relation to the Chicago Capones), Mendy Weiss and Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. Instructions for specific murder assignments were generally passed from on high to just one underling who in turn passed the word on so that it could not be proved in any criminal prosecution that the men at the top were involved. Some of the more celebrated killers of the mob included Pittsburgh Phil Strauss, the man who easily held the top score in kills; Vito "Chicken Head" Gurino, who honed his shooting skill by blasting off the heads of chickens; Happy Maione, the wearer of a perpetual scowl; Buggsy Goldstein; Blue Jaw Magoon; and Frank "the Dasher" Abbandando.
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The Dasher could lay claim to having obtained the quaintest nickname of the troop. It was the result of one of his earliest hits, one that he almost bungled. Assigned to take out a big, lumbering longshoreman, he aimed his gun at point-blank range, only to have the weapon misfire. Thoroughly embarrassed, Abbandando dashed off with his angry would-be victim thundering after him. Abbandando raced around the block so fast he actually came up behind his target again, and this time succeeded in pumping three bullets into the man. Thereafter Abbandando was known to his cohorts as the Dasher.
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Overall, the Dasher was said to have been involved in about 50 murders. Pittsburgh Phil was named in 58 murder investigations and authorities agreed his total of kills was probably about twice that number.
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The boys, headquartered at a 24-hour candy store in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn called Midnight Rose's, awaited assignments and swapped intelligence of effective murder techniques. When an assignment came in, the designated killer hit the road to wherever the victim lived. He didn't come back until the job was done.
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The principal that "we only kill each other" was never better illustrated than in the rubout of crime lord Dutch Schultz, himself a founding ruler of the crime syndicate. In 1935, Schultz had become the prime target of special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, and he demanded that Murder, Inc., hit Dewey. This was in direct violation of the founding rules of the organization, and Schultz was voted down. Only Albert Anastasia thought the idea had merit, but he backed off under the withering opposition of his superiors, Luciano, Lansky, Costello and Adonis. Schultz stormed out of the meeting, insisting he was not bound by such a decision and that he would handle the job himself. Immediately, a new vote was taken, and the principle of law and order prevailed. Schultz got the death penalty. The job was carried out shortly thereafter in a Newark chop house. Two of the three Murder, Inc., gunmen involved were Charlie "the Bug" Workman and Mendy Weiss.
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In 1940 Murder, Inc., unraveled when a number of lesser mob members were picked up on suspicion of various murders. Also picked up was Abe Reles, not a smalltimer. Reles got the idea that someone might talk and doom him, so he decided to talk first. He became known as "the canary of Murder, Inc.," and eventually gave details on some 200 killings in which he personally participated or had intimate knowledge of. Several top killers went to the electric chair, including Pittsburgh Phil, Louis Capone, Mendy Weiss, Buggsy Goldstein, Happy Maione and Dasher Abbandando. Also executed was Louis Lepke, the first and only top chief of the syndicate ever to suffer that fate.
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In November 1941, Reles was still doing his canary act, and it was believed his testimony would eventually doom Albert Anastasia, Bugsy Siegel and quite possibly others. However, before he could testify in what were described as "perfect cases," Reles "went out the window" of a Coney Island hotel where he was supposed to be under ironclad police protection. Whether Reles's death was suicide, accident or murder has never been established, but later Luciano, Lansky and Doc Stacher told friends and interviewers that through the good political offices of Frank Costello (and a sum believed to be $100,000, a king's ransom in that period) it was arranged to see to it that "the canary who could sing couldn't fly."
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Of course, all this meant was the end of Murder, Inc., I. Other troops of killers were started up, one known to be centered in New Jersey. Murder, Inc., remained in business.
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See also:
Midnight Rose's; Pittsburgh Phil; Reles, Abe; State Street Crap Game
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Murders of Dons: "Respectful" assassinations
When Sam Giancana was murdered in 1975, a theory immediately developed that it could not have been a Mafia job. He had not been shown the "respect" due a don in death. Giancana was shot in the back of the head as he grilled some Italian food for himself and whomever murdered him. Then the killer had rolled him over and fired bullets from beneath his chin up into his jaw and brain. If the mob had had Giancana murdered, the theory went, it would have been, respectful, he would have been shot in the face because a don is entitled to see the shot that kills him. Ergo, the Giancana rubout had been a CIA job.
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This notion is about as nonsensical as the idea that big bosses are entitled to a last meal, hence they are often shot at a restaurant table, facing their killers. True, Joe the Boss Masseria and Carmine Galante, to name just two, really were killed after they had partaken of their main coursesand they were shot from in front. The fact is that dining table murders are popular with the mob because the victim never has a chance
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