Murder, Inc.
| Founding location | New York City, New York |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1929–1941 |
| Territory | United States |
| Ethnicity | Italian Americans Jewish Americans |
| Criminal activities | Murder, illegal gambling, prostitution, theft, money laundering, arms trafficking, fraud, fencing, kidnapping, robbery |
Murder, Inc. (Murder, Incorporated) was an organized crime group active from 1929 to 1941 that acted as the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicate – a closely connected criminal organization that included Italian-American Mafia, the Jewish Mob, and other criminal organizations in New York City and elsewhere.[1] Murder, Inc. was composed of Jewish 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.[2]
Murder, Inc. was believed to be responsible for between 400 and 1,000 contract killings,[3] until the group was exposed in 1941 by former member Abe "Kid Twist" Reles.[2] In the trials that followed, many members were convicted and executed, and Abe 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 to become the 47th governor of New York.[4]
- ^ Carl Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia. Checkmark Books, 2005 p. 13.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
AOwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Ruderman, Wendy (2012-08-31). "Ice Picks Are Still Used as Weapons". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-01-09. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
- ^ Stolberg, Mary M. (1995). Fighting Organized Crime: Politics, Justice and the Legacy of Thomas E. Dewey. Boston: Northeastern University Press. pp. 55–64. ISBN 1-55553-245-4.