 In June of 1930, Joseph Mozinsky left work one evening, telling his wife he was heading out to run some errands. In reality, Joseph was continuing a two-year affair with his 19-year-old mistress, Catherine May. Catherine and Joseph were sitting together in a parked car in Queens, New York, when an unidentified man approached the vehicle and, without warning, fired two rounds at Joseph, ending his life instantly. The mysterious man then handed Catherine a note, telling her not to read it until the following day. He then walked Catherine to a bus stop and left her there unharmed. Catherine did not immediately report the crime to the police. Instead, she waited until they approached her about a coat that she left behind that evening. She then handed the note over to investigators. Investigators were stunned by this note, partly because of the crazy story Catherine had shared about that evening, but also because the note didn't make any sense. All the note said was Joseph Mozinsky 3x3-x-097. Police had no leads in this case until they received a letter in the mail, describing Joseph as a rascal and a dirty rat. This letter warned detectives that 14 more of Joseph's friends would soon be joining him. Just a couple days later, police found another body. When police spoke with Catherine May about the night in question back in June of 1930, she gave conflicting accounts about what really took place that evening. You've got to keep in mind this story unfolded nearly 100 years ago and the world was a much different place back then. Catherine was devastated by what had transpired and rightfully so. There was a much bigger social impact here than what we may be accustomed to these days. See, Catherine had an image to uphold, so when police began interrogating her about what happened that evening, she repeatedly tried to cover her tracks and save herself from public ridicule. It's believed that this is why Catherine never even went to the police after the crime had taken place. She knew she'd messed up by having an affair with a married man, and if she informed police about it, it would only have made matters worse. So she did her best to conceal her true intentions that evening. When asked about the crime, Catherine first told police that she believed the suspect was an Italian gangster, specifically pinning a man named Albert Lombardo. But as police pressed her about this, they quickly realized that she was lying. In more recent years, many people believed that these accusations were racially or ethnically motivated and that would certainly align with the average public opinion at the time. Officers realized rather quickly though that Catherine wasn't being entirely truthful, and when pressed about this, Catherine did eventually confess that her story was untrue, and that's when she began to change her tone. She finally explained that the man appeared to have a thick German accent. Just yet, the man didn't just stop at ending Joseph's life. According to Catherine, after ending the life of Joseph, the man grabbed her and took advantage of her. He then began rummaging through Joseph's pockets, almost as if he was looking for something. He found some papers in one of Joseph's pockets, and rather strangely, he set the papers on fire, then turned to Catherine and asked for her address. The man then grabbed Catherine and walked her to the nearest bus stop, boarding the bus alongside her as soon as it arrived. It was at this point that he handed her the aforementioned note. He accompanied her to the nearest bus station, then departed after telling her not to open the note until the following day. Catherine did not obey the man's wishes. As soon as he was out of sight, Catherine looked at the note and found an odd phrase written inside, Joseph Mozynski 3x,3-x-097. Now there are conflicting reports about this note, with some sources saying that the note was handwritten, while others suggest that the phrase on the note had been stamped with red ink. Either way, Joseph's body was found the following day. With all of this unfolding, the editor of the New York Evening Journal received a bizarre letter in the mail. The letter began by saying, Kindly print this letter in your paper for Mozynski's friends. This statement was followed up by a series of letters and numbers that didn't make any logical sense. The letter claimed that by printing this letter in the paper, the editor would be saving the lives of many people, saying, By doing this, you may save their lives and the women may know where the missing papers are and who has them since they were given to Mozynski. We don't want any more crimes unless we have to. This letter was then signed 3x, the man behind the gun. When police were informed about this letter, they looked at the postmark and found that it had been mailed out several hours before Joseph had even lost his life. This confirmed to investigators that the man behind the letter was indeed the man behind the crime. The next day, the paper did decide to report on the incident, but they never mentioned the letter in their write-up. Just a few days later, the paper would receive another letter from this elusive criminal. This time, his intentions were much more clear. It became obvious that this man wasn't going to leave until the job was done. In this letter, he clarified that Catherine May was nothing but an innocent bystander and that she had no involvement in the crime whatsoever. But he continued on and seems to have suggested that Joseph Mozynski may have been much more of a womanizer than his wife and Catherine even realized. He said rather cryptically, quote, Mozynski was nothing but a rascal, a dirty rat. Not two women as stated in the papers, but six and two young girls, one 14 and one 15, were with him in that same place. