Madison, WI – The Triangle Redevelopment Project in the 1960s destroyed the heart of Greenbush
neighborhood. Along with homes and businesses, entire streets were eliminated, including the
intersection of South Murray Street and Desmond Court, a spot that had come to be known, during
the Rum War of the 1920s, as
Death Corner.
The first killing in the area was on May 1, 1912, when Nicolo Quartuccio shot Andrea Stasi, a
boarder in his father’s house on Murray Street, who had tried to act as peacemaker during an
argument. Stasi lived long enough to identify his assailant; Quartuccio was sentenced to 25 years
at Waupun for the crime. All the other murders went unsolved.
After passage of the Volstead Act in 1920, which made Prohibition the law of the land, the Bush
became one of Madison’s sources for moonshine. Two gangs, one centered on Regent Street and the
other on Milton Street, contended for control of the liquor trade. The so-called Rum War soon
broke out between them, leading to an era of violence and murder.
August 31, 1922 James D'Amico
February 12, 1923 Carl Justo
January 31, 1924 Louis Lotwin
December 1, 1924 Herbert Dreger
January 6, 1925 Officers Lyman Mason & Taylor Gray were shot at from a parked car they were
approaching. Neither was hit.
April 8, 1928 Joseph DiMartino
It was the murders of D’Amico and Justo that gave Death Corner its name.
