Louis Buchalter
Encyclopedia
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter (February 6, 1897March 4, 1944) was a Jewish American
mobster and head of the Mafia
hit squad
Murder, Inc.
during the 1930s. After Dutch Schultz'
request of the Mafia Commission
for permission to kill his enemy, U.S. Attorney Thomas Dewey
, the Commission decided to kill Schultz in order to prevent the hit. Buchalter assigned Calabria
n immigrant Albert Anastasia
to assassinate Schultz.
In 1936, Murder Inc. killers, acting on Buchalter's orders, gunned down a Brooklyn businessman named Joseph Rosen. Buchalter became the only major mob boss to have received the death penalty in the United States
after being convicted of that murder.
to improve her health; Buchalter was left as his sister's responsibility. The day his mother boarded the bus to leave the city was the last time his sister ever saw him. He began, at an early age, to control the streets of New York City
. When arrested as a child for breaking and entering, he was wearing stolen shoes, both for the same foot and an unmatched pair. He was sent to the Catholic Protectory and labeled incorrigible. By 1919, at 22, he had served two prison terms in Sing Sing Prison.
Upon Buchalter's release, he started working with his childhood friend, Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro
. Through force and fear, they began gaining control of the garment industry unions on the Lower East Side
. He then used the unions to threaten strikes and demand weekly payments from factory owners while dipping into union bank accounts. His control of the unions evolved into a protection racket, extending into such areas as bakery trucking. The unions were profitable for him, and he kept a hold on them even after becoming an important figure in organized crime.
They moved into the new and fashionable luxury buildings on Eastern Parkway (135) with family were active synagogue goers (Union Temple and KolIsrael)
". Luciano's associates Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
and Meyer Lansky
formed Murder, Inc.
, a name given by the media in the 1940s. Originally a band of Brooklyn
killers, they were effective and were used to fulfill many mob murder contracts. Buchalter and Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia
would take control over Murder Inc. when Siegel and Lansky's business endeavors became national. Buchalter was responsible for contract killings throughout the country, including that of famous mob boss Dutch Schultz
.
Buchalter's downfall began in the mid-1930s, when he went underground to elude the Federal Bureau of Investigation
, which wanted him on a narcotics charge, and New York City
special prosecutor
Thomas Dewey
, who wanted him tried for syndicate activities. He surrendered to the federal government in exchange for not being turned over to Dewey. An urban legend spread that he surrendered to both columnist Walter Winchell
and FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover
. Buchalter was sent to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas
for 14 years for narcotics trafficking. The sentence was extended to 30 years on account of Buchalter's union racketeering.
Even more serious legal problems and consequences followed in 1940. The state of New York
indicted him for a murder committed four years earlier, on September 13, 1936. On that day, Murder Inc. killers, acting on Buchalter's orders, gunned down a Brooklyn businessman named Joseph Rosen. Rosen was a former garment industry trucker whose union Buchalter took over in exchange for ownership of a Sutter Avenue candy store. Rosen had aroused Buchalter's ire by failing to heed warnings to leave town. Although no proof exists that Rosen was cooperating with the District Attorney, Buchalter nevertheless believed it to be true.
Buchalter's order for the Rosen hit had been overheard by Abe Reles
, who turned state's evidence in 1940 and fingered Buchalter for four murders. Returned from Leavenworth to Brooklyn to stand trial for the Rosen slaying, Buchalter's position was worsened by the testimony of Albert Tannenbaum
. Four hours after they were handed the case, the jury arrived at a verdict at 2 am on November 30, 1941, finding Buchalter guilty of first degree murder, the penalty for which was death by electrocution
. Also convicted and sentenced to death for the same crime were two of Buchalter's lieutenants who had participated in the planning and commission of the Rosen murder, Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss
, and Louis Capone
(no relation to Al Capone
).
Buchalter's conviction took place in December 1941, and the New York Court of Appeals
, on review of his case, upheld his conviction and death sentence in October 1942 by a vote of 4-3. (People v. Buchalter, 289 N.Y. 181) Two of the dissenting judges thought the evidence was so weak that errors in the judge's instructions to the jury as to how to evaluate certain testimony were harmful enough to require a re-trial. The third dissenter agreed, but added that, in his opinion, there was insufficient evidence to sustain a guilty verdict, so the indictment should be dismissed altogether (failure of proof means no retrial). The United States Supreme Court granted Buchalter's petition to review the case and in a full opinion affirmed the conviction, 7-0, with two justices abstaining. (319 U.S. 427 (1943)) In the Supreme Court, Buchalter was represented by Arthur Garfield Hays
, a leader of the trial bar who was general counsel for the ACLU and had a private practice consisting of wealthy, powerful clients.
