Murder, Inc. (Murder, Incorporated), also known as the Combination, was an organized crime group active from 1929 to 1941 that acted as the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicatea closely connected criminal organization that included the Italian-American Mafia, the Jewish Mob, and other criminal organizations in New York City and elsewhere.Carl Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia. Checkmark Books, 2005 p. 13. Murder, Inc. was composed of both Jewish-American and Italian-American gangsters, and members were mainly recruited from poor and working-class Jewish and Italian neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was initially headed by Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and later by Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia.
Murder, Inc. was believed to be responsible for between 400 and 1,000 contract killings, until the group was exposed in 1941 by former member Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. In the trials that followed, many members were convicted and executed, and Reles himself died after suspiciously falling from a window. Thomas E. Dewey first came to prominence as a prosecutor of Murder, Inc. and other organized crime cases, before being elected the 47th governor of New York.
Origins The Bugs and Meyer Mob was the predecessor to Murder, Incorporated. The gang was founded by New York Jewish mobsters Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel in the early 1920s. Sicilian mafioso Charles "Lucky" Luciano created The Commission and began to closely cooperate with his friend Lansky and the Jewish Mob in general, establishing a multi-ethnic alliance that eventually was deemed the "National Crime Syndicate". Soon after, Siegel and Lansky disbanded the Bugs and Meyer gang and helped form Murder, Incorporated.
Methods Members of Murder, Inc. were Italian and Jewish gangsters from the gangs of the Lower East Side and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brownsville, East New York, and Ocean Hill. They committed crimes in New York City, acting as enforcers for New York Jewish mobster Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, and they accepted murder contracts from mob bosses all around the United States.
Murder, Inc. was based in Rosie Gold's candy store at the corner of Saratoga and Livonia Ave in Brooklyn.Murder, Inc.: The Story of the Syndicate by Burton B. Turkus, Sid Feder The group had a number of members, although Harry Strauss was the most prolific killer, committing over 100 murders—and some historians put the number as high as 500.NASA Report, The Mafia Encyclopedia. Checkmark Books, 2005, p. 360.
The killers were paid a regular salary as retainer as well as an average fee of $1,000 to $5,000 per killing. Their families also received monetary benefits.
Founding and early activities
Murder, Inc. was established after the formation of the commission of the National Crime Syndicate, to which it ultimately answered. It was largely headed by mob boss Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Mangano Family underboss Albert Anastasia, but also had members from Buchalter's labor-slugging gang (in partnership with Tommy "Three-Fingered Brown" Lucchese) as well as from another group of enforcers from Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York led by Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein and Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. Buchalter, in particular, and Joe Adonis occasionally, gave the outfit its orders from the board of directors of the syndicate. Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia was the troupe's operating head, or "Lord High Executioner", assisted by Lepke's longtime associate Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro.
In 1932, Abe Wagner informed on the crime 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.
In the 1930s, Buchalter used Murder, Inc. to murder witnesses and suspected informants when he was being investigated by crusading prosecutor Thomas Dewey. In one case on May 25, 1937, four killers garroted George Rudnick with a sash cord and stabbed him multiple times with an ice pick on the mere suspicion he was an informant. On October 1, 1937, they shot and seriously wounded Buchalter's ex-associate Max Rubin. Rubin had disobeyed Buchalter's orders to leave town and "disappear" in order to avoid being summoned as a witness against Buchalter. Three alleged victims of Murder, Inc. in 1935 were Morris Kessler and brothers Louis and Joseph Amberg.
Murder of Dutch Schultz Murder, Inc's best known victim was most likely Dutch Schultz, who had openly defied the syndicate. In October 1935, Schultz insisted on putting a contract on Thomas E. Dewey, who was leading an all-out effort to put the mob out of business, but the syndicate board overruled him. They feared that Dewey's assassination would incite public outrage and result in an even greater campaign to shut down the rackets. Schultz vowed that he would ignore the board's decision and kill Dewey himself.
Hitmen Mendy Weiss and Charles Workman were given the assignment to kill Schultz. On October 24, 1935, they tracked down Schultz and his associates Otto Berman, Abe Landau, and Lulu Rosenkrantz and shot them at the Palace Chop House in Newark, New Jersey. Berman, Landau, and Rosenkrantz died almost immediately, while Schultz clung to life until the following day. Workman stayed behind while Weiss escaped with their driver Seymour Schechter. In 1944, Weiss was executed by electric chair for another murder. Workman was eventually tried by the State of New Jersey for the Schultz murder and served 23 years in prison.
