A one-way ride, also known by the phrase taking someone for a ride, is slang in the
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwo ...
for an
execution
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
method. The usual plan is for the victims, who are lured or forced into a
car, to be driven to a remote location where they are killed (either en route or after their arrival) where their bodies are dumped.
History
First coming into use during
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholi ...
, the phrase was reportedly first used by Northside Gang member
Hymie Weiss who was last seen driving off with Steve Wisniewski, a local criminal who had recently hijacked a Northside beer shipment, in July 1921.
This method was used in countless gangland executions throughout the period, particularly by the Northsiders and the
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...
, as the bodies of mobsters and other underworld figures would be found in remote locations outside
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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throughout the 1920s and 1930s.
In popular culture
* A one-way ride has often been depicted in gangster movies such as ''
The Godfather II'' (1974), ''
The Long Good Friday'' (1979), ''
Miller's Crossing'' (1990) and ''
Bullets Over Broadway
''Bullets Over Broadway'' is a 1994 American black comedy crime film directed by Woody Allen, written by Allen and Douglas McGrath and starring an ensemble cast including John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Chazz Palminteri and Jennifer Tilly.
The fil ...
'' (1994).
See also
*
Barrel murder
A barrel murder was a method for disposing of the bodies of people killed by early American mafiosi since the 1870s, although the earliest recorded barrel murders in New York were reported in 1895 and 1900.
The victims, usually Italian immigrants ...
*
Cement shoes
Cement shoes, concrete shoes, or Chicago overcoat is a method of murder or body disposal, usually associated with criminals such as the Mafia or gangs. It involves weighing down the victim, who may be dead or alive, with concrete and throwing them ...
Footnotes
References
* Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. {{ISBN, 978-0-8160-5694-1
Murder
Gangland warfare tactics