Louis Capone was a New York organized crime

Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

 figure who became a supervisor for the notorious Murder Inc. Louis Capone was not related to the boss of the Chicago Outfit

Chicago Outfit

The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...

, 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...

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Murder, Inc.

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...

, was a network of Jewish and Italian-American hoodlums from Brooklyn, New York, who performed murder contracts for crime families in New York and other cities from during the 1930s. New York mobster Louis "Lepke" Buchalter

Louis Buchalter

Louis "Lepke" Buchalter 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...

 and Gambino crime family

Gambino crime family

The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...

 capo 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...

 directed Murder, Inc. and Capone served as their liaison with the hitmen. Capone's greatest challenge was to maintain peace between 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...

 and Harry Maione

Harry Maione

Harry "Happy" Maione was a New York mobster who served as a hitman for Murder, Inc. during the 1930s...

, the two gang leaders who joined together to form Murder Inc.

Mob rackets

Born in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Capone later moved to America and owned a pasticceria, a cafe serving coffee and pastries, in 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...

. When they were teenagers, both Reles and Maione frequented the pasticceria, where they soon became Capone's protegees. Capone had strong connections with the Purple Gang

The Purple Gang

The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, were a mob with predominantly Jewish members of bootleggers and hijackers in the 1920s, operating out of Detroit, Michigan, which was a major port for running alcohol products during Prohibition due to proximity to Canada.Many openly violent...

 out of Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

, and was operating loansharking operations in both Detroit and New York. Capone was also involved in labor racketeering with the local Plasterers Union. Capone was described as suave and well-groomed, with the look of a diplomat.

Electric chair

In 1936, Buchalter was trying to silence potential witnesses against himself and Murder, Inc and in September 1936 ordered the murder of Joseph Rosen. In 1940, Reles became a government witness and testified against Capone, Buchalter, and Weiss. In 1941, Capone and the other defendants were convicted of the 1936 Rosen murder and were sentenced to death. On March 4, 1944, Louis Capone was executed in 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...

 at 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...

 Prison in Ossining, New York

Ossining (town), New York

Ossining is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 37,674 at the 2010 census. It contains two villages, the Village of Ossining and part of Briarcliff Manor, the rest of which is located in the Town of Mount Pleasant....

. Weiss and Buchalter followed him to execution.

Capone was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, New York City

Holy Cross Cemetery, New York City

Holy Cross Cemetery located at 3620 Tilden Avenue in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City is an American Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Diocese of Brooklyn.-Notable burials:*Louis Capone - Organized crime figure*John Michael Clancy - U.S...

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In popular culture

In the 1960 film Murder Inc.

Murder, Inc. (1960 film)

Murder, Inc. is a 1960 American gangster film starring Stuart Whitman, May Britt, Henry Morgan, Peter Falk, and Simon Oakland. The Cinemascope movie was directed by Burt Balaban and Stuart Rosenberg. The screenplay was based on the true story of Murder Inc., a Brooklyn gang that operated in the...

, Capone was portrayed by Lou Polan.