podcast transcript
In the 1930s, a group of murderers operated in the shadows of America’s growing organized crime network.
They carried out assassinations, silenced witnesses, punished rivals, and helped powerful mafia bosses maintain control while remaining several steps away from violence.
Their existence blurred the lines between street gangs and professional criminal organizations, and their downfall revealed just how organized murder had become.
Learn more about Murder, Inc. in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
With the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919, the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol within the United States was prohibited. This was a terrible development for the alcohol industry and a windfall for organized crime.
Prohibition allowed criminal organizations to profit from the illegal sale of alcohol, resulting in huge profits and the formation of highly organized criminal enterprises.
Prohibition lasted about ten years, but criminal organizations persisted long after Prohibition ended.
Because these criminal organizations operated outside the law, they often had to use violence or threats of violence to enforce their actions. Sometimes you just need to get rid of someone completely.
Contrary to what you see in movies and TV, murders do not always occur in organized crime, but they do happen. If you need to take someone out, especially a member of a mafia family, it’s best to have someone else handle the job so the person who ordered the attack can’t be traced.
In an effort to satisfy this demand for murders, an organization known as Murder Incorporated was formed.
Murder Inc first became active in 1929, originating from a collaboration between the Italian Mafia and the Jewish Mafia. This group served as the execution squad for the National Crime Syndicate.
It is known that Murder Inc.’s predecessor was a gang known as the Bugs and Meyer Mob, a Manhattan-based American Jewish street gang run by mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky.
Early versions of the Bugs and Meyer Mob were formed to provide protection from Italian and Irish gangs in the area. However, once formed, they quickly became involved in trafficking and other criminal activities. They also became heavily involved with Charles “Lucky” Luciano and Frank Costello, who were involved in the Italian Five Point Gang.
The National Crime Syndicate is believed to have been formed in 1929 at a meeting of top underworld figures in Atlantic City, New Jersey. During the meeting, an informal agreement was reached between the various criminal groups, which helped eliminate violent turf wars, designate territories for each group, and consolidate the power of each criminal group.
As a result of the meeting, a committee was formed to manage organized crime and resolve disputes between members according to agreed rules.
Even though major criminal organizations were part of syndicates, individual groups still acted independently, following guidelines they had established. This plan was especially important because the repeal of Prohibition was imminent. If Prohibition was repealed in 1933, organized crime would lose a huge source of income.
The National Crime Syndicate served as the basis for Murder Inc. After the gang union, Lansky and Siegel pushed the syndicate to create a special group to handle enforcement issues.
The Murder Company had two heads: Louis “Lepke” Buchalter and Albert “Mad Hatter” Anastasia.
Buchalter was born in 1897 on New York’s Lower East Side. The origin of his nickname comes from his mother calling her son “Lepkeleh”, which means “little Louis” in Yiddish. His friends and family heard the term over the years and shortened the nickname to “Lepke”.
Buchalter had a difficult life from an early age. His father died when he was 12, and his mother decided to live with her sister, leaving him in New York City.
Buchalter was in and out of reform schools and prisons for several years. After his release from prison in 1922, Buchalter connected with childhood friend and mobster Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro.
The two joined forces and began to dominate the clothing industry union. Buchalter and Shapiro would use their control over the union to threaten strikes and demand that factory owners pay their wages weekly. Their connections with the union also allowed them to withdraw money from the union’s bank accounts.
Another head of Murder, Inc. was Albert “Mad Hatter” Anastasia.
Anastasia was born in Italy in 1902. He lived with his eight siblings until the end of World War I. His father was a railroad worker during the war and died when Albert was young.
In 1919, Anastasia and her three siblings decided to enter the United States illegally. They did so by abandoning the cargo ship they were working on.
After arriving in the United States, he and his brothers began working in New York City, working as longshoremen on the Brooklyn waterfront.
It didn’t take long for Anastasia to find herself in trouble. In 1921, he was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a fellow dock worker. However, he was acquitted in a retrial the following year, winning the case after the first four witnesses presented by the prosecution disappeared.
In late 1928, he was charged with murder in Brooklyn. But nothing came of this because the witnesses who were supposed to testify against him in court either refused or disappeared.
In the late 1920s, Anastasia became a leader in the International Longshoremen’s Association, a labor union in Brooklyn. There he formed an alliance with a Sicilian crime lord named Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria.
Anastasia later became involved in the Castellammarese War, a gang war between Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano.
During this conflict, Anastasia became involved in a scheme to deceive and murder Masseria, hatched by Masseria’s lieutenant “Luciano” Luciano. He carried out his part of the plan, and his loyalty led to his placement as one of the key members of the National Crime Syndicate’s Executive Branch.
