Just some of the infamous faces of The mob, mafia & crime
al capone
Alphonse Gabriel Capone, sometimes known by the nickname Scarface, was an American gangster who attained fame during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit. His seven-year reign as crime boss ended when he was 33 years old
Bugsy siegel
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was a Jewish American mobster. Siegel was known as one of the most "infamous and feared gangsters of his day".
Described as handsome and charismatic, he became one of the first front-page celebrity gangsters. He was also a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip.
Siegel was not only influential within the Jewish mob but, like his friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky, he also held significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia and the largely Italian-Jewish National Crime Syndicate.
Described as handsome and charismatic, he became one of the first front-page celebrity gangsters. He was also a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip.
Siegel was not only influential within the Jewish mob but, like his friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky, he also held significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia and the largely Italian-Jewish National Crime Syndicate.
meyer lanSki
Meyer Lansky, known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a major organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States.
Charles Luciano
Charles "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian-American mobster and crime boss. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for the establishment of the first Commission. He was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family. He was, along with his associates, instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States.
john dillinger
John Herbert Dillinger was an American gangster in the Depression-era United States. He operated with a group of men known as the Dillinger Gang or Terror Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations, among other activities. Dillinger escaped from jail twice. He was also charged with, but never convicted of, the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana, police officer who shot Dillinger in his bullet-proof vest during a shootout, prompting him to return fire; despite his infamy, it was Dillinger's only homicide charge.
Sam Giancana
Salvatore "Mooney Sam" Giancana better known as Sam Giancana, was a Sicilian American mobster, notable for being boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1957–1966. Among his other nicknames were, "Momo", "Sam the Cigar," and "Sammy."
James Burke
James Burke, also known as Jimmy the Gent, and The Irishman, was an American gangster and Lucchese crime family associate who is believed to have organized the 1978 Lufthansa heist, then the most lucrative cash theft in American history, and also believed to have either committed or orchestrated the murders of many of those involved in the months following. He is the father of small-time mobster and Lufthansa heist suspect, Frankie Burke, as well as of Jesse James Burke, Catherine Burke (who married Bonanno crime family member Anthony Indelicato in 1992), and another daughter Robin Burke.
machine gun kelly
George Kelly Barnes better known as "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, during the prohibition era. He attended Central High School in Memphis. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most infamous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon and businessman Charles F. Urschel in July 1933 for which he, and his gang, collected a $200,000 ransom. Their victim had collected and left considerable evidence that assisted the subsequent FBI investigation that eventually led to Kelly's arrest in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 26, 1933. His crimes also included bootlegging and armed robbery.
vito genovese
Vito "Don Vitone" Genovese was an Italian-American mobster who rose to power during Prohibition as an enforcer in the American Mafia. A long time associate of Charles Luciano, Genovese took part in the Castellammarese War and helped shape the rise of the Mafia and organized crime in the United States. He would later lead Luciano's crime family for 12 years, which was renamed the Genovese crime family.
mickey cOhen
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was an American gangster based in Los Angeles and boss of the Cohen crime family. He also had strong ties to the Italian American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s
Jack "Legs" Diamond
Jack "Legs" Diamond, also known as Gentleman Jack, was an Irish American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during the Prohibition era. A bootlegger and close associate of gambler Arnold Rothstein, Diamond survived a number of attempts on his life between 1916 and 1931, causing him to be known as the "clay pigeon of the underworld". In 1930, Diamond's nemesis Dutch Schultz remarked to his own gang, "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?"
john gotti
John Gotti was an Italian-American gangster who became boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a life of crime at an early age. Gotti quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the crime family's biggest earners and a protégé of Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce, operating out of the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens.
tony accardo
Antonino Joseph Accardo, also known as "Joe Batters" or "Big Tuna", was a longtime American mobster. In a criminal career that spanned eight decades, he rose from small-time hoodlum to the position of day-to-day boss of the Chicago Outfit in 1947, to ultimately become the final Outfit authority in 1972. Accardo moved The Outfit into new operations and territories, greatly increasing its power and wealth during his tenure as boss.
whitey bulger
James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, Jr. is an Irish-American former organized crime boss of the Winter Hill Gang in Boston. Federal prosecutors indicted Bulger for 19 murders based on grand jury testimony from Kevin Weeks and other former associates. Bulger is the brother of William "Billy" Bulger, former President of the Massachusetts Senate.
angelo bruno
Angelo "The Gentle Don" Bruno was a Sicilian-American mobster, notable for being boss of the Philadelphia crime family for two decades until his assassination. Bruno gained his nickname and reputation as "the Gentle Don" or "the Docile Don" due to his preference for conciliation over violence, especially in comparison to his violent successors.
richard kUklinski
Richard Leonard Kuklinski was an American contract killer who was convicted for five murders.
