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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 courts—giving devastating testimony that implicated former cronies—with 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 violence—and, 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 hotel—or 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?
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 hotel—or 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?
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2009
2 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 12, 2015
Like many readers, I have many many interesting subjects that I enjoy exploring. As I would suspect most folks do, I tend to gravitate between certain subjects at any given time; for example, last year, I spent some time reading some Science Fiction classics that had been recommended to me, while the last few weeks has found me devouring the various real crime books I’ve built up on my shelves. In the last six weeks, I’ve worked my way through six different ones – all of them focusing on characters each more nefarious than the last, and all of them concentrated in on my favored era of the 1900’s thru the 1940’s. So much of organized crime really came into existence during those decades, meaning that perhaps thousands of volumes have been written on it.
The most recent book I finished was THE CANARY SANG BUT COULDN’T FLY. It caught my interest a few years back when I was doing some of my own research into Abe Reles’ curious demise, and I’m thrilled to say that it was definitely worth the wait.
For those who don’t know, Abe Reles was probably the textbook definition of the mob hitman – or assassin – during his reign of terror that really came into being in the late 1920’s and lasted (roughly) up until his death circa November, 1941. For reasons never truly explained, Reles turned himself over to the New York District Attorney’s office not long after being incarcerated, all for the purposes of doing the unthinkable in his profession: he had finally decided to rat out the mob. As I said, Reles’ motivations are unfortunately lost to history – he never really owned up to any specific reason, nor did his wife (she’s the one who actually informed the DA’s office of her husband’s willingness to speak); the supposition has long been that he had a child on the way, but as this was his second child and Abe never had any compunctions about putting his first child through the strain of a career choice that doesn’t quite suffice.
Whatever his reasons, Abe Reles talked … and talked … and talked some more. Records suggest that ‘Kid Twist’ (as he was known) had some kind of gift of magical memory: he could recount names and faces and dates and addresses and endless minutiae right off the top of his head. He kept court stenographers busy for weeks …
… right up until the day he leapt out of the window at Coney Island’s Half Moon Hotel where he had been secreted away by police for safekeeping.
But did he jump? Or was he helped out that window? And, if so, by whom?
THE CANARY SANG is a brilliant exploration of Reles’ life, describing in great detail how the man got started on the road to a life of crime, and it follows him all the way up to the facts of his curious ending. Author Edmund Elmaleh has done a terrific amount of research, no doubt scouring sources and police records in his attempt to paint as complete a picture as possible for anyone interested in knowing more. The book includes a handful of illustrations – most of them the people with whom Reles conducted the most business or had the most contact – and it briskly moves through the bullet points of the cultural revolution in those days that caused dozens of separate gangs to decide to go into the biz of crime together, what the resulting organization looked like, and how it operated.
Sadly, however, the book really cracks little new ground in solving the mystery of just who was responsible for Abe’s end – the criminal himself, the mob, or the police. Author Elmaleh gets good mileage out of the various theories from those days, and he even does a respectable job trying to point out what secrets may’ve been revealed in the passages of decades since, citing and dissecting suggestions from bosses who’ve since said something about the matter ‘on the record.’ What I felt was missing, though, was a declarative statement from Elmaleh as to who ultimately was responsible based on the results of his particular scholarship. I mean if you’re going to dedicate ten years of your life into investigating every possible scrap of info regarding a mystery, don’t you owe it (minimally) to yourself to reach some conclusion … as definitive as you can make it?
Still, when THE CANARY SANG there was definitely a song worth listening to; and, in those respects, this is a great read for what it’s worth.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you don’t know the mystery surrounding Abe Reles – or even if you’re completely unfamiliar with the name – then you owe it to yourself to crack open the pages of THE CANARY SANG BUT COULDN’T FLY. There’s an enduring puzzle that involves a police stronghold, angry mobsters, and perhaps the vilest killer of men who ever walked the streets, and all of it deserves your attention. If you’re looking for answers, though, be forewarned: there may not be what you’re looking for.
The most recent book I finished was THE CANARY SANG BUT COULDN’T FLY. It caught my interest a few years back when I was doing some of my own research into Abe Reles’ curious demise, and I’m thrilled to say that it was definitely worth the wait.
For those who don’t know, Abe Reles was probably the textbook definition of the mob hitman – or assassin – during his reign of terror that really came into being in the late 1920’s and lasted (roughly) up until his death circa November, 1941. For reasons never truly explained, Reles turned himself over to the New York District Attorney’s office not long after being incarcerated, all for the purposes of doing the unthinkable in his profession: he had finally decided to rat out the mob. As I said, Reles’ motivations are unfortunately lost to history – he never really owned up to any specific reason, nor did his wife (she’s the one who actually informed the DA’s office of her husband’s willingness to speak); the supposition has long been that he had a child on the way, but as this was his second child and Abe never had any compunctions about putting his first child through the strain of a career choice that doesn’t quite suffice.
