Louis “Lepke” Buchalter was a ruling partner over the group of contract killers known as Murder Inc. way back in the 1930s Their job was to eliminate anyone designated for death by Lucky Luciano’s newly formed Syndicate. Lepke was named as one of the original board members, and he would become the only mafia boss in American history to be sentenced to death and executed.
Lepke and Gurrah
Louis Buchalter was born in the lower east side of Manhattan on February 6, 1897 as the last of seven children. He was a great student in school, and was also considered a mama’s boy in the neighborhood. Louis was not a big kid at all, as a man he got to 5’6” but was very thin. “Lepke” as he was known, at 12 years old was about to grow up quickly however.
His father, who was a very hard worker and good provider for the family died from a diabetic shock in 1909. Lepke’s comfortable childhood ended right there. Soon after his father’s death, he dropped out of school to help support his struggling mother. At first, he was working legitimate jobs but was soon involved with robbing and extorting local push cart vendors in the neighborhood.
Lepke showed as much skill on the streets as he did in the classroom. Instead of fighting with another bruiser named Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro, formed a partnership with him that would see them both rise through the ranks among the local gangsters. Gurrah brought the muscle while Lepke brought the brains. Together, they became a powerful team and soon were recognized by the local mobsters.
They both went to work for a notorious labor racketeer named “Little Augie” Orgen. Augie was a mere 5’2” but ran a big crew that controlled the garment industry unions. They resolved labor disputes with violence, and were employed by both workers and management. Lepke quickly became a master in this game, and outgrew his position in Little Augie’s gang.
Buchalter enlisted his partner Gurrah in a plot to kill Orgen and take over his rackets. On October 15, 1927, they did just that. They found Little Augie in midtown Manhattan and killed him in a driveby. Gurrah shot Orgen 22 times in front of multiple witnesses, none of whom were willing to testify. It was a bold move and it made Lepke and Gurrah a lot of money in the process.
The two Jewish gangsters would spend the next couple years shaking down the unions. Most mobsters at this time were involved in the bootlegging industry. So the unions were a very lucrative racket with less competition than most. Lepke’s ascent caught the attention of two of the biggest up and coming New York mobsters, Meyer Lansky and his Italian partner Charles “Lucky” Luciano.
The New York Takeover
Lansky and Luciano were impressed with the young mobster. Lepke was a double threat in the mob world. He was a huge earner and he was also an ice cold killer. Luciano at the time was hatching a plan to take over New York City and he was thrilled to have the ambitious Jewish gangster on his side. In fact, Lucky had very specific plans for Buchalter.
Among Lepke’s crew in the rackets was a gang called the Brownsville Boys. They were led by a vicious killer named Abe “Kid Twist” Reles. The second in command was Harry “Pittsburgh Phil” Strauss, who would go on to become one of the prolific mob hitmen in American history. Buchalter kept these men working and now that he was an elite gangster, business was good.
Luciano teamed Buchalter up with Italian mobster Albert Anastasia, who also had an eager team of killers. Together they formed what later would be dubbed “Murder Inc.” by the press. The way it worked was when someone needed to be killed, Murder Inc. would be used. They would serve as the official enforcers for Luciano, who in 1931 had succeeded in taking over New York City.
Throughout the 1930s, Murder Inc. would quietly and systematically kill between 500-1,000 people. Lepke’s killers hung out at an all night Brooklyn store named Midnight Rose’s and were on call 24/7. The hitmen were used so often that they were actually paid full time salaries, as well as $5,000 per murder. It was a frightening machine that ran unchallenged for nearly a decade.
Murder Inc. was responsible for the high profile killing of Dutch Schultz on October 24, 1935. Schultz had started out as a member of Luciano’s National Crime Syndicate, but things went downhill after he threatened to kill famous prosecutor Thomas Dewey. Lucky decided that Dutch was no longer worth the trouble and should be killed immediately. He knew killing Dewey was a bad idea.
With the help of Murder Inc, Lucky Luciano during this era completely transformed the mafia from a group of unconnected street gangs into a massive connected group with a structured hierarchy. Lepke was one of the highest ranking and most important bosses in the Syndicate. He still ruled over the labor unions with an iron fist while simultaneously running the business of Murder Inc.
Feeling The Heat
The FBI in the late 1930s was finally able to do some damage to the upper ranks of the New York mafia. Lucky Luciano was given a 30 year sentence after being convicted in connection with a prostitution ring. Although the legitimacy of the case was in question, it sent a chilling message to the Syndicate that their glory days may be coming to a crashing halt.
Lepke and Gurrah would both go into hiding in late 1936 to avoid going to federal prison for violating antitrust laws. They planned to wait it out and use their political influence to get out of doing prison time. Shapiro grew weary and gave himself up in April 1938. Lepke stayed hidden, and was getting support from his Murder Inc. partner Albert Anastasia.
Buchalter was constantly being talked about in the newspapers. There was a $25,000 reward for his capture, as he was now a suspect in multiple murders. Eventually the Syndicate decided that keeping Lepke on the run was too much trouble. Anastasia would doublecross his partner by promising that he would only do a short prison stint if he turned himself in, it was a trick.
Anastasia would deliver his partner to the FBI. After turning himself in, Buchalter realized he was in deep water. Dewey had him facing a racketeering case and there was much more in the works. Lepke now could only hope to one day be released from prison, but things were about become even more grim for the notorious mafia boss
Special prosecutor Thomas Dewey who put Luciano in prison would pass the torch to prosecutor Burton Turkus who would take over several cases against the mafia. Dewey would go on to become governor of New York in 1943. Turkus would take the fight to Murder Inc. like never before.
One of the biggest advantages Murder Inc. had in their favor was that the hitmen were mostly not connected to the victims or the mafia. Lepke and Anastasia would simply hand down the “contracts” with information on the intended target. It worked so well that for years, law enforcement had no idea that group even existed. All that would change when one of their members began to sing.
Murder Inc. Unmasked
It was none other than Kid Twist Reles, one of their top hitmen who agreed to cooperate with authorities after getting charged for a 1933 murder. Reles began filling in the holes on many unsolved murders and disappearances. Lepke had fulfilled many contracts through Reles and he knew this spelled doom. Kid Twist could have him put in prison for life, or worse.
It was the 1936 murder of Brooklyn candy store owner Joe Rosen that would lead to Lepke’s demise. Reles tied Lepke to the killing along with Murder Inc. hitmen Harry “Pittsburgh Phil” Strauss, Mendy Weiss, Louis Capone and a few other lower level members. The four men would all be convicted in and sentenced to death, in Sing Sing’s notorious “Old Sparky”.
There’s no doubt that Lepke must have regretted his choice to trust his partner Albert Anastasia. Although Reles also had the goods on Anastasia, he was found thrown out of a 6th story window in November 1941, just before he was scheduled to testify against him. It was one of the mob hits that went into folklore because Reeles was under 24 hour guard.
Anastasia walked away untouched, but the rest of Murder Inc. was absolutely decimated. Pittsburgh Phil Strauss and Martin “Buggsy” Goldstein were executed on 6/12/1941 for the gruesome murder of Puggy Feinstein. Harry “Happy” Maione and Frank “The Dasher” Abbandando were executed on 2/19/1942 for the murder of George “Whitey” Rudnick in 1937.
Next up were Lepke, Weiss and Capone. All three were executed via Old Sparky on 34/1944 with Lepke the last to go. Buchalter refused the opportunity for any final words. To this day, Lepke Buchalter is the only mafia boss to ever be executed in the United States. His story is mostly a forgotten one, but he is a throwback to a time when the Jewish mafia held power.