The nickname Matt Hatter comes from his crazy ambition, psychopathic tendencies, and unpredictable and erratic behavior. Anastasia was known to be ruthless, and the media and his fellow mobsters portrayed him as someone who was more than willing to use violence to solve literally any problem. This instability earned him the nickname the Mad Hatter.
Murder Corporation’s services were available to any member of the state crime syndicate anywhere in the country. Victims of Murder Inc. were members of criminal organizations or people involved in criminal activity who committed murder for business.
Members of Murder, Inc. received a base salary and a freelance fee for every hit they performed. This can range from $1000 to $5000.
Murder, Inc.’s headquarters was located in Brooklyn in a candy store known as the Rosie Gold Candy Store. Inside there were several pay phones along the back wall. While waiting for their scores, members of Murder, Inc. enjoyed the product until the phone rang and provided details about which hits they should participate in.
According to testimony following the organization’s collapse, murder orders were usually passed down through multiple levels. Senior superiors may communicate with Buchalter, Anastasia, or other trusted figures. Intermediaries select crew members, provide information about targets, and arrange weapons, transportation, surveillance, and payments.
Killers often worked in teams. One person may identify the target, another may steal the car, another may act as the driver, and one or two may carry out the murders. Using multiple participants distributed responsibility, but also introduced serious weaknesses. All additional participants were potential witnesses.
Weapons and methods varied. Victims were shot, stabbed, strangled, beaten, drowned or killed with ice picks. In some cases, bodies were left in cars or on the streets, but there were also attempts to conceal them in secluded places, vacant lots, or buildings.
Murder Inc.’s most well-known murder is considered the murder of Dutch Schultz. In 1935, Shultz publicly resisted the organization after refusing a contract to kill Thomas Dewey, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, who later became the governor of New York and the Republican presidential candidate in 1948.
Dewey was outspoken about his desire to put the mob out of business. While the hit may have had some significance, syndicate members feared that assassinating Dewey would arouse public outrage, leading to greater efforts to dismantle the crime syndicate.
Deciding to ignore the syndicate’s ruling, Schultz ordered the attack on Thomas Dewey through Murder, Inc. Eventually, the contract resulted in the assassination of Schultz himself by the organization.
Murder Inc first came to the attention of law enforcement in the early 1930s by a mobster named Abe Wagner. He was afraid of any repercussions if he revealed this information, so he tried to escape from the mob, but the mob eventually found him and killed him.
Dewey’s confrontation with the mob occurred a little later. Although the organization first became known in the early 1930s, the puzzle pieces did not fall into place until the late 1930s. This is largely because law enforcement agencies are slow to connect the dots.
Many of the syndicate’s high-ranking members were eliminated by Thomas Dewey. With these new arrests, police are beginning to learn more about Murder, Inc.
One of these arrests was Abe “Kid Twist” Reles in 1941. Reles, a founding member of Murder, Inc., was eventually arrested for murder. He decided to cooperate with authorities as a witness, which led to numerous first-degree murder indictments against his former associates.
Despite receiving strong police protection after confessing and offering help, Reles died when he fell from a hotel room window under highly suspicious circumstances. However, an official investigation concluded that his death was nothing more than an accident.
Based on Reles’ confession, the head of the operation, Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, was the head of Murder, Inc., who was implicated in numerous murders and faced charges including racketeering, robbery, and murder. I went to trial with my colleagues. Faced with the death penalty from prosecutors, many members chose to confess, giving the state a particularly compelling case against the Mafia leader.
Buchalter was ultimately found guilty and executed in 1944, making him the only major American mob boss to be sentenced to death.
In Anastasia’s case, Leles’ death led to the collapse of her case against him. Reles could never be convicted because he was the main witness to his crimes. Anastasia took over the remains of Murder, Inc., but was eventually murdered by rival mobsters in 1957. No one was arrested for his assassination.
The organization, known today by its nickname “Murder, Inc.”, was originally created by reporters Asa Bordages and Harry Feeney. With the mob boss successfully put down, the nickname was adopted by newspapers and quickly gained public attention.
Murder, Inc. is often said to be responsible for 400, 500, or even 1,000 murders. However, none of these figures can be confirmed.
Murder, Inc. was never an official, national corporation revealed through newspapers and later popular culture. Movies depicting assassination syndicates like John Wick are in some ways inspired by Murder, Inc. Although the reality was not like that at all.
Nonetheless, this was a real and lethal network that demonstrated how organized crime had turned murder into a business tool.