Whatever his reasons, Abe Reles talked … and talked … and talked some more. Records suggest that ‘Kid Twist’ (as he was known) had some kind of gift of magical memory: he could recount names and faces and dates and addresses and endless minutiae right off the top of his head. He kept court stenographers busy for weeks …
… right up until the day he leapt out of the window at Coney Island’s Half Moon Hotel where he had been secreted away by police for safekeeping.
But did he jump? Or was he helped out that window? And, if so, by whom?
THE CANARY SANG is a brilliant exploration of Reles’ life, describing in great detail how the man got started on the road to a life of crime, and it follows him all the way up to the facts of his curious ending. Author Edmund Elmaleh has done a terrific amount of research, no doubt scouring sources and police records in his attempt to paint as complete a picture as possible for anyone interested in knowing more. The book includes a handful of illustrations – most of them the people with whom Reles conducted the most business or had the most contact – and it briskly moves through the bullet points of the cultural revolution in those days that caused dozens of separate gangs to decide to go into the biz of crime together, what the resulting organization looked like, and how it operated.
Sadly, however, the book really cracks little new ground in solving the mystery of just who was responsible for Abe’s end – the criminal himself, the mob, or the police. Author Elmaleh gets good mileage out of the various theories from those days, and he even does a respectable job trying to point out what secrets may’ve been revealed in the passages of decades since, citing and dissecting suggestions from bosses who’ve since said something about the matter ‘on the record.’ What I felt was missing, though, was a declarative statement from Elmaleh as to who ultimately was responsible based on the results of his particular scholarship. I mean if you’re going to dedicate ten years of your life into investigating every possible scrap of info regarding a mystery, don’t you owe it (minimally) to yourself to reach some conclusion … as definitive as you can make it?
Still, when THE CANARY SANG there was definitely a song worth listening to; and, in those respects, this is a great read for what it’s worth.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you don’t know the mystery surrounding Abe Reles – or even if you’re completely unfamiliar with the name – then you owe it to yourself to crack open the pages of THE CANARY SANG BUT COULDN’T FLY. There’s an enduring puzzle that involves a police stronghold, angry mobsters, and perhaps the vilest killer of men who ever walked the streets, and all of it deserves your attention. If you’re looking for answers, though, be forewarned: there may not be what you’re looking for.
July 26, 2010
Wow, this is a truly amazing book. One of the best books about the mob I've ever read. It concerns the career, and more specifically the death, of Abe Reles, a government witness against Murder, Incorporated. The whole second half is essentially a deconstruction of the investigative process, in which it is painfully obvious to everyone (including to members of Congress) that there was a major cover-up -- but no one can figure out quite what happened. It's a bit of a police procedural at times, which tends to leave me cold, but here for some reason it works. I loved it.
Unfortunately, the author, who studied Murder, Incorporated for 10 years, passed away as the book was being prepared for publication. So there won't be any more awesome books coming from him. Oh, well. This one is serious essential reading for organized crime scholars.
Unfortunately, the author, who studied Murder, Incorporated for 10 years, passed away as the book was being prepared for publication. So there won't be any more awesome books coming from him. Oh, well. This one is serious essential reading for organized crime scholars.
September 21, 2009
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.
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.
November 12, 2014
A gritty gangland murder mystery stocked with reprehensible villains and vile misdeeds!
Author Edmund Elmaleh offers a compelling account of the rise and fall (both literally and figuratively) of the notorious mobster Abe Reles in The Canary Sang But Couldn’t Fly. A gritty, true crime story, Elmaleh pens a pulpy chronicle of Reles’s climb from underworld kingpin to squealer, as he is pinched by the Brooklyn D.A. and breaks the mob’s supposedly sacrosanct code of silence to rat out his former compatriots to local prosecutors. Reles’ story ends abruptly when he suspiciously falls to his death from the sixth story window of a hotel safe house -- all while under round-the-clock-police protection.
And nobody saw nothin’
The Canary Sang But Couldn’t Fly is a smart, absorbing read. While it doesn’t pull many punches when it comes to the misdeeds of its many protagonists, it’s also not gratuitous. More importantly, the historical backbone of the book is rock solid, and Elmaleh populates its pages not just with gangsters, but also the policemen, reporters, attorneys, and politicians who matched wits against them – many of whom ended their careers with a similar amount of tarnish.
