Harry Maione

Harry "Happy" Maione (October 7, 1908 – February 19, 1942) was a New York mobster who served as a hitman for Murder, Inc. (the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicate) during the 1930s. Maione was called "Happy" because his face displayed an eternal scowl.

As a young man, Maione led the Ocean Hill Hooligans, an Italian street gang in the Ocean Hill, Brooklyn section of New York. His protégé in this gang was Frank "The Dasher" Abbandando. Maione had a son, Albert Maione, who eventually became an associate with the Gambino crime family. Maione's older brother was Louis "The Duke" Maione.

In 1931, Maione and Abbandando helped Abe "Kid Twist" Reles and Martin "Bugsy" Goldstein eliminate their gangster rivals, the Shapiro Brothers (Meyer, Irving, and William). Previously that year, the Shapiros had unsuccessfully tried to murder Reles and Goldstein. Meyer Shapiro then abducted Reles' girlfriend and raped her. Reles and Goldstein wanted revenge and the two wanted to take over the Shapiro operations. On July 11, 1931, Irving Shapiro was gunned down near his apartment. On September 17, 1931, Meyer was found shot to death in the basement of a tenement building on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Maione, Abbandando, Reles, and Goldstein then banded together. They were soon joined by Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss, Albert "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum, Seymour "Blue Jaw" Magoon, Louis Capone, Charles "The Bug" Workman and Vito "Chicken Head" Gurino.

The gang started picking up murder contracts from the National Crime Syndicate with the help of Syndicate Board Member Joe Adonis. The gang soon became the official murder-for-hire squad of the Syndicate, and was dubbed "Murder, Inc." by the press. Maione acted as the Italian liaison to the Jewish members of Murder, Inc.; Reles was his counterpart on the Jewish side. Murder, Inc. was directed by the brutal Louis "Lepke" Buchalter (another member of the Syndicate board) and the nefarious Albert "The Executioner" Anastasia. Maione reportedly killed at least 12 men himself while working for Murder, Inc.

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