John O'Connell was born in the Lower East Side in 1884 and attended St. Augustine's Parochial School and La Salle Academy.
The detective sergeant then ordered his men to withdraw around a corner and sent two patrolmen to gain entry to the building from the rear while the rest of the squad were marched across the street in full view of the gang.
Both Madden and Tanner received light punishments and were allowed to see Mayor William J. Gaynor who convinced him that the police had used excessive force and claimed they had been arrested during a card game.
He established the technical research laboratory during his time at the academy and directed the wartime coordination between civilian defense groups and law enforcement agencies.
His best known work, "Modern Criminal Investigation" (1935), was co-written with Harry Söderman and outlined early scientific and psychological methods of crime detection.