The summer of 1930 was rich with gangland murder. One of the wars going on at that time was fought in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn between the Shapiro Brothers and what would become Murder Inc.
During the war a Shapiro man named Joey Silvers tried unsuccessfully to kill Harry “Happy” Maione. Maione however squared things with Silvers on this date eighty-years ago. Silvers had just pulled his car out into traffic when Maione and three other men ran up and jumped on his running boards, “You’re the guy who was gonna put me on the spot for Meyer Shapiro and now I’m gonna give it to you.” Maione was heard to yell. Then he gave it to him, a .45 slug in the chest. The gunmen jumped off of Silver’s car and got into a getaway car, which was driving along side, and disappeared.
As AAA will tell you, driving with a .45 slug in the chest is not safe. Silvers careened into some parked cars. An ambulance was called and Silvers was rushed to a hospital where he lingered on long enough to break the underworld code of silence. When asked who shot him the dying gangster replied, “Hap. A guy named Happy.” Of course it took more than the word of an expiring hood to send a guy to jail so Maione remained a free man
Want more about the Shapiro-Murder Inc. war? Check out Gangster City
"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." - Chicago Gangster Ted Newberry. Rubbed out January 7, 1933
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