Kuklinski was given the nickname "Iceman" for his method of freezing a victim to mask the time of death. During his criminal career, fellow mobsters called Kuklinski "the one-man army" or "the devil himself" due to his fearsome reputation and imposing physique of 6'5" (196 cm) and 270 pounds (122 kg). Kuklinski lived with his wife and children in the suburb of Dumont, New Jersey. His family was apparently unaware of Kuklinski's double life and crimes. A New Jersey Police task force was formed after Kuklinski was suspected of two murders. An eighteen month long undercover investigation led to his arrest in 1986. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988.
By the early to mid-1980s, Kuklinski was involved in narcotics, pornography, arms dealing, money laundering, hijacking and contract killing on a global basis. While his range of criminal activities expanded, he began to make mistakes. Although Kuklinski is claimed to have killed anyone who could testify against him, he got sloppy about disposing of his victims. Law enforcement began to suspect Kuklinski and started an investigation, gathering evidence about the various crimes he had committed.
Kuklinski was a contract killer for Newark's DeCavalcante crime family and New York City's Five Families of the American Mafia. After his murder convictions, Kuklinski took part in a number of interviews during which he claimed to have murdered from over 100 to 250 men between 1948 and 1986, though his recollection of events sometimes varied. Though some have expressed skepticism about the extent of Kuklinski's alleged murders, police are confident in their belief that he was a serial killer who killed at least several dozen people both at the behest of organized crime bosses and on his own initiative. Many of Kuklinski's claims were substantiated by author Philip Carlo in over 240 hours of interviews and via the dozens of cases Kuklinski helped New Jersey police clear after his incarceration.
Three documentaries, two biographies and a feature film have been produced on Kuklinski based on his interviews and the results of the task force that brought Kuklinski to justice.
Michael Shannon plays Kuklinski in the 2012 film The Iceman based on Anthony Bruno's book The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer. The film also stars Winona Ryder as Kuklinski's wife (renamed Deborah), Ray Liotta as Roy DeMeo, Stephen Dorff as Richard's younger brother Joey, and Chris Evans as Robert "Mr. Softee" (renamed "Mr. Freezy") Pronge.
In October 2005, after 17 years in prison, Kuklinski was diagnosed with a rare and incurable inflammation of the blood vessels and was transferred to a secure wing at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey.
Although he had asked doctors to make sure they revived him if he flatlined, his wife had signed a “do not resuscitate” order. A week before his death, the hospital called Barbara to ask if she wished to rescind the instruction, but she declined.
Kuklinski died at age 70 on March 5, 2006.
Kuklinski was given the nickname "Iceman" for his method of freezing a victim to mask the time of death. During his criminal career, fellow mobsters called Kuklinski "the one-man army" or "the devil himself" due to his fearsome reputation and imposing physique of 6'5" (196 cm) and 270 pounds (122 kg). Kuklinski lived with his wife and children in the suburb of Dumont, New Jersey. His family was apparently unaware of Kuklinski's double life and crimes. A New Jersey Police task force was formed after Kuklinski was suspected of two murders. An eighteen month long undercover investigation led to his arrest in 1986. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988.
By the early to mid-1980s, Kuklinski was involved in narcotics, pornography, arms dealing, money laundering, hijacking and contract killing on a global basis. While his range of criminal activities expanded, he began to make mistakes. Although Kuklinski is claimed to have killed anyone who could testify against him, he got sloppy about disposing of his victims. Law enforcement began to suspect Kuklinski and started an investigation, gathering evidence about the various crimes he had committed.
Kuklinski was a contract killer for Newark's DeCavalcante crime family and New York City's Five Families of the American Mafia. After his murder convictions, Kuklinski took part in a number of interviews during which he claimed to have murdered from over 100 to 250 men between 1948 and 1986, though his recollection of events sometimes varied. Though some have expressed skepticism about the extent of Kuklinski's alleged murders, police are confident in their belief that he was a serial killer who killed at least several dozen people both at the behest of organized crime bosses and on his own initiative. Many of Kuklinski's claims were substantiated by author Philip Carlo in over 240 hours of interviews and via the dozens of cases Kuklinski helped New Jersey police clear after his incarceration.
Three documentaries, two biographies and a feature film have been produced on Kuklinski based on his interviews and the results of the task force that brought Kuklinski to justice.
Michael Shannon plays Kuklinski in the 2012 film The Iceman based on Anthony Bruno's book The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer. The film also stars Winona Ryder as Kuklinski's wife (renamed Deborah), Ray Liotta as Roy DeMeo, Stephen Dorff as Richard's younger brother Joey, and Chris Evans as Robert "Mr. Softee" (renamed "Mr. Freezy") Pronge.
In October 2005, after 17 years in prison, Kuklinski was diagnosed with a rare and incurable inflammation of the blood vessels and was transferred to a secure wing at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey.
Although he had asked doctors to make sure they revived him if he flatlined, his wife had signed a “do not resuscitate” order. A week before his death, the hospital called Barbara to ask if she wished to rescind the instruction, but she declined.
Kuklinski died at age 70 on March 5, 2006.
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Site by Leighton Porter