10 of the Deadliest Men Mafia In The History. Some You Have Never Heard Of.
Salvatore “Sammy Bull” Gravano
He worked his way up from petty theft and street fighting to become Joe Colombo's protege in the late 1960s. Gravano was keen to impress his boss, so he committed several brutal murders which earned him respect and fear among his contemporaries.
The good times didn't last, though, when the police came knocking Gravano sold out his business partner. Despite Gravano's involvement in at least 19 murders, in 1994 the state sentenced him to just five years in prison.
Mad Sam
Sam "Mad Sam" DeStefano began his career as a petty criminal and enforcer, it wasn't long before he joined Chicago's notorious Forty-Two Gang in 1930. A few years later, he became one of the city's first loan sharks. He was often lend money to vulnerable clients, like drug addicts. When they failed to pay up on time he would take them to the soundproof chamber in his basement, and sadistically torture them until dead.
Frank “The Dasher” Abbandando
He was a ruthless New York based hit-man who is said to be responsible for up to 30 murders. He killed most of his victims by stabbing them in the chest with an ice pick, but was a fan of meat cleavers, too.
He was arrested in in May 1940. But he failed to grasp the severity of the situation, and believed his associated would swing the case in his favor. At one point he even whispered a threat into the judge's ear. Abbandando didn't know that stool pigeon Abe Reles was helping the police. With his testimony supporting evidence, Abbandando was executed by electric chair in 1942.
Harry “Pittsburgh” Pill
He was another Murder, Inc stalwart, and allegedly, the organisations most violent member which is saying something. He is thought to have dispatched with at least 30 people throughout his career.
In fact, according to some historians his number is higher, somewhere between 50-100. Strauss was arrested 18 times but never convicted until the downfall or Murder, Inc in 1940. During the trail, his attempted insanity plea failed, and he was executed in 1941 by electric chair.
Thomas “Tommy Karate” Pitera
Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera was a hitman for the Bonanno crime family in the 1980s. Well known for his fighting skills (hence karate) it is thought that he would go out of his way for a fight. Astonishingly, he is thought to have carried out at least 60 murders during his time in the mob.
Joseph “The Animal Barboza”
He was well known for being a great chef, and even graduated in French cooking. But by his mid-20s Barboza was heavily involved in the New England Mafia.
He was arrested but only served a years prison time after he gave police information on other gangsters, that didn't sit well with his fellow mafia folk. He was found dead outside his house with four shotgun holes in his chest in 1976.
Roy DeMeo
Roy DeMeo was the leader of the infamous DeMeo crew, a gang of contract killers. Between 1973-1983, him and his associates murdered between 90 and 200 people, mainly using the "Gemini Method" which DeMeo developed to decrease the messiness of disposing of a body.
Giovanni “The Pig” Brusca
He is a Sicilian gangster who claimed to have murdered up to 200 people. He was nicknamed "The Pig" for his unkept appearance and savage behaviour. Once even killing a police informant who was just 11-years old
"The Pig" was arrested after killing a magistrate court and his wife, as well as two bodyguards, in a brutal attack. He gained special privileges by acting as a police informant and risked the wrath of Italy by claiming that ex Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, paid the mafia to have things "kept in order"
Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinksi
Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinksi is one of the most prolific contract killers to ever work for the mafia. Having taken his first life when he just 13, he claimed to have committed over 250 murders.
His crimes caught up with him in 1986, when he was sentenced to several consecutive life sentences and died in prison in 2006.
Abe “Kid Twist” Reles
Abe Reles was a natural born killer. He was a violent and unpredictable man, and an early member of the sweetly named Murder, Inc. This was a notorious enforcement arm of the American and Jewish Mafia believed to have killed up to 1,000 people in the 1930s and 1940s.
He escaped the death penalty by giving information about fellow high-ranking Murder, Inc personnel to the cops, it didn't go down so well. Reles was found dead on the pavement outside his hotel in 1941.
