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Pistol Pete’s Payback and Other Historic Vengeances

Khalid Elhassan October 15, 2020 31 min

World War II - Quisling — Quisling with SS chief Heinrich Himmler. Cotton Boll Conspiracy

1. A Butcher Unable to Escape Payback

Following Turkey’s defeat and surrender, Cemal Azmi fled to Germany. The organizers of Operation Nemesis eventually tracked him down in Berlin. Aram Yerganian, who had already killed one of the retribution campaign’s targets, was tasked with visiting payback upon Azmi, plus another genocide accomplice, Dr. Behaeddin Shakir. Another Armenian revolutionary, Arshavir Shirakian, partnered with Yerganian.

Cemal Azmi and Behadden Shakir after Operation Nemesis caught up with them.

On April 17^th, 1922, Yerganian and Shirakian came upon Cemal Azmi and Behaddin Shakir as the two murderers were strolling with their families on Berlin’s Uhlandstrasse. Shirakian opened fire, killing Azmi, but only wounding Behaddin, who took off running. Yerganian took off after the fleeing genocidier, caught up with him, and finished him with a bullet to the head. Neither shooter was apprehended.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

American Mafia History – “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn

Am-Pole Eagle – The Man That Al Capone Feared

Biography – Sam Giancana

Bogosian, Eric – Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot That Avenged the Armenian Genocide (2015)

Cowboys & Indians Magazine – Pistol Pete

Crime Magazine, October 14^th, 2009 – The Guileless Gangster

Dahl, Hans Fredrik – Quisling: A Study in Treachery (1999)

Encyclopedia Britannica – Al Musta’sim, Abbasid Caliph

Encyclopedia Britannica – Andrey Vlasov

Frank Eaton Historic Home – The Legend of Pistol Pete

Gambino, Richard – The True Story of the Largest Lynching in US History (2000)

History – St. Valentine’s Day Massacre: Victims, Evidence, & Suspects

History Net – Wyatt Earp’s Vendetta Posse

Legends of America – Frank B. “Pistol Pete” Eaton: Fastest Draw in Indian Territory

New York Times, Times Topics – Armenian Genocide of 1915: An Overview

Strik-Strikfeldt, Wilfried – Against Stalin and Hitler: Memoir of the Russian Liberation Movement, 1941-1945 (1970)

Wikipedia – March 14, 1891 New Orleans Lynchings

Wikipedia – Operation Nemesis

Wikipedia – Vidkun Quisling

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.