Murder, Inc.

For other uses, see Murder, Inc. (disambiguation).
Murder, Inc.
Founding locationNew York City, New York
Years active1929–1941
TerritoryUnited States
EthnicityIrish Americans
Italian Americans
Jewish Americans
Criminal activitiesMurder, 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 and was started by the Irish Mob, and included Italian-American Mafia, the Jewish Mob, and other criminal organizations in New York City and elsewhere.[1] Murder, Inc. was composed of Irish, Jewish, and Italian-American gangsters, and members were mainly recruited from poor and working-class Irish, 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]

  1. ^ Carl Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia. Checkmark Books, 2005 p. 13.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference AO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.