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Observations of An Ex-Cop in La La Land |
 ANDY MURCIA |
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 Abe Reles may have taken part in hundreds of hired killings |
Abe Reles of Murder, Inc.,
had wings that failed him
of TheColumnists.com
Abraham “Abe” Reles, the son of Jewish/Austrian
immigrants, was born in New York in 1907. He became a criminal
as a boy and by the age of 34 had served no less than six prison
terms. In 1933,
"Abe" already was a charter member of the feared Murder,
Inc. gang of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Abe Reles and his gangland contemporaries, like Louis Lepke Buchalter
and Albert Anastasia, would kill anybody for money. Abe hung
out with quite a nasty crowd that frequented Midnight Rose’s
candy store in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. They had
names like Harry Strauss, Frank "Dasher" Abbandando,
Buggsy Goldstein, and Happy Maione. They also saw the occasional
crime syndicate boss, such as Charles "Lucky" Luciano,
an associate of young Abe.
It has been said that Abe and company coined the words “hit”
(killing), “contract” (assignment to kill) and “bum”
(a generic term for their victims)–all having to do, of
course, with murders for hire.
In the spring of 1940,
Brooklyn D.A. William O’Dwyer put out a pick-up order on
Abe Reles. Police were told to arrest him for “anything”
as O’Dwyer needed a little time to get a judge to sign his
arrest warrant for murder against Reles.
O’Dwyer had another gangster in custody who, to save his
own skin, was willing to "rat out" (testify against)
Abe Reles on a murder they did together.
My father, NYPD Detective
Andrew Murcia, was then assigned to the Brownsville stationhouse.
He spotted Abe Reles as he was driving out of a Buick dealership
on Empire Boulevard in Brooklyn. Murcia tailed Reles to Pitkin
Avenue, where he parked his brand new Buick. As Murcia approached,
Reles attempted a bribe.
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who made the final arrest of Abe Reles of Murder, Inc. |
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Abe offered Det. Murcia a roll of bills that would choke a horse. My Dad could have sure used it, since he had seven kids to feed. But he had the integrity to turn it down flat. Abe tried to insist, saying, “Listen will ya, I’m picking up my goil here and we’s heading for Florida, so be a nice guy and take this. You never saw me, okay?”
Det. Murcia said, “No dice, Abe. You’re going in.”
My Dad cuffed and booked him. Det. Murcia placed a temporary charge of vagrancy on Reles just to hold him. At night court, the D.A.’s office was ready to charge Reles with murder. Neither Abe Reles nor Det. Murcia had any way of knowing that this would be Abe’s last arrest--and his last day of life in the free world.
Abe Reles was short--just 5’2”--but had very long arms and hands as big as catcher’s mitts. He was built like a fire hydrant. Abe was given the name "Kid Twist” because his murder weapon of choice was an ice pick, which he became very adept at using. He was so good at jamming it and twisting it into the “bum's” ear that many of his victims were first thought to have died naturally from brain hemorrhages.
Because Abe was a sure bet to hit the “sparky” chair at Sing Sing, he soon made a deal with District Attorney O’Dwyer and confessed to 70 killings on behalf of Murder, Inc. Reles was also to testify against the other gangsters as part of his deal. Reles was not only informing on his co-hoods, he was also ratting on the cops who took graft. The figure of 70 killings has since been revised by experts to be really as high as 800 murders. Some of these killings for hire went back to when Abe and the others were merely boys who were so hungry for dough that they'd kill a guy for as little as $8. Once the boys had the wrinkles out of their stomachs, the price went up. These were the real "dead-end" kids.
Louis Lepke Buchalter was convicted on Reles' testimony. Abe Reles was set to testify next against Albert Anastasia. While waiting to testify, Abe was held in protective custody and guarded around the clock by teams of policemen at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island, N.Y. On November 12, 1941, Abe jumped, fell, or was thrown out of a sixth floor window of the hotel. His back was broken and he died almost immediately. So, who did it?
It was claimed, afterwards, that Reles accidentally fell while trying to escape from the hotel room. Later, Joe Valachi, another rat gangster claimed Reles had been murdered with the help of his police guard. That he had been thrown out the sixth floor window by a couple of very strong Irish Cops. Soon the newspaper writers wrote lines like; “The Canary Who Couldn’t Fly” and “The Canary Who Could Sing But Couldn’t Fly.”
While the newspaper clipping
about the arrest noted my Dad was the young detective who last
arrested Abe Reles, this distinction was soon forgotten, once
the publicity-aware D.A. took charge of the notorious prisoner.
So, before this very old news clip that I hold in such high honor
totally disintegrates, I wanted to give credit where credit is
due, and say how proud I am that Det. Andrew Murcia was my father.
To me he was my “Pop” and I told him often that he
was “my idol” and also the reason I became a cop. Pop
was very proud that he was the cop who arrested Abe Reles last.
He was even more proud he didn’t let Abe make a “bum”
out of him with his bankroll. Pop was always happy that he turned
it down flat. I was proud of that, too, because in those days
when cops were being paid less than a “$2 whore,” taking
graft was almost thought of as part of a cop’s salary.
Whenever Pop talked about
this arrest, he always ended it with, “Hey, I sleep like
a baby. No worries for me. Besides, it’s all in a days work.”
©2003 by Andy Murcia. The illustration is from IMSI's Master
Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506,
USA. The photo of Detective Murcia is the property of the author;
all rights reserved.
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