Murder, Inc.

Murder Inc. is a redirect to this article. For the record label, see The Inc. Records .

The Murder, Inc. ( English Murder Incorporated , German about "Mord AG"), also Brownsville Boys , was an American criminal organization in the 1930s and 1940s, hundreds of murders can be attributed.

The name - an invention of the journalist Harry Feeney of the New York World Telegram from the 1930s - is based on the commercial conduct of murders and was accepted by the members as a self-designation. Originally, the gang leader had Louis Buchalter as the group The Combination ( American : "The combination"), since in its Kosher Nostra and Italians of the American Cosa Nostra , but also working together Irish and other nationalities. The main purpose of the murders was to safeguard and expand the criminal activities and economic interests of the National Crime Syndicate . However, the victims also included potential witnesses who had no direct connection to organized crime. These murders were intended to enable or obscure other crimes committed by the criminal organization. This included in particular the international drug trade organized by Jacob Katzenberg , which was actively supported by Murder, Inc. and which can be seen as one of the main sources of income for the criminal organization, alongside the infiltration of legal work-related industries such as the clothing industry.

The criminal organization led by Buchalter and Albert Anastasia consisted essentially of three parts: first, the core group around Abe Reles , which was settled in the Brownsville district (New York City) (the Brownsville Boys ); secondly, the Italians from the Ocean Hill Hooligans who lived in the neighboring district and thirdly, the men who had previously worked directly with Buchalter and Co.

history

precursor

The Eastman Gang under Monk Eastman had already drawn up a price list that also included murder; a brawl was carried out for 15, robbery and stabbing for 25 and a murder for 50 US dollars. Ambulance drivers called a mission triggered by gang activity an "Eastman Ward". Other gangs in the Five Points of Manhattan kept similar lists.

Much more lucrative, however, was intervening in labor disputes , particularly in the Garment District in New York City. If the employers initially used thugs in labor disputes, for example as strike breakers , the unions soon opposed this with their own troops. Thugs could be recruited like mercenaries , and whoever had the monopoly dictated the prices and, as a rule, the outcome of a labor dispute.

This gave rise to the idea of expanding the “ Labor Racketeering ” and infiltrating the unions; In the so-called fourth “Labor Slugger War” , Louis Buchalter and Jacob Shapiro got rid of their boss Jacob Orgen on the instructions of Meyer Lansky . Under Buchalter, Lansky’s instructions have now been implemented, the unions have been infiltrated, and the original “thug service” expanded into a killing machine that carried out murder assignments as Murder, Inc. for the National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s.

The beginning

The formation of Murder, Inc. corresponds to the collaboration between the mobsters Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Time and again, it was the resources of the Bugs and Meyer Mob that helped Luciano with his conflicts within the Five Families of the Cosa Nostra. The collaboration had established itself - beyond New York City - in the Seven Group and continued to expand. Louis Buchalter originally referred to Murder, Inc. as " The Combination " - apparently based on the proven collaboration in the Seven Group, which was also known as "Combine".

With the formation of the National Crime Syndicate, various ethnic gangs began to work together. A jointly operated killer group was supposed to implement the decisions of the "Commission" as the executive body.

Lansky brought in his gang, who had already worked with Italians around Tommy “Three-Fingered Brown” Lucchese in the so-called “Labor Racketeering”. Other groups from Brownsville (Brooklyn) around Martin "Bugsy" Goldstein or Abe Reles joined them.

The orders of murder were given to the group on behalf of the bosses of the " Commission ", usually by Louis Buchalter and at times by Joe Adonis . The head of the group was Albert Anastasia, who was supported by Jacob Shapiro , a confidante of Buchalter.

A back room of the "City Democratic Club" founded by Vincent Mangano and Emil Camarda, Vice Presidents of the International Longshoremen's Association , served as the meeting point . Philip Mangano was just as often present in this "club" as Albert Anastasia.

The core group around Abe Reles met in a candy store in Brownsville called Midnight Rose's, where the Ocean Hill hooligans Harry Maione and Francesco Abbandando could soon be found, who helped Reles eliminate the Shapiro brothers and made friends with him and his cronies had. Orders to this group were initially given by Louis Capone  - often by telephone.

