Archive

Tag Archives: Murder Inc.

“Murder, Inc. Trial in Second Week”

September 16, 2021
1940, PM


“Somewhere Somebody’s Waiting For You”; Carlisle Brothers (Cliff and Bill); Publication date: September 16, 1940


PM, September 16, 1940, pp. 16-17 (photos by R. Capa, etc.)

Proud London, Madrid Prove Cities That Won’t Quit Can’t Be Bombed Into Defeat

Like moths to a flame, refugees from the surrounding farmlands poured into Madrid. Piling up faster than the war-harried government could ship them on to safer areas, thousands of women and children cooked, ate and slept in the subways.

Air raids are fun, too – if your fighter planes can get at the raiders before they dump their loads. Spectators may be killed by a spent bullet, but Madrilenos got so they’d risk even that for momentary relief from the boredom of life under siege.

PM, September 16, 1940, pp. 18-19 (Artist, page 19: William Sharp)

What High School Girls Like to Wear

Murder, Inc. Trial in Second Week

The court clerk at the left knows that hard-of-hearing Judge John J. Fitzgerald’s bite is worse than his bark. Artist William Sharp caught his Honor just after one of the Strauss-Goldstein lawyers had irked him.
PM, September 16, 1940, p.19

A Hollywood actor might envy courtroom style of assistant DA Burton B. Turkus (standing). Expressions of his backstoppers, Louis Josephs (foreground) and Solomon A. Klein mean deep thinking.
PM, September 16, 1940, p.19

When a felon needs a friend, he is apt to look up Leo Healy and Daniel H. Prior (left), two of the shrewdest criminal lawyers going. That’s what Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss (center) and Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein did when District Attorney O’Dwyer nabbed them on charges of a Murder, Inc. killing. Mr. Prior says wild look in Harry’s eyes is because he’s crazy and shouldn’t stand trial. at all.
PM, September 16, 1940, p.19


“You’ve Got What It Takes”; Orrin Tucker and His Orchestra; Bonnie Baker and The Bodyguards; C. Tobias; Berle; H. Tobias; Publication date: September 16, 1940

“…Babbles He Killed Three”

September 13, 2021
1940, PM


“A Faded Photograph”; Whispering Jack Smith; Charles Kenny; Nick Kenny; Richard Howard; Publication date: September 13, 1940


The New York Times, September 13, 1940

GURINO CONFESSES TO THREE MURDERS

Ring’s ‘Toughest Trigger Man’ Implicates Himself in Four Others, O’Dwyer Says

KILLED TWO IN APARTMENT

Gained Access When Confederate, Now In Death House, Wore Woman’s Clothes As Ruse

District Attorney William O’Dwyer of Kings County announced late yesterday that Vito Gurino, the Brooklyn murder syndicate’s “toughest trigger man,” who was arrested Wednesday night after dashing into a Roman Catholic Church Shrieking hysterically that he was about to be killed, had confessed to three underworld “contract” murders and implicated himself in four others…
The New York Times, September 13, 1940


PM, September 13, 1940

Gurino Babbles He Killed Three

Vito Gurino, the tearful triggerman, has confessed to six of the seven murders of which he is suspected, PM learned today from a source close to the Brooklyn District Attorney…
PM, September 13, 1940


Brooklyn Eagle, September 13, 1940, p.4

GURINO’S RECORD AF ARRESTS RUNS GAMUT OF CRIME

Homicide, Robbery, Dope Charges Mark Career of Gang Gunman

The full police record of Vito Gurino, former triggerman of the Murder-for-Money Gang, now a fear-driven prisoner charged with murder, afraid to “squeal” and afraid not to follows:


“A Faded Photograph”; Whispering Jack Smith; Charles Kenny; Nick Kenny; Richard Howard; Publication date: September 13, 1940


PM, September 13, 1940

“I was never a rat in my life – I was never a rat!”

September 12, 2021
1940, PM


“Practice Makes Perfect”; Billie Holiday; Roberts; Gold; Publication date: September 12, 1940


PM, September 12, 1940

Alleged Trigger Man of Murder, Inc. Runs Squealing to Church for Safety

Vito Gurino weighs 225 pounds. He is several inches under the romantic six feet, and he squeals much louder than any pig Armour ever heard of. He tumbled into a Catholic church last night wailing for sanctuary, screaming for mercy and begging for his wife and children…
PM, September 12, 1940


The New York Times, September 12, 1940

Murder Ring Fugitive Seeks Haven in Church; ‘Trigger Man’ hysterical in Fear of Killers

Shrieking hysterically that he was about to be killed, Vito Gurino, supposedly “toughest trigger man” of the Brooklyn murder ring exposed by District Attorney William O’Dwyer, sought sanctuary last night in the Roman Catholic Shrine of the Sea at Twenty-first Street and Tenth Avenue…

…Gurino meanwhile kept shouting:
“I was never a rat in my life – I was never a rat!”

