Popular name for an arm of the U.S. national crime syndicate founded 0441; 1930 in Brooklyn, N.Y., to threaten, maim, or murder designated victims for a price.
Its services were available to any syndicate member anywhere in the country; many of its victims were themselves syndicate members who were killed for "business reasons." Its principal figures were Louis Buchalter, known as Louis Lepke, and Albert Anastasia. Investigated by Thomas Dewey , it was exposed in 194041 by a former member, Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, who described some 70 murders and suggested hundreds more; he himself died mysteriously in the middle of the investigation.