1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Greetings, good people of Hollywood Land, and welcome once again 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: as we dip into our archive of stories at the 3 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:10,520 Speaker 1: intersection of Hollywood and true crime. This week, we're bringing 4 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: you an episode on Humphrey Bogart. From the Treasure of 5 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: the Sierra Madre to the Maltese Falcon, from Casablanca to 6 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 1: Key Largo, Bogart was a heavyweight of mid twentieth century cinema, quotable, 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: iconic somehow in every Man, a man on the margins, 8 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: and a tough guy all in one. His face alone 9 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: told a story, one full of mystery and intrigue, like 10 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: he was the only one who had the answer to 11 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: the question and he wasn't giving it up ever. In 12 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: this story we get into another mystery, the known and 13 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 1: unknown elements of the contract killers at the dark heart 14 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,319 Speaker 1: of the group known as Murder Inc. And just how 15 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: their tale is wrapped up with Bogart's here. 16 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 2: I hope you. 17 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: Enjoy this episode, and then I hope you'll join me 18 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: on Wednesday to talk more Humphrey Bogart and the Rap Party. 19 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 2: Hollywood Land is a production of Elvis. 20 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 3: Fright and Fight the Naging Resistance to Law in the 21 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 3: name of Freedom. They are not seeking freedom for the 22 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 3: mail they have it. They are seeking to enflave others. 23 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 3: The evil they represent must be overcome by the good 24 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,319 Speaker 3: of us represent This can be done. 25 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 2: The stories about the mobsters who inspired a Humphrey Bogart 26 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 2: movie are insane. One was a natural born killer who 27 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 2: violently overthrew his competition. Another was one of the fathers 28 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 2: of modern organized crime, who forged an alliance with fellow 29 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 2: mafia bosses and ran it like a legit business. They 30 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:45,040 Speaker 2: called their business the Commission. The Commission hired the natural 31 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 2: born killer to head up their official kill squad. In 32 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 2: the nineteen forties. The thugs of Murder Incorporated shot stabbed, 33 00:01:54,560 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 2: and strangled upwards of one thousand victims. Their brazen disregard 34 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 2: for the law put them in the crosshairs of prosecutors 35 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 2: hell bent on bringing them down, which they did with 36 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,359 Speaker 2: the help of an unlikely ally, Murder Incorporated's chief assassin 37 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 2: turned rat. This epic story served as the foundation for 38 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 2: the nineteen fifty one police procedural The Enforcer, a great 39 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:26,679 Speaker 2: film starring one of the twentieth centuries great actors, Humphrey Bogart. 40 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 2: Unlike that clip I played for you at the top 41 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 2: of the show. That wasn't from a great film, that 42 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 2: was a fair use. Sample from the Library of Congress 43 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 2: of then Governor of Massachusetts, Calvin Coolidge, speaking in nineteen 44 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 2: twenty I played you that clip because I can't afford 45 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 2: the rights to a clip from Hal Walker's At War 46 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 2: with the Army. And why would I play you that 47 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 2: specific slice of Martin and Lewis Cheese? Could I afford it? 48 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 2: Because that was the number one movie in America on 49 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 2: February twenty fourth, nineteen fifty one, and that was the 50 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 2: day that The Enforcer was released in theaters. A rip 51 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 2: from the headline story that brought the bloody saga of 52 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 2: Murder Incorporated to the silver screen. On this episode Natural 53 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:20,799 Speaker 2: Born Killers, the commission an assassin turned rat Murder Incorporated 54 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 2: and Humphrey Boger, I'm Jake Brennan and this is Hollywood, Lambs. 55 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 2: It was the middle of a night when an armored 56 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 2: van pulled into the garage at police headquarters. A half 57 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 2: dozen armed cops stood nearby. They knew the passenger inside 58 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 2: the van was Precious Cargo, a former lead assassin for 59 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 2: the most notorious network of organized crime in America. Ready 60 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 2: and willing to sing like a canary. If someone else 61 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 2: got to him before he was able to do that, 62 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 2: the whole case would collapse like a house of cars. 63 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 2: So the police did their job and made sure the 64 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 2: coast was clear. But when they were satisfied, one of 65 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 2: the cops tapped on the van's back door with his 66 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,359 Speaker 2: night stick three times. The door unlocked from the inside, 67 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 2: and then it opened. A detective stepped out. He scanned 68 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:48,480 Speaker 2: the room and spoke, okay, captain. Now the police captain 69 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 2: stepped out of the van. He surveyed the garars, just 70 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:57,040 Speaker 2: as the detective before him had. All was quiet and safe. Okay, Rico, 71 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 2: come on out. Joseph Rico stepped out of the van. 72 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 2: The man who had orchestrated upwards of one thousand murders 73 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 2: for the mob looked haggard, frightened, desperate, a violent killer 74 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 2: at the end of his freight rope, and just how 75 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 2: the cops wanted him, just how Hollywood portrayed him. Because 76 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 2: this wasn't actually real life, this was real life adapted. 