Kid Twist

Was Abe Reles being held under protection for a trial against Anastasia that I am unaware of? I mean he had already put his whole gang in jail, so why was Albert not included in this? I do know when Bugsy was indicted(the first time, for the Greenberg murder), Kid Twist was going to be the star witness. But the authorities in New York refused to send him to California for the trial. Then the authorities changed their minds and decided to go ahead and send him after charges were dropped against Siegal( Siegal's lawyer wanted to go ahead with the trial since the states case was so weak at this point).Bugsy gets re-indicted and then Reles gets thrown out the window. So was there a upcoming trial for Anastasia that I'm not aware of or was Reles going to be used at both trials?

Looking through these old articles, it seems Abe Reles was being held under protection for the upcoming trial against Lepke. He had testified earlier that members of his gang killed someone on assignment from Albert Anastasia, but Anastasia was a fugitive at the time. When he was finally found, Reles was dead.

https://www.nytimes.com/1940/09/20/...victed-strauss-and-goldstein-to-die.html
"It was testified that they got the assignment to kill Feinstein as a "contract" from Albert Anastasia, fugitive leader of the Brooklyn waterfront rackets, because Feinstein had "crossed" Vincent Mangano, active in Brooklyn politics at one time."

https://www.nytimes.com/1941/11/13/...pe-sheet-rope-fails-after-he-lowers.html
"The report that Reles had tried to escape to avoid appearing as a witness against Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, one of the ring's head men who is now on trial in Kings County Court..."

https://www.nytimes.com/1942/07/02/...gang-romeo-exlongshoremens-delegate.html
"On one occasion Romeo was arrested in a racket slaying with his close friend, Albert Anastasia, the overlord of the Brooklyn waterfront, who was accused by Abe Reles, leader of the murder ring, with giving assignments for killings to the murder syndicate. Both men were freed in the killing charge.

Recently Anastasia, long a fugitive, was found living in Utica, N.Y., but the prosecutor's office explained that he no longer was wanted since the death of Reles and other key witnesses had weakened the inquiry against him."

Awesome finds. Thanks MightyDR.

Thanks for sharing the links MightyDR. I always like reading stuff about murder inc and that era.

It could be that his story was not as good under a lot of scrutiny. They may have been worried about how he would stand up under cross examination. The trip to California could have been a case of them fearing for his safety while out of their hands and in the hands of another police force. I believe Reles killed a lot of people, but never dealt directly with Lepke. I feel the tales of Anastasia using them to kill sound off since he had so many of his own killers, possibly he farmed out a few to the Brooklyn based Jewish gangs? How he died is a mystery too, various stories conflict each other. One version states that detectives found evidence of foot marks on the walls beneath his windows, the type that would be made by someone trying to scramble on a rope, have you or anyone else here ever heard that one?

jace. in the book "the last testament" of lucky luciano, lucky, and costello, arranged to have the cops kill reles, itc ost them 50,000. money going to a captain bals NYPD

Thank you Binnie, do you trust that book though? I have seen many people say that the author made up much or most of it, if not all. Others say it is the only source book that is from Luciano directly. I've never formed an opinion on the book. The way the police force was back then, I can believe the $50,000 bribe story.

You probably know that Reles was being held "for his own safety" in the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY. Story has it that five cops were in the room with him, another five or six outside. Yet, Reles made a rope out of bedsheets, got out the window, and fell to his death.

Afterwards, they called him "the canary who could sing but couldn't fly."

Ive also read somewhere that Lanksy claimed to have paid $100,000 for the bribe. This could be completely made up though. The Luciano book is for entertainment only.

I read that there was a cop stationed at his door who claimed to have fallen asleep, can you tell me where it said he had six cops in the room when he climbed out? There are so many version that have been given since he died or was killed, it gets difficult to keep track of them.

Albert Fried, "The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America." Rich Cohen, in "Tough Jews," says there were 16 cops "guarding" Reles.

Thank you. I assume it was 16 cops on. rotating basis, with them mostly stationed outside of his room. Did they give any detail on that aspect of it?

Nope. Like all OC stories, details are sketchy and unreliable. Since this was obviously a bribed, put-up job to silence Reles, the cops on duty never told the truth, and their bosses covered up for them. Plus, while Fried's a reliable author, Cohen isn't. Fried said the cops were "demoted," but that's all that happened to them.

Thank you Turnbull, I wanted to see which book s peter, I'll check out the Fried one. Just by the title I thought the Cohen one sounded a bit foolish.

It is, Jace. He writes with gusto, but the book is full of obvious, careless errors. And, a lot of it is about him, not gangsters.

One thing I've found: misinformation about gangsters gets around like a viral video. His book is full of that.

I read Tough Jews and Kid Twist was a nasty piece of work!