Abe Reles: The Notorious Hitman of Murder, Inc. And His Mysterious Death
Abraham Reles’s story begins in a struggling immigrant family, living in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighbourhood—a hotbed of Jewish and Italian organised crime in the early 20th century. Born on May 10, 1906, Reles was the son of Jewish immigrants from Galicia. His father, Sam, a hardworking garment worker, turned to peddling knishes on the streets as the Great Depression worsened, struggling to support his family amid the economic turmoil.
Reles, known formally as Elkanah ben Shimon in Hebrew, didn’t seem destined for the criminal life at first. He attended school until eighth grade but abandoned his studies, gravitating instead toward the pool rooms and candy stores that dotted Brownsville’s streets, spaces where petty criminals congregated and schemes were born. It was here he met Martin “Buggsy” Goldstein and Harry “Pittsburgh Phil” Strauss, who would become close allies in crime. Despite his small stature, Reles possessed an outsized ambition and a willingness to use ruthless violence—qualities that would propel him to the highest echelons of Brooklyn’s underworld.
Early Encounters with Crime
Reles’s first recorded encounter with the law came in 1921, when he was caught stealing $2 worth of gum from a vending machine, a small infraction that led to a four-month stint in the Children’s Village in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Yet, this early brush with authority did little to curb his criminal tendencies. After his release, Reles continued associating with Goldstein and Strauss, committing petty crimes that gradually escalated.
In the early days of Prohibition, Reles and Goldstein started working for the Shapiro brothers, three notorious gangsters who dominated Brooklyn’s rackets. Under the Shapiros’ control, Reles and his associates committed various minor crimes. However, a fateful turn came when Reles was caught in one of these ventures and sentenced to two years in a juvenile institution. While he served his sentence, the Shapiros offered no help or support, an act of betrayal Reles would not forget. This snub ignited a desire for revenge that would drive him to dismantle the Shapiro family piece by piece.
The Birth of Murder, Inc. and Reles’s Role
Upon his release, Reles reconnected with his associates and ventured into the lucrative slot machine business, an area dominated by the Shapiro brothers. Through George Defeo, a mutual criminal associate, Reles managed to broker a deal with Meyer Lansky, an influential figure in organised crime who was interested in expanding into Brooklyn’s poorer districts. With Lansky’s support, Reles built a solid criminal operation that was nearly untouchable within Brooklyn’s underworld.
The business grew rapidly, and with it, Reles’s influence. Together with Goldstein and Strauss, he expanded into loan sharking, gambling, and union activities, particularly within the restaurant union. As his power increased, so did his reputation for unflinching brutality. His preferred weapon for carrying out murders was an ice pick, which he would use to drive through the victim’s ear into the brain, a method that came to define his lethal efficiency.
The Shapiro brothers soon recognised Reles’s expanding influence as a threat, and a violent rivalry began. In one attempt to eliminate Reles, the Shapiros lured him and Goldstein to East New York, only to ambush them. Both men were wounded but managed to escape. Shortly after, Meyer Shapiro, the eldest brother, attacked and raped Reles’s girlfriend, escalating the feud into a personal vendetta. Determined to exact revenge, Reles recruited two more Murder, Inc. assassins—Frank “Dasher” Abbandando and Harry “Happy” Maione—to help eliminate the Shapiros.
After several attempts, Reles’s crew succeeded in killing the Shapiro brothers one by one. Irving Shapiro was dragged from his home and beaten in the street before being shot multiple times. Meyer Shapiro was shot in the face in broad daylight. The last brother, William Shapiro, was taken to a gang hideout, beaten, stuffed into a sack, and driven to Canarsie. As Reles and his men were burying William, a passerby spotted them, forcing them to flee. William’s body was exhumed soon after; an autopsy revealed he had been buried alive, a gruesome detail that epitomised the violence of Reles’s crew.
From Crime Lord to Informant
Reles’s infamy grew as Murder, Inc. became the feared execution arm of organised crime. The syndicate handled contract killings for various crime families across the country, and Reles, Goldstein, and Strauss became synonymous with murder-for-hire in Brooklyn. However, the New York authorities soon closed in on Murder, Inc., and Reles found himself facing charges for multiple murders. Realising the gravity of his situation and the possibility of execution, Reles decided to turn state’s witness, a decision that would not only shatter the syndicate but also ultimately seal his fate.
Reles’s cooperation with law enforcement implicated some of the biggest names in organised crime. His testimony led to the conviction and eventual execution of his former boss, Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, as well as several key Murder, Inc. figures, including Maione, Abbandando, Strauss, and even his childhood friend Goldstein. But Reles’s most significant target was Albert Anastasia, a powerful figure in Cosa Nostra and co-chief of operations for Murder, Inc. The stakes for Reles’s testimony had never been higher.
The Mysterious Fall at the Half Moon Hotel
In 1941, as Reles awaited Anastasia’s trial, he was placed under heavy police protection at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island. Law enforcement took no chances; five officers guarded his room around the clock. Despite these precautions, Reles was found dead on November 12, 1941, after a fall from his sixth-floor hotel room window.
Accounts of Reles’s death are conflicting. The official story suggests he attempted to escape by tying bedsheets to the radiator and lowering himself out the window. A piece of wire, tied to a valve in the room, appeared to be an improvised climbing aid, but the knot came undone, sending him plummeting onto a second-floor landing. This explanation, however, has been met with widespread scepticism.
Many believe Reles was murdered to prevent him from testifying against high-ranking crime figures, especially Albert Anastasia. The fact that five officers were guarding him yet failed to prevent his death aroused suspicion. Furthermore, Frank Costello, another crime boss, allegedly raised $100,000 to bribe the guards to eliminate Reles. Rumours circulated that NYPD Detective Charles Burns, one of Reles’s bodyguards, had a history of involvement in underworld dealings, including the infamous disappearance of Judge Joseph Force Crater.
Reles’s unexpected death cast a long shadow over the trial. While his demise was ultimately ruled an accident by a grand jury in 1951, theories about his assassination continue to circulate. Reles had earned the mocking nickname “The Canary Who Could Sing, But Couldn’t Fly,” as newspapers relished the irony of his fate.