Later he added:
“If they leave me alone, I’ll go away – I’ll never squeal. But if they don’t leave me alone I’ll squeal. They’ll kill me! They’ll kill my wife and children!”
The New York Times, September 12, 1940


Weegee (1899-1968), Vito Gurino, 1940, Screenshot


“The Same Old Story”; Billie Holiday; Field; Oliphant; Publication date: September 12, 1940

“…not insane…”

September 11, 2021
1940, PM


“Psycho” (Original Motion Picture Score); Bernard Herrmann, Danny Elfman, Bernard Herrmann; Steve Bartek; 1998

Alienist May Examine Strauss 3 Times Daily
Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss’s lawyer obtained an unusual concession from the court yesterday. Despite the verdict of state alienists that his client was not insane…”
PM, September 11, 1940


“Broken Hearted Lover”; Delmore Brothers; Alton Delmore; Publication date: September 11, 1940

Her Movie Name Is Veronica Lake
Her real name is Veronica Kane, and she is the 21-year-old… daughter of a commercial artist…
PM, September 11, 1940


“Love Has Been the Ruin of a Many Young Maid”; Texas Jim Lewis And His Lone Star Cowboys; Cindy Walker; Publication date: September 11, 1940

Bernard Herrmann, young composer-conductor…”

PM, September 11, 1940


Elmer Bernstein Conducts The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – Bernard Herrmann Film Scores; 1993 (samples)

Tracklist (samples):

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Devil and Daniel Webster
3. The Man Who Knew Too Much
4. Psycho
5. The Wrong Man
6. Vertigo
7. North by Northwest
8. The Bride Wore Black
9. Fahrenheit 451
10. Taxi Driver
11. Bernard Herrmann on Film Music

“Buggsy was laughing…”

September 9, 2021
1940, PM


“Laughing Record”; 1960


PM, September 9, 1940, p.9

Pittsburgh Phil Pleads Insanity

Strauss-Goldstein Trial Opens; Right to Be Examined by Psychiatrist Granted

…This was the prelude today of the trial of Martin (Buggsy) Goldstein and Harry (Pittsburgh Phil) Strauss, of Brooklyn’s Murder, Inc, for the 1939 murder of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein…


“Woman Laughing (Continuous)”; 1960

Lepke Asks… Tarzan Swings… In the Wee Wee Hours…

July 17, 2021
1941


“Novachord Solos”; Kern; Washington; Romberg; Rodgers; Bassman; Fred Feibel; Harbach; Youmans; Caesar; Hammerstein II; Williams; Hickman; Hart; Cole Porter; July 17, 1941


The New York Times, July 17, 1941

Lepke Asks Change of Venue

A few great recordings released today, July 17, 1941:


“No Answer”; Andy Kirk And His Clouds of Joy; Henry Wells; Guy Wood; Al Hoffman; Maurice Siegler; July 17, 1941


“Tarzan Of The Apes – Part 1”; Tarzan Players; Edgar Rice Burroughs; July 17, 1941


“Wee Wee Hours”; Big Bill Broonzy; July 17, 1941

“Lepke Must Stand Trial”

June 20, 2021
1941


The New York Times, June 20, 1941

Lepke Must Stand Trial

Appeal in Brooklyn Murder Case Denied by Federal Judge

(80 years ago today…)


“MY MAIN TRIAL IS YET TO COME”, Cope Bros., Englin, 1947

“2 In Murder Ring Are Put to Death”

June 20, 2021
1941


The New York Times, June 13, 1941

2 In Murder Ring Are Put to Death

Pittsburgh Phil Strauss and Buggsy Goldstein Go to Chair for Brooklyn Slaying

83 Killings Laid to Gang

Strauss Was Termed the ‘Most Vicious’ of Mob – Workman Goes to Jersey Prison

…
…Straus and Goldstein were convicted last Sept. 19 in Kings County Court of the contract slaying of Irving (Puggy) Feinstein, a small-time bookmaker, on Sept. 4, 1939…

Midway through the most significant year in Weegee’s world… (80 years and one week ago today…) The info from Abe Reles… And then the work of O’Dwyer, Turkus, Dewey, Bals, etc., etc…


SING, SING, SING (Part 1), Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, 1937


[Pittsburgh Phil Strauss and Buggsy Goldstein, Brooklyn, NY, April 1940], Life, September 1940 (Unidentified photographer)


SING, SING, SING (Part 2), Benny Goodman and his Orchestra, 1937

“for the term of your natural life”

June 14, 2021
1941


The New York Times, June 10, 1941

Midway through one of the most significant years in Weegee’s world… (80 years ago this week…) The info from Abe Reles… The work of O’Dwyer, Turkus, Dewey, Bals, etc… was significantly disrupting the “Brooklyn murder syndicate;” the “underworld”…


“Let the Punishment Fit the Crime,” Erskine Hawkins and his Orchestra; Jimmy Mitchelle; W. S. Gilbert; Sir Arthur Sullivan; Charles L. Cooke, 1939