Informant38

The injured Vielot rushed Tom to Wyckoff Heights Hospital. Although he was bleeding profusely, Tom was still conscious. However, he was left in the emergency room and no attempt was made to operate on him. Tom soon went into shock and died approximately an hour after arriving at the hospital. He was 26 years old.
The New York City Police Department made it clear they had no interest in seriously investigating the crime or arresting those responsible. Asked what was being done to arrest the killers, who had been identified at the scene, homicide detective John Mohl told Workers League National Secretary David North, �Henehan was just a commie and his death would be of interest only to other commies.�
Within a week, however, the police began circulating the claim that Tom�s death was a �senseless killing� involving a lone gunman, and that there was nothing further to investigate. This theme was taken up by the news media. The New York Daily News listed the murder as just one of a series of �senseless killings� that occurred in the city during the previous week. The newspaper article�which included a wildly inaccurate account of the murder�made no mention of Tom�s political affiliation.