Customer Reviews

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

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When mob informer Abe Reles fell out a hotel window while in protective custody, an investigation followed that has never been completely laid to rest. Did he die while trying to escape? Or was he murdered?

Abe `Kid Twist' Reles was once the most dreaded contract killer in Brooklyn. As part of the Murder Inc hit team, he shot, stabbed, and strangled with unholy enjoyment. But when confronted with evidence that could strap him into the electric chair, he made a deal with Brooklyn D.A. William O'Dwyer that sent many mob heavyweights to Old Sparky in his place. When he plunged out his bedroom window at Coney Island's Half Moon Hotel in November 1941, a collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout the New York underworld.

Edmund Elmaleh spent over a decade studying the sinister and puzzling circumstances surrounding Reles' death. He examined previously classified FBI documents and zeroed in on inconsistencies in the official record. While Elmaleh does not offer any new or shocking insights into what most agree was a mob-directed murder, he has written the most authoritative account so far of what probably happened to the man that every gang boss in the state wanted silenced. He did a better job than I would have thought possible, given the fact that the authorities made no serious effort to solve the case. Even Reles' widow was unforthcoming when questioned about a conversation she had with her husband just before his death.

"The Canary Sang But Couldn't Fly" is an entertaining and chilling analysis of one of gangland's greatest mysteries. Highly recommended.

I found the enigmatic death of gangland squealer Abe "Kid Twist" Reles so compelling that I didn't want this book to end. Reles' violent life is traced from his birth in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1906 to his fatal plunge from a sixth-floor window in Coney Island's Half Moon Hotel thirty-five years later, on November 12, 1941. Was Kid Twist's death murder or accidental? The reader will have to draw his own conclusion based on the voluminous evidence uncovered by the author, who spent ten years researching the subject matter. Various scenarios are presented, all of which are quite plausible. Although literally thousands of pages have been written over the years about Murder, Incorporated, and its most celebrated "canary," I don't believe such a thorough, in-depth examination of the mysterious circumstances surrounding Reles' demise has come forth until now. Highly recommended.

This book is a great and entertaining read, and very hard to put down once you get started. Aside from the fascinating facts and detail, the story is told in a film noir voice that sets the perfect tone. Yet this does not come off as gimmicky, as the work is a meticulously researched piece of crime scholarship that is clearly laid out. Even readers who are not hard-core crime buffs can follow it and enjoy it. In all fairness I should mention that I went to school with the author (recently deceased), and can vouch for the fact that he was a serious student of history who greatly respected the art and science of historical research methods.

While the truth behind Abe Reles' fatal plunge may never be known, this book lays out the facts and theories as best as can be expected. Someone should make this into a movie.

I guess part of the mystery of this book is we'll never really know the reason Abe "Kid Twist" Reles exited his room on the sixth floor of Coney Island's Half Moon hotel on November 12, 1941. The author explores every possible scenario from suicide, prank, flight, and murder. I would guess that murder was the likely reason with fellow gangsters Albert "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum, Mickey Sycoff, and Sholem Bernstein being the likely perpetrators. At least for me suicide, prank, and flight fall short as reasons for Reles's fall to his death. I feel murder by those who occupied the "squealer's room" of the Half Moon had the motive to dispatch Reles out the window with Reles's bodyguards literally asleep on the job. There was plenty of blame to go around for this botched job in protecting Reles, and the author does a thorough job in covering this case. The only drawback, and this isn't the author's fault, is that we will never really know the reason for "Kid Twist's" demise. If you enjoy books on the mob this book with the catchy title is one you need to include in your library.

A complete telling of Abe Reles's life, his underworld career as a Murder Inc. assassin and his spectacular death, this book is also a study of the various investigations into Reles's supposed accidental drop from a hotel window and a careful examination of Reles-homicide theories.

The legendary snitch goes out the sixth-floor window of the Half Moon Hotel on Page 74, leaving Elmaleh plenty of time to critique the various views of that event. The author does so authoritatively. He dismisses the official view of the day and points an accusing finger at other underworld turncoats.

There is a somewhat disturbing inconsistency in Elmaleh's work. The author, who died in 2008 before this book was published, often referred to primary source material to tell the Reles story, However, on a number of occasions, he referenced popular published works, seemingly without making an effort to confirm story details. Frequently, these retellings are not accompanied by the critical analysis Elmaleh provides elsewhere.

The discussion of Reles's early career, including his relationship with Mafia big shot Albert Anastasia, is interesting reading, but deeper research would have made it more valuable.

From the enticing first sentence this books grabs your attention. With energetic language and brilliant control of his material, Elmaleh builds from that opening to a conclusion that draws on his research and analysis. The Reles story is full of unanswerable puzzles, and the author builds a convincing theory based on the raised questions.

Edmund Elmaleh has achieved a rare feat: a compulsively readable narrative with momentum and carefully arranged details. His book is gangland-atmospheric with turns of phrase that harken back to the era. It's rare to find a book so steeped in research yet so immediately gripping. I'd recommend this book to anyone from mob scholars to Ann Rule fans. But truly it is in a class of its own.

Give yourself over to several hours of good reading.

This book never made it to me. I have ordered hundreds of books and dvds from amazon and this is second time I have not received something I have ordered

Unlike the rest of the reviewers here I am not a hardcore fan of this genre. I believe that one needs to be in order to appreciate this book. I had to stop reading after about 5 pages. There is something about this author's writing that just screams amateurish. While it is clear that this author put a lot of thought, effort, and research into this book I could not see past the awkward sentence construction enough to appreciate those elements.