77 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 2: This was the opening scene from the nineteen fifty one 78 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 2: movie The Enforcer, a movie based on true events events 79 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 2: that had shocked the country a decade prior. It featured 80 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 2: one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Humphrey 81 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 2: Bogart as the good guy. The lead prosecutor based on 82 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 2: real life prosecutor Burton Turkis. The man charged was taking 83 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 2: down a sprawling network of organized crime that began with 84 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 2: the testimony of the rat who just stepped out of 85 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 2: the police van. This guy, Joseph Rico, a character modeled 86 00:05:57,279 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 2: after real life criminal Abe Rellis, But abe Relis didn't 87 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,359 Speaker 2: look anything like Rico. Rico was a pale facsimile of 88 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 2: the real thing. Rico wasn't tough, not in the way 89 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 2: that Relis was tough. He wasn't street tough. He didn't 90 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,160 Speaker 2: look or talk like someone who grew up in Brooklyn's 91 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 2: Brownsville neighborhood in the nineteen twenties, the kind of guy 92 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,839 Speaker 2: who was so raw and so real that he scared 93 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:27,479 Speaker 2: even his own friends. They called Relis kid Twist because 94 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 2: he told them to. He took that nickname from a 95 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 2: dead gangster. The way he took everything else with brute force, 96 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 2: with his hands with a gun. Fucked the old kid twist. 97 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 2: Abe Rellis was kid Twist now, and fuck his poor 98 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 2: mother and father. Huddled under a cheap blanket in some 99 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:50,359 Speaker 2: Rundown apartment building, sad sack tenement. Life was for losers. 100 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 2: The good life was out on the street, just waiting 101 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 2: for you to take it. So Relis did just that. 102 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 2: Prohibition was a great time to be a gangster, and 103 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 2: New York gangsters like the notorious Shapiro brothers needed muscle 104 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 2: to make that great time even greater. They needed a 105 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 2: guy like Abe Rellis. Rellis rolled up his sleeves and 106 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 2: got his hands dirty. Grocers, bakers, brothel owners. They all 107 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 2: got regular visits from Relis. Pay up for the Shapiro's protection. 108 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 2: No money. Bad things happened, windows and noses, broken inventory 109 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 2: and livelihood. Smashed your face on the floor. Abe Rellis's 110 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 2: heel on your neck. It wasn't just the common man 111 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 2: who needed to fear Abe Rells. When he was pinched 112 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:42,640 Speaker 2: at the age of nineteen and sent to the pen, 113 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 2: the Shapiros did nothing to help him. The message was 114 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 2: clear to the bosses. Abe Rellis was a disposable street thug, 115 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 2: so he worked on sending his own message and becoming 116 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 2: his own boss. Upon his release, with the blessing of 117 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 2: Brooklyn kingpin Albert and his asia Reyes took out the 118 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 2: three Shapiro brothers. The first brother was shot in the face, 119 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 2: the second brother was so disfigured they had to identify 120 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 2: him by his fingerprints, and the third brother was strangled 121 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 2: and beaten and then stuffed into a laundry bag and 122 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 2: dumped in a shallow grave, where he was buried alive. 123 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 2: It was tough shit like this that endeared ab Rellis 124 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 2: the lucky Luciano, one of the fathers of modern organized crime, who, 125 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 2: like Relis, eliminated his competition as a means to get 126 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 2: to the top. Luciano helped form what came to be 127 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 2: known as the Commission, a collective of underworld families from 128 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 2: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit and beyond that banded 129 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 2: together like a bona fide American business, and like any business, 130 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 2: there were rules to be followed, and when those rules 131 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 2: weren't followed, when someone squealed to the cops or someone 132 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 2: behaved like an hour asshole, punishment had to be doled out. 133 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 2: And who better to do it than kid Twist abe Rellis, 134 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:13,200 Speaker 2: that ambitious psycho thug from Brownsville. Rellis assembled a crew 135 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 2: of cold blooded killers, and that crew had a code. 136 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:20,320 Speaker 2: Civilians outside the Commission were off limits. That crew had 137 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 2: a method, guns to the face, ice picks to the neck, 138 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 2: wired to the throat, and that crew had a name, 139 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 2: Murder Incorporated. Murder Incorporated was the basis for The Enforcer, 140 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 2: the movie in which Humphrey Bogart squares off against Joseph Rico, 141 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 2: the water down version of abe Rellis. Rellis never got 142 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,839 Speaker 2: to see it for himself in nineteen fifty one when 143 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 2: the film was released. He'd been dead for ten years. 