Abe Reles – November 12 1941

“The Canary Who Could Sing, But Couldn’t Fly”

Abe Reles died on November 12th 1941 when he fell — or was thrown — from the window of room 623 at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island, Brooklyn. He was 35 years old and was the most important government witness in the history of the Murder Incorporated prosecutions. His death, while under 24-hour police guard, remains one of the most suspicious in American criminal history.

Who Was Abe Reles?

Abe Reles was one of the most prolific killers in Murder Incorporated — the enforcement arm of the national crime syndicate run by Louis Lepke Buchalter out of Brooklyn in the 1930s. He was personally responsible for or participated in an estimated dozen murders, and had knowledge of scores more carried out by the organisation.

When he was arrested in 1940 and faced the prospect of the electric chair, Reles agreed to become a government witness. His testimony was extraordinary — he provided detailed, first-hand accounts of Murder Inc operations that led directly to the convictions and executions of seven Murder Inc killers including Harry Strauss, Martin Goldstein and Louis Lepke himself.

The Death

On the morning of November 12th 1941, Reles was found dead on a lower roof of the Half Moon Hotel, six floors below his room. Sheets were knotted together and attached to the radiator in his room. The official ruling was accidental death — the theory being that he was trying to lower himself to another floor as a prank.

Nobody believed it. Reles was known to be terrified of heights. His room was guarded around the clock by five police officers. The angle at which his body landed was inconsistent with having fallen from his own window — it suggested he had been thrown. Albert Anastasia, whose prosecution Reles’s upcoming testimony would have enabled, reportedly celebrated openly when he heard the news.

The corruption of the Brooklyn police force under William O’Dwyer — who was simultaneously leading the Murder Inc prosecutions and allegedly taking mob money — was suspected but never proven. O’Dwyer went on to become mayor of New York City. The Reles case was never reopened. The nickname — The Canary Who Could Sing But Couldn’t Fly — was coined by the New York tabloids and has followed him ever since.