Shondor Birns & Danny Green: Cleveland's Killer Celebrities

One of the waste haulers, Mike Frato, had been a friend of Greene's. Until, that is, he organized a legitimate trade group, the Cuyahoga County Waste Haulers Association.

Nearly all the others joined him. The Solid Waste Guild fell apart.

In 1971, Frato's Cadillac was destroyed by a bomb. There was a body inside, but it was that of Art Sneperger, one of Greene's men. Sneperger had been careless with the bomb he was trying to plant. Either that or Greene had pushed the detonator early because he suspected Sneperger of being a police informant.

A month later, Frato was shot and killed in his car. Police immediately picked up Greene.

He admitted he had killed Frato, but said it was self-defense. He had been jogging in a park when a car pulled up, he said. A man leaned out the window and fired at Greene. It was Frato.

Greene dropped to the ground, pulled a pistol from his sweat pants and fired two quick shots. One of them hit Frato in the temple, killing him.

Police quickly arrested Greene, but the evidence backed his story that he was acting in self-defense. He was released.

Not long after, somebody else shot at Greene in the park. Porrello describes what happened:

But instead of ducking to the ground, Danny pulled out his revolver and started shooting, while running toward his would-be assassin, in complete disregard for his own safety. The tactic worked. The sniper fled and was never positively identified.

Next: The Cop and the Killer