144 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 2: Just as well. He would have been disgusted by the 145 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 2: way he was portrayed on film, pitiful and scared. And 146 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 2: this isn't to suggest that when abe Rellis was alive 147 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 2: he wasn't scared, because he was. He was scared when 148 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,320 Speaker 2: the cops picked him up for the forty second and 149 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 2: final time, this time with real hard evidence to connect 150 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 2: him to one of his many murders. The DAA had 151 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 2: him by the short hairs, hence his motivation to turn 152 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 2: state's evidence in the first place. He was also motivated 153 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 2: by the blood. For the first time. It wasn't just 154 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,719 Speaker 2: oozing from the bodies of the many killed. It was 155 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 2: coming from his own body. It was in his throat 156 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 2: every day, doubled over and coughed, and every day the 157 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 2: blood came pouring out of him, probably cancer. He figured 158 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 2: his days were numbered, and to think he was spending 159 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 2: those days being the person he swore he'd never be 160 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 2: a snitch, a rat, a squealer. Unwritten mob law said 161 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 2: the squealer must die. If he was going to die, 162 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,079 Speaker 2: he wasn't going to go out without a fight, especially 163 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 2: if he was backed into a corner, which, as any 164 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 2: rat knows, when you fight the hardest. Humphrey Bogart enjoyed 165 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 2: being a rat that's capital R. Rat as in, a 166 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:37,200 Speaker 2: founding member of Frank Sinatra's exclusive club of hard partying 167 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 2: boozehounds who once turned to Las Vegas cocktail Hour into 168 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 2: a four day bender. It was the aftermath of that 169 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 2: particular bender, on the fifth day, a day when brutal 170 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:54,720 Speaker 2: hangovers rendered the group catatonic, that prompted Bogart's wife, Lauren 171 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 2: Bacall to declare, you look like a goddamn rat. Pack 172 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 2: the name stock and with Sinatra as pack master, Judy 173 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 2: Garlandez first vice president, and Bogart and MacCall as rat 174 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 2: in charge of public relations and denmother, respectively. The rat 175 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 2: Pack made a group of famous celebrities even more famous 176 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 2: for their wise cracks and stiff drinks. In Bogart's own words, 177 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 2: the rat Pack existed for quote, the relief of boredom 178 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 2: and the perpetuation of independence. Unquote. The press ate it 179 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:31,559 Speaker 2: up the public too. At this point in the mid 180 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 2: nineteen fifties, Humphrey Bogart had earned a spot to run 181 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 2: with an elite pack. He was Hollywood's requisite tough guy. 182 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:46,520 Speaker 2: Emotionally concise, effortlessly cool, forever cynical tough. He was tough 183 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 2: without a gun. To paraphrase Raymond Chandler, the pulp writer 184 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 2: who favored Bogart to play the private dick Philip Marlowe 185 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 2: and the movie adaptation of The Big Sleep. That was 186 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,040 Speaker 2: one of many films Bogart delivered in his prime the 187 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 2: nineteen forties, a decade in which abe Rellis and Murder 188 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 2: Incorporated were busy being put on trial. High Sierra, The 189 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 2: Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Treasurer of the Sierra Madre Key Largo. 190 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:15,839 Speaker 2: These are just a few of the films Bogart made 191 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 2: during that fruitful decade. In each one. He didn't suffer fools. 192 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 2: Bogart cut the shit and got to the point he 193 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 2: was a fastball right down the middle of the plate, uncomplicated. 194 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,640 Speaker 2: But by nineteen fifty six things were a little more complicated. 195 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 2: Humphrey Bogart wasn't himself anymore, or he wasn't the Humphrey 196 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 2: Bogart that moviegoers had come to know and love. Maybe 197 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:43,360 Speaker 2: he never was that guy at all. Right now he 198 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 2: was conscious of how untough he was. He was weak, fragile, 199 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,400 Speaker 2: in extreme pain, some of the worst pain of his life. 200 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 2: And this was a guy who was once stabbed in 201 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 2: the back with a kitchen knife by one of his 202 00:13:55,840 --> 00:14:00,120 Speaker 2: former wives. And this pain was like a thousand and 203 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,920 Speaker 2: knives up and down his side. The coughing made it worse. 