The Mafia Encyclopedia (91 page)

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Authors: Carl Sifakis

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BOOK: The Mafia Encyclopedia
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town, knock off a victim he wouldn't even know, and disappear, leaving the authorities without even a suspect or motive. Police investigations are based on looking for motivation and when a stranger kills a stranger, they seldom can get a handle on the matter. They might suspect the local crime figures of instigating the rubout but they can't prove a thing.
Many forerunners to the syndicate murder troop existed in American criminal history, including killer gangs in the 19th century who committed murders for pay, with prices generally ranging from a low of $2 to a king's ransom of as much as $100. However, the syndicate bosses set up something new, Murder, Incorporated, a very elite group of killers, based in Brooklyn. Unlike the bloodletters who preceded them, they were not available for hire by outsiders, but were reserved strictly for mob business.
The purpose of the new crime syndicate, composed of an ethnic conglomerate of Young Turk mafiosi, Jewish, to a lesser extent Irish, and Polish and Wasp gangsthat blossomed in Prohibitionwas to cut up the rackets in orderly fashion. These included gambling, loan-sharking, labor racketeering, narcotics and prostitution. Syndicate founders sagely figured there would be some opposition to their plans, hence the need for an enforcement arm to back up the national board's decisions. (It was probably little different than in the corporate world where every powerhouse executive has his hatchetmen.)
Under the rules, Murder, Inc., killed only for pressing business reasons and was never to be brought into action against political figures, prosecutors or reporters. Lansky and Moe Dalitz, then the most potent criminal power in Cleveland, were most adamant on these rules. The other big shots concurred, feeling that rubouts of such "civilians" would stir the public too much and produce "heat" that would be bad for the syndicate. Bloodletting of good guys, they agreed, would complicate their ability to bribe politicians and the police, a vital ingredient in any crime syndicate operation.
A whole new vocabulary was introduced by the members of Murder, Inc. The killers accepted "contracts" to "hit" '' bums.'' Many psychologists have pointed out the significance of the term
bum
. It was a rationalization that allowed the killers to regard their victims as being of a lower species and deserving to die. It was little different than Nazi death camp executioners speaking of the victims as "scum" and "subhumans."
Albert Anastasia is often described as the Lord High Executioner, or operating commander of the troop, but he took orders from Louis Lepke, the country's number one labor racketeer and a member of the syndicate's ruling circle. At times, Joey Adonis also issued orders. However, none of the estimated 400 to 500 murders believed to have been committed by Murder, Inc., ever went ahead without the concurrence, or at least the absence of any negative vote, of other crime bigs, notably Lansky, Luciano and Frank Costello. Bugsy Siegel probably best summarized the top gangsters' attitudes toward Murder, Inc., when he informed construction executive Del Webb, rather philosophically, that he had nothing to fear from the mob because "we only kill each other."
Directly below Anastasia, Lepke and Adonis were a number of lieutenants, including Louis Capone (no
Abe Reles (left) and Buggsy Goldstein (center) after their arrest in Murder, Inc.,
investigation. The pair personally may have killed at least 60 men.
Reles eventually provided information on over 200 murders of which he had knowledge.
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relation to the Chicago Capones), Mendy Weiss and Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. Instructions for specific murder assignments were generally passed from on high to just one underling who in turn passed the word on so that it could not be proved in any criminal prosecution that the men at the top were involved. Some of the more celebrated killers of the mob included Pittsburgh Phil Strauss, the man who easily held the top score in kills; Vito "Chicken Head" Gurino, who honed his shooting skill by blasting off the heads of chickens; Happy Maione, the wearer of a perpetual scowl; Buggsy Goldstein; Blue Jaw Magoon; and Frank "the Dasher" Abbandando.
The Dasher could lay claim to having obtained the quaintest nickname of the troop. It was the result of one of his earliest hits, one that he almost bungled. Assigned to take out a big, lumbering longshoreman, he aimed his gun at point-blank range, only to have the weapon misfire. Thoroughly embarrassed, Abbandando dashed off with his angry would-be victim thundering after him. Abbandando raced around the block so fast he actually came up behind his target again, and this time succeeded in pumping three bullets into the man. Thereafter Abbandando was known to his cohorts as the Dasher.
