Louis Buchalter
Louis Buchalter, also known as "Lepke," was a notable figure in organized crime in America during the early to mid-20th century. Born in 1897 in New York City's lower East Side, he emerged from a family of Russian Jewish immigrants and initially led a quiet life, but was drawn into street crime and extortion in the garment district. By the 1930s, during the Great Depression, he had risen to become a prominent crime boss, involved in various illicit activities, including narcotics, prostitution, and notably, murder for hire through his leadership of Murder, Inc., a notorious gang responsible for numerous killings.
Buchalter's criminal career was marked by his ruthless tactics and connections with other infamous gangsters, including Lucky Luciano. His legal troubles began early, with several prison sentences throughout his life, but he eventually faced serious charges when an associate turned informant. In 1944, after being convicted of murder and exhausting all appeals, Buchalter became the only crime boss in U.S. history to be executed, facing death in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison. His execution not only marked the end of his reign but also signaled a decline in the power of Murder, Inc. and the Jewish gangs of New York City.
Subject Terms
Louis Buchalter
American gangster and killer
- Born: February 6, 1897
- Birthplace: New York, New York
- Died: March 4, 1944
- Place of death: Sing Sing Prison, Ossining, New York
Major offense: Murder in the first degree and numerous gang-related crimes
Active: 1916-1939
Locale: New York, New York
Sentence: Death by electrocution
Early Life
Louis Buchalter (BOOK-uhl-ter) was born in 1897 on New York City’s lower East Side, home at that time to many Russian Jewish immigrants. His father ran a hardware store, and his siblings achieved success in life by honest means. Louis, known as Lepke, although quiet by nature, was drawn to street crime and rapidly made a name in the extortion rackets of New York’s garment district.
Criminal Career
By the era of the Great Depression in the 1930’s, Buchalter’s vicious tactics had allowed him to rise to boss of New York’s labor and industrial rackets. He had also become prominent in both the national gang syndicates and in the newly powerful Jewish-Italian gangs of New York City, where he was associated with Lucky Luciano. Buchalter was involved in prostitution, hijacking, narcotics, and extortion—and soon a new form of criminal behavior: murder for hire. He headed the Brooklyn-based Murder, Inc., one of the most vicious organized gangs of murderers in urban history. Under contracts from other gangsters, the hit men of Murder, Inc. killed hundreds of citizens and rival criminals, the most famous being gangster Dutch Schultz in 1935. Buchalter is alleged to have committed scores of the murders himself.
Legal Action and Outcome
Buchalter’s first conviction was on a charge of theft in May, 1916. He was in and out of prison throughout the following two decades. Pursued by the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation throughout the 1930’s, Buchalter went into hiding in 1936. In 1939, he gave himself up and was sentenced to a fourteen-year term in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary on a narcotics charge. In 1940, a Murder, Inc. hit man, Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, informed on Buchalter for four murders. Brought from Leavenworth for trial, Buchalter was quickly convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. After losing appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Buchalter was executed in Sing Sing Prison’s electric chair on March 4, 1944.
Impact
The unassuming Louis Buchalter was a particularly vicious criminal, seizing control of New York City’s lucrative labor and extortion rackets. His notoriety chiefly arises from two factors. First, Murder, Inc., which he headed, was an original entity in organized crime: a syndicate that carried out contract killings nationwide in an efficient and businesslike manner, using the most vicious methods, such as shotgun blasts, bludgeoning by lead pipes, assaults with ice picks, and stranglings. Second, Buchalter is commonly described as the only crime boss ever to be executed in the United States. His execution in 1944 brought about the quick end of Murder, Inc. and the Jewish gangs of New York City. While Buchalter was perhaps not outdone in brutality, he is the only syndicate chief to have paid the ultimate penalty.
Bibliography
Cohen, Rich. Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams in Jewish America. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. Cohen presents a sociological and anecdotal account of the Jewish gangsters of pre-World War II New York and their lingering presence in the psyche of modern Jewish America.
Feder, Sid, and Burton Turkus. Murder, Inc.: The Story of the Syndicate. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2003. Cowritten by the Brooklyn County assistant district attorney who prosecuted members of Murder, Inc., and helped send seven of them to the electric chair. An inside story of the rise and fall of the syndicate murderers.
Fox, Stephen. Blood and Power: Organized Crime in Twentieth-Century America. New York: William Morrow, 1993. Portrays organized crime in modern America and the interplay among corrupt politicians, Hollywood celebrities, and rival ethnic groups.
Kavieff, Paul. The Life and Times of Lepke Buchalter: America’s Most Ruthless Labor Racketeer. Fort Lee, N.J.: Barricade Books, 2006. The first full-length biography of Buchalter also focuses on the New York City underworld.