I was saddened to read on the book jacket that Elmaleh died in 2008 and that this was his first book (and published posthumously). It’s a terrible shame, because this one would have certainly brought me back for more from this author. As it stands, The Canary Sang But Couldn’t Fly is a first-rate read.
June 20, 2013
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 and more consistent research would have made it more valuable.
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 and more consistent research would have made it more valuable.
June 1, 2010
I enjoyed reading this, and I thought the author did a decent job. The story gave me some sense of Reles' character using the descriptions of his actions, and the observations and actions in response to Reles by those associated with him. There are limitations in describing historical events, but I thought this was a worthwhile effort especially in trying to explore who killed Reles. I thought there should have been more description of the events leading to Reles becoming a witness. Also, I think there should have been much more on who the author last suggested might have killed Reles. Since that seemed a noteworthy suggestion, it deserved far more pursuit.
June 25, 2012
A great book on the history of organized crime and the politics that surround it. It leaves you wondering "what if?" And I really like that the author didn't take a side, he presented the so-called evidence and possible theories. A good, quick read!
January 26, 2013
The writing in this book is terrible. However, the story and information is so good that the poor writing is forgivable.
February 13, 2024
A true deep dive into the death of Abe Reles. Elmaleh looked into every resource he could find to fill in the blanks on Reles’ death. He lined up each theory and methodically picked them apart using conflicting testimonies and history.
Be ready for a lot of information, even if you are really into the topic, it can be a bit much at times. It’s an amazing in depth piece of work and, in my opinion, the closest we will ever be to knowing the truth of what happened to Abe Reles.
Be ready for a lot of information, even if you are really into the topic, it can be a bit much at times. It’s an amazing in depth piece of work and, in my opinion, the closest we will ever be to knowing the truth of what happened to Abe Reles.
November 6, 2022
I found this book absorbing up to page 96,just after Tales death.After,however,it was really a lot of conjecture as to how the death occurred.I think that a guard might have been bribed to chuck him out the window and make it look like an accident.
January 24, 2022
Fast moving, but really heavy on the details. I'm sad I waited so long to read it. Definitely part of American history I never knew about and it certainly has me wanting to know more.
March 15, 2016
i found this book entirely disappointing. while i understand that the focus on the book was the mystery surrounding reles' death i thought that, considering the fact that no one actually knows what happened, the book could have spent a little more time covering his life. in a sense i feel that books about other gangsters gave a better idea of what reles was like than elmaleh did. there were some details that i had read in multiple other sources that seemed strangely missing here (like the cause of the escalation of his feud with the shapiro brothers). the first ~40 pages covers his life up to the point when he decides to go to the feds? idk, it just seems like an incredibly wasted opportunity with such an interesting person.
also, i was not impressed with the writing. it was slangy, judgmental (some of the writing, particularly about reles' appearance, seemed to rely to me on really gross stereotypes), and flat-out-ridiculous in parts. i found his reliance on sources such as "the last testament of lucky luciano" similarly suspect (considering its doubtful provenance and messy sourcing itself), and much of the book seems to be sourced specifically from turkus, which again, i get that it's the Big Book on the subject but if other people can do their own primary source research, so could elmaleh. additionally, i am almost positive that at least one paragraph was lifted wholesale and unquoted from kavieff's biography of buchalter (the one about how lepke was devoted to his stepson and carried his picture in his watch--i'll have to double check this later, but i'm like 75% sure it was word for word).
the actual discussion of reles' death and the investigation into it were solid, but i went into this book hoping for more and it did not deliver.
also, i was not impressed with the writing. it was slangy, judgmental (some of the writing, particularly about reles' appearance, seemed to rely to me on really gross stereotypes), and flat-out-ridiculous in parts. i found his reliance on sources such as "the last testament of lucky luciano" similarly suspect (considering its doubtful provenance and messy sourcing itself), and much of the book seems to be sourced specifically from turkus, which again, i get that it's the Big Book on the subject but if other people can do their own primary source research, so could elmaleh. additionally, i am almost positive that at least one paragraph was lifted wholesale and unquoted from kavieff's biography of buchalter (the one about how lepke was devoted to his stepson and carried his picture in his watch--i'll have to double check this later, but i'm like 75% sure it was word for word).
the actual discussion of reles' death and the investigation into it were solid, but i went into this book hoping for more and it did not deliver.
August 31, 2011
So interested in historical mob literature. Great story. Still a mystery...
October 26, 2014
Kid Twist died for you.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews