Hardly *only* in Clinton country, and five to the head is far more reminiscent of the death of Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana in 1975, when 5 shots from a silenced .22 automatic in his basement while he was cooking a very late supper or very early breakfast made it certain that he'd not be testifying about either the Chicago mob's connection to CIA-directed attempts on the life of Fidel Castro ordered by Attorney General robert Kennedy, or any of the other mob secrets he took with him to his grave...many others of which tied directly to the Kennedy organized crime family.
But four to the head is a much more conmmon message in Las Vegas, Kansas City or Chicago than Memphis or Arkansas. Known as *little Joe* to both pistoleros and dice throwers, and as a *controlled pair* to serious handgunners, it's usually the mark of a victim who has welshed on a gambling debt or otherwise failed to live up to a performance promise. And it's a definite sign of both who ordered the killing, and why.
Indeed, the 1950 hit on Kansas City mob boss Charles Binaggio and his bodyguard/enforcer was the cause for the congressional *Kefauver hearings*- now THERE's an interesting Arkansas connection for you- which begat the disasterous mob *Appalachian conference* that brought a spotlight of publicity and notoriety to dozens of figures from the organization that FBI Director Hoover up to that time adamently claimed did not exist.
So thank the Kansas City mob both for that breakthrough and for the nice example of two tho the head, twice. But it's not particularly a Midsouth shooting characteristic, though I can think of one from back around 1992 during the Memphis *Topless club wars* in which the recipient was found in his car trunk that may have been- I'll have to check.
The murder of Charles Binaggio, the undisputed political and criminal leader of Kansas City, was easily one of the most important homicides of the first half of the 20th century. Even in a period filled with underworld murders, including those of mob powerhouses Bugsy Siegel, Abe Reles, Dutch Schultz and Joe Masseria, the assassination of Charles Binaggio and his enforcer, Charley "Mad Dog" Gargotta were momentous. Not only did their deaths make clear just how limitlessly corrupt was Kansas City, but it is entirely possible that without them, the Kefauver hearings might never have occurred.*source and details *here*.Even Kansas City, which had seen everything during the regime of ultra-corrupt Democratic boss Tom Pendergast, was shocked. On April 6, 1950, Charles Binaggio, then 41, was found shot dead in his headquarters at the First District Democratic Club along with his enforcer Charley Gargotta. Law enforcement and political officials had long suspected Binaggio of being an actual Mafia member, and the way in which he was killed turned their speculation into certainty.
In death, there was no doubt that Binaggio had been subjected to Mafia violence. Both he and Gargotta had taken four shots to the head, laid out in two neat rows. This type of shot cluster is known as "Little Joe," which signifies two deuces in dice parlance, and has long been the Mafia's mark for a welsher. When "Little Joe" is found on a victim's head, it is clear that not only did the Mafia do the job, they also want everyone to know about it. The message came through loud and clear: Binaggio had welshed on the mob and had paid for it.
-archy-/-