- Harry Strauss
Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss (
July 28 ,1909 –June 12 ,1941 ) was a prolific contract killer forMurder, Inc. in the 1930s. He killed over 30 men using a variety of methods; shooting, stabbing with ice picks,drowning ,live burial and strangling rope. Strauss never carried a weapon unless he was about to make a hit.Harry Strauss was born in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn . Most of his associates called him Pep. In the 1930s, he was committing assaults, larcenies, and drug dealing. He was arrested 18 times but was never convicted until he was found guilty of the homicide that sent him and fellow Murder Inc. hitman Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein to the electric chair. After hitman Abe "Kid Twist" Reles turned informant, Strauss was arrested for a murder ofIrving Feinstein , and at least five other known murders. Strauss tried to avoid conviction by feigning insanity in the courtroom and even ondeath row . He was executed in theelectric chair atSing Sing onJune 12 ,1941 .ee also
*
List of individuals executed in New York
*Capital punishment in the United States References
*Turkus, Burton B. and Sid Feder. "Murder, Inc: The Story of "the Syndicate". New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81288-6
External links
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Strauss&GSfn=Harry+&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=12223& Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss] at
Find A Grave
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