Willie Shapiro

The Shaprio brothers (Meyer, Irving and Willie) ran a gang of Jewish mobsters that operated out of the Brownsville section of Brooklyn,NY. Their criminal activities centered around loansharking, slot machines, dice games, and extortion of shop keepers. The Shaprio brothers came into conflict with the other gangs in Brooklyn such as the Amberg brothers and the Reles gang. One by one the Shaprio brothers were murdered by the other gangs. Willie Shaprio was murdered by members of the Reles gang on the night of July 20,1934. Willie was taken to the marshes in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn tied-up and buried alive in a hole dug in a sandpit. A man witnessed the gang filling in the hole, and after they left unearthed the hole and discovered Shaprio but he was already dead.