At the time of the affirmation of his conviction, Buchalter was serving his racketeering sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison, and New York state authorities demanded he be turned over to them for execution. Buchalter resisted, managing to remain in Kansas
and out of New York's hands until extradited in January 1944. After his last appeal for mercy was rejected, Louis Buchalter was executed on Saturday, March 4, 1944 on the electric chair
in Sing Sing
. On the same day, a few minutes before Buchalter's execution, his lieutenants Weiss and Capone were also executed.
Louis Buchalter was buried at the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York.
, was based on his life. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he would also be portrayed by David J. Stewart
in the 1960 film Murder Inc., Gene Roth
and Joseph Ruskin
in The Untouchables
as well as John Vivyan
and Shepherd Sanders in The Lawless Years
television series. Other portrayals include the 1981 film Gangster Wars
by Ron Max.
Robert Lowell describes seeing Buchalter in his poem "Memories of West Street and Lepke" (Life Studies, 1959) whilst incarcerated for being a Conscientious Objector during the Second World War.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mobster and head of the Mafia
American Mafia
The American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"...
hit squad
Death squad
A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...
Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc. was the name given by the press to organized crime groups in the 1920s through the 1940s that resulted in hundreds of murders on behalf of the American Mafia and Jewish Mafia groups who together formed the early organized crime groups in New York and...
during the 1930s. After Dutch Schultz'
Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz was a New York City-area Jewish American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket...
request of the Mafia Commission
The Commission (mafia)
The Commission is the governing body of the American Mafia. Formed in 1931, the Commission replaced the "Boss of all Bosses" title, with a ruling committee, consisting of the New York Five Families bosses and the boss of the Chicago Outfit...
for permission to kill his enemy, U.S. Attorney Thomas Dewey
Thomas Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey was the 47th Governor of New York . In 1944 and 1948, he was the Republican candidate for President, but lost both times. He led the liberal faction of the Republican Party, in which he fought conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft...
, the Commission decided to kill Schultz in order to prevent the hit. Buchalter assigned Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
n immigrant Albert Anastasia
Albert Anastasia
Albert Anastasia was boss of what is now called the Gambino crime family, one of New York City's Five Families, from 1951-1957. He also ran a gang of contract killers called Murder Inc. which enforced the decisions of the Commission, the ruling council of the American Mafia...
to assassinate Schultz.
In 1936, Murder Inc. killers, acting on Buchalter's orders, gunned down a Brooklyn businessman named Joseph Rosen. Buchalter became the only major mob boss to have received the death penalty in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
after being convicted of that murder.
Early career
Buchalter took the nickname "Lepke" at an early age. The name was an abridgment of the diminutive "Lepkeleh" ("Little Louis" in Yiddish) that his mother had called him as a boy. After his father died, his mother's health began to fail. The doctors recommended she move to ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
to improve her health; Buchalter was left as his sister's responsibility. The day his mother boarded the bus to leave the city was the last time his sister ever saw him. He began, at an early age, to control the streets of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. When arrested as a child for breaking and entering, he was wearing stolen shoes, both for the same foot and an unmatched pair. He was sent to the Catholic Protectory and labeled incorrigible. By 1919, at 22, he had served two prison terms in Sing Sing Prison.
Upon Buchalter's release, he started working with his childhood friend, Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro
Jacob Shapiro
Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro was a New York mobster who, with his partner Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, controlled industrial labor racketeering in New York for two decades and established the Murder, Inc. organization.-Early years:...
. Through force and fear, they began gaining control of the garment industry unions on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
. He then used the unions to threaten strikes and demand weekly payments from factory owners while dipping into union bank accounts. His control of the unions evolved into a protection racket, extending into such areas as bakery trucking. The unions were profitable for him, and he kept a hold on them even after becoming an important figure in organized crime.
They moved into the new and fashionable luxury buildings on Eastern Parkway (135) with family were active synagogue goers (Union Temple and KolIsrael)
Murder, Inc.
