1929 AC conference?

[Eline2015]

did it really exist, or it just another bullshit, like MURDER INC, Luciano create a Comission and etc?

[motorfab]

I just looked at the wikipedia of the thing. It's just my opinion, but the more I read about the so-called National Crime Syndicate, the less I believe it.

[sdeitche]

" The conference has taken on a mythological aspect. “All the contemporaneous accounts of the Atlantic City Conference unanimously say that it involved Chicago gangsters only, with the limited goal of making peace between Capone and Moran. And then, at some point, the story transforms into one where dozens of rackets leaders from all over the country are summoned to a meeting that created the architecture for a national government of thugs.”

Damon Runyon was there when the conference was going on and wrote about the meeting in one of his short stories, “Dark Dolores”. There is a belief that some of the events of the conference, the men being pushed in rolling chairs to the end of the boardwalk where they would get into the water and have their meeting, may have been if not outright created, at least exacerbated by Runyon.

But there was a meeting and Al Capone was in Atlantic City at the time. The police first got a report of Capone in a nightclub telling the newspapers that if “Capone is found he will be given the choice of leaving the resort or going to jail.” Capone told the Director of Public Safety in Chicago that “I met Bugs Moran and two other men in Atlantic City after we previously determined to declare a truce. We talked things over for a week and finally agreed to certain conditions.” Capone confirmed that the men had stayed at the President Hotel and that they worked on a deal for six days, adding “The gang war, or at least the feud between Moran and myself, is ended for all time.”

[Antiliar]

In addition to what what Scott wrote, Capone did meet with Nucky Johnson. The famous photo of them walking down the boardwalk is real. Frank Costello's attorney claimed that Costello and several other New York guys were there. Can't vouch for the accuracy of the claim, but he did know Costello and Luciano. Capone gave a statement after John Torrio was shot in 1925, and was asked about Costello, and Capone did say that he knew him, so there's that. Not much else to go on, but the AC meeting has been greatly exaggerated with more and more names being added to the roster of attendees.

[Villain]

In addition to what what Scott wrote, Capone did meet with Nucky Johnson. The famous photo of them walking down the boardwalk is real. Frank Costello's attorney claimed that Costello and several other New York guys were there. Can't vouch for the accuracy of the claim, but he did know Costello and Luciano. Capone gave a statement after John Torrio was shot in 1925, and was asked about Costello, and Capone did say that he knew him, so there's that. Not much else to go on, but the AC meeting has been greatly exaggerated with more and more names being added to the roster of attendees.

Besides Johnson, Capone, Luciano and Costello, I've seen other names also being mentioned such as Genovese, Lepke, Stromberg and Guzik. But as you already pointed out that the whole situation is exaggerated with many additional names which makes it almost impossible to know who was really present at the alleged meeting. Some say that the main subject was the St Valentine's day massacre but who knows?

[Villain]

Btw, Antiliar do you know what year or time period was the picture taken with Capone, Luciano and Terranova I think, while swimming in a pool?

[MichaelGiovanni]

Btw, Antiliar do you know what year or time period was the picture taken with Capone, Luciano and Terranova I think, while swimming in a pool?

I know this was directed at Antiliar but I thought I’d chime in. I’ve read that it was most likely taken at the conference in 29 or at Capones Miami estate that he bought in 28. The tax evasion charges came in 31 so most logical time period would be 28-31 sometime.

[Villain]

Btw, Antiliar do you know what year or time period was the picture taken with Capone, Luciano and Terranova I think, while swimming in a pool?

I know this was directed at Antiliar but I thought I’d chime in. I’ve read that it was most likely taken at the conference in 29 or at Capones Miami estate that he bought in 28. The tax evasion charges came in 31 so most logical time period would be 28-31 sometime.

Thanks bud...I didn't mean to be rude but I asked Antiliar since long time ago I think that he clarified on where the picture was taken and I think it was Miami as you already mentioned but I wasn't sure

[JeremyTheJew]

Who else supposedly attended? Luciano wrote him as well as Lansky were there.

I believe this was the more "Americanized" bosses/racketeers rather then the Sicilian Consetvative side attending this meeting. Such as Lepke, etc.

[JeremyTheJew]

did it really exist, or it just another bullshit, like MURDER INC, Luciano create a Comission and etc?

Was Murder Inc fictional?? I thought that was one of the few gangs that were real... Abe Reles, Bugsy Goldstein, Abe Shapiro, Lepke, etc. (Possibly Bugsy Siegel??)

I thought the made up part was about Anastia being boss rather then Lepke.

[aleksandrored]

did it really exist, or it just another bullshit, like MURDER INC, Luciano create a Comission and etc?

Was Murder Inc fictional?? I thought that was one of the few gangs that were real... Abe Reles, Bugsy Goldstein, Abe Shapiro, Lepke, etc. (Possibly Bugsy Siegel??)

