March 4, 1944: For the 1st time -- and, so far, the last -- an American Mob boss is executed.
Louis Buchalter was born on February 6, 1897, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His mother called him "Lepkeleh," Yiddish for "Little Louis," and this became "Lepke." He was frequently listed as "Louis Lepke" or "Lepke Buchalter" in publications.
A son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Buchalter had 3 brothers, who became a rabbi, a dentist and a pharmacist. He also had a sister. But he did not go into a respectable line of work. His father died when he was 12 years old. After finishing elementary school, he dropped out, and got a job selling theatrical goods. He fell in with criminals, and was arrested for the 1st time at age 18, for burglary and assault.
From 1917 to 1919, and again from 1920 to 1922, he served a total of 3 years for burglary at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, the New York State Prison in Ossining, Westchester County, 30 miles up the Hudson River from Midtown Manhattan -- the source of the expression "being sent up the river."
Upon his 1922 release, he met up with childhood friend Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro. With backing from established Jewish gangsters Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky, and rising Italian mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Buchalter was the brains and Shapiro the muscle of a group that took over the garment industry in New York. They formed "Murder, Incorporated," and became one of the most dangerous gangs in America.
In 1935, Dutch Schultz was rubbed out. Buchalter is believed to have been involved. This allowed him to become New York's top Jewish gangster. Manhattan District Attorney Thomas Dewey, who had previously focused on Schultz, shifted his focus to Buchalter. In 1936, Dewey managed to convict Buchalter and Shapiro on anti-trust law violations. But, while out on bail, they disappeared.
More charges were added in absentia, including drug charges. Tired of life on the run, Shapiro surrendered in April 1938. Buchalter had been in New York City the entire time, but he began to fear that, with Dewey bringing the heat on them, other gangsters would come after him. On August 24, 1939 -- the day of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact -- after telephone negotiations, he surrendered directly to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.
In 1941, while he was serving time on the anti-trust and drug charges, Buchalter was implicated in 4 murders by Abe Reles, a Murder, Inc. hitman known as "Kid Twist." He also ended up implicating 2 of Buchalter's lieutenants: Louis Capone, Al's brother; and Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss. Next, Reles was going to implicate the co-chief of operations for Murder, Inc., Albert Anastasia.
On November 12, not exactly well-guarded at what would now be called a "safe house," the Half Moon Hotel in Brooklyn's Coney Island, Reles fell out of a 6th floor window and died. He became known as "The Canary Who Could Sing, But Couldn't Fly." Anastasia rose to become New York's Capo di Tutti Cappi: Boss of All Bosses. Until, that is, his own rubout in 1957.
Whoever had Reles killed -- Buchalter, Anastasia, or somebody else, or even if it really was an escape attempt gone bad -- it did Buchalter, Louis Capone and Mendy Weiss no good. They were convicted of first-degree murder on November 30. Two days later, they were sentenced to death. They appealed their convictions and death sentences all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but were denied.
Buchalter was still serving his federal racketeering sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas, when the State of New York demanded that the federal government turn him over to them for execution. They did. On March 4, 1944, he was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing, nicknamed "Old Sparky." This was followed immediately by the execution of Weiss, and then by the execution of Capone. (His brother, Al, had been released from federal prison in 1939, after 8 years, due to declining health, and lived on until 1947.)
By this point, Lucky Luciano had been deported to his native Italy. Jacob Shapiro was still in Sing Sing when he died of a heart attack in 1947. Meyer Lansky lived on until 1983.
Louis Buchalter was played by David J. Stewart in the 1960 film Murder, Inc.; by 3 different actors on the TV series The Untouchables; Tony Curtis in the 1975 film Lepke; and Ron Max in the 1981 film Gangster Wars.
The State of New York performed its last execution in 1963. (Neighboring New Jersey also had its most recent execution that year.) The death penalty was declared unconstitutional in 1972, but reinstated nationally in 1976. New York State still prohibited it until 1995, when Governor George Pataki -- the 1st Republican elected to the office since 1970 -- signed a bill allowing for execution by lethal injection. It was never carried out before the State Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that the law Pataki signed violated the State Constitution.
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March 4, 1944 was a Saturday. Soul singer Bobby Womack was born on this day.
Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins, 10-9 at the Boston Garden. Yes, that's hockey, not baseball or football. For the Bruins: Bill Cowley had 4 goals and 2 assists, Fern Gauthier had 3 goals, Pat Egan had 2 goals and 3 assists, and Bep Guidolin had 3 assists.
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* And the Detroit Red wings beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 6-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
And in English soccer, in the war-forced Football League Combination South, Arsenal lost to Reading FC, 3-2 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
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