Overall, the Dasher was said to have been involved in about 50 murders. Pittsburgh Phil was named in 58 murder investigations and authorities agreed his total of kills was probably about twice that number.
The boys, headquartered at a 24-hour candy store in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn called Midnight Rose's, awaited assignments and swapped intelligence of effective murder techniques. When an assignment came in, the designated killer hit the road to wherever the victim lived. He didn't come back until the job was done.
The principal that "we only kill each other" was never better illustrated than in the rubout of crime lord Dutch Schultz, himself a founding ruler of the crime syndicate. In 1935, Schultz had become the prime target of special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, and he demanded that Murder, Inc., hit Dewey. This was in direct violation of the founding rules of the organization, and Schultz was voted down. Only Albert Anastasia thought the idea had merit, but he backed off under the withering opposition of his superiors, Luciano, Lansky, Costello and Adonis. Schultz stormed out of the meeting, insisting he was not bound by such a decision and that he would handle the job himself. Immediately, a new vote was taken, and the principle of law and order prevailed. Schultz got the death penalty. The job was carried out shortly thereafter in a Newark chop house. Two of the three Murder, Inc., gunmen involved were Charlie "the Bug" Workman and Mendy Weiss.
In 1940 Murder, Inc., unraveled when a number of lesser mob members were picked up on suspicion of various murders. Also picked up was Abe Reles, not a smalltimer. Reles got the idea that someone might talk and doom him, so he decided to talk first. He became known as "the canary of Murder, Inc.," and eventually gave details on some 200 killings in which he personally participated or had intimate knowledge of. Several top killers went to the electric chair, including Pittsburgh Phil, Louis Capone, Mendy Weiss, Buggsy Goldstein, Happy Maione and Dasher Abbandando. Also executed was Louis Lepke, the first and only top chief of the syndicate ever to suffer that fate.
In November 1941, Reles was still doing his canary act, and it was believed his testimony would eventually doom Albert Anastasia, Bugsy Siegel and quite possibly others. However, before he could testify in what were described as "perfect cases," Reles "went out the window" of a Coney Island hotel where he was supposed to be under ironclad police protection. Whether Reles's death was suicide, accident or murder has never been established, but later Luciano, Lansky and Doc Stacher told friends and interviewers that through the good political offices of Frank Costello (and a sum believed to be $100,000, a king's ransom in that period) it was arranged to see to it that "the canary who could sing couldn't fly."
Of course, all this meant was the end of Murder, Inc., I. Other troops of killers were started up, one known to be centered in New Jersey. Murder, Inc., remained in business.
See also:
Midnight Rose's; Pittsburgh Phil; Reles, Abe; State Street Crap Game
.
Murders of Dons: "Respectful" assassinations
When Sam Giancana was murdered in 1975, a theory immediately developed that it could not have been a Mafia job. He had not been shown the "respect" due a don in death. Giancana was shot in the back of the head as he grilled some Italian food for himself and whomever murdered him. Then the killer had rolled him over and fired bullets from beneath his chin up into his jaw and brain. If the mob had had Giancana murdered, the theory went, it would have been, respectful, he would have been shot in the face because a don is entitled to see the shot that kills him. Ergo, the Giancana rubout had been a CIA job.
This notion is about as nonsensical as the idea that big bosses are entitled to a last meal, hence they are often shot at a restaurant table, facing their killers. True, Joe the Boss Masseria and Carmine Galante, to name just two, really were killed after they had partaken of their main coursesand they were shot from in front. The fact is that dining table murders are popular with the mob because the victim never has a chance
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to reach for a weapon. Of course, he is shot in front. A genuine custom for Mafia men is to sit with their backs to the wall.
Mob killers would much prefer shooting a boss or any victim from behind since it is obviously safer. But, when Frank Costello was almost assassinated, he was rushing for the elevator in the lobby of his Manhattan apartment building. He passed a fat man standing there who called out after him, "This is for you, Frank!" As he turned, he saw his would-be assassin's right arm extended and a gun pointing directly at his face at a distance of no more than 10 feet. The man fired. The fact that Costello saw the shot gave him just enough time to jerk his head to the side so that he wound up with no more than a bloody flesh wound.