The existence of the murder gang was first made known to the police in 1932 by the alcohol smuggler Abe Wagner , who then fled to Saint Paul (Minnesota) , but was shot there by George Young and Joseph Schafer . Their true identities were discovered shortly afterwards as Albert Silverberg and John Newman , two suspects in the 1930 murder of prohibition agent John Finiello in a brewery in Elizabeth, New Jersey . Both were members of the gang around Harry Rosen from Philadelphia . His connection to Buchalter and Shapiro had been known to the authorities since 1931 at the latest, when a meeting of the Kosher Nostra in the Franconia Hotel in New York was ended by a raid by the New York police and all participants were taken into custody. According to Abe Reles, every effort was made to rescue the two hit men after they were sentenced to life imprisonment in Minnesota. In addition to large sums of money that were used for various legal remedies, members of the organization allegedly also planned to facilitate a violent prison break. Bugsy Siegel , who was vehemently committed to the release of the perpetrators, visited them several times . In fact, Silverberg and Newman were freed in 1948, a year after Siegel was assassinated and several years after Murder, Inc. ended.

Selection of executed murder orders

• 1932: Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll was murdered on February 8th by Bo Weinberg , Leonard Scarnici and Anthony Fabrizzo. Formally, this act was not yet a murder by Murder Inc .; but those involved acted on behalf of the Seven Group , organizationally in a certain way a forerunner of the National Crime Syndicate. With Scarnici and Fabrizzo - not only for the victim - unknown contract killers were used; Weinberg - Dutch Schultz's second husband who was at war with Coll - acted as an escape driver.

• 1935: On October 24th, the wounded Dutch Schultz died . He had come under legal pressure, was briefly detained and was planning the murder of prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey . Albert Anastasia, whom Schultz wanted to win for the project , had betrayed the murder intention to Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Before his verdict was announced, Luciano tried to prevent Dutch Schultz from murdering Dewey. The "Commission" of the National Crime Syndicate decided his death after his refusal in order to avert danger to the entire organization that the murder of the public prosecutor would inevitably have entailed. Dutch Schultz was shot by Charles Workman in the men's room at the Palace Chop House in Newark. In the October 23 attack, Workman also killed Schultz's accountant Otto Berman , his bodyguard Lulu Rosenkrantz and his main henchman Abe Landau . Workman's accomplices included Emanuel Weiss , who had secured the entrance area of ​​the establishment, and Seymour “Piggy” Schechter, the getaway driver.

• 1939: On April 28, Murder, Inc. was wrong: When the former union boss of the Garment Union - Philip Orlovsky - was about to be murdered , Jacob "Kuppy" Migden , who was sitting in Seymour Magoon's car, instead identified - as it later turned out - Irving Penn, a 42-year-old managing director of Schirmer Inc, who was promptly shot by Jack “Dandy” Parisi, who was also on board.

• 1939: On July 14th, the union activist Peter Panto , who campaigned against corruption and mafia-like structures in the port unions, was murdered on the orders of Albert Anastasia. After a phone call, Panto left his home and was never seen alive by witnesses. His body was found in a lime pit in January 1941.

• 1939: On September 5, Irving Feinstein was abducted to Abe Reles' home at E.91 St. in Brooklyn and tortured to death there. Another person involved was Harry Maione. In addition, an attempt was made to make Feinstein's body unrecognizable by fire. Feinstein is said to have betrayed Vincent Mangano , the boss of the clan later known as the Gambino family .

The end

Louis Buchalter faced enormous pressure from the public prosecutor in the late 1930s. This investigated against him for drug trafficking, his involvement in the infiltration of the trade unions, the blackmail of companies and not least because of numerous murder cases. In 1937 Buchalter evaded criminal prosecution and from this point on was considered a fugitive before the judiciary. In 1939, Buchalter lost the support of other high-ranking figures in organized crime. It was demanded that Buchalter surrender himself to the authorities in order to calm down the investigative authorities, and threatened to bring about the end of his group and his power himself otherwise. In 1939 Buchalter followed the request, on the one hand to prevent a gang war, on the other hand because he was pretended to be an alleged deal regarding a maximum sentence.