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to suggest that Joseph had been involved not only with Catherine, but at least six other women, two of whom were underage. The man continued on by saying, quote, I am the agent of a secret international order. And when I met Mozynski that night, it was to get him certain documents. But unfortunately, they were not in his possession at that time. If his relative knew so much of his luck with women, maybe he would tell us what became of the following items, NYX 2673, NJ 4344, Philadelphia XV 346. These papers must be returned to us at once or 14 more Mozynski's friends will join him, Mozynski's relatives and friends have until Monday, 12 p.m. to bring these documents to us. If no answer is received by that time, we will start merry hell for all of them. It was clear whoever was writing these letters, they meant business and they were going to stop at nothing to get what they believed was rightfully theirs. The letter was once again signed three X on the evening of June 16th, five days after the crimes against Joseph and Catherine. Noel Salley, a 26 year old radio mechanic from Brooklyn, had picked up his girlfriend, Betty, driving to a nearby salvage yard so the two could spend some time alone in the car. As the two sat in the vehicle, they noticed a man with a flashlight approaching. He shined the light in the window, then revealed that he was holding a weapon aimed at Noel. This man, much like the man from the previous crime, spoke with a thick German accent and asked Noel for his driver's license. After reviewing his license, the unknown man then turned his flashlight into the distance and began flickering it in a pattern. When Noel asked what he was doing, the man said that he was telling his friends that he wouldn't be needing their assistance. The man then turned back to Noel and asked if he knew Joseph Mozynski. Noel replied, no, and the man immediately fired at him. Despite his wounds, Noel was still alive and well and managed to utter the phrase, I'm not the man you're looking for. The assailant then calmly walked to the back of the car, looked at the license plate and replied, you're the one we want, all right. You're going to get what Joe got. He then fired one more round and ended Noel's life. Three X returned to Noel's side and began searching through his pockets. He then pulled out a slip of paper and shouted, I have it. The man then turned to Betty, Noel's girlfriend, and started to advance towards her. She then grabbed a religious necklace that she'd been wearing and that's when Three X decided to back off. He took Betty and much like he did with Catherine, took her to a nearby bus stop. He handed Betty a note and when she read it later on, it simply said, sally Three X. Stamped in red ink, just like the letter that Catherine had received just days before. When police arrived at the scene of the crime later on, they collected several key pieces of evidence that seemed to prove that Noel certainly knew much more than he was letting on. When they searched his body, they found a newspaper clipping about the crimes against Joseph and Catherine with the word Mozinski stamped in red ink, followed by the words, here's how, written in the margins. We don't know if Noel was the one who collected this clipping or if it had been left in his pocket by the mysterious Three X. All we know is that it was there when investigators arrived. If this weren't strange enough, investigators soon found a roll of cash that had been stashed inside of a magazine, with this being found in the back of the car. Prior to these discoveries, police still believed Catherine may have somehow been involved in the first crime, but after hearing Betty's story, they agreed that Catherine was nothing more than an innocent victim, just like Three X had said. Three X may have been nothing more than a cold-blooded monster, but he was now proven to at least be honest. Shortly after the crime was committed, the Evening Journal and police both received a letter in the mail. One of these letters contained a 23 caliber shell casing, as well as a note that mentioned Noel Sallie, referring to him as V5 Sallie. The letter that they received went on to state, quote, Some of our money was found on his person and the NY document. 13 more men and one woman will go if they do not make peace with us. It was at this point that the Evening Journal decided to post the letters they'd received from Three X, hoping this may put a stop to the crimes. Almost immediately after the publication went out, they received yet another letter. This one read, quote, Tonight one more will go. You may let them know Three X is the man behind the gun. He asks for no quarter, but will give none. On June 18th at 9 p.m., I will be at college point to get WRV8. Police were desperate for answers in this case, and they set out on an incredible manhunt to try to bring Three X to justice before he could get ahold of whoever WRV8 was. Police were stationed all over the town that evening, but oddly, no crime was ever reported. The very next day, the Evening Journal received yet another letter. This letter was the first of its kind because it almost seemed hopeful in a strange way. It read, quote, WRV8 of CP has returned to Philadelphia, XV346 to meet tonight after reading your paper. Also $37,000 of blackmail money, thanks to God. The letter continued on by saying that since the items were returned, one woman and five men would have their lives spared. It's assumed that these individuals must have somehow been close with the would-be victim, and that by fessing up, the man was able to save their lives. But there was a catch. The letter concluded by saying that NJ4344 as well as $39,000 were still missing. This meant that seven more men were still in danger. Three X referred to each of these men by their code names, saying that they each needed to follow orders if they wanted their lives to be spared. The threat to WRV8 may have been over, but as far as investigators knew, the real crimes had only just begun, and Joseph Mozinski's brother was about to learn this the hard way. On June 19th, just eight days after Joseph Mozinski had lost his life, his brother received a letter of his own. The postmarks on this letter suggested that it had come from Philadelphia, and the writer ordered Joseph's brother, John, to deliver a series of valuable documents to him, presumably referring to the aforementioned $39,000 as well as the NJ document. The letter requested that the documents be placed inside a newspaper and hidden inside the men's room at the Broad Street station. As soon as John received the letter, he approached the police and an