Electronic Kill Machine

Different

Thomas Lally

Lally was different in a sense that he also suffers from Tourette Syndrome, which, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, is "a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive, stereotyped, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. The disorder is named for Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, the pioneering French neurologist who in 1885 first described the condition in an 86-year-old French noblewoman...." People with Tourette will often shout vulgar obscenities for no reason and experience violent tics, body twitching and sharp jerks of the arms and shoulders and head.

Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette

This made Lally stand out.

For anyone who has suffered from the disorder, it is a debilitating condition. Thomas Lally was a big guy back then: over six foot and at least 250 pounds (Jim Morel said). Not too many people screwed with Thomas Lally or even questioned the bizarre behavior brought on by the Tourette.

He would shrink later, but back when the Norton gang all ran together, Lally was the monster of the crew.

"He blew up a dog house once, it was wild," Jim explained to me.

No dog was inside. But still. The guy was fearless when it came to expressing his violent side through gun powder and fuses and explosions.

Fireworks.

He loved it all. The louder and the bigger, the better.

Jim said: "We had like grenade launchers and stuff like that. Where other kids might have had, like, 9mms and .38s, we had bombs."