In January 1940 the petty crook Harry "Harry the Mock" Rudolph had been in prison for several years. However, he had not forgotten the murder of his 19-year-old friend Alex “Red” Alpert. Young gangster Alpert was gunned down from behind in Brownsville on November 25, 1933, because he did not want to sell his booty of uncut diamonds to Strauss and Reles for only 700 US dollars. Rudolph - who had been transferred to the local prison "The Rock" on Rikers Island , decided to work with the district attorney for the Burton B. Turkus district. This started a chain reaction, although the statements of Rudolph, who died of natural causes in prison in June 1940, were never used.

Turkus arrested William O'Dwyer , Abe Reles, Martin Goldstein and Dukey Maffetore based on Rudolph's testimony and on the instructions of the Kings County District Attorney . The next thing Maffetore decided to testify was that he was not involved in Alpert's murder. Reles also realized that on the one hand he could be sentenced to death, on the other hand his boss Louis Buchalter would not take the risk of leaving witnesses alive. He therefore also decided to cooperate with the authorities. Reles revealed the murder of the confectionary retailer Joseph Rosen and thus resolved a case that had remained unsolved for four years. Rosen was on 12./13. He was shot dead in his Brownsville, New York City, shop on September 9, 1936 . According to Reles, Louis Buchalter had ordered the murder of Rosen, which Harry Strauss , James Ferraco , Emanuel Weiss, Sholem Bernstein and Louis Capone were involved in planning and carrying out .

Louis Buchalter during the sentencing in the Joseph Rosen murder case (co-defendants: Emanuel Weiss and Louis Capone); December 2, 1941

The night before his hearing, Reles - the main witness in the Joseph Rosen murder case - died mysteriously after falling from his hotel room. Meyer Lansky is said to have put a $ 100,000 bounty on Reles to prevent his testimony in court. While Albert Anastasia was able to escape future prosecution by Prosecutor O'Dwyer with the death of Reles, since all incriminating material that he had collected against Anastasia was based on Reles' statements, the failure of the witness Buchalter and many co-defendants could not face a guilty verdict save.

In addition to Reles, some other members of the criminal organization who had been arrested and who had become informants (such as Albert Tannenbaum, Sholem Bernstein, Oscar Friedman , Seymour Magoon, etc.) had made statements regarding crimes committed. Numerous murder charges followed, which ended in death sentences for Harry Strauss, Martin Goldstein, Harry Maione, Frank Abbandando, Emanuel Weiss, Louis Capone and Louis Buchalter.

Executions

Louis Buchalter and convicted for murder members of his organization were on the electric chair of Sing Sing Prison executed. This makes him the only high-ranking member of organized crime to be sentenced to death and executed in the United States .

