- "I was just really looking forward to throwing a few balls."
- ―John Healy
Whitestone Lanes is a bowling alley in New York City. The mobster Prohaszka enjoyed private games there until he was killed by John Healy.
History
Assassination of Mister Prohaszka
Mister Prohaszka was bowling at one of the bowling lanes of the establishment surrounded by his bodyguards, having made an arrangement with the owner to play whenever he wanted.
John Healy entered the bowling alley and friendly asked the girl at the counter for a pair of shoes and another lane. However, the girl told him that they are about to close. Healy pointed that Prohaszka was still playing, but the girl explained that he could bowl due to the arrangement made with the owner. Healy then asked for the possibility of joining him, and girl told him to ask if he wanted.
Healy approached Prohaszka, asking him to join in a game, but Prohaszka tried to dismiss him by saying it was a private game. Healy insisted, saying that he really wanted to "throw some balls", making Prohaszka ask his bodyguards to remove him.
As the bodyguard approached Healy, he easily knocked them down, and took a gun to kill Prohaszka. Healy told Prohaszka that he had a bad attitude right before pulling the trigger. However, the gun jammed up, despite the man who had sold it guaranteeing it would not.
Prohaszka seized the opportunity to attack Healy with a bowling ball, making him drop the weapon, and the two engaged in a brutal fight. Prohaszka assumed Healy had been hired by the man who had been negotiating with him to run a distribution business in Hell's Kitchen, and Healy began to hit Prohaszka, even breaking his arm by trapping it in the polishing machine. Prohaszka did not give up and continued to try to defend himself, until Healy took a bowling ball and crushed his skull with it.
The girl in the counter, who had witnessed the end of the fight, called the New York City Police Department, and a dispatcher assured her that officers were on their way to the bowling alley. However, she escaped when she noticed that Healy had realized she was calling the police.
Before the police could arrive, Healy rushed to hide the gun under a pinball machine. Healy waited for the cops on his knees and, with the hands on his head, peacefully allowing them to arrest him, and voicing his right to have a lawyer.[1]
Removing Evidence
James Wesley went to the Whitestone Lanes bowling alley to retrieve the gun that John Healy had tried to use to kill Prohaszka, and that Healy had concealed under one of the pinball machines.
He found two men playing, and was told to wait for his turn. Not wanting to attract attention, Wesley left a coin on the machine, saying that he was next in line to play.
Wesley waited patiently, and then retrieved the gun, hiding it as he came across a pair of children right before leaving the bowling alley.[1]
