In Petaluma 100 years ago, a gunfight on Cherry Street

The blaring headline in the Argus-Courier of April 20, 1927 was in 2-inch high capital letters.

“MADMAN RUNS AMUCK: KILLS TWO.

CONSTABLE RASMUSSEN IS DEAD!”

And the sub-header was, “John Failla, Age 72, with High Powered Rifle, Shoots at Passersby, Killing One, Then Hides In His Home, Later Killing Rasmussen.”

It all happened right here in Petaluma, on Cherry Street, near Main Street (now Petaluma Boulevard). It started at 7:30 a.m. as Mr. Failla was walking his dog in front of the neighboring Mancebo residence. Failla’s Cocker Spaniel playfully ran toward Mr. Mancebo, who shooed it away. That, apparently, was all it took for Failla to blow his cool.

Mancebo later said he thought nothing of the incident, until an hour later when a shot rang out and a bullet crashed through the window of his Crinella Bros. Service Station at 714 Main Street, narrowly missing Mancebo’s wife’s head.

Failla then also fired at Mancebo, who was able to dive to safety behind a car.

Just down the street, at 710 Main St., 35-year-old Mike Theos, a night clerk at the Moon Valley Grill, was up early and witnessed the scene. He rushed to the gunman and grabbed Failla’s rifle, attempting to wrestle it away..

But he failed, and Failla quickly shot Theos through the heart.

After that, the situation quickly escalated.

It should be noted that, in general, 1927 would come to be thought of as a year of transformation and innovation. The end of the Roaring Twenties was near, Calvin Coolidge was President and Americans found themselves responding to some truly devastating disasters. A massive flood, at the time called “the most destructive flood in U.S. history,” occurred that year, putting 27,000 miles of nine states (including Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana) inundated by floodwaters that reached as high as 30 feet. The flood displaced over 700,000 people and killed more than 100.

It was the year Charles Lindbergh made the first-ever transatlantic flight in his canvas-covered monoplane, Henry Ford debuted his Model “A” auto — with a safety glass windshield and actual shock absorbers — at $460. The car sold more than 400,000 units in just the first two weeks! Something called a pop-up toaster hit the market that year too, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that even bootleggers had to pay income taxes — which is how they finally nailed Al Capone - for tax evasion.

But here in Petaluma, 1927 was the year of the Cherry Street gun battle.

As the story turns out, Failla had, just the previous morning, purchased a 30-30 rifle and plenty of ammunition. Then came the incident with Mancebo and the dog. After killing Theos, Faila began shooting up the neighborhood, with over 50 shots fired, finally retreating to his house. The standoff that followed lasted over three hours and involved the entire police force, plus the Sheriff, the National Guard and many armed Petaluma civilians.

During the ongoing violence, Failla killed Constable Rasmus Rasmussen, and even tried shooting Petaluma Police Chief Flohr, barely missing him. By 11 a.m., Company M of the National Guard, with a reported 50 men, began spraying the front of Failla’s house with machine gun fire, forcing Mr. Failla to the back of the house.

But some of the armed civilians were waiting outside, and by then they wanted blood. Seeing the crowd, Failla opened the back door of his house and — this next part is still a matter of some dispute — was either shot by Deputy Percy Fuller, or by himself.

Petaluman Pete Ramaticci and several others saw the event, and thought it had been a suicide, but Chief Flohr, after viewing the autopsy report, determined the killing bullet had been fired by Fuller, because there were no powder burns on Failla‘s body.

Both shots had been fired at the same moment.

By the time it was all over, three men lay dead and several others had come very close including Chief Flohr, who had been missed only by inches. At one point during the standoff, Failla’s son Nick had pleaded with the Chief to be let into the house to negotiate with his out-of-control father, but it was thought to be too dangerous to allow that.

Some neighbors theorized Failla had been driven around the bend by a boundary line dispute with the next door Crinella Brothers and Mancebo, and had sought a vicious revenge.

One thing, however, is sure. The residents of Cherry Street did not soon forget what came to be called, “The Cherry Street Shootout of 1927.”

Skip Sommer’s “Petaluma’s Past” runs every other week in the Argus-Courier. Skip is an honorary lifetime member of the Petaluma History Museum, and of Heritage Homes. You can reach him at skipsommer@hotmail.com.