The Mafia Whacked This Criminal Boss Before He Could Whack Another
The early 1930s witnessed a massive gangland conflict known as the Castellammarese War, that severely disrupted the American mob’s businesses. The conflict finally ended after young Mafiosi Charles “Lucky” Luciano engineered the deaths of the rival factions’ bosses, Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. Luciano then set up a cooperative entity, the Commission, to run the Italian-American mafia and arbitrate its disputes. To give the Commission teeth, Luciano set up a streamlined contract-killing organization that came to be known as Murder Incorporated. Headed by Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, Murder Inc. acted as the muscle and enforcers of the mafia’s higher-ups. In theory, mob killings had to be preapproved by The Commission, who would then direct Murder Inc. to carry out the murders. Their most famous victim was Dutch Schultz.
Schultz was a close friend of many mob higher-ups, including Lucky Luciano. Such friendships did not protect him when he threatened to become a loose cannon after crusading prosecutor Thomas Dewey put him in his crosshairs. Schultz sought permission from the Commission to kill Dewey but was turned down. As seen above, ever since the 1891 New Orleans mass lynchings, the Italian-American mafia prohibited the targeting of law enforcement. When Schultz indicated that he might go rogue and kill Dewey anyhow, the Commission ordered his death before he invited a catastrophic backlash upon all with a hit on the prominent prosecutor. Three Murder Inc. hitmen tracked Schultz down to The Palace Chop restaurant in Newark, New Jersey, where they executed him, his accountant, and two bodyguards.
Related: 20 Significant Mafia Hits.