204 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,200 Speaker 2: He coughed so hard that he ruptured the stitches that 205 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:11,000 Speaker 2: ran from his shoulder down to his waist. And the 206 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 2: surgery had taken nine hours and they removed his esophagus, 207 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 2: two lymph nodes, and a rib. He hoped they had 208 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 2: removed the cancer too, But he wasn't crazy about his odds. 209 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,160 Speaker 2: He knew that just because the procedure was cutting edge, 210 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 2: and just because as an A list celebrity. He could 211 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 2: afford it. That didn't mean it would make everything better. 212 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 2: And this wasn't the congo. Bogart wasn't superhuman like he 213 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 2: was on the set of The African Queen. He and 214 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 2: director John Houston practically embalmed with leaders of Scotch immune 215 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 2: to the nasty wave of dysentery that sickened the rest 216 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 2: of the crew. And this wasn't just another hangover like 217 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 2: the one he'd suffered through back in nineteen thirty four, 218 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 2: when he was a nobody and auditioned for a role 219 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 2: as gangster in a Broadway play called The Petrified Forest. 220 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 2: Bogart looked like shit that morning five o'clock, shadow, eyes 221 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 2: red and glassy. He looked like he wanted to be 222 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 2: anywhere else, couldn't care less if he tried, And the producers, 223 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:13,240 Speaker 2: on the other hand, cared very much. His whole mood 224 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 2: fit the part to a tea And when he first 225 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 2: walked on stage in January the following year, playing the 226 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 2: role of an escaped convict, the plays heavy. The audience 227 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 2: audibly gasped they thought of real life gangster John Dillinger, 228 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 2: shot dead by the FBI agents just months earlier. It 229 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 2: was like they were watching Dillinger himself come to life 230 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 2: straight from the pages of the daily papers. And for 231 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 2: Jack Warner, the studio boss who took the train all 232 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 2: the way from Los Angeles to New York City to 233 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 2: witness the performance, for himself, it was like he was 234 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 2: watching Warner Brothers new leading man. Vogart wasn't asking anyone 235 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 2: to suspend their disbelief. He made them all believe that 236 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 2: he Humphrey Bogar, thirty five years old, an actor with 237 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 2: a hangover looking for his own audience for his role, 238 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 2: was really a hardened man for rapidly approaching modern age. 239 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 2: A real tough guy. A Brellis didn't have time for 240 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:18,080 Speaker 2: Broadway plays, least of all one was some schmoe from 241 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 2: a posh neighborhood slummed it as a gangster made uptown 242 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 2: debbie tongs clutched their pearls. Ab Brellis was busy doing 243 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 2: actual gangster shit. And though he was the chief executive 244 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 2: executioner for Murder Incorporated, the official kill squad for guys 245 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 2: like Lucky Luciano and Albert Anastasia, he personally didn't have 246 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 2: to do most of the murdering he just had to 247 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 2: act tough that and delegate like any good boss. He 248 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 2: started them young kids, punks. They were easiest to mold, 249 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 2: and they wanted what he had cashmir coats, pinstriped suits, 250 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 2: cigar in his mouth, top shelf, liquor in his glass, 251 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 2: chorus girls on his knee. So they did whatever Relis 252 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,879 Speaker 2: told him to do. Bust some noses, slice the necks, 253 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 2: kill or be killed. Bugsy Goldstein was a sadistic little fuck. 254 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 2: He liked to tie a guy up with one end 255 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,239 Speaker 2: of the rope around his ankles and the other end 256 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 2: around his neck, so when the poor bastards struggled, and 257 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 2: trust me, they always struggled, the noose would just get 258 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 2: tighter and tighter, and the guy would choke himself to death, 259 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,919 Speaker 2: his face turning blue, spit and blood oozing from the 260 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 2: corners of his mouth, while Bugsy stood there and watched. Pittsburgh, 261 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:38,119 Speaker 2: Phil Strauss was more hands on. They called him the 262 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 2: flying Gangster because he took the long distance jobs. He 263 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 2: traveled with the bare necessities a change of clothes, toothbrush, cologne, 264 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 2: also some rope, a loaded pistol, and a meat cleaver. 265 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 2: It was always good to have options. Relis and his 266 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:57,959 Speaker 2: crew became regulars in the New York court system, but 267 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 2: there was never enough dirt to hold them lucky. Luciano 268 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 2: was not so lucky, arrested for twenty four counts of prostitution, 269 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 2: guilty on every count, thirty to fifty years in state prison. 