Howard Heilborn Corbett was born in Cranston in 1888 and grew up in Providence, the son of an English silversmith.

While in his late 20s, his father passed away, and he suddenly found himself responsible for the support of his mother and teenaged brother. Relocating his family to Scituate, he found work as a mill operator at North Scituate Cotton Mills, and then as a woodchopper for a water company.

After his mother’s death, he rented a house located at the corner of Sumner and Second avenues in Warwick. There, at the age of 38, he would be shot to death by masked intruders.

It was late on the evening of Dec. 12, 1927, that Howard and over a dozen other men gathered at his home to play cards. The property was well known for the gambling operations that went on there.

The game continued until early the following morning when, at about 3 a.m., a bullet from a revolver was fired through a window in the room. The shot struck 28-year-old Alphonso Capaldo of Providence, who was sitting at the card table, injuring his abdomen.

Two masked men then entered the room; Salvatore Saccoccio and Charles Capace brandished guns as they ordered everyone to raise their hands in the air. The pair then went around the room, searching for and seizing whatever valuables the gamblers had in their possession. The card players were then ordered to remove from their person and throw onto the table any valuables the robbers might have overlooked.

In the course of the robbery, Charles shot Howard, also in the abdomen, while Salvatore’s brother, Nazzarino, stayed outside by the vehicle they had traveled in, later claiming that he had no idea why they were going to Corbett’s house. Upon hearing the first gunshot, Nazzarino ran from the scene.

The auto belonged to Philip Gaglione, who was standing guard outside, perched beside the window and armed with a third gun. Ernest Silvio was waiting outside as well, along with a sixth man, Antonio Pettinato.

The bandits got away with about a hundred dollars as well as a slot machine they removed from the house and hauled out to the waiting car.

Howard and Alphonso were transported to Rhode Island Hospital in serious condition. Howard died later that day.

After two members of the group provided police with written confessions, all but Antonio were apprehended, despite the confessions not implicating the other men. After being jointly indicted for murder, Salvatore and Charles pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree. Nazzarino, Ernest and Philip pleaded not guilty, but it was discovered that the group had met at a local woman’s house just prior to the hold-up and planned the crime. All five were found guilty at trial and transported to the Rhode Island State Prison.

All were put to work in the prison’s shirt factory. Nineteen-year-old Salvatore operated a sewing machine while his 18-year-old brother toiled as a belt fixer. Thirty-one-year-old Charles, now separated from his wife and family, was an examiner in the factory. Twenty-year-old Ernest worked as a shirt presser. Philip, 22 and married, joined Salvatore on the sewing machines.

For $100, five men gave up their freedom and families. And the unfortunate Howard Corbett lost more that early winter morning than he ever could have considered gambling on.

Kelly Sullivan is a Rhode Island columnist, lecturer and author.