© 2015
This project saw its genesis as a small research paper for a class on organized crime
taught by Dr. Jeffrey McIllwain at San Diego State University. As I delved further
and further into the history of this until now, unknown character, the scope of the
project rapidly went past the original intent. The rabbit hole was deep, and the
puzzle pieces slowly came together as I traced Pete Cassidy back through time, from
one criminal episode to another. The outcome was more than just an interesting story,
however, as other histories became intertwined as well. On June 21, 1884 officer
Frank Piszczek of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was brutally gunned down in the street, the
city’s first officer to be killed in the line of duty. His murderer was never found.
Thanks to my research we now know that the alleged gunman who disappeared without
a trace was none other than the man who became San Diego’s own Pete Cassidy. His
life is one of many facets: with murder, mayhem, alcohol, prostitution, and politics
just some of the stories I can now tell. The project is ongoing, with a published
biography as the long term goal. My San Diego phase of research is nearing its completion
and I am looking forward to when I can travel to Illinois and Wisconsin to finish
the last phase, and to build a better narrative out of the thousand puzzle pieces
I have so far…
Pete Cassidy (1909)
Click next to read a short article I composed for this website, a brief retelling of the saga of Pete Cassidy.
The Saga of Pete Cassidy:
Vice, Violence, and Criminal Enterprise in San Diego
Pete Cassidy arrived in San Diego on April 2, 1886, virtually penniless, on the run
from the law and using an assumed name. During the next thirty-
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