Walter Krakower, better known as Whitey Krakow, was one of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s hitmen who was involved in the 1939 slaying of underworld figure Harry “Big Greenie” Greenberg. According to “Murder, Inc.,” by Burton Turkus, a law enforcement officer involved in prosecuting members of the hitman syndicate, Krakow and several other hitmen were involved in ambushing Greenberg as he returned to his California home after an evening drive.
Krakow, however, would not live much longer. Burton writes that the authorities scrambled to get any witnesses and informants into witness protection before Siegel could clip them too. Krakow was one of those people of interest, with Burton suggesting the FBI was willing to offer him a deal if he talked. Unfortunately for investigators, Krakow was gunned down on New York City’s Lower East side in August 1940.
Burton writes that Siegel was arrested in relation to all of these killings, especially the Greenberg hit, along with an associate named Frank Carbo, who was also charged with murder. However, Siegel got “lucky.” Star government witness Abe Reles (pictured above center), a partner of Krakow, “fell” out a window to his death in 1941, so Siegel’s case was dismissed due to lack of evidence. Carbo’s case ended in a hung jury, despite multiple witnesses identifying him with certainty as the killer, so he walked too. Thus, although Krakow’s murder was probably on Siegel’s orders to prevent him from turning informant, officially, his case remains unsolved.
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