Morris L. Kessler (January 6, 1912 – September 30, 1935) was an American

mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

and member of Joseph Amberg's gang in Brooklyn during the early 1930s. As Amberg's personal

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

and

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, ...

, Kessler was a close associate in his organization until he was killed alongside his boss at a Brownsville

auto garage An automobile repair shop (also known regionally as a garage or a workshop) is an establishment where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and technicians. Types Automotive garages and repair shops can be divided into following categor ...

by members of Murder, Inc. in 1935. The gangland slayings of Kessler and Amberg were among the first major contract killings committed by Murder, Inc. and was one of the most publicized of the era.

Biography

Morris L. Kessler was born in New York City on January 6, 1912. Although he had no known criminal record during his life, he had become a member of Brooklyn mobsters Joseph and Louis "Pretty" Amberg criminal organization in Brownsville by the early 1930s. Kessler became Joe Amberg's personal

and

. On the afternoon of September 30, 1935, at 12:45 pm, Kessler and Amberg stopped at the Blake-Christopher auto garage at Blake and Christopher Avenues prior to collecting "

protection money A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from vi ...

" from neighborhood barber shops and restaurants. As they prepared to leave in their limousine, however, three unidentified gunmen believed to be members of Murder, Inc. entered the garage. Armed with pistols, they forced the two men against the wall at gunpoint. According to the owner Henry Kutnetz and mechanics Nat Horowitz and August Mattern, all of whom witnessed the incident, the gunmen taunted the two men before gunning them down. They shot Amberg first and then Kessler;Block, Alan A. ''East Side, West Side: Organizing Crime in New York, 1930–1950''. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1983. (pg. 225) police later found Kessler had been shot once in the forehead and three times in the back. The two men were buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, two days later. Louis Amberg had been killed only three weeks before, the Ambergs being involved in a gang war with rivals Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro, though authorities believed the murders of Kessler and Amberg were linked to the then-recent deaths of small-time racketeers Abe Meer and Irving Amron. Although the getaway car used in the murder was later found by authorities, the crime remained unsolved.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kessler, Morris 1912 births 1935 deaths Murdered Jewish American gangsters People murdered in New York City Male murder victims Deaths by firearm in Brooklyn People murdered by Murder, Inc. 1935 murders in the United States 20th-century American Jews