Daily News from New York, New York • 27

to BIG TOWN 1 Childbh "th iiar.t-L By JAY MAEDER THE PROBLEM was that the gangster's young wife knew too much. This was rather a serious problem. i Witness Coppola, mar have bn posx'lmtT Wv. larch Jg Singing! eDna of Vni. Pictures cor-' M- year! 32.3,478.

she sio'R-iri. reused hart pofc, Ihe per- Janata. -'Day. And Doris Coppola had seen and she had heard. Here was the posit of Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan as he continued to investigate the beating murder of Joseph Scottoriggio.

Trigger Mike's ex-showgirl wife was the key to the whole case, Hogan was sure. This was exactly why she had ducked out of the city on the day Scottoriggio died of his injuries, when a simple election day assault and battery had turned into New York's most sensational political homicide. This was why she had stayed under wraps out of state, out of his jurisdiction, for many months, until he'd finally had to release chief suspect Trigger Mike from jail for lack of evidence. But once she showed up again, Hogan had thrown her in front of a grand jury and turned on the heat. She did the best she could for Trigger Mike, but there were a good many holes in her story.

On Nov. 6, 1947, the first anniversary of the streetcorner attack that had left Scottoriggio fatally comatose, Hogan announced that his grand jury had returned an indictment of first-degree perjury against Mrs. She had seen. She had heard. Doris Coppola had been at home on E.

1 16th St. on the night of Nov. 5, 1946, when Harlem rackets boss "Trigger Mike" Coppola had discussed some pressing election-eve business with several visitors. It seemed that U.S. Rep.

Vito Marcantonio, whose congressional reelection bid Trigger Mike was energetically supporting, could expect some difficulty from one Joseph Scottoriggio, who was a district captain for Marcantonio's Republican opponent, Frederick Van Pelt Bryan. Scottoriggio was believed to be in possession of a long list of voter names he intended to challenge bright and early the next morning. It was resolved that it would be a very good thing if Scottoriggio's errand were to be interrupted. An agreement was reached. A plan of action was hatched.

1 I BHmiH Trigger Mike. She was going to stand trial. She was going to face prison time. Trigger Mike was enraged. "If this had happened in Germany, they'd call it persecution," he snarled.

TRIAL WAS set for late December. But a development arose. It seemed that Doris Coppola was going to have a baby. After considering the affidavits before him, a General Sessions judge postponed proceedings until after the little Coppola's arrival, said to be expected in mid-April or thereabouts. ON WEDNESDAY night the 17th of March 1948, the gangster's wife entered St.

Vincent's Hospital, and at 10:30 she gave birth to a girl. At 9:15 the next morning. Doris Coppola was found dead in her bed. TRIGGER MIKE threw her what was probably the flashiest gangland funeral since Prohibition. There were 25 limousines and 20 flower cars and a mob of 4,000 mourners outside the Farenga Bros, parlor on 1 16th St.

She went to her rest in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartside, laid out in a fine silver bronze casket. Observers guessed the soiree probably set Trigger Mike back at least 30 grand. "The secret of who slew Joseph Scottoriggio may have been buried forever," speculated the Daily News. VITO MARCANTONIO, facing a new election eight months hence, was already plotting out his campaign. This time around he would probably not enjoy the endorsement of either the Republican or Democratic parties, and the conventional wisdom held that his own American Labor Party was at this point not sufficiently significant to reelect him on its own.

The conventional wisdom was that Marcantonio was probably a dead duck, not unlike Doris Coppola. m' mm 1 -V r-1 -i T- -s? i If il i n. it- -i i i it i-iii tiki i ill i ii It i 2 iiiY'iji4 iklll i i A.