Photo by Recuerdos de Pandora
If you know that you can live a fabulous but somewhat abbreviated existence and are willing to take chances, you too could be a gangster. There are times when crime really does pay off, as we demonstrate in this article. The following 5 gangsters lived fabulous lives, they are the best known American gangsters but many of them lasted a relatively short time.
Al Capone
Al Capone is not only the most famous gangster of America, but also unarguably the most famous gangster in the world. Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in 1899. While he was growing up he earned the nickname Snorky, because of his sociopathic behavior and quick temper. When he was just fourteen years old he attacked a female teacher in school. This got him expelled and soon he adopted a life of crime. Al Capone went to Chicago where he was mentored by John Torrio in the ways of crime.
During the years of prohibition alcohol was banned in the United States. Capone was addicted to making money and smuggling alcohol was the easiest way to make it. Prostitution, gambling and many other illegal operations made him one of the richest gangsters in the history of United States. Each person who tried to cross him ended up dead. Al Capone loved being the number one and would do anything to keep that position. He died of syphilis in 1947.
George Clarence
George Clarence was the most dreaded gangster next to Al Capone. He was nicknamed Bugsy, because both the public and the Police considered him completely demented. Bugsy was very sadistic to the point that he really enjoyed violence. He never bothered about the dangers, and for that reason he shot gangstar rivals as well as ordinary people.
Each person who bothered him was killed. Bugsy was fierce enemy of Al Capone, and he also killed his best friend Pasquialion Lolordo. Capone tried to kill him many times, but he always escaped not because of power but because of luck. He had a big decline in power after prohibition was lifted in 1930. He was arrested many times and died of cancer in Leavenworth.
Frank Costello
Frank Costello was born in 1891 as Francesco Castiglia. He was nicknamed the Prime Minister of the Underworld. Frank Costello was a protege of the Ciro, the Harlem Mafia boss. Later Costello joined the ranks of Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano and carried out the crimes of that stature.
He became the acting boos of the Luciano crime family after Luciano was sent to prison in 1936, and he took its notoriety to new levels. Frank Costello knew that the police is after him, and he was clever enough to hide his tracks. He couldn’t be convicted of anything more than tax evasion. He had a good and long life, and dyed at the age of 82 in 1973.
Albert Anastasia
Because of his psychopathic tendencies and insanely hyper ambitions, Albert Anastasia was nicknamed Mad Hatter by the media and his fellow gangsters. At a very young age he killed a longshoreman and was arrested and put on trial. However, he ended up spending only 18 months in Sing Sing prison, because the witness to his crime never showed up.
After he was released, he started climbing the mafia ladder with a ruthless agenda. Albert Anastasia was an employee of the Murders Inc. and he won a lot of respect for killing Giuseppe Masseria, who was the leading crime boss in New York City. From 1951 to 1957, he was on the top of the Gambino crime family until he was assassinated in his own hotel room.
Louis Buchalter
Although, many gangsters choose to make their money through, loan sharking, gambling and other financial rackets, Louis Buchalter chose the convenient and quick method of doing murders for hire. Buchalter was the boss of Murders Inc., which also included other mob bosses of that time, such as John Gotti and Charles Luciano.
He kept thousands of killers for hire on payroll under this organization. Louis Buchalter was the go to man for every gangster from Chicago or New York who was irritated by someone or wanted to finish off a certain person. However, due to his crimes he was imprisoned and electrocuted on March 4th in 1944. He became the only major gangster in the history of the United States who has been executed.
