"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." - Chicago Gangster Ted Newberry. Rubbed out January 7, 1933

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Bell tolls for Bell

Twenty-two year old Brooklyn gangster Benjamin “The Bell” Meyerson was walking with his girlfriend in Brownsville on this date back in 1931. When the couple reached the corner a car pulled up to the curb, two men jumped out and began firing at “The Bell”. Two bullets slammed into his head and he dropped dead as the gunmen escaped.

The Bell had recently served a prison term for burglary and was currently out on $10,000 bail for shooting and wounding a hood named Max “Coco” Prince at Coney Island. As for motives this killing took place less than a week after Brownsville big shot Meyer Shapiro was bumped off by the future Murder Inc. boys. Perhaps the Bell was a Shapiro gang alumnus and was sent packing along with Meyer. Or maybe it was some of Coco's boys evening the score.

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