Danny Brent’s body was found on the tenth green at UBC’s golf course on September 15, 1954. An early edition of the newspaper was stuffed inside his shirt soaked with his blood. There was a half-smoked cigarette inside his shirt where it had dropped from his mouth when he was shot—once in the back and twice in the head with .45-calibre bullets.
This podcast episode is based on original research conducted for my book Cold Case Vancouver: the city’s most baffling unsolved murders
First Gangland Hit:
Danny Brent’s murder was the city’s first gangland hit and it caused a sensation in the press. There was an assortment of sketchy characters—two ex-wives, rumours of a married girlfriend, and a Chicago-based drug syndicate. There were the hired killers from out of town, the attempted murders of two other Vancouver drug lords, and a role for police chief Walter Mulligan, who would be kicked off the force the following year.
On the night of his murder, Danny, 42 had finished his shift at the Press Club, and headed over to the Mayling Supper Club in Chinatown. He parked his red 1950 Meteor convertible—in the parking lot at the back of the building. A witness said he saw Danny leave with a woman and two men through the back door.
Police think Danny slid behind the wheel of his car, lit up a cigarette, and was shot in the back by one of the men. The first bullet pierced his spine at a downward angle and then tore a hole in his liver before it came out his navel. Dr T.R. Harmon, the pathologist, said he could have lived up to half-an-hour.
Drugs found in locker:
Four days after his murder, police opened a locker in the Vancouver Bus Depot and found 30 ounces of heroin with a street value of $175,000. It was quickly apparent that there was more to Danny than a waiter. Either he was killed by a gang trying to take over the heroin industry or murdered by a hit team for an outstanding drug debt.
SHOW NOTES
Sponsor: Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours
Intro: Mark Dunn
Music: Andreas Schuld – ‘Waiting for You’
Guest: George Garrett, author of George Garrett Intrepid Reporter
Promo: Blood, Sweat and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance
Post-production: McBride Communications and Media
© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus
17 comments on “Danny Brent’s Body”
Very interesting Eve. The advances in a homicide investigation over the last fifty to sixty years is enormous. You could kill, drive away and never be discovered. I wonder if the % of murderers caught and convicted is higher today, we all hope so. The drug trade rages on here and most every country on the planet.
You would think with all the forensic tools available that the solve rate is higher today, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it!
Eve, I know Victoria is just over on the Island and not directly related to Vancouver Cold Cases. A cold case from 2008 is not long ago, but maybe you would consider writing and speaking on the young Victoria realtor who was murdered trying to show a home. Have heard nothing, and her family appears despondent. How did the criminal/criminals get off the Island so quickly, etc. What was the motive?
interesting reading as usual Eve
Thanks Michael!
That was so interesting Eve! Was this event broadcasted back then or just in the papers.
Good question. I suspect it must have been broadcast. George Garrett was telling me that it was huge news – and he joined CKNW two years after the murder.
I also wanted to add besides reading the blog I listen to your podcast because you’re reporting is so much more in depth. I suggest everyone listen to the podcast!!
Thanks so much Sandra!
As a retired lecturer in Forensic Anthropology/Archaeology, I find it interesting that the article mentions both .38 and .45 calibre bullets that were presumably found (?) at the murder site (i.e., his car, or the 10th Green where his body was dumped. Were both calibres present? If so, that means two firearms were used.
Were the bullets or cartridge cases recovered, I wonder?
Cartridge cases would definitely provide the required information and would likely lead to an evaluation of the size and weight of the bullet, its probable velocity (if factory ammo), and could be tied to observed damage to the body.
Bullets, especially recovered from an impact area (i.e., a body) often expand, making identification difficult – but not necessarily at the relatively low velocities of most .38s and .45s. There are way too many variables involved, even if the bullets were found, for a positive identification – although this might be the exception given the almost point blank range involved.
Regardless, two shots from any .38 calibre bullet to the head would likely result in immediate death. I would probably call this an execution.
I would suppose the autopsy report would cover relevant details (i.e,,was he shot in his car where the bullet exited his navel), then dragged alive to the golf course green, and then dispatched with two rounds to the head?
As an aside, if the assassin(s) used a revolver then they would likely have carried the cartridges away since revolver cartridges are not automatically ejected and in a semi-automatic pistol.
Thanks Eve — modern forensic techniques, if they had been available back then, may have provided more clues as to who the killer(s) was/were, and why – although the heroin found in the locker is certainly relevant.
Thanks so much for this fascinating response!
Thanks for this! Danny Brent was actually my great uncle. So very interesting to get some info on this sordid branch of my family tree.
Hi Eve,
I should have listened to the podcast before writing my comment above. You answer some of my questions – esp. the type of pistol involved – and automatic, which ejects cartridges. And – that bullets were found at the scene. My apologies … please delete the above!
Stan Copp
Independent Researcher
(Retired)
From your previous podcasts I gather Vancouver was an extremely dangerous city during this Brent murder case and especially during the post war years given the influx of transient workers and types of industries at that time. Great podcast as usual.
Thanks Ian, glad you enjoyed it!
In doing a family history for my daughter-in-law I came across the Bigelow family of Ontario. George Bigelow’s first wife was an ancestor of my daughter-in-law. I saw that he married 3x and began to look into his history. His daughter Edythe Elliott Bigelow ‘s first husband was Daniel Brent. When I went on to Newspaper’s.com to search for a Daniel Brent I came across all these articles about this gangster who had been murdered in 1954. Surely, this cannot be Edythe’s husband.
As I continued to look into, with some shock, I put the pieces together and sure enough they all fit. Daniel Brent will be receiving a page in the book I am writing for Emily. Her ancestors come come Simcoe County in Ontario.
Cheers
Linda Lewis
Sarnia, Ontario
You found a black sheep! Thanks for adding to Danny’s story! Eve