Throughout the 1930s, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Albert Anastasia led a vicious gang of hitmen who killed their rivals in gruesome ways — but one of Murder Inc.'s own members turned informer and led to the organization's downfall in the early '40s.
In 1930s New York City, murder was big business. And the best killers in the industry were part of Murder Inc., a purported ring of hitmen and Mob enforcers who are estimated to have killed as many as 1,000 people in less than 10 years.
Despite the name, though, Murder Inc. wasn’t just about killing. The gang would also threaten or maim people, depending on what their bosses wanted. It was an “anything goes” business model — one that made them very, very wealthy.
Of course, all it took back in those days was for a single domino to fall, and the rest would follow suit. If just one member talked to the authorities, the whole business could come crashing down. And that’s exactly what happened when Abe “Kid Twist” Reles became a police informer.
While Reles may have prevented hundreds of murders as a result, his testimony also guaranteed at least one more: his own.
New York City. 1939.Library of Congress
Feinstein was set on fire by Murder Inc. killers Harry Strauss and Martin Goldstein and left exposed in a public lot.
New York City. Oct. 5, 1938.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
According to the caption, while this photo was being taken, mobster Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro was snarling at the police, "You can't do nuttin' to us."
New York City. 1933.Los Angeles Public Library
Rosen's death would ultimately lead to the downfall of Murder Inc. Their leader, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, would be convicted for this murder and sentenced to death.
Brooklyn. Sept. 13, 1936.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
New York City. Circa 1940.Library of Congress
Sage was a New York racketeer who ran afoul of the Mob. He was hacked to death with an ice pick, tied to a slot machine, and left out in public as a warning.
New York. 1937.Bettmann/Getty Images
Schultz upset Murder Inc. and the rest of the New York underworld by attempting to order a hit on his prosecutor. They were afraid that his actions would turn the police against organized crime figures and thus had Schultz killed not long after this photo was taken.
Malone, New York. 1935.Library of Congress
Newark, New Jersey. 1935.Bettmann/Getty Images
Though Schultz looks relaxed, he would be dead within a matter of hours.
Newark, New Jersey. 1935.Library of Congress
New York City. Circa 1940s.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
Rudnick was accused of being a police informer. Whether he was or not, the accusation won him a visit from Harry Maione and Frank Abbandando of Murder Inc.
New York City. May 25, 1937.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
Rudnick's death was particularly brutal. He was purportedly hacked apart with meat cleavers and ice picks.
New York City. May 25, 1937.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
New York City. April 12, 1928.Public Domain
New York City. 1931.Library of Congress
Detroit. Nov. 25, 1937.Bettmann/Getty Images
New York City. Dec. 3, 1941.Library of Congress
New York City. Circa 1930s.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
Brooklyn. Sept. 13, 1936.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
New York City. Circa 1930s.Library of Congress
New York City. 1933.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
New York City. 1940 to 1941.Los Angeles Public Library
New York City. Dec. 13, 1940.Los Angeles Public Library
Brooklyn. Dec. 2, 1941.Library of Congress
Brooklyn. August 1941.Library of Congress
The man with the gun next to him is a police officer there to make sure he doesn't try to run.
Albany, New York. July 20, 1943.Library of Congress
New York City. Aug. 14, 1935.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
1958.Wikimedia Commons
New York City. Sept. 24, 1935.Burton B. Turkus Papers/Lloyd Sealy Library Special Collections/John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)
Though Lepke Buchalter was executed thanks to Reles' testimony, the other two leading figures of Murder Inc. — Albert Anastasia and Bugsy Siegel — managed to avoid the electric chair. Their times would come, though, when they were eventually killed by Mob assassins much like the ones they'd employed.
Beverly Hills, California. June 20, 1947.Los Angeles Public Library
Beverly Hills, California. June 20, 1947.Bettmann/Getty Images
Beverly Hills, California. 1947.Los Angeles Public Library
Beverly Hills, California. 1947.Los Angeles Public Library
With Anastasia's death, the last traces of Murder Inc.'s upper echelon were wiped off the face of the Earth.
New York City. Oct. 25, 1957.George Silk/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
The Formation Of Murder Inc.
Murder Inc. was established by notorious gangsters Meyer Lansky and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and run by Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, a New York racketeer who figured out that he could make even more money contracting out killers to the nation's leading mobsters.
Lepke set up shop inside Rosie Gold's Candy Store, a Brooklyn storefront that catered to children through the front door and killers through the back.
Of course, this all came out of the formation of the National Crime Syndicate, a group led by some of the most infamous mobsters of the era, including Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Lansky, Siegel, Frank Costello, Vincent Mangano, "Joe Adonis" Doto, Lepke, and Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro.
Sometimes, high-ranking members of the Syndicate needed rivals taken out, police informers punished, and potential witnesses silenced — and that's where Murder Inc. came in.
