By: HISTORY.com Editors

1944

Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, the head of Murder, Inc., is executed

Published: November 13, 2009Last Updated: May 27, 2025

Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, the head of Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Lepke was the leader of the country’s largest crime syndicate throughout the 1930s and was making nearly $50 million a year from his various enterprises. His downfall came when several members of his notorious killing squad turned into witnesses for the government.

Lepke began his criminal career robbing pushcarts as a teenager. When he met Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro while trying to rob the same pushcart, the two quickly became a formidable team. With Shapiro’s brute strength, the two established an extortion business, forcing pushcart owners to pay for protection. Lepke and Shapiro then joined Jacob “Little Augie” Orgen’s Lower East Side gang and turned their attention to bigger game.

One by one, Lepke and the gang terrorized the local garment workers unions. They took over control of the unions and forced kickback payments from both the members and the employers. Soon, they had taken over the entire New York garment industry. In the 1920s, they added liquor bootlegging and gambling and later began importing heroin and other narcotics.

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Lepke assembled a large team of hired killers to enforce his control. At one time, this team may have included as many as 250 hit men. Lepke also began to coordinate operations with the other big crime kingpins around the nation. With Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Dutch Schultz, Lepke virtually controlled organized crime throughout the country. In 1935, Schultz wanted to kill New York District Attorney Thomas Dewey, but Lepke, fearing that it would bring even more intense scrutiny and pressure from law enforcement, had Schultz killed instead.

In order to generate more income and keep his hit men occupied, Lepke started Murder, Inc. in 1933. Murder, Inc. was authorized to kill anyone (approved by the syndicate) for a profit. With his hit squad protecting him from rivals and paid-off judges and officers keeping him out of jail, Lepke was America’s premier criminal until he was betrayed by his own men. Reportedly, he was able to order final hits on his betrayers from jail before his execution.

Timeline

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1776

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1789

Government under the U.S. Constitution begins

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1829

Andrew Jackson holds “open house” at the White House

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1861

Abraham Lincoln inaugurated

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1918

First cases reported in deadly 1918 flu pandemic

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1933

FDR inaugurated

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1952

Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis marry

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1952

Ernest Hemingway finishes “The Old Man and the Sea”

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1960

Lucille Ball files for divorce from Desi Arnaz

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1966

John Lennon sparks his first major controversy

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1974

“People” magazine launches

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1990

College basketball star Hank Gathers collapses on court, dies

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1994

John Candy dies

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2004

Mianne Bagger becomes first transgender athlete to play in pro golf tournament

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2005

Martha Stewart is released from prison

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