1944 in organized crime

Events
  • New York mobster Joe Adonis leaves Brooklyn eventually moving to Palisades Park, New Jersey.
  • Chicago Outfit enforcer William Daddano, Sr. arrested for attempted robbery of three million war ration stamps.
  • Emmanuel "Mendy" Weiss, a syndicate hitman and a suspected gunman in the murder of Dutch Schultz, is executed.
  • Benjamin "Zookie the Bookie" Zuckerman, a member of the Chicago syndicate involved in illegal gambling, is killed.
  • March 4 – Murder, Inc. leader Louis Buchalter is sent to the electric chair and executed by the state of New York. He is the last member of Murder, Inc. to be executed.
  • April 22 – Frank Abatte, a major racketeer of Calumet City, Illinois, is murdered.
  • April 23 – Rocco Perri disappeared, and his body never found
  • August 7 – Vito Genovese, eluding U.S. authorities for over a decade following his indictment for the 1934 murder of Ferdinand Boccia, is finally apprehended in Italy and deported back to the United States to stand trial. However, shortly after his arrival on June 1, 1945, the governments star witness dies of an "overdose of sedatives" while in protective custody. Genovese was eventually acquitted of charges on June 10, 1946.
  • September 16 – Leaders of the Blocco del popolo (The Popular Front) in Sicily, the communist Girolamo Li Causi and socialist Michele Pantaleone, went to speak to the landless labourers at an election rally in Villalba, challenging Mafia boss Calogero Vizzini in his own personal fiefdom. Li Causi denounced the unjust exploitation of the peasantry by the Mafia. The rally ended in a shoot-out which left 18 people wounded including Li Causi and Pantaleone. In the following years, left-wing leaders in Sicily were killed or otherwise attacked, culminating in the killing of 11 people and the wounding of over thirty at the May 1, 1947, labour parade in "Portella di Ginestra", the vale between three villages. The attack was attributed to the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano. However, the Mafia was suspected of involvement in many of the attacks on left wing labour leaders.
  • October 19 – Cleveland crime syndicate Alfred "Big Al" Polizzi pleads guilty for failing to pay federal liquor taxes and, following his release from prison in 1945, retires to Coral Gables, Florida. John Scalish assumes Polizzi's role as head of the Cleaveland family, shortly after Polizzi's imprisonment.

Births

Deaths
  • January 14 – Benjamin Zuckerman "Zookie the Bookie", Chicago syndicate mobster involved in illegal gambling[1]
  • March 4 – Louis Buchalter, Murder, Inc. leader
  • March 4 – Louis Capone, Murder, Inc. hitman
  • March 4 – Emanuel Weiss, Murder, Inc. hitman and member of the Luciano crime family
  • April 22 – Frank Abatte, Illinois mobster
  • November 28 – Frank Todaro, New Orleans crime family leader

References
  1. "Puparo's Gangland History of the Chicago Boroughs Part 3". Gangsters Inc. September 25, 2013. Chicago killers Lenny Patrick and David Yaras. They shot and killed 14 January 1944 Ben Zuckerman "Zuckie the Bookie" (his financial backer Willie Galatz) in font [sic] of his home at 4042 Wilcox street. The killers are thought to have been Lenny Patrick and David Yaras. Also Lawrence "Dago" Mangano was a suspect in the murder of Ben Zuckerman.
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