25. The Murder Machine’s Unraveling
Lepke Buchalter’s downfall began with the 1936 Murder Inc. killing of a Brooklyn candy store owner, Joseph Rosen, whom Buchalter had shaken down out of a garment factory, then feared he would snitch to the authorities. The Rosen murder went unsolved for some time, but two months later, Buchalter was convicted of anti-trust violations. He went on the lam while out on bail, and was sentenced in absentia to two years. Albert Anastasia took over as boss of Murder Inc.
Buchalter eventually surrendered in 1939, and got a 14-year federal sentence, plus another 30 years on state charges. While Buchalter was imprisoned, a Murder Inc. hitman named Abe Reles turned state evidence, and implicated Buchalter in the 1936 Rosen killing. In 1941, Murder Incorporated’s founder and two of his key lieutenants were tried for four homicides, convicted, and sentenced to death. He met his end on “Old Sparky”, Sing Sing Prison’s infamous electric chair, in 1944. Buchalter was the only major American mob boss executed or sentenced to death.