by Chad Frodyma

Part 2

Eddie Jedlicka, 20, of 1451 Pinkney Street, admitted to firing 16 of the 17 shots fired at Sullivan. His brother, Anton Jedlicka, 19, drove the getaway car for the holdup. William Griffith, 17, of 1911 Binney fled Omaha two days after the murder to his grandparent’s house in Stockton, California. Griffith fired the 17^th shot at Sullivan. He was captured by Stockton police on Saturday, April 10^th, one week after the murder.

The Jedlicka brothers confessed after their friend, Paul Leahy 21, of 1462 Spencer, following several hours of grilling, told police that the Jedlicka brothers and Griffith had told him of the murder the day after it occurred. Leahy helped them dispose of the clothing they wore during the holdup. Police received a "straight tip" that Leahy knew who had killed Sullivan, so they arrested him on Wednesday. Leahy denied for several hours that he knew anything of the crime, then, about midnight, he told all he knew. Anton Jedlicka had been arrested in the meantime. The "straight tip" came from Paul Leahy’s mother, via a family friend, who feared that her son might be "taken for a ride" according to gangster tradition for knowing too much about the killing of Sullivan. Leahy’s mother recognized the clothing that was hidden at her house from the description given in the Sunday paper. She questioned Leahy, who eventually told her everything, but added "They’ll kill me. They said if I told they would put me on the spot." Almost frantic with fear for her son, Mrs. Leahy consulted a friend and told him all. Chief Pszanowski received a phone call on Wednesday, April 8^th, and soon after, a man came to see him. Under strict pledges not to reveal the source of information, the story of the killing was told. The arrest of the Jedlickas soon followed.

About 1:00 a.m., officers were sent to the Jedlicka home to get Eddie, who was sleeping. "Put on your clothes and come along" Detective Strong told him. Jedlicka responded "All right," and dressed quietly, not asking what he was wanted for. At the police station, Jedlicka was confronted with the signed confessions of his brother, Anton, and Leahy. Jedlicka responded "You’re trying to gyp me. I don’t think they ever said anything like this." When presented with an early edition of the World-Herald telling of the capture of the youths, Jedlicka confessed.

Eddie Jedlicka’s confession reads as follows: "I went inside the station and told the attendant to put the lights out. Bill Griffith, he took care of the attendant. He prodded him into a corner. It seemed to me there were always two attendants at the station. I naturally wondered where the other one was. I did not know a policeman was locked in the lavatory. I opened the door a little ways and looked in. God, the man in there poked out his shotgun at me. I didn’t know what in hell it was all about. I slammed the door shut and caught his gun in between the door. He naturally pulled it in toward him and he shot right through the center of the door. I might just a well be a dead guy. I’d be better off if he had hit me. One of the splinters off the door hit me. Well, when he fired at me I naturally started firing that gun. Just kept shooting. I didn’t know when to stop. I emptied both guns (Jedlicka was armed with two handguns) and crawled through the window. Bill tried to get out of the door all the time but he was afraid Sullivan would shoot him. Bill had a gun of his own. He had a .38 pistol. I don’t know if Sullivan shot a Bill or not, but Bill claims he did. Finally, Bill made this filling station attendant walk alongside him. The poor fillings station attendant was scared to death. He didn’t know what it was all about. I didn’t realize I had emptied my guns. As soon as I got to Bill’s house I went to empty the damn things and there was not shells in either of them."

Jedlicka said Griffith fired one shot at Sullivan from a .38 revolver, just as he was leaving the station. Jedlicka said that after he and Griffith left the filling station they ran desperately, down alleys, across lots, and chased by dogs, until they came to a car barn at 25^th and Lake Street, where an out of shape Griffith gave out. They eventually made it to Griffith’s home at 1911 Binney Street. "I didn’t think I killed Sullivan, I just thought I scared him" Jedlicka said. Jedlicka returned to his home and hid the guns at his brother-in-law’s house. Leahy took the clothing later – a sweater and a leather jacket – and hid them.

Anton Jedlicka (the getaway driver), in his confession, said he heard the shooting from where he sat in the car, and fled without waiting for the others. The morning after the killing, Anton awoke first and read the Sunday paper. There was the story of the murder. Eddie awoke later, and learned the effects of his bullets. Leahy also read the Sunday paper. Leahy called Griffith. Leahy knew that Griffith had been sticking up filling stations, and thought he might have killed Sullivan while doing so. Griffith told Leahy the story. Leahy then talked to the Jedlicka brothers, who told him the same thing. A worried Griffith gathered up $100 and left town, heading for his grandparent’s house in California. Leahy, apparently no better than the Jedlickas or Griffith, borrowed a gun from Jedlicka and held up two taxi drivers on Monday evening.

When Griffith was arrested in Stockton, California, he admitted to being one of the bandits, but denied firing at Sullivan. "Eddie is the one who did the shooting. I just stood there, too much surprised to do anything. I guess he must have emptied two pistols into that door, with the policeman behind it. The policeman fired back a few times, but when he stopped firing I turned and ran out the door." Police investigators at the Coryell filling station found a .38 caliber bullet they believed was fired by Griffith. It was embedded in the door sill, and had not struck Sullivan.

The Jedlickas entered pleas of not guilty in police court and were ordered held to the district court without bonds. County Attorney Beal said that if they cared to plead guilty to second degree murder, he would accept the plea, which would result in a penalty of life imprisonment. If they fought the case, he said, he would demand the death sentence. The Jedlickas’ attorney, Eugene O’Sullivan indicated that the plea deal would be made. Raymond Johnson, an employee of the Russell Sporting goods store, admitted that he stole from the store’s stock of four pistols used in the filling station hold up, and sold them to the Jedlickas. He was arraigned on charges of grand larceny. Johnson’s father, J. R. Johnson said that the five youths (the Jedlickas, Griffith, Leahy, and Johnson) have been in the "Pinkney Street Gang" for more than ten years.

Detectives Connolly and Borowiak were sent to Stockton, California to retrieve Griffith and bring him back to Omaha. While in Reno, Nevada, they wired back saying they had run out of the $400 given to them, and needed more (hmmm…). On April 29^th, 1931, twenty-five days after killing Sullivan, Eddie Jedlicka and William Griffith were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Anton Jedlicka, the get away driver, was sentenced to ten years in prison.

James Sullivan lies in Holy Sepulcher Cemetery at 4912 Leavenworth on a family plot, with a modest headstone. The site of the old Coryell filling station at 30^th and Parker is now an empty lot, sitting across the street from one of the city’s most violent and deadly areas, holding onto a secret of its own terrible past. Let us not forget Officer James J. Sullivan, and the ultimate sacrifice he made for this city.

Quality Design and Hosting