COLD CASE: MURDER OF A CLEAN COP

The murder of a rookie Denver policeman marked the opening salvo of a lengthy Colorado mob war.

Officer Richie Rose, 30, was ambushed by gunmen while on foot patrol in an Italian section in North Denver on Oct. 31, 1922 - ostensibly because he refused to be bribed by bootleggers. 

"Mafia, Mafia, Mafia," were his final words, according to some reports. The assailants may have hailed from out of state to evade capture.

The case quickly went cold - and over the next eight years, the mob war claimed 15 more lives across the state, including Rose's brother-in-law, Vincenzo Urso.

Rose, who joined the Denver police force a year earlier, was survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters. He was of Italian descent.

[Photo: Denver Police Department]