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ere '‘Gurrah'’ Shapiro Dies ‘at 50 “Continued from Page 8 “ar ted as a suspect in the killing of August (Little Augie) ‘Pisano and Jack (Legs) Dia- mond, but wag released each time for lack of evidence. © . He fad long ~been a sufferer trom a heart ailment. At the tme of his last sentence, he was so overwrought that he swallowed seven “booster” pills before de- claring he was just being perse- cuted, “because I'm a big shot.” He is survived by his wife, Anne, of 1415 E. 45th St, Brooklyn. -4 native of Minsk, Russia, Shapiro’s age was ‘always uncer- ‘tain, various records indicating ‘he was born in 1895, 1896 and i899, His own opinion was that ‘he was born in 1897. He came to the United States in 1907. . nickname, “Gurrah!” was afontraction of a favorite phrase picked up as he started to ’ his living by violence and i ats of violence. It was his|piro was arrested 17 times, b way of saying, “Get out of here!” ‘only imprisoned three times. TOE tem ae a Re nh “eck i —— Jos police record -dateq from Fat and lazy, but. violent, Sha- piro had a variety of “fronts,” but all were operated in the same way—extorting money from other businesses in the same line by threatening to kill their proprie- tors, beat them up, throw acid on their stock, bomb their prem- isses_or stir up fake “labor trouble.” . After starting in on pusheart peddlers in -his- youth, he met Lepke. Together they used such methods successfully in slot ma- chines, restaurants, furs, clothing and narcotics, 7 ; Shapiro skipped bail of $10,000 in 1938, following conviction on _a Federal charge of trust law ¢ of “Pretty Boy” Floyd_and Alyin | Ka the Midwest,_until. he qfcided. “Tm tired of having the rmen_so close to me,” and sur- rendered. uring his entire career, Sh Hn Sing Sing; Was a 'Lifer'. violation ..and__consorted with i Such _glamorized_pangs as those |