A barrel murder was a method for disposing of the bodies of people killed by early American
mafiosi
A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a leve ...
since the 1870s, although the earliest recorded barrel murders in New York were reported in 1895 and 1900.
The victims, usually Italian immigrants, would be found stuffed inside a barrel after being shot, stabbed, or strangled to death, and left on a random street corner or back alley, or shipped to a nonexistent address in another city. First used by the Sicilian Provenzano crime family in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
and the
Morello crime family in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, the barrel murders eventually alerted authorities to the existence of the Mafia, leading to the later investigation by New Orleans police chief
David C. Hennessy, whose own eventual assassination was attributed to Sicilian mafiosi in 1890, resulting in one of the
largest mass lynchings in U.S. history. New York detective
Joseph Petrosino
Joseph Petrosino (born Giuseppe Petrosino, ; August 30, 1860 – March 12, 1909) was an Italian-born New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer who was a pioneer in the fight against organized crime. Crime fighting techniques that Petrosino ...
's early investigations into the New York barrel murders would lead to a crackdown against the Black Hand and the Morellos until his assassination in 1909. The Morellos, suspected of over 100 murders, continued to use the barrel murder for over thirty years until eventually ceasing after the (now well-publicized) murders resulted in unwanted attention from local authorities. Other non-Italian criminals used the same method to draw police suspicion away from themselves onto the Morellos and other Italian mafiosi.
Recent use
The method was later used in
Johnny Roselli
John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli (sometimes spelled Rosselli; born Filippo Sacco; July 4, 1905 – August 7, 1976) was an Italian-born mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped that organization exert influence over Hollywood and the Las Vegas Str ...
's death when he was found in a 55-gallon oil drum off the coast of
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
in 1976.
It is generally believed Roselli was murdered in revenge for his skimming profits from Las Vegas casinos, but given Roselli's involvement with CIA plots against
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
in Cuba, others have suggested that Roselli's death was not at the hands of fellow mobsters but that the killers used the barrel method to cast suspicion towards the Mafia.
Resources
External links
"The Barrel Murder (1903)" Gangrule.
{{American Mafia
Gangland warfare tactics
Criminal homicide
American Mafia