1940 Murder Inc. Mobsters – Happy Maione & Frank Abbandondo Booked on Murder Original TYPE I Photo

Harry “Happy” Maione was a Brooklyn mobster and core member of Murder, Inc., the enforcement arm of the American Mafia during the 1930s. Closely allied with Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, Maione participated in contract killings ordered by syndicate leaders such as Louis “Lepke” Buchalter. Known for his reliability rather than flamboyance, Maione was implicated in multiple murders through testimony from cooperating witnesses. He was convicted and executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in 1944, becoming one of the most prominent Murder, Inc. figures put to death by the state.

Frank Abbandondo was a violent Brooklyn enforcer and Murder, Inc. hitman, feared for his temper and brutality. A close associate of Abe Reles, Abbandondo was implicated in several contract murders, including high-profile gangland killings tied to the national crime syndicate. When Reles turned government witness, Abbandondo was among those he testified against. Convicted largely on insider testimony, Abbandondo was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in 1942, one of the earliest executions resulting from the dismantling of Murder, Inc.

(background about Harry Alpert) Harry Alpert was a Brooklyn candy-store owner whose murder became one of the key cases exposing Murder, Inc. In 1938, Alpert was lured to a vacant apartment in Brooklyn, where he was brutally beaten to death with an ice pick and other weapons. The killing was ordered over a business dispute involving extortion and underworld pressure. His murder was later confessed to by Abe “Kid Twist” Reles after he turned government witness. Testimony about Alpert’s killing helped prosecutors unravel the Murder, Inc. enforcement network and led to multiple convictions and executions, making Alpert an important figure in the downfall of the notorious syndicate.

Original International News Photos stamp on the back.

Paper caption attached reads:

AS MURDER INC. UNDERGOES “LIQUIDATION”

“NEW YORK…CRINGING BEFORE THE POPPING OF PHOTOGRAPHERS’ FLASHLIGHTS, THREE ALLEGED MEMBERS OF THE “MURDER FOR PROFIT” RING ARE PICTURED AS THEY WERE BOOKED ON A SLAYING CHARGE IN BROOKLYN, N.Y., WHERE DISTRICT ATTORNEY WILLIAM O’DWYER IS INVESTIGATING THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE RING, WHICH IS SAID TO HAVE SOLD MURDERS FOR AS LITTLE AS $10 A PIECE. LEFT TO RIGHT ABOVE, ARE ABE RELES, SINGING WITNESS FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY O’DWYER AND REPUTED VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ORGANIZATION; HARRY MAIONE, HELD IN THE MURDER OF HARRY ALPERT; AND FRANK ABBANDONDO, WHO WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY WHEN THE MURDER SYNDICATE WAS EXPOSED.”

Offered is an Original 6.5” x 8.5” original TYPE I photo of these two gangsters being booked at a Brooklyn Precint in reference to the murder of Harry Alpert.  Photo is dated March 27, 1940.  Abe “Kid Twist” Reles is on the other side of Maoine, but is mostly obscured.