Cermak, who was the mayor of Chicago, was on the dais in Miami,
Florida, at a political rally with President
Franklin D. Roosevelt when an Italian
anarchist in the audience named
Giuseppe Zangara pulled out a pistol and opened
fire. Cermak was hit and died soon after. At first it was thought that
Zangara was trying to assassinate Roosevelt and instead hit Cermak, but
recently several historians have theorized that Cermak actually was
Zangara's target, not Roosevelt. The theory goes that Cermak, who was
supposedly on the payroll of the Chicago mob, had either double-crossed
them or was demanding more money, and they had hired Zangara to kill
him.