In the early 1930s, Buchalter joined Charles "Lucky" Luciano, and other mob bosses to form the "National Crime SyndicateNational Crime Syndicate
The National Crime Syndicate was the name given by the press to a loosely-organized multi-ethnic organized crime syndicate. Its origins are uncertain....
". Luciano's associates Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
Bugsy Siegel
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American gangster who was involved with the Genovese crime family...
and Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...
formed Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc. was the name given by the press to organized crime groups in the 1920s through the 1940s that resulted in hundreds of murders on behalf of the American Mafia and Jewish Mafia groups who together formed the early organized crime groups in New York and...
, a name given by the media in the 1940s. Originally a band of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
killers, they were effective and were used to fulfill many mob murder contracts. Buchalter and Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia
Albert Anastasia
Albert Anastasia was boss of what is now called the Gambino crime family, one of New York City's Five Families, from 1951-1957. He also ran a gang of contract killers called Murder Inc. which enforced the decisions of the Commission, the ruling council of the American Mafia...
would take control over Murder Inc. when Siegel and Lansky's business endeavors became national. Buchalter was responsible for contract killings throughout the country, including that of famous mob boss Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz was a New York City-area Jewish American gangster of the 1920s and 1930s who made his fortune in organized crime-related activities such as bootlegging alcohol and the numbers racket...
.
Downfall
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, which wanted him on a narcotics charge, and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
special prosecutor
Special prosecutor
A special prosecutor generally is a lawyer from outside the government appointed by an attorney general or, in the United States, by Congress to investigate a government official for misconduct while in office. A reasoning for such an appointment is that the governmental branch or agency may have...
Thomas Dewey
Thomas Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey was the 47th Governor of New York . In 1944 and 1948, he was the Republican candidate for President, but lost both times. He led the liberal faction of the Republican Party, in which he fought conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft...
, who wanted him tried for syndicate activities. He surrendered to the federal government in exchange for not being turned over to Dewey. An urban legend spread that he surrendered to both columnist Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell
Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.-Professional career:Born Walter Weinschel in New York City, he left school in the sixth grade and started performing in a vaudeville troupe known as Gus Edwards' "Newsboys Sextet."His career in journalism was begun by posting...
and FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
. Buchalter was sent to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
for 14 years for narcotics trafficking. The sentence was extended to 30 years on account of Buchalter's union racketeering.
Even more serious legal problems and consequences followed in 1940. The state of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
indicted him for a murder committed four years earlier, on September 13, 1936. On that day, Murder Inc. killers, acting on Buchalter's orders, gunned down a Brooklyn businessman named Joseph Rosen. Rosen was a former garment industry trucker whose union Buchalter took over in exchange for ownership of a Sutter Avenue candy store. Rosen had aroused Buchalter's ire by failing to heed warnings to leave town. Although no proof exists that Rosen was cooperating with the District Attorney, Buchalter nevertheless believed it to be true.
Buchalter's order for the Rosen hit had been overheard by Abe Reles
Abe Reles
Abe "Kid Twist" Reles was a New York mobster who was widely considered the most feared hit man for Murder, Inc., the enforcement contractor for the National Crime Syndicate. Reles later turned government witness and sent several members of Murder, Inc...
, who turned state's evidence in 1940 and fingered Buchalter for four murders. Returned from Leavenworth to Brooklyn to stand trial for the Rosen slaying, Buchalter's position was worsened by the testimony of Albert Tannenbaum
Albert Tannenbaum
Albert Tannenbaum , nicknamed Allie or Tick-Tock, was a Jewish-American hitman for Murder, Inc., the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicate, during the 1930s....
. Four hours after they were handed the case, the jury arrived at a verdict at 2 am on November 30, 1941, finding Buchalter guilty of first degree murder, the penalty for which was death by electrocution
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
. Also convicted and sentenced to death for the same crime were two of Buchalter's lieutenants who had participated in the planning and commission of the Rosen murder, Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss
Emanuel Weiss
Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss was a New York organized crime figure who was involved in drug trafficking and worked for the criminal organization known as Murder, Inc. during the 1930s and up to the time of his arrest in 1941...
