Harry Maione: Difference between revisions

'''Harry "Happy" Maione''' (October 7, 1908 – February 19, 1942) was a New York mobster who served as a [[hitman]] for [[Murder, Inc.]] (the enforcement arm of the [[National Crime Syndicate]]) during the 1930s. Maione was called "Happy" because his face displayed an eternal scowl.

As a young man, Maione led the Ocean Hill Hooligans, an Italian street gang in the [[Ocean Hill, Brooklyn]] section of New York. His protégé in this gang was [[Frank Abbandando|Frank "The Dasher" Abbandando]]. <ref>{{cite book|last=Turkus|first=Burton. |title=Murder, Inc. The Story of the Syndicate|year=2003|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=NewBoston York, N.Y.|isbn=978-0-306-81288-0|pages=109-110109–110}}</ref> Maione had a son, Albert Maione, who eventually became an associate with the [[Gambino crime family]]. Maione's older brother was Louis "The Duke" Maione.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hope Maione Jailing Ends Intimidation|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2033888/may_stop_intimidation_clip/|work=[[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle]] |date=18 September 1932|page=13}}</ref>

In 1931, Maione and Abbandando helped [[Abe Reles|Abe "Kid Twist" Reles]] and [[Martin Goldstein|Martin "Bugsy" Goldstein]] eliminate their gangster rivals, the [[Shapiro Brothers]] (Meyer, Irving, and William).<ref>{{cite book|last=Turkus|first=Burton |title=Murder, Inc. The Story of the Syndicate|year=2003|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=Boston |isbn=978-0-306-81288-0|pages=116–118}}</ref> Previously that year, the Shapiros had unsuccessfully tried to murder Reles and Goldstein. Meyer Shapiro then abducted Reles' girlfriend and raped her.<ref>{{cite book|last=Turkus|first=Burton |title=Murder, Inc. The Story of the Syndicate|year=2003|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=Boston |isbn=978-0-306-81288-0|pages=111–112}}</ref> Reles and Goldstein wanted revenge and the two wanted to take over the Shapiro operations. On July 11, 1931, Irving Shapiro was gunned down near his apartment. On September 17, 1931, Meyer was found shot to death in the basement of a tenement building on Manhattan's [[Lower East Side]].

Maione, Abbandando, Reles, and Goldstein then banded together. They were soon joined by [[Harry Strauss|Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss]], [[Emanuel Weiss|Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss]], [[Albert Tannenbaum|Albert "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum]], [[Seymour Magoon|Seymour "Blue Jaw" Magoon]], [[Louis Capone]], Charles "The Bug" Workman, Tyler "Boy" Winchester, and Vito "Chicken Head" Gurino.

The gang started picking up murder contracts from the [[National Crime Syndicate]] with the help of Syndicate Board Member [[Joe Adonis]]. The gang soon became the official murder-for-hire squad of the Syndicate, and was dubbed "Murder, Inc." by the press. Maione acted as the Italian liaison to the Jewish members of Murder, Inc.; Reles was his counterpart on the Jewish side. Murder, Inc. was directed by the brutal [[Louis Buchalter|Louis "Lepke" Buchalter]] (another member of the Syndicate board) and the nefarious [[Albert Anastasia|Albert "The Executioner" Anastasia]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Raab|first=Selwyn|title=Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires|year=2006|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-312-36181-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_s8f3/page/67 67–68]|url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_s8f3/page/67}}</ref> Maione reportedly killed at least 12 men himself while working for Murder, Inc.

In the mid-1930s, New York District Attorney [[Thomas E. Dewey]] targeted Buchalter for prosecution. In response, Buchalter started eliminating all potential witnesses. [[Murder, Inc.]], rubbed out anyone that Buchalter even suspected of being an informant.<ref>{{cite book|last=Raab|first=Selwyn|title=Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires|year=2006|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-312-36181-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_s8f3/page/70 70]|url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_s8f3/page/70}}</ref> [[Loan shark]] George "Whitey" Rudnick was one such victim; he was killed by Maione, Abbandando, and Strauss on May 11, 1937.

In 1940, Reles became an informant for the [[New York (state)|State of New York]]. He then implicated Maione and Abbandando in the horrific slaying of Rudnick. According to Reles, the men supposedly killed Rudnick and started stuffing him back in their car. Suddenly, the "corpse" started coughing. To finish him off, Strauss stabbed Rudnick 63 times with an ice pick and Maione buried a meat cleaver in his skull.

In May 1940, Maione was convicted of [[first degree murder]], but the verdict was overturned on appeal. After a second trial, Maione was convicted again. This time, the conviction was not overturned by an appeals court. On February 19, 1942, Harry Maione, along with Frank Abbandando, was executed in the [[electric chair]] at [[Sing Sing]] Prison in [[Ossining (town), New York|Ossining, New York]].

* [[ListCapital of individuals executedpunishment in New York (state)]]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080528081537/http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/NEW%20YORK2520YORK.htm Executions in New York]

[[Category:American20th-century people convictedexecutions of murderAmerican people]]

[[Category:American20th-century mobstersexecutions ofby ItalianNew descentYork (state)]]

[[Category:ExecutedAmerican mobstersgangsters of Italian descent]]

[[Category:PeopleMurder, executed by electric chairInc.]]

[[Category:20th-centuryAmerican executionspeople byexecuted thefor United Statesmurder]]

[[Category:MafiaExecuted hitmenAmerican gangsters]]