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Meyer (1908–1931), Irving (1904–1931) and Willie Shapiro (1911–1934), collectively known as the Shapiro Brothers, were the leaders of a group of Jewish-American mobsters from
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and based in Williamsburg. Well established in the local garment industry, long dominated by Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro and Louis "Lepke" Buchalter since the 1927 death of Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen, the two began to move against them in the summer of 1931. As the two sides battled for the garment industry in Brooklyn, Irving and Meyer were killed by
Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...
and Louis Amberg; Irving was gunned down near his apartment on July 11, and Meyer was found shot to death in the basement of a tenement building on Manhattan's
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on September 17, 1931. On orders from Buchalter, Willie was killed by Murder, Inc. members Martin "Bugsy" Goldstein and Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, supposedly buried alive in a sandpit in the marshland of
Canarsie Canarsie ( ) is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. Canarsie is bordered on the east by Fresh Creek Basin, East 108th Street, and Louisiana Avenue; on the north by Linden Boulevard; on th ...
by Reles, the Amberg brothers, Frank Abbandando and Harry Maione, on the night of July 20, 1934. Reles implicated Buchalter in the murders during talks with District Attorney William O'Dwyer after agreeing to become a government informant in 1941. His later testimony resulted in the convictions of Buchalter and the rest of Murder, Inc., who were all sentenced to death.


References

*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Encyclopedia of American Crime'': Second Edition Vol. II (K–Z). New York: Facts On File Inc., 2001.


Further reading

*Downey, Patrick. ''Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900–1935'', Barricade Books 2004, 2009


External links

* * * {{Murder, Incorporated Murdered Jewish American gangsters Murdered American gangsters Jewish American gangsters People murdered by Murder, Inc. Deaths by firearm in Manhattan Premature burials People murdered in New York City 20th-century American Jews