industrial consulting firm.
Greene escaped with extensive cuts and bruises. He was in seclusion last night. Lt. Edward P. Kovacic of the police scientific investigation unit said yesterday that the explosion was unmistakably an attempt on Greene’s life. “There are three reasons why some body bombs somebody,” Kovacic said. “Either it’s to make someone start doing something, make someone stop doing something or to kill someone. This was to wipe out Danny Greene.” Police said yesterday there are many possible bombing motives, including Greene’s alleged role as an enforcer in finding people jobs through his consulting firm, Greene’s possible links to fire-chasing feuds, his role in fighting for control of the numbers racket and his disagreements with the late Alex (Shondor) Birns. Birns, a numbers racketeer who had many arrests but few convictions, was killed March 29 seconds after he entered his car parked behind Christy’s Lounge at 2516 Detroit Ave. NW.
Police said there was a dispute between Birns and Greene about a year before Birns’ death. Some sources suspect it was about the numbers racket; others strongly disagree. Greene’s prior brush with death bybombing was on March 12, 1968. He was at the wheel when an explosion wracked his convertible. He escaped with head and leg cuts. Greene’s lawyer, James W. Burke, said yesterday that Greene was in considerable pain. He said Greene may require hospitalization. Burke also said Greene was shoeless, clad only in a T-shirt and pants when he escaped. Two of his pet cats, however, were killed. “Greene got out like a cat,” Kovacic said. “He was even luckier than his own cats.”
Police said they found another undetonated bomb near the building. Kovacic said the bomb was connected to a two-gallon can of gasoline. The explosion probably disconnected it, he said. Kovacic also said he is not sure what kind of bomb did the damage. He speculated that Greene escaped this way: Greene was in bed when the he heard glass break. He rose and went into a kitchen, also on the second floor. When the bomb exploded, a kitcben cabinet fell into the sink. The cabinet and a refrigerator somehow formed an inverted “V” under which Greene crouched. He then was shielded from most of the falling timbers and bricks. The floor quickly fell and Greene was able to step out to safety.
Sources – https://www.cleveland.com/pdextra/2011/02/greene_escapes_another_bomb.html – Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections – https://clevelandhistorical.org/index.php/files/show/3706