Boxer, Mother of 2 Die in Suicide Pact
His Wife Breaks Into Boro Apartment, Finds bodies in Gas-Filled Kitchen
His last fight apparently lost, Jerry Fiorello, Red Hook middleweight, today had thrown in the towel in a suicide pact with the mother of two small children. Their bodies were found in his apartment at 290 Sackets St. by his wife, Ida, who had returned to him recently with their two children after a separation of almost a year.
His sweetheart was identified by police as Mrs. Mimi Horowitz, 23, whose husband is a night club singer using the professional name of Tery Parker. She left two small children.
The bodies fully clothed were found on the kitchen floor of the Fiorellos' four-room apartmentwith the jets on the gas range open. Their pictures had been propped on the stove in front of them.
The tragedy ended a 10-year professinoal ring career that was never a great success but always a colorful and game one. Before that Fiorello had been the toast of the race tracks in Italy and France as a jockey and had even had a brief fling as an opera singer. His fighting career started on the downgrade three years ago when he was trounced by Rocky Graziano. He continued to fight but not too successfully. Last year he fractured his right hand in a bout with Joe Reddick, New Jersey middleweight at the Broadway Arena and less than three weeks ago was beaten by Georgie Small, Brownsville fighter at the Coney Island Velodrome.
According to police of the Union St. station Mrs. Fiorello took her children, Josephoin, 11 and Vincent, 9 to visit relatives in Queens yesterday afternooon. On their return at 8:30pm she found the apartment door locked and there was a heavy odor of gas in the hall.
She summoned her brothers, Peter and Rudolph Ricca, and they forced the door of the apartment. A police emergency squad worked over Fiorello and Mrs. Horowitz for two hours before they were pronounced dead by an ambulance doctor from Methodist Hospital.
From papers in one of the Mrs. Horowitz's pockets police identified her as the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Blaleck of 73-28 57th Drive, Middle Village, Her father said she had been seperated from her husband for more than a year.
Police said Fiorello had been arrested last July in Middle Village on a charge of beating a womean identified at the time as his wife, Mimi. The Fiorellos were separated at the time.