270 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 2: It was the first time a major mob player had 271 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 2: been taken down for something other than tax evasion. Capone's 272 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:22,919 Speaker 2: bust was Snoresville. By comparison, the Luciano case had sex, 273 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 2: sex sold papers, sex sold tickets at the Nickelodeon. Like 274 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 2: Marked Woman, the nineteen thirty seven movie that was released 275 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,679 Speaker 2: not even a year after Luciano went to prison, it 276 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 2: was clearly meant to be about him, even if the 277 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,119 Speaker 2: Hays Code dictated that the woman in the title was 278 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 2: not a sex worker but a nightclub hostess, and that 279 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 2: hostess rats out a mob boss to help the DA 280 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 2: when his case, playing the DA was a turn for 281 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,879 Speaker 2: Humphrey Bogart, a guy who came up playing gangsters, but 282 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,320 Speaker 2: the turn fit him, and it fit in with audiences 283 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 2: who themselves had turned from reveling in the bag guys 284 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:05,399 Speaker 2: to rooting for the good guys. As Bogart's fame grew, 285 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 2: so did the targets on the backs of the real gangsters. 286 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,640 Speaker 2: In the way Luciano's sentencing, Murder Incorporated stepped up its game. 287 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 2: Abe Rellis told his crew to work harder and faster. 288 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:20,239 Speaker 2: It was their job to get to any and all 289 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 2: potential informants within the Commission before the DA's office did. 290 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:26,919 Speaker 2: If you were a driver for a mob boss, but 291 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,359 Speaker 2: you were out on parole and a condition of your 292 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:32,960 Speaker 2: parole was to share intimate details on your boss's whereabouts, 293 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 2: Murder Incorporated found your trader assass and blew your brains out. 294 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:40,159 Speaker 2: If you were the owner of the trucking company that 295 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,360 Speaker 2: the Commission put out of business when they took their 296 00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 2: business elsewhere, a move that left you feeling betrayed and 297 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:50,160 Speaker 2: perhaps a little runny at the Mouthie Murder Incorporated chased 298 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 2: you down and pumped you with twenty eight slugs from 299 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 2: sodd Off shotguns. And if you did something stupid like 300 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,399 Speaker 2: skim the profits of slot machine earnings that belonged to 301 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,439 Speaker 2: anistate Asia Luciano, maybe even Bugsy seag Away out West, 302 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 2: didn't matter who. All that mattered was that you got 303 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,719 Speaker 2: what was coming here with a calloused hand that grabbed 304 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,240 Speaker 2: your head from behind while another hand stabbed you repeatedly 305 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,119 Speaker 2: in the neck and chest with an ice pick. Time 306 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:21,959 Speaker 2: after time, Murder Incorporated got their man, like the short 307 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 2: fat man from the Bronx who was betraying the Commission 308 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 2: by talking to the DA. In July of nineteen thirty nine, 309 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 2: four of abe Rellis's assassins sat waiting in a sedan 310 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:36,360 Speaker 2: parked outside an apartment building. A fifth assassin, the gunman, 311 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,160 Speaker 2: stood next to the building's front door. It was eight am, 312 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,640 Speaker 2: the exact time every day when said short fat man 313 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 2: left the apartment building for work. Today was no different. 314 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 2: Short stuff stepped out and began to walk towards the 315 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,239 Speaker 2: subway station. The gunman fell in line behind him. He 316 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,360 Speaker 2: pulled a thirty two, raised it, shot the fat man 317 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:58,720 Speaker 2: six times in the back, and the man fell to 318 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 2: the pavement dead. The car screeched as it pulled up alongside, 319 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,200 Speaker 2: and the gunman jumped in. The whole thing was over 320 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:09,680 Speaker 2: in a matter of seconds. There was a problem, a 321 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 2: short fat problem. The man wasn't who they were looking for. 322 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:17,360 Speaker 2: He just looked like the man they were looking for. 323 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 2: The man wasn't a mobster. The man was an innocent, 324 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:26,119 Speaker 2: a civilian. The killing went against the Commission's code and 325 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 2: it lit a fire under the DA's ass They called 326 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 2: up the FBI, and they took advantage of the services 327 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 2: of one Burton Turkis, former defense attorney for the Bad Guys, 328 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 2: who is now the head of the Homicide Division in 329 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,360 Speaker 2: the King's County DA's office. In a little over ten 330 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 2: years time, Humphrey Bogart would play a version of Turkis 331 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,199 Speaker 2: on the big screen. But for now, Burton Turkis had 332 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,680 Speaker 2: a mission. Corner a rat and get him to squeal. 333 00:21:54,960 --> 00:22:07,360 Speaker 2: We'll be right back after this. We're We're, We're. Humphrey 334 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:11,680 Speaker 2: Bogart's tough guy. Contemporary James Cagney once said, quote, when 335 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 2: it comes to fighting, Bogart was about his tough Shirley Temple. 