Members

Surname	birth	death	† Root cause	Nickname	Assignment	annotation
Abbandando, Francesco	1910	1942	Electric chair	The Dasher	Ocean Hill hooligans
Anastasia, Albert	1902	1957	shot	Mad Hatter	American Cosa Nostra	Gambino family
Berger, Paul	unknown	unknown			Kosher Nostra	Pentito
Amber, Sholem	unknown	unknown		Sol	Kosher Nostra	Car thief and getaway driver, later Pentito
Brown, Sidney				Fats		Murder charges in Sullivan County, New York. Charges dropped after sole witness Abe Reles died
Buchalter, Louis	1897	1944	Electric chair	Lepke	Kosher Nostra	Laboratory Slugger War
Capone, Louis	1896	1944	Electric chair			not related to Al Capone
Carbo, Paolo Giovanni	1904	1976		Frankie Carbo	American Cosa Nostra	Lucchese crime family , later Box - promoter , but still, convicted in the criminal milieu for extortion to 25 years imprisonment
Chapman, Abe				Abraham Chalupowitz, "Trigger Abe" Chapman	Kosher Nostra	Involved in the gang's drug trafficking
Cohen, Louis	1904	1939	shot	Louis Kerzner	Kosher Nostra	Nathan Kaplan's murderer, paroled in 1937 and shot in 1939
Cohen, Irving	1904	1991	natural death	Big Gangi	Kosher Nostra	fled and became a Hollywood actor
Cohen, Philip	1906/1907	1949	shot	Little Farvel	Kosher Nostra	Involved in the Rosen murder, sentenced to imprisonment for drug smuggling in 1941 and shot after release
Dioguardi, Giovanni	1914	1979		Johnny Dio	American Cosa Nostra	Lucchese family , later responsible for the acid attack on the journalist Victor Riesel and his blindness
Drucker, Jacob	1905/1906	1962		Jack	Kosher Nostra	Authorities searched for three years for Drucker for his alleged involvement in five murders. Sentenced to 25 years in 1944 and died in prison in 1962.
Feinstein, Irving	around 1905	1939	stabbed and burned	Puggy	Kosher Nostra
Ferraco, James	1905/1906	1940?		Dizzy, dirty face	American Cosa Nostra	Disappeared without a trace in 1940 after drug trafficking charges in Dallas and murder charges in New York
Friedman, Isadore		1939	shot	Danny Field (s), Irving Friedman	Kosher Nostra	Debt collector and long-time companion of Louis Buchalter, who, however, was suspected of cooperating with the authorities in 1939
Friedman, Oscar				The poet	Kosher Nostra	Pentito
Goldis, Morris					Kosher Nostra	Co-organizer of the strike breaker activities and involved in blackmailing companies
Goldis, William				Wolfie	Kosher Nostra	Co-organizer of the strike breaker activities and involved in blackmailing companies
Goldstein, Martin	1905	1941	Electric chair	Bugsy	Kosher Nostra
Golob, Max	1909/1910			Maxie, The Jerk	Kosher Nostra	Sentenced to 5 years in prison for the murder of John Murtha
Greenberg, Harry		1939	shot	Big Greenie, Harry Schachter	Kosher Nostra	Buchalter feared that the Greenberg wanted by the judiciary would incriminate him too. Greenberg was chased to Los Angeles . Bugsy Siegel and Frankie Carbo participated in Greenberg's murder there.
Gurino, Vito		1957	Heart failure	Socko, Chicken Head	American Cosa Nostra	1942 sentenced to 80 years to life after triple murder confession and died in custody
Holtz, Hyman	1896	1939?		Curly also Little Hymie	Kosher Nostra	Involved in the gang's drug trafficking. Found in the East River in 1939
Kovolick, Philip	1908	1971?	murdered	Joseph Farvel, The Stick, also Kovalick	Kosher Nostra	Found dead in a steel barrel at the bottom of a flooded Florida quarry in 1971