I thought the made up part was about Anastia being boss rather then Lepke.

The Myth of Murder Inc.

Murder Incorporated, the legendary gang of so-called hired killers from the Brownsville section of Brooklyn that supposedly served as an enforcement arm of La Cosa Nostra during the 1930s and 40s, is a myth.
There never was a stable of salaried killers who sat around waiting for murder assignments. The myth began in the 1940s, was reinforced by a 1951 best seller, ‘Murder Inc’, by Burton Turkus and Sid Feder. The myth still survives to this day for several interrelated reasons:

1. The general lack of knowledge about La Cosa Nostra half a century ago.
2. Certain law enforcement officials with political ambitions who wanted to appear as cutthroat gangsters.
3. Good old-fashioned media sensationalism.

Many murders were committed by a motley group of mainly Jewish gangsters based in Brownsville, but most had to do with battles over garment industry rackets in Manhattan and had nothing to do with La Cosa Nostra. Lepke Buchalter became a major target of the law, he lost his cool, and like many mob bosses of the 1980s and 1990s, began rubbing out anyone who he thought might testify against him.
The Cosa Nostra connection to some of these so-called Murder Inc hoods came from their close associations with Albert Anastasia, then-underboss of the crime family known today as the Gambino family. If Jewish hoods wanted to whack someone, they would check with Anastasia and make sure the murder wouldn’t screw up any of his schemes. It was a smart political move because of the power Anastasia wielded.
Murder Inc was co-authored by Turkus, an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn who prosecuted many of the killers. There were no turncoat mobsters then and Turkus simply got some things wrong. He knew there was some kind of national syndicate, but he overestimated its organisational structure. Turkus tried to paint a picture of a well-organised nationwide company with clearly defined roles, goals and job descriptions.
There is an excellent analysis of Murder Inc in ‘East Side-West Side’, a book by Alan Block, a Penn State University professor. A key player in Block’s research was Abe Reles, a well-known informer who helped Turkus win many convictions.
Reles was part of a gang battling for control of rackets in Brownsville that killed off main rivals to consolidate their control. Reles was associated with Louis Capone, who was in the Anastasia orbit. When the gang wanted to knock off someone interfering in their rackets, they would, as courtesy, tell Anastasia. They did not want to inadvertently kill someone who was a friend or associate of a powerful Cosa Nostra leader. They were not hired killers. No-one paid them to wipe out their rivals.
Reles, through Capone, sometimes did favours for Anastasia as a way to curry favour, probably a handful of hits. But there was no payment; Reles was not a hired killer.
He, like all racketeers, was out to make money through scams and schemes. Murder was simply a means of getting things done.
The affairs of the notorious Buchalter also played a big role in the legend of Murder Inc. He was a big man in the garment district and used muscle to get what he wanted. After prosecutor Thomas Dewey’s main target, Dutch Schultz, was wiped out, Dewey turned his sights on Buchalter. As legal pressure mounted, Buchalter went into hiding and tried to cover his tracks by killing anyone he thought might become an informer. Many of these killings have been attributed to Murder Inc but were really the unravelling of the Buchalter organisation.
The prosecutors, the police, and the newspapers at that time, had no idea of the true nature and structure of La Cosa Nostra. The media lumped the disparate groups of murders into one major conspiracy and labelled it Murder Inc. (Jerry Capeci, Gangland News, 1 February 1999).

[Dwalin2014]

Yet even though Buchalter's organization didn't function the way the Murder Inc. legend says, still is it true that the Cosa Nostra commissioned the Dutch Schultz hit to his gang? The triggermen in that hit weren't Cosa Nostra made members after all, but were part of Buchalter's gang.

[Antiliar]

Btw, Antiliar do you know what year or time period was the picture taken with Capone, Luciano and Terranova I think, while swimming in a pool?

The time period MichaelGiovanni gave is correct, and it definitely was taken at Capone's Florida home. There was a gambling bust in 1930 where Joe Masseria and Luciano were arrested, so it could have been around then.

Yet even though Buchalter's organization didn't function the way the Murder Inc. legend says, still is it true that the Cosa Nostra commissioned the Dutch Schultz hit to his gang? The triggermen in that hit weren't Cosa Nostra made members after all, but were part of Buchalter's gang.

Buchalter was close to Luciano and Lucchese, and old reports from the FBN considered Lansky and Buchalter to be the same gang. They all worked together. Schultz was partnered up with Ciro Terranova, which eventually forced him to work with Luciano. Schultz, however, wasn't a team player.

[Eline2015]

Correct me if I’m wrong, so that famous pic with capone and Johnson isn’t a fake?

[Antiliar]

Correct me if I’m wrong, so that famous pic with capone and Johnson isn’t a fake?

No, it's real. Johnson was even interviewed about it years later. He said, if I recall correctly, that he regretted that walk because that photo was used against him ever since.