The Unholy Murder of Ash Wednesday

Fran "Ash Wednesday" Dovishaw had many nicknames and aliases. He was a bookmaker-not just a garden varity illegal numbers and sports-betting bookie. In partnership with an admitted mob hit man, he ran northwestern Pennsylvania's most lucrative bookmaking operation, one that easily handled hundreds of thousands of dollars over a busy college and professional football weekend. Unfortunately, he would never see football on the night of January 3, 1983, nor would he take another bet. Just hours before kick0ff, begging for mercy on his knees, Frank Dovishaw lost not a wager, but his life. The execution-style gangland murder set off a series of events for Erie's top homicide investigator that would span nearly seven years, touching upon virtually every aspect of the lakeside city's dark underbelly, and reaching from Pennsylvania to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, and Florida. Here is the extraordinary true story of Dominick DiPaolo, a persistent, unyielding vetern cop who refused to quit through death threats, bribery attempts, false leads, and sidetracks, while tenaciously following clues and suspects, form "made" men and wannabes, burglars and armed robbers, arsonists and hired killers, cope and union leader killings, to the culmination of The Unholy Murder of Ash Wednesday.