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Tag Archives: Abe Reles

“…’available’ for the death house…”

December 1, 2021
1941


“My Fate Is In Your Hands”; Earl Hines Trio; Earl Hines; Al Casey; Oscar Pettiford; Waller; Razaf; Signature (SI-1-2B); 1941





The New York Times, December 1, 1941 (Unidentified photographer)

LEPKE’S FATE PUT UP TO PRESIDENT BY DEATH VERDICT


“My Fate Is In Your Hands”; Rodman Lewis; Razaf; Waller; Perfect (12584B); 1930


PM, December 1, 1941, p. 1

GOOD NEWS

PM, December 1, 1941, p. 1


PM, December 1, 1941, p. 11 (Unidentified photographer)

A Convicted Killer:

Louis (Lepke) Buchalter will be sentenced tomorrow to die in the electric chair for murder. He was convicted yesterday morning. But he says he’ll fight to the highest courts. He’s shown leaving court.

Photo by Wide World

PM, December 1, 1941, p. 11



PM, December 1, 1941, p. 11

Lepke to Fight Death Sentence

PM, December 1, 1941, p. 11


PM, December 1, 1941, p. 11

Harlem Cop Shoots Boy as a Burglar

PM, December 1, 1941, p. 11




PM, December 1, 1941, p. 12

People Aren’t Really Bad, But They Get Black Eyes

PM, December 1, 1941, p. 12


“What Is This Thing Called Love?”; Lena Horne; Lou Bring; Ned Freeman; Cole Porter; RCA Victor (27820-B); December 1941

“…the case should reach the jury by Friday.”

November 26, 2021
1941


“One Woman’s Man”; Jay McShann And His Orchestra; Walter Brown; Jay McShann; John Tums; Decca (8607 A); November 18, 1941


The New York Times, November 26, 1941


“So You Won’t Jump”; Jay McShann; Eugene Ramey; Decca (8607 B); November 18, 1941


The New York Times, November 26, 1941


“Cryin’ Won’t Make Me Stay”; Jay McShann; Walter Brown; Williams; Decca (8623 A); November 18, 1941


The New York Times, November 26, 1941

LEPKE AND AIDES CLOSE DEFENSE

Racketeer Fails to Take the Stand to Answer Charge of Murder in Brooklyn

Long Summing Up Is Due

2 Days Likely to be devoter to Addresses – Jidge Rukles Out Widow’s Accusation

The New York Times, November 26, 1941


“Baby Heart Blues”; Jay McShann; Walter Brown; Decca (8623 B); November 18, 1941


New York Post, November 26, 1941

Reles Escaped Death in Jail

Gunman’s Plot failed, Says O”Dwyer at Cop’s Trial


“‘Fore Day Rider”; Jay McShann; Walter Brown; Decca (8635 A); November 18, 1941


PM, November 26, 1941

Reles’s Guards on Trial


“Hootie’s Ignorant Oil”; Jay McShann; Walter Brown; Bernard Anderson; Decca (8635 B); November 18, 1941

“THE END OF THE ROAD FOR KID TWIST”

November 14, 2021
1941


“At the End of the Road”; Tom Waring and Waring’s Pennsylvanians; Ballard Macdonald; James F. Hanley; Victor (19602-A); 1925


“The End Of The Road”; Sir Harry Lauder; William Dillon; RCA Victor (9024-B); 1926



“Waiting At The End Of The Road”; Harold Lang; Irving Berlin; Pathe Actuelle (32484)



The New York Times, November 14, 1941

GUARDS DEMOTED IN RELES ESCAPE

Five to Get Departmental Trials on Laxity Charge – Mayor Orders Inquiry

…speculation mounted as to Reles’s motive in attempting to escape that admittedly afforded him a haven from an underworld enraged… it was known that Reles feared only one underworld figure, Albert Anastasia… He always did the weird, fantastic thing…
He could sing but couldn’t fly”…


“Waiting At The End Of The Road”; Kate Smith; The Harmonians; Berlin; Harmony (999-H); August 27, 1925


Long Island Daily Press, November 14, 1941, (Unidentified photographer)

FUNERAL. Mrs. Rose Reles, left, widow of the gangster, Abe Reles, who fell to his death from the window of a sixth floor room at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island, is helped to a car after attending the burial services yesterday in the Mount Carmel Cemetery, Glendale. She screamed incessantly during the rather sketchy ceremony.