Krakow (he), Whitey		1941	murdered		Kosher Nostra	One of the first internal victims, brother-in-law and driver of the Bugsy Siegel
Kravitz, Louis				Lou Kay	Kosher Nostra	Involved in the gang's drug trafficking. A suspended bounty could not result in an arrest. Kravitz stayed gone
Levine, Abraham	1916	unknown		Pretty	Kosher Nostra	Leaving the criminal milieu after arrest and living in Williamsburg
Levine, Samuel	1903	unknown		Red	Kosher Nostra	Murder of Salvatore Maranzano
Magoon, Seymour	unknown	unknown		Blue Jaw	Kosher Nostra	Pentito , then disappeared without a trace
Maione, Harry	1908	1942	Electric chair	Happy	Ocean Hill hooligans
Mangano, Vincent	1888	1951	shot		American Cosa Nostra
Midgen, Jacob	1909/1910			Kuppy	Kosher Nostra	Sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of Irving Penn in 1943
Nitzberg, Irving	1909			Knadles	Kosher Nostra	initially sentenced to death for the murder of Albert Shuman in 1941, acquitted in 1943 before execution by a higher court
Newman, John				Joseph Schaeffer, Jake / Jeff Newman	Kosher Nostra	Prohibition agent John Finiello's murderer. Convicted of the murder of Abraham Wagner
Parisi, Gioacchino	1899	1982		Jack, The Dandy	American Cosa Nostra	Albert Anastasia's gunslinger tried on various murders but acquitted in all trials for lack of evidence
Reles, Abraham	1906	1941	Lintel	Kid twist	Kosher Nostra	Pentito
Ricchiettore, Santo	1905	1976		Sonny Boy	American Cosa Nostra	Model for “Luca Brasi” in The Godfather
Romeo, Anthony		1942	tortured and shot	Tony Romanello / Romero, Tony Spring	American Cosa Nostra	Assistant to Albert Anastasia and involved in the murder of Peter Panto
Say, Walter		1937	stabbed		Kosher Nostra	was suspected of embezzling profits from the gambling business
Salles, Sidney	1905/1906	1941	shot	Shimmy	Kosher Nostra	involved in the murder of Harry Greenberg
Siegel, Benjamin	1906	1947	shot	Bugsy seal	Kosher Nostra	Childhood friend of Meyer Lansky; 1939 involved in the murder of Harry Greenberg
Silverberg, Albert				George Young	Kosher Nostra	Prohibition agent John Finiello's murderer. Convicted of the murder of Abraham Wagner
Silverman, Max					Kosher Nostra	Lepke Lieutenant, co-organizer of the strike breaker activities and involved in corporate blackmail
Shapiro, Jacob	1899	1947	Heart attack in prison	Gurrah	Kosher Nostra
Shomberg, Louis				Dutch Goldberg	Kosher Nostra
Strauss, Harry	1909	1941	Electric chair	Pittsburgh Phil	Kosher Nostra
Sykoff, Meyer	1908			Mickey, Michael Sackett	Kosher Nostra	Pentito
Tannenbaum, Albert	1906	1976		Tic-Toc	Kosher Nostra	Pentito
Tannenbaum, Benjamin	around 1906	1941	shot	Benny the Boss	Kosher Nostra	According to the police, Tannenbaum was ready to testify against members of the criminal organization
Weiner, Benjamin	1904	1948	shot	Chippy	Kosher Nostra
Weiss, Emanuel	1906	1944	Electric chair	Mendy	Kosher Nostra
Wolensky, Morris		1942	shot	Moe, Moey Dimples	Kosher Nostra	Involved in Buchalter and Meyer Lansky's gambling business. In 1939 he persuaded Buchalter to face the authorities by pretending to Buchalter that there was a deal regarding a maximum penalty
Workman, Charles	1908	1979		Charlie the Bug	Kosher Nostra	Sentenced to 23 years in prison for the murder of Dutch Schultz. Freedom since 1964

