The Canary Sang but Couldn't Fly The Fatal Fall of Abe Reles, the Mobster Who Shattered Murder, Inc.'s Code of Silence

It remains one of the most enduring mysteries in gangland lore: in 1941, while Abe Reles and three other key informants were under round-the-clock NYPD protection, the ruthless and powerful thug took a deadly plunge from the window of a Coney Island hotel. The first criminal of his stature to break the underworld's code of silence, he had begun "singing" for the courtsgiving devastating testimony that implicated former cronieswith more to come. With cops around him day and night, how could Abe have gone out the window? Did he try to escape? Did a hit man break in? Or did someone in the "squealer's suite" murder him? Here's the gripping story, packed with political machinations, legal sleight-of-hand, mob violenceand, finally, a proposed answer to the question: How did Abe Reles really die? Murder mysteries: Why didn't police investigate the mysterious sounds they heard on the night that Reles died? Why did the lead investigator fail to gather crucial evidence at the hotelor follow police procedure for interviewing witnesses and securing the crime scene? What do previously classified FBI documents reveal about Brooklyn DA William O'Dwyer, who had plans to run for mayor of New York? Why was the note "Withhold information by order of D.A." scribbled on Reles's autopsy report? Why was Abe's widow so bitterly opposed to reopening the case? Why doesn't the official story add up? ((Sales Points)) - This is the first full-length account of Mob informer Abe Reles's mysterious death in 1941, and it is largely based on primary sources, including the papers of the Brooklyn District Attorney and previously classified FBI documents - The book capitalizes on the popularity of entertainment dealing with both unsolved crimes and the allure of the mobaficionados of true crime, gangster lore, American history, and criminal science will all be interested - A fascinating portrait of the era's colorful criminal landscape, with its power plays, contract hits, and inroads into both legitimate business and organized labor