Peter McSherry - What Happened to Mickey?. The Life and Death of Donald Mickey McDonald, Public Enemy No. 1

• Book I:
  Gangland Toronto, 1939:
  The Days of Mickey and Kitty Cat McDonald
• Chapter One:
  The Murder of Jimmy Windsor (Saturday, January 7, 1939)
• Chapter Two:
  Torontos First Gangland Killing (January 7February 23, 1939)
• Chapter Three:
  Mickey at the Corner
  (1907March 1937)
• Chapter Four:
  Kitty Cat in Gangland
  (October 1938January 1939)
• Chapter Five:
  The Line-up of Sunday, January 22 (January 22, 1939)
• Chapter Six:
  Jack Shea and the Port Credit Bank Robbery
  (December 9, 1938January 21, 1939)
• Chapter Seven:
  Jack Sheas Tale
  (January 21, 1939, and after)
• Chapter Eight:
  Torontos First Gangland Murderer (January 10, 1939March 15, 1939)
• Chapter Nine:
  With Convincing Sincerity and Evident Forthrightness
  (March 20, 1939May 18, 1939)
• Chapter Ten:
  Hanged By the Neck Until You Are Dead (May 18, 1939May 20, 1939)
• Chapter Eleven:
  In the Death Cell
  (May 20September 26, 1939)
• Chapter Twelve:
  On Instructions from
  the Attorney General
  (October 16, 1939November 2, 1939)
• Chapter Thirteen:
  Two Verdicts
  (November 1, 1939November 22, 1939)
• Book II:
  Mickey McDonald, Canada s Public Enemy No. 1
• Chapter Fourteen:
  The Mad Dog of Jarvis Street
  (October 5, 1940March 28, 1944)
• Chapter Fifteen:
  Torontos Greatest Crime of
  World War II
  (December 13, 1943)
• Chapter Sixteen:
  Jock and the Chinaman
  (December 13, 1943)
• Chapter Seventeen:
  The Chief Wants to See You
  (January 5, 1944May 1944)
• Chapter Eighteen:
  A Parasite Like Who?
  (October 17, 1944November 7, 1944)
• Chapter Nineteen:
  You Have Decided to Live a Life of Crime (November 7, 1944October 25, 1945)
• Chapter Twenty:
  Ulysses Lauzon and
  the Detroit River Gang
  (February 23, 1945November 2, 1945)
• Chapter Twenty-One:
  Seventeen and a Half Years
  (October 25, 1945August 1947)
• Chapter Twenty -Two:
  A Clear Path Out the Door
  (February 1947August 1947)
• Chapter Twenty-Three:
  The Escape of August 17th18th, 1947 (August 12, 1947August 21, 1947)
• Chapter Twenty-Four:
  The Big Search
  (August 18, 1947September 16, 1947)
• Chapter Twenty-Five:
  The Windsor Bank Robbery
  (August 22, 1947August 25, 1947)
• Chapter Twenty-Six:
  Hot News, Cold Trail
  (August 1947Early 1948)
• Chapter Twenty-Seven:
  A Jailhouse Pipe dream
  (January 1948 April 1948)
• Chapter Twenty-Eight:
  EndGames South of the Border
  (August 1947July 30, 1948)
• Chapter Twenty-Nine:
  A Ten- or Twelve-Year Public Worry (July 29, 1948 and After)
• Chapter Thirty:
  The Heroin Kingpin of Vancouver (September 7, 1947January 14, 1966)
• Chapter Thirty-One:
  Hell Do That Standing on His Head (November 2, 1939November 11, 1983)
• Chapter Thirty-Two:
  On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams (October 1940January 25, 1994)
• Chapter Thirty-Three:
  What Happened to Mickey?
  (August 22, 1947whenever)

The subject of this book was born Donald John MacDonald, but started calling himself Donald McDonald in his teens, then Michael McDonald in his twenties. After a time he was known as Mickey. He married as Donald John MacDonald and was charged with murder and some later offences under that name. His two wives used the name MacDonald, never McDonald, even when they lived with him while he was McDonald. His criminal brothers, Alex and Edwin, always used their proper name, MacDonald, but, inevitably, were sometimes referred to as McDonald in the press, as Mickey too most often was. Other misspellings of Mickeys surname Macdonald, MDonald inevitably appeared as well. In this work, I have referred to him as Mickey McDonald except when he was otherwise under indictment as MacDonald or there was some other specific reason to do otherwise.

Similarly, there appears in Part II of this book a character who was born Nicholas Minnelli and later came to spell his name Minelli. He was in Kingston Penitentiary as Minnille and his name sometimes appeared as that in the press. In this book he is Minelli except where it is otherwise warranted.

Four of the names used in this work are pseudonyms. Their use in the text was part of the cost of getting information that would otherwise not have been available. Jenny Law, who was a major source for my first book, The Big Red Fox: The Incredible Story of Norman Red Ryan, Canadas Most Notorious Criminal , had things to say about Mickey, too, and though she has long since passed away, I have continued our pact regarding the protection of her real identity.

The name of Roy Binky Clarke, who was undoubtedly the most valuable and enduring source in this work, is also a pseudonym. He passed away in 2011 after being a constant source of information, a close advisor, and a personal friend for 33 years.

Of those I approached who were associates of Mickey few would talk at all, and none of the MacDonald family, understandably, was interested in participating. Ulysses Lauzon, one of Mickeys partners in the Kingston Penitentiary escape of August 1947, had previously robbed banks with a youth who I have given the name Joe Poireau. Joe, who has long-since rehabilitated himself, spoke with me forthrightly but wanted his family protected with a pseudonym and, tacitly, that included the name of his sister, Elaine, who was involved in the story as well.