Adaptations

• 1951 Der Tiger (OT: The Enforcer) with Humphrey Bogart , who plays a prosecutor. The film is based on the Buchalter process.
• Underworld , American feature film from 1960. The film tells the story of Murder, Inc.
• In the US film Once Upon a Time in America from 1984, the gang describes itself as "Undertaker and Company".

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Traffic In Opium And Other Dangerous Drugs ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 14.9 MB) Federal Bureau of Narcotics 1942, page 15 ff. (English) - accessed on January 25, 2012 
2. ↑ " The Eastmans ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. "On www.mobsters.8m.com (English) 
3. ↑ WORKMAN KILLER, WOMAN TESTIFIES; He Called at Her Apartment and Told How Schultz Met His Death, She Adds , The New York Times , June 8, 1941 p.45
4. ↑ Mobsters in America: Seymour-Blue-Jaw-Magoon --- Murder-Incorporated-Tough-Guy-Turned-Canary & id = 5645234 Mobsters in America - Seymour "Blue Jaw" Magoon - Murder Incorporated Tough Guy Turned Canary by Joseph Bruno on ezinearticles .com (English)
5. ↑ Nine Hundred & Forty Thieves . In: Time . December 29, 1952 (American English, article online at Time Magazine website [accessed April 23, 2011]).
6. ^ Murder, Inc., Indictment Dropped The New York Times - accessed February 9, 2012
7. ↑ LEPKE AIDE SLAIN; GANG WAR IS LAKES; Body of Philip Cohen Is Found on Valley Stream Road, 4 Bullets in His Head , The New York Times - Retrieved February 9, 2012
8. ^ Drucker, In Tears, Gets 25 Years As Slayer , The Brooklyn Daily Eagle - accessed June 27, 2015
9. ↑ PRINTER GETS 25 YEARS; Murder, Inc., Alleged Trigger Man Sentenced at Monticello , The New York Times - accessed February 9, 2012
10. ^ Murder Inc. Figure Dies , The New York Times - accessed February 9, 2012
11. ↑ Pair Identified By Sweetheart Of Victim , The Brooklyn Daily Eagle - accessed June 27, 2015
12. ↑ AVOIDS TRIAL FOR MURDER; Max Golob, Member of Brooklyn Ring, Allowed Lesser Plea , The New York Times - accessed February 9, 2012
13. ↑ 80-YEAR SENTENCES FOR MURDER RING 'ACE'; Gurino, Trigger Man, Gets Three Consecutive Terms , The New York Times - accessed February 9, 2012
14. ↑ Palm Beach Daily News page 5, Palm Beach Daily News, December 23, 1939 - accessed February 9, 2012
15. ↑ GETS 5 YEARS IN SLAYING; Migden Had Pleaded Guilty to Assault Attempt on Penn , The New York Times - Retrieved February 9, 2012
16. ↑ TWICE CONDEMNED, RELES AIDE FREED; Appeals Court, 4 to 3, Saves Nitzberg From Chair, Finds Indictment Faulty , The New York Times - accessed February 9, 2012
17. ↑ FREED IN MISTAKE-MURDER; Suspect Recently Won Freedom on Second Slaying Charge , The New York Times - accessed February 9, 2012
18. ↑ PARISI IS ARRAIGNED FOR BRONX MURDER , The New York Times - accessed February 9, 2012
19. ↑ PARISI IS acquitted, FACES NEW CHARGE , The New York Times (English) - accessed 9 February 2012
20. ↑ Police Scour Underworld For Shimmy Slayer , The Brooklyn Daily Eagle - accessed June 27, 2015
21. ↑ LEPKE AIDE SLAIN AFTER INDICMENT; Salles, Named With 13 Others as Harboring Fugitive, Shot Dead on 1st Ave. TWO WOMEN ARE ACCUSED Most of Those Cited Have Been Mentioned in Connection With Murder Syndicate , The New York Times - accessed October 7, 2012
22. ↑ GANGSTER'S DEATH HELD WORK OF RING; Slaying of Benny the Boss, Lepke Aide, in Bronx Linked to Murder Syndicate HE WAS 'READY TO TALK' Police Say the Victim Knew of Many Killings - His Host Has Policy Case Record , The New York Times - accessed 7 October 2012
23. ↑ Widow of Gangster Aids Alleged Slayer . In: The New York Times . June 30, 1948, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed January 8, 2019]).
24. ↑ BALKS AT TESTIFYING; Jersey Police Sergeant Refuses to Sign Immunity Waiver , The New York Times - Retrieved April 18, 2013
25. ↑ SCHULTZ'S KILLER FREED IN TRENTON; Charles Workman Served 23 Years of Term , The New York Times - Retrieved February 9, 2012

literature

• Rich Cohen: Murder Inc .: Not exactly kosher stores in Brooklyn . Fischer Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-10-010215-0 .
• Burton B. Turkus, Sid Feder: Murder Inc. . Farrar Straus and Young, 1952, 1992, ISBN 978-0-306-80475-5 .
• Burton B. Turkus, Sid Feder: Murder Inc. . Da Capo Press, 2003, ISBN 0-306-81288-6 .
• The murder company. In: Der Spiegel . No. 23 , 1952 ( online ).

Web links

• Murder, Inc. at www.crimelibrary.com (English)
• Murder Inc. on a memorial page (English)
• Mug photos on ronarons.com