Lepke was put in charge of running the murder-for-hire group, with infamous killer Albert Anastasia, the "Lord High Executioner," later acting as Lepke's right-hand man.
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock PhotoAlbert Anastasia, the "Lord High Executioner" of Murder Inc.
It's unclear exactly how many deaths Murder Inc. was responsible for, but estimates range from 100 to 1,000. According to The Mafia Encyclopedia, the hit squad's most prolific killer, Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss, may have killed more than 100 people alone, single-handedly putting a minor dent in the population of New York City.
From Strauss on down, these killers were brutal. They didn't just shoot their targets — they aimed to leave a message. They hacked up the bodies of their victims with meat cleavers and ice picks. One man was set on fire. Another was strapped to a slot machine and left in public view.
Murder Inc.'s reign of terror continued until the early 1940s. By then, the gang's members were so bold that they'd pull off their killings in broad daylight, sure that no one would even try to stop them.
Unfortunately, they made one critical error early on that came back to bite them, an error named Abraham Reles.
The Brownsville Boys, Murder Inc.'s Most Notorious Hit Squad
Abe "Kid Twist" Reles came to be a part of Murder Inc. thanks to the recommendation of Louis Capone, an associate of Anastasia. Reles had already made quite a name for himself, having taken over nearly all criminal operations in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn with the help of his crew — which included Harry Strauss, Harry "Happy" Maione, and Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein.
Together, they came to be known as the Brownsville Boys, and when Lepke and Anastasia were looking to assemble their hit squad, Capone gave them his full endorsement.
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock PhotoLouis Capone being questioned by Detective John Osnato.
And despite the fact that Reles and Maione — considered to be the top brass of the operation — didn't get along, they proved to be highly efficient.
Even better, the methods they employed made it incredibly difficult to trace anything back to them, and especially to Lepke and Anastasia. They hired several men for every hit, providing each one with a limited set of information so that they only knew as much as they needed to get their part of the job done.
A getaway driver, for instance, wouldn't know who purchased the guns used in a shooting. Nor would the "finger-man" — the person who pointed out the target — know who the getaway driver was. That way, if any of the people involved were caught, they wouldn't be able to paint a full picture for the police.
However, while Reles was an asset to Murder Inc., he also proved to be a liability. He was one of the most feared killers in the organization, but he was notorious, and he was arrested 42 times, six of which were for murder. He managed to avoid being convicted for any of his hits, but that changed suddenly in 1940 — and then he started talking.
Abe Reles' Confession And The Downfall Of Murder Inc.
Reles proved to be exactly what investigators needed. He was a high-ranking member of Murder Inc., knew the other players well, and, to top it off, he allegedly had a photographic memory. This latter fact enabled Reles to relate the details of some 70 unsolved killings committed by Murder Inc. to the police.
Understandably, Reles' accomplices didn't receive any mercy when it came to their punishments. Many of them were sent straight to the electric chair, and it was all thanks to Reles' testimony.
Among those implicated by Reles' cooperation with authorities was none other than Albert Anastasia himself, a blow which brought Murder Inc. to its knees. After 10 years of tyranny, Murder Inc. was coming to an end.
It was clear that Reles now had a target on his back. Guards were assigned to watch over him at all hours of the day and night at the Half Moon Hotel on Coney Island. It didn't matter.
On the morning of Nov. 12, 1941, Reles' dead body was found six stories down, twisted in his bedsheets. Investigators found wire tied to his hotel room's radiator, and The New York Times reported at the time that he'd been trying to escape when he fell. For some reason, the guards were all asleep.
Of course, some people think Reles' death was one last message from Murder Inc. — any canary who wanted to sing had better learn to fly.
The Fates Of The Organization's Remaining Members
Without Reles, prosecutors no longer had a case against Anastasia, who had always made sure to keep himself at a distance from the hits he put out. With Reles gone, Anastasia walked free.
Lepke Buchalter, Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss, and Louis Capone, on the other hand, weren't quite so lucky. The evidence had stacked up against them, even without Reles, and all three were put to death on March 4, 1944.
They were the last members of Murder Inc. to be executed, marking the end of the infamous Mob hit squad.
As for Anastasia, he managed to make it another decade before karma caught up to him. His legal troubles piled up. He was under investigation for lying in his naturalization application and tax evasion, and behind closed doors, members of the Genovese crime family started plotting against him.
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock PhotoAlbert Anastasia (left) and his attorney Anthony Colendra leaving court.
Anastasia's reign of terror came to an end on Oct. 25, 1957, when he sat down in the barber's chair at the Park Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan. Two masked assassins burst into the room, fired 10 shots at Anastasia, and fled before he had time to react.
Anastasia's body collapsed into a bloody heap on the barbershop floor. The hitmen were never identified.
Murder Inc. was officially over.
After this look at the history of Murder Inc., check out these brutal photos of the Sicilian Mafia by Letizia Battaglia. Then, see the grisly images of some of the Mob's most infamous hits.
