David Suro, a 49-year-old man, was driving his taxi through New York City on the night of December 19, 1956, when the fare turned into a trap. Accounts describe him picking up Leroy “Frisco” Keith—already a wanted parole violator from Ohio—along with accomplices, and being directed toward the Bronx.
Near Tremont Avenue and Webster Avenue, the ride shifted from ordinary to terrifying.
During what was described as an attempted stickup, Suro fought back in the only way he could from behind the wheel: he deliberately crashed his cab into a nearby police car to draw immediate attention. In the seconds that followed, he was shot—reported as hit in the chest and abdomen—yet the collision had done its job. Officers converged and the street erupted into pursuit.
Keith ran, firing as he fled, and the chase spilled into a running gun battle through crowded Bronx blocks. Police ultimately cornered him and brought him down with multiple shots—described in one report as five hits—ending the flight but not the violence of the night. While Keith lay wounded, police began sweeping up the rest of the group: one accomplice, James T. Morris of Riverhead, was captured hiding under a parked car, and reports indicate at least one woman accomplice got away in the immediate aftermath, even as other accounts say two women were also taken into custody soon after.
Suro was rushed to Fordham Hospital in critical condition, but he did not survive the wounds. He died the following day, December 20, 1956, turning what began as a robbery attempt into a homicide that anchored the case against Keith in New York. In the aftermath, reports described Suro’s act of ramming the police car as the decisive moment that exposed the holdup and triggered the rapid response that stopped the suspects from disappearing into the city.
Keith’s capture did not close the story so much as extend it into courtrooms and prison corridors. After months that included medical recovery and mental examinations, he was tried in New York in January 1958, convicted of first-degree murder, and sentenced to death. His final chapter came at Sing Sing Prison, where he was executed in the electric chair on July 23, 1959, after delays tied to last-minute legal maneuvering and reprieves.