336 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 2: The author James Age, who co wrote the screenplay for 337 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 2: The African Queen, the movie that earned Bogart's first and 338 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 2: only Academy Award, said Bogey was quote Nietzschee and Dungarees audiences, 339 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:34,120 Speaker 2: of course, saw a slightly different man in his defining 340 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 2: roles as Sam Spade, Philip Marlow, and Rick Blaine. Bogart 341 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:44,160 Speaker 2: was toughness personified, and he was tough while maintaining integrity, honesty, 342 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 2: and wit. At the time of the world's greatest crisis, 343 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 2: World War II, Bogart's presence was a comforting one. The 344 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 2: way he could deliver a quick line or a quicker 345 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 2: punch and endeared him as a gruff protector shepherding moviegoers 346 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 2: through an era of great uncertainty. But he didn't want 347 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 2: to just act like a protector. He wanted to be 348 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,000 Speaker 2: one in real life, which is why he took a 349 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 2: public stand when actors and Hollywood artists began to find 350 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 2: themselves on the Blacklist, the Unfriendly nineteen, the Hollywood ten. 351 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 2: Anyone and everyone in Bogart's industry labeled a communist by 352 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:26,680 Speaker 2: the House on American Activities Committee aka HUAC needed a voice, 353 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 2: a tough voice. Bogart had that voice. He didn't know 354 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 2: if these people were actually communists, and he didn't care. 355 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:37,840 Speaker 2: The point was that their freedom to be whoever they 356 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 2: wanted to be did not have to answer to Congress, 357 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 2: for it was being threatened. This was the Real On 358 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 2: American Activity. The Committee for the First Amendment wasn't the 359 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 2: rap Pack, but it was stacked with celebrities. Nonetheless, Rita Hayworth, 360 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 2: Gradjo Marx, and Gene Kelly joined Bogart and his wife 361 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,639 Speaker 2: Laura McCall not to lobby for communism, but to defend 362 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:06,119 Speaker 2: the Constitution and defend America, the real America, America, the beautiful, 363 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:10,200 Speaker 2: not the ugly America painted by Huack and its stooges. 364 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:13,680 Speaker 2: Bogart and his friends took their show on the road. 365 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 2: They boarded a plane and flew to Washington, d C. 366 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 2: The press followed, and then the press turned on them. 367 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 2: Look at these rich movie stars flying around in their 368 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 2: private planes, running to the aid of communists. Bogart's plan 369 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 2: to be of help, to be of service, it backfired. 370 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 2: Despite the drubbing he received in the papers, he knew 371 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:40,480 Speaker 2: he wasn't a disgrace. He knew what America truly was 372 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,919 Speaker 2: at its core, and just a few years later, in 373 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 2: nineteen fifty one, playing the role of the prosecutor and 374 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 2: the Enforcer, he contemplated the many layers of America, the 375 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 2: parts you see and the parts you cannot. A decade prior, 376 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,640 Speaker 2: Burton Turkis, the real life prosecutor who was the basis 377 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 2: for Bogart's character, didn't know that a shadow America existed. 378 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 2: No one at the start of nineteen forty knew that 379 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 2: a highly complex web of organized crime was discreetly operating underground, 380 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:17,880 Speaker 2: just as efficiently as Forward ran his production line. All 381 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 2: Burton Turkis knew was that bodies kept dropping. He stared 382 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 2: at the map of New York City hanging on the 383 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,280 Speaker 2: wall of his office. It was saturated with hundreds of pushpins, 384 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 2: each one indicating an unsolved homicide. Murder Incorporated had been 385 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 2: busy under the guidance of abe Rells. Men were shot, strangled, stabbed, lugeoned, 386 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 2: and shopped in the pieces. Most of these murders were 387 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 2: orchestrated by abe Rells, but not carried out by him. 388 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,640 Speaker 2: By his count, there were eleven that he committed himself, 389 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 2: but all Burton Turkis needed was one, and he had one, 390 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:59,400 Speaker 2: the nineteen thirty three murder of a petty thief. Turkis 391 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,040 Speaker 2: had the evidence to pin that murder on abe Rellis, 392 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 2: so abe Rellis had a choice suffer the consequence of 393 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 2: his actions or turned state's evidence. Contemplating this, in a 394 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:15,520 Speaker 2: dank holding cell in downtown Manhattan, Relis began coughing up blood. 395 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,120 Speaker 2: He convinced himself it was cancer or TP. He thought 396 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 2: about the murder of the petty thief and that of 397 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:27,679 Speaker 2: the others. He ordered so many five hundred, eight hundred 398 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,480 Speaker 2: one thousand it was foolish to even try to count. 399 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:35,199 Speaker 2: What could he quantify the number of days he had 400 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 2: left on this earth. The growing number of bosses getting 401 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 2: pinched like LA's Bugsy Seagull recently hauled in for suspicion 402 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:46,040 Speaker 2: of murder, or the growing number of stool pigeons from 403 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:50,040 Speaker 2: within the Commission's ranks. Relis was backed into a corner. 404 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 2: He knew what he had to do. He went full rat. 405 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 2: He told Turkis in the DA's office everything. He testified 406 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 2: under oath four straight hours. