Mysterious Vigilante Flees Scene

August 16, 1974

ASTRO CITY - The killing spree of the police-styled vigilante known as the Blue Knight continued Wednesday night, as three reputed members of the Colletta crime family were killed in a shootout behind Giacoia's, the fashionable Italian restaurant on Puzo Avenue. Witnesses heard an exchange of shots, but found only the three dead men, and spotted a figure they identified as the Blue Knight racing over the rooftops.

Artist's rendering of the Blue Knight, based on eyewitness accounts (Brent Anderson, staff)

"He just seemed to fly over the bricks," said Janine Sciarfi, 28, of Goldwater Heights. "He made a leap from one building to another -- it mist have been a forty-foot leap, but he didn't even slow down. He just jumped, and seemed to drift over, landing as lightly as a feather and not even breaking stride. And I swear he was laughing. It was like ice cubes down the back of your neck. A hell of a thing, I've got to say -- we came into the city for some decent food and a pleasant evening out, and this is what we get?"

Police identified the victims as Michael "Dog-Breath" Buotini, "Iron Face" Donnie Zumbroski, and Theodore "Sniffer" Eisenstein, all thought to be connected to the Colletta crime organization. "These guys had records as long as your arm," said Detective Alan Bochco, of Precinct 13. "I won't say the world's not better off with them out of it, but we really don't want private citizens -- even creepy private citizens who come and go like ghosts, taking the law into their own hands and establishing their own death penalty. Let the courts decide, folks."

Forensic investigation confirms the presence of the Blue Knight, or at least the pattern associated with him in recent weeks. The bodies appear to have been shot with a large-caliber weapon, according to police spokesmen, but no bullets were recovered. "Even in cases where there's an entrance wound but no exit wound -- and I'll tell you, there are precious few of those," said assistant county medical examiner Alexander Hausler, "whatever made the wound seems to have just É gone up in smoke."

Some Astro City residents claim the Blue Knight is a mystic phenomenon, like Shadow Hill's noted protector, the Hanged Man. And noted Cincinatti parapsychologist and radio personality Mordecai Chalk states that recent events are not inconsistent with supernatural events of the past. "There are many tales in the lore of ghostly swords, spears, even accounts of ghostly bayonet attacks in backwoods Vermont. If ectoplasmic blades are conceivable, then why not ectoplasmic bullets?"

So far, however, Astro City authorities do not give such theories much credence. "We'll find out who this guy is, and I assure you, he'll be as human as you or me," said deputy mayor Robert Sloan. "This Chalk guy, he makes a living scaring the bejeezus out of the credulous and gullible. He even says he lost his leg to werewolves and an eye to demonic praying mantises in Ireland. I ask you, a guy who can't even handle some ghost bugs? We're really gonna take his word for something?"

Police did say, however, that investigations would be continuing. Street patrols have been increased in the area, and prowl cars would [see KNIGHT, p. A16]

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