investigative team and explained that he had no idea what the letter was talking about, claiming to have no knowledge of these documents whatsoever. John was placed under police protection while the investigation was underway, and it seems as though John may have actually been telling the truth. This is because just two days later, investigators would receive their final letter from 3X. The letter stated, the last document, NJ 4344, returned to us on the 19th at 9 p.m. My mission is ended, there's no further cause for worry. At this point, you're probably thinking the same thing that I was. Now that 3X's job was over, he probably planned to leave the area and never return, meaning we'll never actually find out who this man was or what he wanted. Well, that's not entirely true. See, 3X may have been a monster, but he wasn't one to leave loose ends. Before signing off his final letter, 3X came clean about his intentions, his origins and why he'd shown up here in the first place. 3X explained that he was a former officer in the German army. He said that he'd been recruited by a serious organization based in Russia, known as the Red Diamond of Russia. One interesting thing to note is that when 3X signed all of his letters, he didn't technically sign them as 3X. He signed them as three, followed by an upside down V and a right side up V, giving the impression of a poorly written X. 3X went into extreme detail, explaining that the inverted V represented the supreme tribunal of the order, and the normal V represented that he was a special agent. He went on to explain that Joseph Mosinski and Noel Sallie both had their lives ended because they too were part of the Red Diamond of Russia. He said that they'd been affiliated with the organization, but had committed treason after joining a gang of blackmailers and smugglers. The three documents that 3X had been searching for were the property of the Red Diamond of Russia. The documents had been stolen for blackmail purposes, and it was 3X's job to get these documents back. He signed off his letter by saying that he would now be returning to Russia, clarifying that any further letters received by anyone claiming to be 3X would be considered fake. Police were interested in speaking with the family of Joseph and Noel, hoping that they'd be able to shed some light on this secret organization. But as expected, when the families were questioned, they claimed to have no knowledge of this Red Diamond of Russia, and even went as far as claiming that there was no way their loved ones could have been involved in such a thing. But one thing that's rather interesting is that just a month before Joseph lost his life, he deposited $8,000 into his bank account, the equivalent of around $150,000 today. It's never been publicly revealed where this money actually came from, and many suspect it could have been a payout provided by the blackmailers or the smugglers. After all was said and done, police did receive more letters from 3X, but as 3X's own letter stated, it's to be assumed that all of these future letters were nothing but fakes. Catherine and Betty were both called in on multiple occasions by police to take a look at a few people the police suspected could have been involved in the crimes. But both Catherine and Betty were able to clear each of these suspects of any involvement in the case. It's safely assumed that 3X did, in fact, return to Russia as he claimed. At this point, the case was, in a sense, solved, but neither 3X nor the Red Diamond of Russia were ever heard from again, and the identity of 3X remains a mystery. What I personally find so odd about this case is that you have to ask yourself, who is the real criminal here? As far as secret agents go, 3X seems to be a relatively level-headed person. After all, he gave each of his victims the chance to turn over the papers that were stolen, giving them the chance to have their lives spared, and 3X made good on his word. Each of the victims that did return the papers were allowed to live. That's extremely unusual in crimes like this. Most of the time the criminal would have gotten what they wanted and claimed the lives of their victims anyway, simply for revenge, but 3X didn't. But even though 3X made good on his word, you have to remember he took advantage of Catherine when she was a completely innocent woman, not to mention the fact that he took the lives of two other people. But you have to wonder if Joseph and Noel were even half as honest as 3X was, would they have even ended up in this situation in the first place? I personally blame Joseph just as much as 3X for putting Catherine in such a dangerous position, whether he meant to or not, not to mention the two underage girls that he was supposedly involved with as well. Joseph Mozinsky is just as much of a criminal as 3X is. It's just hard to feel bad for someone who built a life for themselves that was fueled by crime, regardless of which side of the table they were playing on. This case is still technically unsolved, but for all intents and purposes, at least in my own mind, this case has reached a perfectly reasonable conclusion. 3X showed up, took what was rightfully his and left. It'll be great to find out who this masked man really was one day, and maybe even learn what was contained on those papers, but let's be real, that's simply not gonna happen. Remember, this case took place nearly 100 years ago, so even though 3X may have never seen justice in his life, it'll certainly be held accountable in the next one. The only remaining question is, whatever became of the red diamond of Russia? Thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of True Crime Stories. If you wanna see more true crime documentaries like this, be sure to hit that like button and subscribe. If you'd like to help support the channel, the best way you can do that is simply by leaving a comment below, any comment at all. It helps out the channel a lot more than you may realize. If you wanna help out financially, you can do that by clicking the blue join button below, or by picking up a True Crime Stories mug, like the one you see on the desk behind me, from tieknotes.com. But with that, my name is Ty Nautz, and I'll catch you guys in the next video.