Editing Murder, Inc. (section)

==Founding and early activities==
[[File:Jacob Shapiro & Louis Buchalter 1937-11-08 wanted poster.JPG|thumb|An [[FBI]] [[wanted poster]] for [[Jacob Shapiro]] and [[Louis Buchalter]] (1937)]]

Murder, Inc. was established after the formation of the commission of the [[National Crime Syndicate]], to which it ultimately answered. It was largely headed by [[American Mafia|mob]] boss [[Lepke Buchalter|Louis "Lepke" Buchalter]] and Mangano Family [[underboss]] [[Albert Anastasia]],<ref name="AO"/> but also had members from Buchalter's labor-slugging gang (in partnership with [[Tommy Lucchese|Tommy "Three-Fingered Brown" Lucchese]]) as well as from another group of enforcers from [[Brownsville, Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]] led by [[Martin Goldstein|Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein]] and [[Abe Reles|Abe "Kid Twist" Reles]]. Buchalter, in particular, and [[Joe Adonis]] occasionally, gave the outfit its orders from the board of directors of the syndicate. [[Albert Anastasia|Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia]] was the troupe's operating head, or "Lord High Executioner", assisted by Lepke's longtime associate [[Jacob Shapiro|Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro]].

In 1932, Abe Wagner informed on the crime syndicate to the police. He fled to [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]], and adopted a disguise to evade possible pursuit. Two killers, George Young and Joseph Schafer, found and shot him but were later apprehended. Bugsy Siegel failed to get them released.

In the 1930s, Buchalter used Murder, Inc. to murder witnesses and suspected informants when he was being investigated by crusading prosecutor [[Thomas Dewey]].<ref name=Dewey/> In one case on May 25, 1937, four killers [[garrote]]d George Rudnick with a sash cord and stabbed him multiple times with an ice pick on the mere suspicion he was an informant.<ref>{{cite news |title=Find Gangster Garrotted and Knifed in Car |newspaper=Daily News (New York) |date=May 26, 1937 |page=1}}</ref> On October 1, 1937, they shot and seriously wounded Buchalter's ex-associate Max Rubin. Rubin had disobeyed Buchalter's orders to leave town and "disappear" in order to avoid being summoned as a witness against Buchalter. Three alleged victims of Murder, Inc. in 1935 were [[Morris Kessler]] and brothers [[Louis Amberg|Louis]] and [[Joseph Amberg]].

===Murder of Dutch Schultz===
Murder, Inc’s best known victim was most likely [[Dutch Schultz]], who had openly defied the syndicate. In October 1935, Schultz insisted on putting a contract on Thomas E. Dewey, who was leading an all-out effort to put the mob out of business, but the syndicate board overruled him. They feared that Dewey's assassination would incite public outrage and result in an even greater campaign to shut down the rackets. Schultz vowed that he would ignore the board's decision and kill Dewey himself.

Hitmen [[Emanuel Weiss|Mendy Weiss]] and Charles Workman were given the assignment to kill Schultz. On October 24, 1935, they tracked down Schultz and his associates [[Otto Berman]], Abe Landau, and [[Lulu Rosenkrantz]] and shot them at the Palace Chop House in [[Newark, New Jersey]]. Berman, Landau, and Rosenkrantz died almost immediately, while Schultz clung to life until the following day. Workman stayed behind while Weiss escaped with their driver Seymour Schechter. In 1944, Weiss was executed by [[electric chair]] for another murder. Workman was eventually tried by the [[State of New Jersey]] for the Schultz murder and served 23 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news |title=Brooklyn Gang Solved by Confessions of Pair, O'Dwyer Says; 15 Seized in Round-Up; Penn Case Mistake Laid to Thugs Who Specialized in 'Rubbing Out' Witnesses |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 18, 1940 |page=1 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1940/03/18/91580280.pdf}}{{subscription required}}</ref>