Surprise Endings

By Anthony Abbot, from True, December 1945

The first Drama in Real Life told the story of Il Diavolo, a Chicago mob boss who bizarrely lost 50 pounds in a prison hunger strike. Diavolo believed if he was light enough at his hanging, his accomplices could revive him. Police found a doctor, nurse, and medical supplies in the hearse. “Fiction writers, of course, do not tell such tales. Because who would believe them?” wrote Abbot.