Murder, Inc.

Murder, Inc., as it was called by the press, was a chapter of a so-called National Crime Syndicate in the USA. It was essentially an enforcement arm that specialized in contract killing. It operated from the end of Prohibition until the 1950s.

Related Topics:
National Crime Syndicate - Prohibition - 1950s

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Murder, Inc. was established in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1920s by Joe Adonis, and initially led by Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein and Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. Later it was controlled by Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Albert Anastasia. They reported to higher Syndicate bosses.

Related Topics:
Brownsville, Brooklyn - New York - 1920s - Joe Adonis - Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein - Abe "Kid Twist" Reles - Louis "Lepke" Buchalter - Albert Anastasia

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Most of the killers were recruited from the gangs of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Ocean Hill, Brownsville, and East New York. They accepted murder contracts from mob bosses all around the United States.

Related Topics:
Gang - Brooklyn - Neighborhood - Ocean Hill - East New York - United States

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The Murder, Inc. idea was based on the fact that killers would be strangers to the city, and sometimes even their victims, and therefore harder to trace. Police would concentrate on local suspects when killers were already en route to their hometowns. They killed quickly and effectively with numerous methods. Practically all the targets were informants (including civilian informants) or gang members who had embezzled mob money.

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Murder, Inc.'s killers included Frank Abbandando, Louis Capone, Buggsy Goldstein, Seymour Magoon, Harry Maione, Reles, Harry Strauss and Albert Tannenbaum.

Related Topics:
Frank Abbandando - Louis Capone - Seymour Magoon - Harry Maione - Harry Strauss - Albert Tannenbaum

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The killers were paid a regular salary, plus an average fee of USD$1000–$5000 per killing. Their families also received monetary benefits. If they were caught, the mob would supply the best lawyers.

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In 1932, Abe Wagner informed on the syndicate to the police. He fled to Saint Paul, Minnesota and adopted a disguise to evade possible pursuit. Two killers, George Young and Joseph Schafer, found and shot him but were later apprehended. Bugsy Siegel failed to get them released.

Related Topics:
1932 - Saint Paul, Minnesota - George Young - Joseph Schafer

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One of the more famous victims was gang boss Dutch Schultz, who had defied the syndicate. Mendy Weiss, Charles Workman, and an unidentified gunman named "Piggy" shot Schultz and his associates Otto Berman, Abe Landau, and Lulu Rosenkrantz on October 23, 1935, in a Newark bar named the Palace Chop House.

Related Topics:
Dutch Schultz - Mendy Weiss - Charles Workman - "Piggy" - Otto Berman - Abe Landau - Lulu Rosenkrantz - October 23 - 1935

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In the 1930s, Buchalter used Murder, Inc. to murder witnesses and suspected informants when he was investigated by district attorney Thomas E. Dewey. In one case four killers hacked loan shark George Rudnick to pieces for the mere suspicion of being an informant, on May 11, 1937. On October 1, 1937, they seriously wounded Buchalter's ex-associate Max Rubin.

Related Topics:
1930s - Thomas E. Dewey - May 11 - 1937 - October 1

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In the 1940s, Murder, Inc. employee Harry Rudolph was framed for murder and sentenced to Rikers Island. He decided to talk to district attorney Burton B. Turkus. Turkus arrested Abe Reles, Martin Goldstein and Dukey Maffetore upon his information. When Reles and Maffetore learned that they had become the next targets lest they talk, they became informants. Allie Tannenbaum, arrested later, also decided to talk.

Related Topics:
1940s - Harry Rudolph - Rikers Island - Burton B. Turkus

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Reles was promised immunity from prosecution. He informed on many killers, including Abbandando, Maione and Strauss and described many of his own murders in court. The Syndicate promised a $100,000 reward for his death. Reles fell to his death from a guarded hotel room at Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island on November 12, 1941.

Related Topics:
Half Moon Hotel - Coney Island - November 12 - 1941

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Lepke Buchalter, with Louis Capone and Mendy Weiss, was executed at Sing Sing in Ossining, New York on March 4, 1944.

Related Topics:
Louis Capone - Mendy Weiss - Sing Sing - Ossining, New York - March 4 - 1944

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With many of its members sent to the electric chair, Murder, Inc. vanished within a few years, but it was the execution of Albert Anastasia in 1957 that sealed its fate. Without an enforcement group, the Syndicate switched to murder deals arranged between individual gang bosses.

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Turkus wrote a book about Murder, Inc. which was originally published in 1951 ISBN 0306812886. It was made into a film in 1960.

Related Topics:
1951 - 1960

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