Elena Semander

popular name: Hymie Weiss

date_of_death: October 11, 1926

age: 28

cause_of_death: Homicide - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Chicago mobster and a tough rival of legendary mobster Al Capone. Hymie Weiss was thought to be the first to use the infamous words 'Lets take him for a ride' when planning a hit on someone. Folklore has it that Weiss was the only mob rival that Capone was truly afraid of. Hymie died in a hail of machine gun bullets known as the "Holy Name Cathedral Massacre" seeking further revenge by Capone after the killing of his boss, Dean O'Banion.

popular name: Vincent Flemmi

date_of_death: October 16, 1979

age: 44

cause_of_death: Drug overdose - heroin

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: There's only one Boston mob hitman and psychopath more vicious that Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi (long time associate of Whitey Bulger) and that was his brother Vincent "Jimmy the Bear" Flemmi. Suspected or convicted of dozens of murders throughout the greater Boston area, Vincent, along with mob associates Joe "The Animal" Barboza and Johnny “The Butcher” Martorano (whom has over 50 confirmed kills under his belt), was a free-lance hitman, bank robber and muscle for the Winter Hill Gang and the Patriarca crime family. He was also a long-time rat and informant for the FBI and helped pin the murder of Edward "Teddy" Deegan on four rival members of the Patriarca family when, in fact, it was Barboza and Flemmi who murdered Deegan. Shortly after the murder of Deegan he told another associate, "all I want to do now is kill people ... it's better than hitting (robbing) banks." In 1975, while serving an 8-to-18-year sentence for assault with intent to commit murder, Flemmi received one of the state's first weekend furloughs from prison. Vincent had immediately fled, and was not apprehended until three years later in Maryland, Maine. A year later Vincent died of a drug overdose in his prison cell.

popular name: James McLean

date_of_death: October 31, 1965

age: 35

cause_of_death: Gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: James "Buddy" McLean was a feared and respected Irish-American mobster from Somerville, Massachusetts, best known as the original leader of the Winter Hill Gang. Born in 1930, McLean rose through the ranks of Boston's underworld in the 1950s and early 1960s, earning a reputation as a tough street fighter and savvy criminal strategist. Under his leadership, the Winter Hill Gang became a dominant force in Boston’s organized crime scene, engaging in activities like bookmaking, loan sharking, and extortion. His criminal career reached a turning point when he became involved in a deadly turf war with the rival McLaughlin Brothers gang from Charlestown, igniting the Irish Gang War—a brutal series of killings that gripped Boston’s underworld. On October 30, 1965, McLean was gunned down outside a Somerville bar by a McLaughlin associate, Stevie Hughes, marking a pivotal moment in the gang war. His death further escalated the violence, but it also solidified his status as a legendary figure in Boston mob history. After his murder, Howie Winter took over the Winter Hill Gang, continuing the legacy McLean had started. His funeral attracted over 4,000 mourners and James McLean's final resting place can be found at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.