Volume 2 of my series
"Public Enemies - Gangster Stories from the Roaring Twenties" is
available now on Amazon Kindle here
Joe Masseria - The Mafia boss who
'dodged' bullets
Now known as the Genovese crime family, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria became the leader of one of New York's five Mafia families after waging a bloody war to take it over. In 1922 he survived a point blank assassination attempt when two gunmen opened fire on him. He miraculously evaded them without a scratch - just two bullet holes in his straw hat. Superstitious mobsters dubbed him "the man who can dodge bullets", but his luck wasn't going to last forever.....
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter - The man behind Murder Inc
Based in New York City, Buchalter was a leading racketeer of the time and became the boss of the Mafia assassination gang eventually famously dubbed by the press as "Murder Inc". His organization controlled many rackets in the city and it's thought that he and his partner had around 250 men under their command at one time, pulling in around US$1m per year, (equal to around 20 times that at today's value).
Convicted of murder, he was the only prominent gang boss to eventually be executed in Sing Sing prison in 1944.
The 'Terrible Genna Brothers'
Out of the violent and garbage filled streets of Chicago's West Side slums, the wild Genna brothers were unparalleled in the art of murder as they smashed and crushed everyone in their path. Operating in Chicago's Little Italy after arriving from Sicily they teamed up with the Chicago Outfit, another Italian gang. They ran afoul of other mobsters like Dean O'Banion and Bugs Moran resulting in a bloody gang war and the eventual killing of 3 of the brothers.
Now known as the Genovese crime family, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria became the leader of one of New York's five Mafia families after waging a bloody war to take it over. In 1922 he survived a point blank assassination attempt when two gunmen opened fire on him. He miraculously evaded them without a scratch - just two bullet holes in his straw hat. Superstitious mobsters dubbed him "the man who can dodge bullets", but his luck wasn't going to last forever.....
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter - The man behind Murder Inc
Based in New York City, Buchalter was a leading racketeer of the time and became the boss of the Mafia assassination gang eventually famously dubbed by the press as "Murder Inc". His organization controlled many rackets in the city and it's thought that he and his partner had around 250 men under their command at one time, pulling in around US$1m per year, (equal to around 20 times that at today's value).
Convicted of murder, he was the only prominent gang boss to eventually be executed in Sing Sing prison in 1944.
The 'Terrible Genna Brothers'
Out of the violent and garbage filled streets of Chicago's West Side slums, the wild Genna brothers were unparalleled in the art of murder as they smashed and crushed everyone in their path. Operating in Chicago's Little Italy after arriving from Sicily they teamed up with the Chicago Outfit, another Italian gang. They ran afoul of other mobsters like Dean O'Banion and Bugs Moran resulting in a bloody gang war and the eventual killing of 3 of the brothers.
Alvin Karpis - "Old Creepy" - The Last Public Enemy Number One
In a ruthless career of robbing, killing and kidnapping, Alvin Karpis (Old Creepy to his friends due to his sinister smile), earned himself the title of Public Enemy #1 in which he reveled. One of the leaders of the Barker-Karpis gang in the 1930s, he was one of the last prominent depression era gangsters caught, eventually arrested by J. Edgar Hoover himself and imprisoned in Alcatraz where he spent 26 years.
Vince and Pete Coll - Killers for Hire
Brothers Vince and Pete Coll arrived in New York fresh from Ireland, determined to succeed. Starting as bodyguards for mobster Dutch Schultz, they graduated to hijacking booze shipments and working as assassins for Dutch. Vince became a killer feared by all, earning the nickname, "Mad Dog". A vicious shooting war started when the Colls fell out with their boss and formed their own gang. After Pete was murdered, Vince went on the rampage during which time around 20 of Dutch's men were killed. Vince had to pay, and Dutch made sure he did.
Order your copy today..!
In a ruthless career of robbing, killing and kidnapping, Alvin Karpis (Old Creepy to his friends due to his sinister smile), earned himself the title of Public Enemy #1 in which he reveled. One of the leaders of the Barker-Karpis gang in the 1930s, he was one of the last prominent depression era gangsters caught, eventually arrested by J. Edgar Hoover himself and imprisoned in Alcatraz where he spent 26 years.
Vince and Pete Coll - Killers for Hire
Brothers Vince and Pete Coll arrived in New York fresh from Ireland, determined to succeed. Starting as bodyguards for mobster Dutch Schultz, they graduated to hijacking booze shipments and working as assassins for Dutch. Vince became a killer feared by all, earning the nickname, "Mad Dog". A vicious shooting war started when the Colls fell out with their boss and formed their own gang. After Pete was murdered, Vince went on the rampage during which time around 20 of Dutch's men were killed. Vince had to pay, and Dutch made sure he did.
Order your copy today..!
