On this day, Nov. 12, in 1941, Murder Inc.’s most feared killer fell to his death after becoming a government informant, immortalizing Abe “Kid Twist” Reles as “the canary who sang, but couldn’t fly.”
With prosecutors closing in on Reles, he made them an offer and revealed the existence of a national crime syndicate and a hit squad known as Murder Inc.
With Reles’ information, police closed dozen of cases and unearthed bodies all over New York and New Jersey.
Police guarded the star witness with 18 officers at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island. As the state began its trial against one high-ranking mobster, Reles was found dead five stories below his hotel room window.
Police claimed it was a suicide, but it’s believed they were paid to kill him.
– Scott McCabe
