Tommy McConny was a criminal in Dick Tracy'scity. He was able to lead a double life using the identity "George Pardy", a seemingly respectable member of the community. McConny was an older, heavyset man with light hair who wore eyeglasses.
Shortly after the arrest of "Spready" Spensive, McConny was golfing on the course near the dilapidated Etah estate. McConny hit a golf ball through a window on the estate which struck and killed Mary Steele. McConny attempted to conceal his involvement in Mary's death and he abducted Mary's two foster children.
It was later discovered that Pardy was actually McConny, and Tracy attempted to arrest McConny for a years-old capital offense (in 1920, McConny had killed then-Police Chief Moyson). McConny was identified by his fingerprints and also a scar on the back of his neck from when he had fallen on a electric power line during a rooftop police chase in 1919.
Confronted by police, McConny tried to flee out of an upper-story window and escape the same way he had done years before. He became entangled in ivy vines and strangled to death.
Notes[]
The character of Tommy McConny was apparently inspired by the real-life criminal Thomas "Terrible Tommy" O'Connor, who killed Chicago police detective Patrick J. O'Neil on March 13, 1921. O'Connor was arrested and sentenced to death by hanging in 1923, but he escaped four days before his scheduled execution. O'Connor is also believed to have been involved in the killing of Detroit police officer Stacey C. Mizner on January 29, 1927. O'Connor was still at large (and facing the death penalty) at the time of his death on January 31, 1951.
