__NOTOC__ Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss (July 28, 1909 – June 12, 1941) was a prolific contract killer for Murder, Inc. in the 1930s. He reportedly killed over one hundred men (some historians put the number as high as 500)Carl Sifakis, ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. Checkmark Books, 2005. Page 360. using a variety of methods, including shooting, stabbing with ice picks, drowning, live burial, and strangulation. Strauss never carried a weapon in case the local police picked him up on suspicion. He would scout his murder spot for any tool that would do the job. Most of his associates called him "Pep". In the 1930s, he was committing assaults, larcenies, and

drug dealing The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

. 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 "Bugsy" Goldstein to the electric chair. After hitman Abe "Kid Twist" Reles turned informant, Strauss was arrested for the murder of Irving "Puggy" Feinstein, and at least five other known murders. Strauss tried to avoid conviction by feigning insanity in the courtroom and on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ...

. Strauss and Goldstein were convicted September 19, 1940, and executed by

electrocution Electrocution is death or severe injury caused by electric shock from electric current passing through the body. The word is derived from "electro" and "execution", but it is also used for accidental death. The term "electrocution" was coin ...

using

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

Old Sparky Old Sparky is the nickname of the electric chairs in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Old Smokey was the nickname of the elec ...

on June 12, 1941.

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*Turkus, Burton B. and Sid Feder. ''Murder Inc: The Story of "the Syndicate"''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003.

External links

Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss
at

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Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss - Gangster/Assassin
at J-Grit: The Internet Index of Tough Jews {{DEFAULTSORT:Strauss, Harry 1909 births 1941 deaths Jewish American gangsters American people convicted of murder People from Brooklyn Executed gangsters People executed for murder 20th-century executions by New York (state) Murder, Inc. People executed by New York (state) by electric chair 20th-century executions of American people People convicted of murder by New York (state) Burials at Beth David Cemetery 20th-century American Jews Inmates of Sing Sing

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