, and Louis Capone
Louis Capone
Louis Capone was a New York organized crime figure who became a supervisor for the notorious Murder Inc. Louis Capone was not related to the boss of the Chicago Outfit, Al Capone.-Murder, Inc.:...
(no relation to Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
).
Conviction and execution
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
, on review of his case, upheld his conviction and death sentence in October 1942 by a vote of 4-3. (People v. Buchalter, 289 N.Y. 181) Two of the dissenting judges thought the evidence was so weak that errors in the judge's instructions to the jury as to how to evaluate certain testimony were harmful enough to require a re-trial. The third dissenter agreed, but added that, in his opinion, there was insufficient evidence to sustain a guilty verdict, so the indictment should be dismissed altogether (failure of proof means no retrial). The United States Supreme Court granted Buchalter's petition to review the case and in a full opinion affirmed the conviction, 7-0, with two justices abstaining. (319 U.S. 427 (1943)) In the Supreme Court, Buchalter was represented by Arthur Garfield Hays
Arthur Garfield Hays
Arthur Garfield Hays was a lawyer born in Rochester, New York. His father and mother, both of German descent, belonged to prospering families in the clothing manufacturing industry...
, a leader of the trial bar who was general counsel for the ACLU and had a private practice consisting of wealthy, powerful clients.
At the time of the affirmation of his conviction, Buchalter was serving his racketeering sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison, and New York state authorities demanded he be turned over to them for execution. Buchalter resisted, managing to remain in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and out of New York's hands until extradited in January 1944. After his last appeal for mercy was rejected, Louis Buchalter was executed on Saturday, March 4, 1944 on the electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
in Sing Sing
Sing Sing
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York...
. On the same day, a few minutes before Buchalter's execution, his lieutenants Weiss and Capone were also executed.
Louis Buchalter was buried at the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York.
In popular culture
The 1975 film Lepke, starring Tony CurtisTony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
, was based on his life. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he would also be portrayed by David J. Stewart
David J. Stewart
David J. Stewart was an American Broadway, film, and television actor.Born Abe J. Siegel in Omaha, Nebraska, Stewart was known primarily as a New York stage actor...
in the 1960 film Murder Inc., Gene Roth
Gene Roth
Gene Roth was an American film actor. Born in Redfield, South Dakota, Roth was born Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth...
and Joseph Ruskin
Joseph Ruskin
Joseph Ruskin is an American character actor.Ruskin is one of only 4 actors or actresses to have starred in both the original Star Trek and then in one of the spin offs...
in The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
as well as John Vivyan
John Vivyan
John Vivyan was an American actor active primarily between 1957 and 1970. He was known for his starring role as the honest debonair gambler in the CBS adventure series Mr. Lucky.-Early life and career:Born John C...
and Shepherd Sanders in The Lawless Years
The Lawless Years
The Lawless Years is the first television crime drama set during the Roaring 20s, having predated ABC's far more successful The Untouchables with Robert Stack by six months. The 47-episode half-hour series aired nonconsecutively on NBC from April 16 to August 27, 1959, from October 1, 1959, to...
television series. Other portrayals include the 1981 film Gangster Wars
Gangster Wars
-Synopsis:The film tells the story of three teenagers, based on real life gangsters Charles "Lucky" Luciano , Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and Michael Lasker , growing up in New York's ghettos during the early 1900s to their rise though organized crime.-Adaptation:This movie is based on...
by Ron Max.
Robert Lowell describes seeing Buchalter in his poem "Memories of West Street and Lepke" (Life Studies, 1959) whilst incarcerated for being a Conscientious Objector during the Second World War.
Further reading
- Nash, Arthur. New York City Gangland. Arcadia 2010 www.NYCGangland.com
- Messick, Hank. Lansky. London: Robert Hale & Company, 1973. ISBN 0-7091-3966-7
- Kavieff, Paul R. The Life and Times of Lepke Buchalter: America's Most Ruthless Labor Racketeer, Barricade Books, 2006. ISBN 1-56980-291-2
- Almog, OzOz AlmogOz Almog, an Israeli–Austrian artist was born on April 15, 1956, in Kfar Saba, Israel. He comes from a family of Russian/Ukrainian pioneers and Romanian/Russian immigrants...
, Kosher Nostra Jüdische Gangster in Amerika, 1890–1980 ; Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Wien ; 2003, Text Oz Almog, Erich Metz, ISBN 3901398333