causes. Generally, the victim is cornered in some out-of-the-way place, and while two or three hit men hold him, the executioner jams the ice pick through the eardrum into the brain. The pick produces only a tiny hole in the ear and a minute amount of bleeding, which can be carefully wiped away. After examining the corpse, doctors generally conclude that the cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage. It takes expert medical examination to discover the true cause, and, unfortunately, few localities can or do provide such expertise.
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The ice pick murder technique has long been ascribed to the Italian Mafia by some writers as a direct import from Sicily. But the technique was most likely perfected into art by Israel "Ice Pick Willie" Alderman, a Minnesota mobster who was close to Meyer Lansky in bootlegging days and later was one of the first investorsalong with Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Moe Sedway and Gus Greenbaumin Las Vegas gambling. Ice Pick Willie ran a second-story speakeasy in Minneapolis where he proudly claimed to have committed 11 murders with a quick and trusty ice pick. It always looked like the dead man had simply slumped in a drunken heap on the bar, and Alderman would laughingly lecture the "drunk" as he dragged him into a back room. The corpse was dumped down a coal chute to a truck in the alley and carted away. (Alderman was arrested many times for robbery and murder, but was never convicted.)
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Undoubtedly, the ice pick kill is still used. But the mob, when preferring a murder to be obvious, will add 70 or 80 stab wounds to deliver the gory message.
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Independent Criminals and the Mafia
There is a rule among independent criminals: Never cross the local crime family.
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One very prominent burglar who was making big heists around Washington, D.C., decided when the heat was on to switch his turf. He moved on to Philadelphia, but, before pulling any capers, he cleared his presence with Angelo Bruno, the head of the Philadelphia family. It was an act of respect, and Bruno not only accepted the burglar's application, he also waived the mob's claim to a cut of the burglar's loot.
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Usually, independents are expected to "wet the beak" of a mob leader, that is, give him a taste of his profits; depending on whether he shares his loot or not, the independent will receive grief or a lot of grief. The Profaci family's area of Brooklyn was generally a closed shop. Former New York City Chief of Detectives Albert Seedman once learned the details, partially based on taped conversations between an independent named "Woody" and Carmine ''the Snake" Persico, of a half-million-dollar swindle against a May's Department Store in Profaci territory. Persico insisted that the swindler pay a hefty share of his take. Woody was reluctant to hand over so much and wanted to know why. Persico responded in part:
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"When you get a job with the telephone company or maybe even Mays Department Store, they take something out of every paycheck for taxes, right? ... And every year, it gets to be a little more. Now, people gripe, but they pay those taxes, Woody. They pay it, because if they don't, the government is going to tromp down on them. It's a fact of life. Now why, you may ask, does the government have a right to make you pay taxes? Well, it's a fair question. The answer to that question, Woody, is that you pay taxes for the right to live and work and make money at a legit business. Does that make sense? ... Well, it's the exact same situation. You did a crooked job in Brooklyn. You worked hard and you earned a lot of money. Now you got to pay your taxes on it just like in the straight world. Because we let you do it.
We're
the government. That's why I say we're always in the picture."
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There was no appeal for the tariff rates in Profaci territory. For years the streets of Brooklyn were littered with corpses of those who did not play according to the rules.
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In New Jersey, a Gambino capo Joe Paterno was described as having crooks "wet his beak" for 10 percent of what they got from their scams. Part of the understanding was that, if they got caught, they would have the benefit of Paterno's connections. One donor in such an arrangement later explained, "I didn't have to furnish him with an accounting; if at the end of the week I gave him $200, that meant that I had taken in $2,000 for myself. He didn't ever question my word; I was beating him and he probably knew it, but as long as he was getting something for doing absolutely nothing, there were no complaints."
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When there was a complaint about an independent's action, mob justice was swift and sure. A young thief once committed the cardinal sin of robbing a church in Profaci territory, taking a jeweled crown from St. Bernadette's, an act that was in the eyes of kingpin Joe Profaci, an ardent churchgoer, not only sacrilege against the church but also against the mob itself. The word was sent out that the crown was to be returned immediately or death sentences would follow. That meant no fence would dare touch it, and the thief returned it.
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However, a few diamonds were missing. As far as Profaci was concerned, the matter remained a capital offense. The thief was strangled to deathwith a rosary. Vinnie Teresa, the informer, later observed: "If Profaci hadn't had the kid put to sleep, Profaci would have lost a lot of prestige in the community. After all, he owned Brooklyn, he was the boss."
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