If I recall in the original report of his death/fire, the fire department ruled out foul play/intentional fire until the discovery of the bullet wound made them go back and take a second look.
Connected with City Hall people doing things they wouldn’t want to be caught doing. Roughly in the same time frame as the Lee P. Brown scandals (his aide was a bribed lobbyist in a national scandal played down as local corruption in each of the cities although they were interconnected and uncovered in a Federal probe).