“Waiting At The End Of The Road”; The Kay Starr Style; Irving Berlin; Harold Mooney; Capitol (15910)


New York Post, November 14, 1941, (Unidentified photographer)

THE END OF THE ROAD FOR KID TWIST

GRAVEDIGGERS finish covering all that is mortal of “Abe Reles… Died Nov. 12th 1941… Age 36 years, 6 months, 2 days…”


“End of the Road”; Jerry Lee Lewis With His Pumping Piano; Jerry Lewis; Sun (259); December 1, 1956

“Look into those eyes…”

November 13, 2021
1941


“Somebody Nobody Loves”; Benny Goodman and his Orch.; Peggy Lee; S. Miller; Okeh (6562); Publication date: November 13, 1941


Lepke and His Pals Feared Reles’s Testimony…

And here’s the grinning Lepke himself – Louis Buchalter, born 44 years ago in the city’s slums. He’s under a federal narcotic sentence that would keep him in jail 14 years… Lepke is blamed for 14 murders or more; Reles was to have testified against him. The particular murder for which Lepke is on trial is that of Joseph Rosen, candy-store owner. Rosen had been a trucking boss in the garment center. O’Dwyer says Lepke ordered the job much as you would order the cook to kill a chicken for dinner.

… Until Death Mysteriously Removed One

And this is where it ended, outside the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island, where Reles has been awaiting his chance to testify against Lepke. We don’t really know what happened. Some reports say Reles was trying to escape – with only a couple of sheets to let him down down the sixth floor widow (circle) to a roof overlooking the ocean. Reporters were told that a window on the floor below was partly open, and that the sill and his shoes bore marks indicating he tried to get in. Some authorities said he had been ill, that he might have committed suicide.



PM, November 13, 1941 (Unidentified photographers)


“How Long Has This Been Going On!;” Benny Goodman and his Orch.; Peggy Lee; I. Gershwin; G. Gershwin; Okeh (6544); November 13, 1941







The New York Times, November 13, 1941 (Unidentified photographer)


“Somebody Else is Taking My Place”; Benny Goodman and his Orchestra; Peggy Lee; D. Howard; Ellsworth; Morgan; Columbia (38198); November 13, 1941


Binghamton, November 13, 1941 (Unidentified photographer)


The New York Times, November 13, 1941 (Unidentified photographer)


“Why Don’t You Do Right”; Benny Goodman and his Orchestra; Peggy Lee; McCoy; Columbia (38198); November 13, 1941

(“…We don’t really know what happened…” PM, November 13, 1941.)

“Reles just went out the window!”

November 12, 2021
1941


“Coffee and Cakes”; Sam Donahue and his Orchestra; Robert Sour; Una Mae Carlisle; Frances Claire; Bluebird (B-11377-A), Publication date: November 12, 1941


PM, November 12, 1941

Abe Reles Leaps to His Death

Abe (Kid Twist) Reles, ex-leader of Brooklyn’s Murder, Inc. who turned informer, killed himself today by jumping from a window at Coney Island’s Half Moon Hotel…


“ST. JAMES INFIRMARY BLUES-Part 1”; Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; “Hop Lips” Page; Joe Primrose; RCA Victor (27895 A); November 12, 1941




Brooklyn Eagle, November 12, 1941

RELES DIES IN HOTEL PLUNGE AS ESCAPE ATTEMPT FAILS

Wire Breaks as He Slides to Freedom — Fear Held Cause


“ST. JAMES INFIRMARY BLUES-Part 2”; Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; “Hop Lips” Page; Joe Primrose; RCA Victor (27895-B); November 12, 1941



Long Isand Daily Press, November 12, 1941

Abe Reles Dies in Plunge From Window of Hotel

His ‘Singing’ Helped Smash ‘Murder, Inc.’

Abe (Kid Twist) Reles 37-year old Brooklyn killer turned “informer,” whose testimony already sent two men to their deaths in the electric chair, was killed today when he fell six floors in trying to escape from “protective custody” in the Half Moon Hotel at Coney Island…


“To a Broadway Rose”; Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; Ray Conniff; Victor (27838-A); November 12, 1941





New York Post, November 12, 1941

RELES IS KILLED WHILE ESCAPING

By Malcolm Logan

Abe Reles, the swarthy little murderer who sent two of his fellow members of Murder, Inc. to the electric chair, was killed between 6:45 and 7:10 a.m. today as he was trying to escape from a room on the sixth floor of the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island…


“Deuces Wild”; Artie Shaw and his Orchestra; Margie Gibson; Victor (27838-B); November 12, 1941

80 years ago today: “Reles just went out the window!”… (Spoiler alert: It was a little premature to conclude that Reles leapt, jumped, was attempting to escape, or “killed himself.”)… What is true is that early on November 12, 1941 Reles went out a window and died on the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island shortly before having to testify against Lepke…