5 Fearsome Rental Killers You've Never Heard Of

We have already checked here at Mega Curioso some of the youngest killers in the world, the most famous serial killers and even those who have made the most victims throughout history. So, as these cases always impress us, we've put together some of the most fearsome rental killers from the List Verse site selection.

While some choose to kill with their own hands, there are those who hire professionals to do the dirty work. Of course, most of the gunslingers you'll see on this list have something to do with the mafia, drug trafficking and other illegal activities. Check out a little more about the history and the end of some of the most barbaric hired killers ever known.

1) Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel

You might say that temperamental Bugsy was a successful professional in the field he chose to pursue. Unlike the other cases you'll check, Siegel was one of the few mafia bosses who did the dirty work alone. For this reason, he committed robberies and murders first for the Bug & Meyer mobster group and then for the National Crime Union, which was the name the press gave to organized crime.

Of all the cases in which he was involved, Benjamin Siegel is suspected of having participated in the bloody attack on Joe “The Boss” Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano in 1931. Together with Louise “Lepke” Buchalter, Bugsy is considered to be one of the initiators of the formation. of the movement that became known as the most barbaric murder squad ever created: the Murder, Inc.

Siegel also helped transform the Jewish mafia into a unified empire along with the Italian faction, which was led by Lucky Luciano. Interestingly, the gunslinger was the victim of a hired killer in 1947. Benjamin Siegel was killed while reading a newspaper at his girlfriend's house in California, and the crime was never solved. Moe Greene's character from "The Godfather" was based on Bugsy Siegel.

2) Harry “Happy” Maione

Legend has it that Harry Maione earned this wry nickname "Happy" because of the close expression he always held. Maione was one of many killers who worked for Murder, Inc., representing the Italian side of the mafia, making it to the top and being one of the highest paid professionals of the time.

Although lawyers and court officials have difficulty identifying which killer killed which victim - because gunmen always worked in small groups of two or three people - Maione has been accused of personally committing at least 12 murders since 1931.

The gunslinger was sentenced to the electric chair for the murder of Georg Rudnick, who was actually killed by his namesake Harry Strauss - another hired killer we will see next - in 1937 with 63 blows to an ice pick. Happy's participation consisted only in ending the victim by driving a cleaver into his skull. Since the officers could execute the killers in pairs, Maione took her last breath alongside Frank “The Dasher” Abbandando, who also worked for Murder, Inc.

3) Harry “Pittsburgh Phil” Strauss

Given the coldness and brutality of the crimes committed by members of Murder, Inc. in the 1930s, there is debate about who would be the worst killer. For his bloodlust, Harry Strauss was certainly on that list. The story goes that Pep - as he was called by some - was capable of cruelly killing a person, sitting down to dinner shortly thereafter and still joking about the situation with his fellow gunmen.

When police discovered that Strauss and other gunmen had been killing people at the behest of the mafia for nearly a decade, officers filed a conviction. Pittsburgh Phil offered to work as a government informant, but was unsuccessful. So he appealed to insanity.

The court did not believe in the sudden change in behavior that came with beard and shaggy hair and murmurs in court. Like many Murder, Inc. killers, Harry Strauss was sentenced to the electric chair and died in 1941.

4) Joseph Meldish

In addition to the terrible killers who were linked to Murder, Inc., there are other gunmen who made their name in the criminal world. With a natural talent for causing fear in people, Joseph Meldish worked as a hit man for about 20 years for the mafia virtually unnoticed. As a member of a Purple Gang affiliate in the Bronx, New York, Meldish began his career as a killer early at age 18.

The gunslinger was so good that he often served the Lucchese and the Genovese — two New York Mafia families. But the once untouchable criminal has been charged with at least 40 murders since the 1970s. In 2011, at 55, all of Meldish's discretion disappeared and he was convicted. His brother Michael - who was also involved with the mafia - was shot in the head in his car in the Bronx in 2013.

5) Jose Manuel Martinez

Another of the most recent hit men is Jose Martinez, who was charged with the murder of nine people. The point is that the California-based gunslinger revealed to authorities that he had taken the lives of about 40 people, most of them at the request of the Mexican drug cartels.

From 1980 until his capture in 2014, the professional assassin coolly imposed drug trafficking in central California. Still, Martinez does not fit the profile of the typical gunslinger - it seems that he could be more easily mistaken for just an old loner.

Local officials believe he may be suspected of a series of murders that include shooting a man in his car and another man who was at home lying in bed while his four children were at home. And like every trusted rental killer, Martinez refuses to reveal which cartels hire his services.