Abe Reles, One Of The First Mafia Hitmen
Wikimedia CommonsAbe Reles was found dead after becoming an FBI informant.
Some of the most notorious Mafia criminals in American history relied on Murder, Inc. The organized crime group operated out of Manhattan between 1929 and 1941. Founded by Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, it provided paying customers with hitmen and a guarantee that their contract killings wouldn’t be traced back.
Born in Brooklyn, New York on May 10, 1906, Abe Reles would become their primary hitter. A school dropout, he began thieving from local billiard halls and candy stores before his first arrest at 15 for stealing gum. After his four month sentence was over, his crimes only escalated.
Reles began working for the Shapiro brothers, who ran many of the rackets in Brooklyn. He was arrested yet again and found their lack of help so disturbing that the two parties became utter enemies upon his release. By the time they raped and beat Reles’ girlfriend, he had been hired by Lansky — as a Murder, Inc. hitman.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesRopes in Reles’ hotel room suggested he died trying to escape, although many believe the mob paid police to kill him.
Reles preferred killing his victims by jamming an icepick into their brains through the right ear. He once even murdered a parking lot attendant simply for returning his vehicle too slowly. With Lansky on his side, he got revenge against the Shapiros.
Irving Shapiro was dragged out of his house, beaten, and shot to death in the street. His brother Meyer was shot in the face at point-blank range. The third brother, William, was buried alive in a remote location. Reles was arrested for the murders in 1940, and was soon implicated in numerous other homicides. To avoid the death penalty, he turned against Murder, Inc.
With thousands of pages of evidence and a photographic memory, Reles gave prosecutors enough information to dig up dozens of bodies and implicate his associates. These included Harry Strauss, Martin Goldstein, Frank Abbandando, and Murder, Inc. co-founders Louis Buchalter and Albert Anastasia.
An invaluable witness nearing his court appearance to testify, Reles was protected by 18 NYPD officers who stood guard outside of his Half-Moon Hotel room on Coney Island in 24-hour shifts.
Nonetheless, on Nov. 12, 1941, his body was found dead on the sidewalk — six stories below his room.
