The 10 Deadliest Men In Mafia History

Growing up, I thought mafias were just Spaghetti Bolognese, a bunch of people saying “who wants to know” and fedoras. Blissfully unaware of the sinister underbelly that characterised the underworld of organised crime.

These boys were the biggest players back in the day. Their crimes are both numerous and heinous, but for some reason it’s totally compelling to read their stories…

1. 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.

Reles was renowned for using an ice pick on his victims, which he would ram into their brains through their ears. He was also prone to random acts of savagery and violence, he once murdered a parking lot employee for not bringing his car quick enough.

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.

2. Salvatore “Sammy Bull” Gravano 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 amongst his contemporaries. He soon got too big to be a number two, so he set up a trucking and underground smuggling business, turns out he was quite the business man, before long he was a multi-millionaire.

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.

3. 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.

According to various reports and other criminals, he would foam out the mouth while killing people, he took real pleasure in it. His disgraceful murders came back to haunt him in 1973 when he was arrested for a murder 10 years previously. Worried he would become an informer, his associates had him murdered before justice could be served in court.

4. Frank “The Dasher” Abbandando was a ruthless New York based hitman 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 favour. 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.

5. Harry “Pittsburgh” Pill 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.

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