"Li bruceremo!"
"We will burn you!"
Pithy, as mottoes go, direct and to the point. And for the immigrant Italian communities in New York City during the first half of the recent century, a terrifying one as well.
For they knew better than anyone the battle cry of the infamous Good Killers mob, a gang of Sicilian assassins who, for a price, would kill anyone, at any time, and in any place. By 1921, police credited the Good Killers with as many as 125 murders, not just in the city but around the country as well. The underworld knew that the gang could be counted on to reach out and touch someone in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Cleveland or Detroit with bone-chilling efficiency. At their peak, even the Torrio outfit in Chicago regularly made use of the Good Killers' services.
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