Later the newspapers would say the gunman's tactics were a mark of respect for Don Francesco, that he was only to get it up front. That was not so. His assailant, Vincent Gigante, had called to him to freeze him into a stationary target rather than a moving one.
Albert Anastasia got it sitting in a barbershop chair. He managed to jump from the chair and dive for the floor but 11 bullets tore into his body. Then one of the murderers stepped forward and applied the
coup de grace
, a shot to the back of the head. Anastasia got about as much respect as he ever gave his victims as the chief executioner for Murder, Inc.
Anastasia had succeeded to the head of the Mangano, family by killing the boss, Vince Mangano, and his brother Phil. It has always been accepted that the killcrazy Anastasia did it personally. How he got rid of Vince Mangano was never determined since the body was never found. Phil Mangano was found. The details of his death can only be speculated upon since he was found immaculately dressed but pantsless. Questioned by police, Anastasia said the absence of Phil's pants made him think he had been the victim of a crime of passion. Surely, he wasn't the victim of a respectful hit man.
About the only major crime leader who was dispatched with a genuine show of respect was Willie Moretti, gunned down in a restaurant in New Jersey where he had been sitting with four men. When the waitress stepped into the kitchen, he and his assailants were chatting amiably in Italian. Suddenly, she heard several gunshots. When she came out, Moretti lay on the floor dead, shot in the face. Actually the Moretti slaying was a Mafia "mercy killing," made necessary because a mental illness brought on by syphilis was causing him to babble more than the mob could allow. It was decided he had to go.
However, no one had anything against poor Willie, and everyone felt he was entitled not to be shot in the back like a dog. And they gave him a wonderful funeral. Some bosses do get to go in style.
Murder Stable: Hafia extermination site
In 1901, the Mafia presence in New York was considered by many citizens to be less than certain. But the disclosure of the infamous Murder Stable site convinced even the most skeptical that there was a "Mafia" or a "Black Hand" or some organized concern of Italian criminals. Oddly, the discovery came while the New York police and the U.S. Secret Service were more concerned about the presence of foreign anarchists.
Early in 1901, the Secret Service got wind of rumors that there was an anarchist plot to assassinate President William McKinley. The service enlisted the aid of New York police detective Joseph Petrosino, who would later become the first genuine police menace to the American Mafia and various groups of Black Handers. Petrosino infiltrated anarchist circles in New Jersey and found there to be no organized plan to kill the president. His investigations, however, revealed that a number of individuals were all capable of trying the assassination.
More important, within the context of discovering the Mafia in action, Petrosino and the Secret Service stumbled across the "Murder Stable," a property located at 323 East 107th Street in the heart of Italian Harlem. A gang of Italian criminals, headed by some brothers named Morello and a particularly fearful individual named Lupo the Wolf, were the terrors of the area; screams through the night struck dread in neighbors living in the stable area. The authorities dug up the premises, unearthing the remains of about 60 murder victims. The property belonged to one Ignazio Saietta, a.k.a. Lupo the Wolf. It was determined that Lupo the Wolf and the Morellos used the place to torture their enemies into compliance or to death. Among the murder victims was a teenage Morello whom Lupo the Wolf decreed had too loose a lip about gang affairs. He executed him slowly and savagely, striking fear in other gang members and discouraging them from straying in any fashion.
Remarkably, nobody was convicted for the wholesale killings in the Murder Stable. Lupo insisted he was no more than the landlord of the place and could hardly be held responsible for what his tenants did. The "tenants" turned out to be no more than Italian names that could not be traced.
Even more remarkably, the Murder Stable apparently continued to be used as a murder site until about 1917 by Lupo the Wolf (until he was imprisoned on unrelated charges), the Morellos and another relative through marriage, gangster Ciro Terranova.
See also:
Lupo the Wolf; Morello Family; Petrosino, Joseph; Terranova, Ciro
.

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