Paul Jaworski was born as Paul Poluszynski in Poland in 1900 and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1905. Raised in a Catholic household, he participated in choir during his youth but eventually abandoned religion entirely. Later in life, when offered spiritual guidance before his execution, he rejected it, stating his commitment to atheism and criticizing those who turned to religion out of fear near death.

Not much is documented about his early years in America, but it’s believed that economic hardship and the tough environment of early 20th-century immigrant communities in the industrial cities shaped Jaworski’s path toward crime. By the 1920s, he had emerged as a ruthless gang leader and became associated with organized criminal activities. He eventually led the infamous Flathead Gang, a group involved in violent robberies and high-stakes heists.

Jaworski gained a reputation not only for his boldness but also for his tactical planning and use of explosives in robberies. While many criminal outfits during the era focused on bank jobs, Jaworski's gang took on armored transports and major corporate payrolls—something rarely seen before that time. Despite being feared and hunted, he remained defiant and openly disdainful of authority and religion until his final moments.

Paul Jaworski cemented his name in American crime history by leading the Flathead Gang in the first-ever armored car robbery on March 11, 1927. This bold heist took place near Bethel Park, outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the gang planted 500 pounds of stolen black powder under the road. When an armored car carrying over $104,000 for the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Company approached, the gang detonated the explosives, destroyed the roadbed, and made off with the money. The event was unprecedented in both scope and execution, marking a new era of organized, militarized robberies in the U.S.

Following the Bethel heist, Jaworski and his crew carried out a series of bold robberies. In 1928, they pulled off a high-profile payroll robbery at The Detroit News business office, further raising their criminal profile across state lines. However, it was another payroll robbery—this time in Pennsylvania—which turned deadly and would ultimately lead to Jaworski’s death sentence. During that heist, a person was murdered, and the police began an aggressive manhunt to bring the gang to justice.

On September 13, 1928, Jaworski was located in Detroit, tracked down to a restaurant, and tried to flee across Chambers Avenue when confronted by police. He was shot and arrested during the escape attempt. Extradited to Pennsylvania, he was convicted on January 2, 1929 for the murder during the payroll robbery. His initial execution was stayed pending a psychiatric evaluation, but it moved forward later that same month.

Jaworski remained defiant until the end. On January 21, 1929, he was executed in the electric chair in Pennsylvania. He declined religious services, sticking to his declared atheism. His final days reflected his hard-edged persona, cold, unrepentant, and committed to the same beliefs he held throughout his life of crime.