Demise
In January 1940, professional criminal and police informer Harry Rudolph was held as a material witness in the murder of 19-year-old minor gangster Alex Alpert. Alpert was shot in the back on a street corner in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn on November 25, 1933. While in custody, Rudolph talked with Brooklyn District Attorney William O'Dwyer. With Rudolph's testimony, O'Dwyer secured first-degree murder indictments against Abe Reles, Martin Goldstein, and Anthony Maffetore.
After the three were indicted, O'Dwyer learned from Special Prosecutor John Harlan Amen that Rudolph was reportedly offered a $5,000 bribe by another prisoner, on behalf of the syndicate, to "put Reles and Goldstein on the street". O'Dwyer stated that when Maffetore learned of the bribe offer to help clear Reles and Goldstein and after several talks with New York City Detective John Osnato, he decided to turn state's evidence. Detective Osnato talked with Maffetore even though he had worked with Rudolph previously and did not put much credibility in his story since Rudolph was paid for information in other cases that turned out to be false., Sunday Magazine, p.SM18
Eventually, Maffetore decided to cooperate, stating that he was not involved in the Alpert murder, but was the driver in six gangland murders. Maffetore then convinced Abraham Levine to talk. Reles was next to cooperate with the District Attorney's office. After Reles agreed to cooperate, numerous first-degree murder indictments were issued in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and in upstate Sullivan County (Catskills). Additional members of the "Combination" then were added to the list of cooperating witnesses, including Albert Tannenbaum, Seymour Magoon, and Sholem Bernstein. Harry Rudolph's testimony was never used in any of the trials, as he died of natural causes in the infirmary at Rikers Island in June 1940. Abe Reles fell to his death from a room at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island on November 12, 1941, even though he was under police guard. The official verdict was accidental death.
Trials
Harry Maione and Frank Abbandando
Harry Maione and Frank Abbandando were the first members of the Brooklyn "Combination" to be put on trial for murder. In May 1940, the trial started for the May 25, 1937 ice-pick murder of George "Whitey" Rudnick in a Brooklyn parking garage. Harry Strauss was also indicted for the murder, and, after initially agreeing to cooperate with the District Attorney's office, he was severed from the trial. On May 15, 1940, Abe Reles testified that Rudnick was marked for death after Strauss claimed he had obtained information that Rudnick was a "stool pigeon for the police." Reles also testified that he waited outside the garage while Maione, Abbandando and Strauss were inside with Rudnick. After Rudnick was believed to have been murdered, Abbandando called for Reles and summoned Angelo "Julie" Catalano to the garage to assist with moving the body. Since Rudnick was still alive, Strauss resumed his assault with an ice pick, and Maione used a meat cleaver to complete the murder.Reles Confesses to Six Murders; Crime Ring Informer Gives 4-Hour Story of Killings to Brooklyn Jury; Court Room Is Stunned; Calm Recital of Strangling, Shooting and Stabbing Amazes Hearers, The New York Times, May 16, 1940 p. 23. The next day, Catalano, who drove the automobile with Rudnick's body, corroborated Reles' account of the murder.Witness Upholds Reles Testimony; Catalano Testifies Against Two Accused in Killing of Rudnick, Gang Informer Names Them as Slayers; Gives Graphic Description of Ice Pick Attack in Garage and Disposition of Body, The New York Times, May 17, 1940 p. 17. "Dukey" Maffetore and Abe "Pretty" Levine testified that they stole the automobile that was used to dispose of the body.Informers Link 2 to Garage Murder; Maffetore and Levene Say They Stole Car in Which Body Was Found; One Saw Two Killings; Detectives Guard Courtroom to Prevent Vengeance by Brooklyn Gangland, The New York Times, May 15, 1940 p. 20. Maione and 14 witnesses testified that he was at his grandmother's wake when Rudnick was murdered.Maione Gives Alibi in Rudnick Slaying; 14 Witnesses Put the Alleged Murder Ring Leader at His Grandmother's Wake; He Is Calm on the Stand; Firmly and Politely Denies All Charges – Contradicts Reles and Others, The New York Times, May 21, 1940 p. 29. The funeral home undertaker and embalmer testified that Maione was not at the wake.Undertaker Hits Murder Ring Alibi; He and Embalmer Say They Did Not See Maione at His Grandmother's Wake; 'Dasher' Also on Stand; Like Co-Defendant, He Says He Had No Part in Slaying – Both Sides Rest, The New York Times, May 22, 1940 p. 21. Also, one of Maione's chief witnesses admitted that he committed perjury as ordered by Maione's brother, whom he feared.Maione Witness Admits Perjury; Asserts He Lied When He Said He Saw the Defendant in Murder Ring at Wake; Sharp Blow to Defense; Counsel, Summing Up, Assails Reles – Brooklyn Case Goes to the Jury Today, The New York Times, May 23, 1940 p. 23.