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle called 407 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 2: it a song of death. The atrocities that Relis exposed 408 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 2: were so graphic that the judge had to routinely call 409 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,320 Speaker 2: for a recess. Rellis sold out as close as friends. 410 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 2: He sold out Buggsy Goldstein in Pittsburgh, Phil Strauss, He 411 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 2: sold out Commission bigwig Albert Anastasia currently Mia. He sold 412 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:33,160 Speaker 2: out everybody, well almost everybody. There was one more. Relis 413 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,200 Speaker 2: was set to testify and the trial against Lepke buck Alter, 414 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,960 Speaker 2: who along with albert Anastasia, was one of the Commission's 415 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:45,000 Speaker 2: New York bosses. As the day approached, Relis's health got worse, 416 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 2: and so did his paranoia. He was convinced that Buckalter 417 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,200 Speaker 2: or Anastasia would get to him somehow, some way before 418 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 2: he took the stand one more time. Maybe a sniper 419 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 2: through a window, maybe a payoff to a crooked cop 420 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,280 Speaker 2: on the inside. Rumor had at the Bugsy Seagull himself 421 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:06,120 Speaker 2: had raised one hundred grand a whack Relis Turkis moved 422 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 2: Relus to a more secure spot into the Rat Suite 423 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 2: aka the entire East Wing on the sixth floor of 424 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 2: the Half Moon, a hotel in Coney Island, and not 425 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,199 Speaker 2: just Relis, a whole pack of rats involved in the 426 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,640 Speaker 2: takedown of the Commission. The rooms were secured with bulletproof doors, 427 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:30,920 Speaker 2: cops provided round the clock protection. Outside, the shadow shifted 428 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 2: along the boardwalk, and the Atlantic hugged the coast tight. 429 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,679 Speaker 2: Someone that they spotted a marksman on a rooftop. Another 430 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 2: said they saw a man fitting Alberta Anastasia's description standing 431 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 2: watch in the darkness. Relis kept up appearances, but behind 432 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 2: that tough guy facade. He was panicking. He was a fink, 433 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 2: a real piece of shit. He paced in the faces 434 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 2: of the men he killed, ran through his head. So 435 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 2: did his own inevitable murder. Surely it would be swift, 436 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 2: it's and pitiless, delivered by one of the guys. In 437 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 2: that song of death he sang so well, guys who 438 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 2: were now being sent to the electric chair. Thanks to 439 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 2: his thorough testimony, his condition worsened. He was wretching blood 440 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 2: now it poured from his throat and from his gut, 441 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 2: rotten from the inside out. But abe Rellis didn't die 442 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 2: from whatever mystery ailment was afflicting him. Shortly after seven 443 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 2: am on the morning of November twelfth, nineteen forty one, 444 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 2: just hours before he was set to testify against lepke 445 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 2: buck Altar, ab Rellis's body was found five floors beneath 446 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 2: his hotel window, sprawled on the roof of the first 447 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 2: floor kitchen that stuck out directly below. An autopsy would 448 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 2: later reveal that he landed in a seated position, snapping 449 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 2: two vertebrae on impact, rupturing his liver and spleen and 450 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 2: killing him on the spot. He went out not as 451 00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:00,160 Speaker 2: a tough guy, but as a rat a squealer, and 452 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 2: just like that unwritten mob law insisted the squealer must die. 453 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:28,560 Speaker 2: In nineteen fifty one, ten years after abe Rellis fell 454 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 2: from the window of his hotel room, when the Enforcer 455 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 2: brought the Hollywood version of his story to the big screen, 456 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,960 Speaker 2: there was still no answers to the questions surrounding his death. 457 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:41,720 Speaker 2: Did his paranoia or his conscience get the best of him? 458 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,719 Speaker 2: Did he jump or did someone else get to him first? 459 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 2: Was he pushed? Was it the commission tying up another 460 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:52,440 Speaker 2: loose end? No one knew today In twenty twenty three, 461 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 2: more than eighty years later, we still don't have the answers, 462 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 2: but we do know that his mystery ailment, the one 463 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 2: that caused him to cough up blood, was not cancer 464 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,560 Speaker 2: or TB as he feared. It was merely a pulmonary cyst, 465 00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 2: not life threatening. Unlike the illness plaguing the man who 466 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 2: portrayed the prosecutor in the movie version of Abrellis's story, 467 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:21,720 Speaker 2: Humphrey Bogart's cancer was very real and very aggressive. The 468 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 2: surgery only did so much the malignancy spread. He had 469 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,480 Speaker 2: trouble eating, he lost weight, He was bound to a 470 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:34,120 Speaker 2: wheelchair injected with nitrogen mustard, an early form of chemotherapy, 471 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 2: sucking oxygen