Michael J. “Mickey” Spillane, 43, was killed on May 13, 1977, outside his apartment in Woodside, Queens. Long described as a gentleman gangster who led a faction in Hell’s Kitchen, Spillane had moved his family to Queens as rivalries and shifting alliances eroded the old order. The attack took place on a Friday the 13th and is consistently reported as an execution-style shooting, with Spillane struck multiple times in the head outside his building.

Organized-crime reporting commonly links the killing to the DeMeo crew of the Gambino crime family, with Roy DeMeo frequently named as the suspected shooter acting to help Jimmy Coonan consolidate power; other accounts mention contract killer Joseph Mad Dog Sullivan as a possible participant. None of those theories led to a trial or convictions tied to the murder, and Coonan was never charged in connection with Spillane’s death. Spillane was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Queens.

Are there any records, witnesses, or family recollections that could clarify who ordered or carried out the hit?