Police Probe Background and Motives in Fatal Shooting of John W. Harris-October 21, 1975

Continuing Investigation Into the Murder of John W. Harris

Local and state police detectives intensified their investigation yesterday into the weekend murder of John W. Harris, 54, of 31 Walnut Ave., delving deeply into the victim’s past to establish a motive for the execution-style killing.

Harris, a former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collector who led the Jack Harris Band and worked as a teletype operator for the Daily Transcript in Dedham while operating a home-based tax service, was found shot twice in the head on Saturday night. His body was discovered in the back seat on the driver’s side of his late-model car parked near 14 Berwick St. by his wife, Florence E. (Sullivan) Harris, and two of his sons shortly after 9:30 p.m.

Investigators—including Norwood detectives Robert J. Lawrie, William Travers, and William Casey, alongside state police—determined that Harris left his home at approximately 7:50 p.m. dressed in a red sport coat, gray slacks, and a tan overcoat, intending to play a gig at the Norwood Lodge of Elks a quarter-mile away. According to lodge officials, he never arrived.

Examining Past Federal Convictions and Organized Crime Ties-October 21, 1975

With robbery initially considered unlikely because Harris still had $9.35 in cash, his wristwatch, jewelry, and a Boston University class ring on his person—though his wallet remained missing—detectives focused heavily on his professional background.

Harris had a prior federal conviction, having been found guilty in February 1966 of four counts of soliciting and receiving a bribe while working for the IRS in connection with a $3,000 extortion scheme involving a Brookline restaurant attorney. Sentenced to three years in federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Wyzanski, he was subsequently dismissed from the agency. More recently, in February 1974, Harris appeared as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal tax evasion trial of convicted Boston bookie Francis A. Vitello, testifying that he accompanied Vitello to Zurich in 1960 and 1961 while denying knowledge of an $810,000 Swiss bank account money-laundering scheme.

While police noted that the close-range shooting bore the hallmarks of a “gangland-style” murder, they emphasized there was no definitive evidence linking the crime to organized crime forces.

Crime Scene Clues and Missing Weapon

Investigators sought to determine whether Harris was shot outside his car and his body thrown into the back seat, or if he was murdered elsewhere and driven to Berwick Street. Although heavy rain on Saturday night washed away much of the evidence, bloodstains were discovered on the road near the vehicle.

Police also checked whether Harris held a valid license to carry a firearm—records showed he renewed a permit in 1974 valid through 1979 for protection of life and property—though investigators never recovered a weapon belonging to him, nor did they find the murder weapon during exhaustive neighborhood searches. Authorities awaited state police ballistics test results on the recovered .38 caliber slug to determine if it remained intact or split, which could explain a second head wound.

Approximately 30 minutes after Harris was pronounced dead on arrival at Norwood Hospital, Walpole Police recovered his untouched drums and cymbals alongside Union Street in Walpole, with the foot pedal found 20 feet inward from the road. The careful placement of the gear suggested it had not been tossed from a speeding vehicle. Private funeral services for Harris, who is survived by his wife and eight children, were held today.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger