The Panama Hat Bandit

Thomas Gagliano, a wrong man with a noose, and the lead that waited in a parking lot

At noon on June 24, 1958, Detective Walter Holmes walked into the Tangipahoa Parish Jail in Amite. He was a sergeant with the New Orleans Police Department. He had spent six weeks chasing a killer across three states. He had not caught him.

The man Holmes was looking for had shot Thomas Gagliano dead on May 14, 1958. Gagliano was 36 years old. He had run a bar called the T&M at 210 North Dorgenois Street in Mid-City New Orleans for seven months.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune described the shooting as a botched holdup. An anonymous telephone tip told police the assailant was a transfer truck driver. That tip sent Holmes in the wrong direction for six weeks. The record does not show who made the call.

The night of the murder, a man in a Panama hat walks into the T&M shortly after midnight and orders a drink. He leaves. He comes back at closing time, orders another glass, and levels a .25 caliber revolver at Gagliano.

He announces the holdup and backs away from the bar, raising the gun abov…