from two green tanks, and at the end 472 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 2: he was barely eighty pounds. He appeared more vulnerable than 473 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,840 Speaker 2: ever and felt just as frail. But like a true 474 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,880 Speaker 2: tough guy, Humphrey Bogart faced his fate head on with 475 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 2: courage and resolve, unlike Lefty Buckalter, who begged for mercy 476 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,840 Speaker 2: before being led down the carrit or at s where he, 477 00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:04,360 Speaker 2: along with his two lieutenants, got twenty thousand volts in 478 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 2: the chair. At the time, The New York Times described 479 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 2: him as quote a small, frightened man unquote Ditto for 480 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 2: Bugsy Goldstein in Pittsburgh, Phil Strauss, Rel's his close friends 481 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 2: and two of his most prolific killers. They both rode 482 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:23,960 Speaker 2: the lightning in the same chair at the same prison, 483 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 2: and before they were executed, Goldstein caught what was known 484 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:32,600 Speaker 2: as hot seat fever. He lost his shit, screaming, shrieking, 485 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 2: crying uncontrollably, like so many men had cried for their 486 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 2: own lives as Goldstein so callously took them. And this 487 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:43,480 Speaker 2: went on for hours, and finally Goldstein was led down 488 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 2: that same short corridor into that same room, where an 489 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 2: oak chair was bolted to the floor. He sat down, 490 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 2: he was strapped in and the leather pulled tight under 491 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,840 Speaker 2: his chin. Electrode on his head, followed by a black hood. 492 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 2: The executioner spun the dial. Goldstein's body shook violently, the 493 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,040 Speaker 2: lights flickered, and the stench of burnt flesh filled the 494 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:11,719 Speaker 2: small room. Lucky Luciano fared a bit better than the rest. 495 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,960 Speaker 2: After offering up Sicilian mafia contacts to the US government, 496 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 2: his sentence was commuted and he was deported back to 497 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:24,200 Speaker 2: the motherland. Bugsy Siegel, once facing indictment, was released due 498 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 2: to a lack of evidence. He returned to his thirty 499 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 2: five room mansion in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood of 500 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:34,800 Speaker 2: Los Angeles, where he was neighbors with, among others, Humphrey Bogart, 501 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 2: who shortly after two in the morning on January fourteenth, 502 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,959 Speaker 2: nineteen fifty seven, succumbed to the cancer and his body 503 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 2: and died inside his Hombly Hills mansion. He was fifty seven. 504 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,520 Speaker 2: Six months after Bogart's death, one of the last surviving 505 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:58,560 Speaker 2: members of the original commission resurfaced Albert Anastasia had remained 506 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:02,719 Speaker 2: at large for years. Unlike Abrellis and the others, he 507 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,600 Speaker 2: was never prosecuted. He never got to see what the 508 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:10,440 Speaker 2: oak chair felt like and sink sing instead. On October 509 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:14,279 Speaker 2: twenty fifth of nineteen fifty seven, Anastasia was sitting in 510 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 2: a different chair, a chair inside a barber shop in 511 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 2: Midtown Manhattan. He needed a little taken off the top. 512 00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,319 Speaker 2: The barber leaned the chair back and reached for his 513 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:29,319 Speaker 2: electric clippers. Anastasia closed his eyes. He listened to the 514 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 2: soothing hum of the clippers as they trimmed his hair. 515 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:35,880 Speaker 2: Then he thought he heard the clippers jam. He opened 516 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,319 Speaker 2: his eyes, and he was shot to see two men 517 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:43,319 Speaker 2: standing over him. They wore fedoras, aviators and scarves to 518 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 2: cover their faces. He hadn't heard the clippers jam, after all, 519 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 2: he'd heard two revolvers cock. The men raised their weapons, 520 00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:58,640 Speaker 2: pointed them at Anastasia, and fired them. They painted the 521 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 2: tile floors with his brain. Then they walked outside, dropped 522 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,240 Speaker 2: the guns on the sidewalk, and descended into a subway station. 523 00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 2: Albert Anastasia, like so many made men of the Commission 524 00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 2: before him, met a swift and sudden end a tough 525 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:20,399 Speaker 2: break for a so called tough guy, one that ought 526 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:26,080 Speaker 2: to be in pictures. I'm Jake Brennan and this is 527 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:36,880 Speaker 2: hollywood Land. 528 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:43,160 Speaker 4: Hollywood Land was created by Years Truly and is produced 529 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:47,040 Speaker 4: in partnership with Double Elvis. Follow like, rate, and review 530 00:35:47,080 --> 00:35:49,319 Speaker 4: hollywood Land wherever you get your podcasts, and get in 531 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:51,960 Speaker 4: touch with us on social media at double Elvis. 532 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,560 Speaker 2: If you like Hollywoodland, check out my other show, the 533 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,640 Speaker 2: award winning Disgraceland, which looks at the world of music 534 00:35:57,640 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 2: through the lens of true crime. Just search for disgrace 535 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:08,799 Speaker 2: Land and wherever you get your podcasts, that's there's a lab.