Made Men: A photo tour of the most notorious sites of New York Mafia history – and what they look like now

https://www.businessinsider.com/mad...1-7?international=true&r=US&IR=T

Thanks for posting this, Hollander. I'm glad they included Midnight Rose's Candy Store in Brownsville, Brooklyn, because I worked there when I was 14 years old, and lived in Brownsville. Murder Inc. was long gone, but Brownsville was still a dangerous neighborhood.

Most crime writers believe, as does this writer, that Anastasia was the boss of Murder Inc. Actually, the boss was Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, the czar of the Garment District. Lepke needed muscle for his rackets, so he reached into Brownsville to a gang headed by Abe (Kid Twist) Reles, Mendy Weiss and Pittsburg Phil Strauss. Lepke was a smart businessman--instead of paying the Murder Inc. gunsels by the job, he put them on salary ($50 - $125/week in the 1930s. That way, they could pursue their own rackets while constantly being on call to Lepke. He hired them out to the Commission. Albert A. was one of their customers, and also supplied shooters from his gang in the Ocean Hill section of Brooklyn, just to the north of Brownsville.

Lepke is regarded as the wealthiest gangster of the Thirties.. But, he has the dubious distinction of being the only Mob boss to be executed by the government (electric chair) rather than by his mobster enemies.

Brownsville has been one of the toughest neighborhoods since the late nineteenth century when it rivaled the Lower East Side in population density. Though the ethnicities have changed over the decades, it has retained one of the highest poverty and crime rates in the city.
I actually met Lepke Buchalter's grandson when he came through my register at the Costco in Lawrence, N.Y. I recognized his last name and asked him if he was related to Lepke and he said. "Yes and Granpapa Lepke was always very generous during the holidays." I told him how very cool that was and how his grandfather was a part of the history the city and was a fascinating character. True story

Good story!. Lepke is one of my favorite gangsters to study. Buchalter was one of 13 children and had five kids.

"Where are all your high and mighty and influential friends now, Mr. Buchalter?"
"I'm beginning to wonder myself."