The Barrel Murder April 17, 1903 The Mafia and Counterfeiting in New York City

Counterfeiters operated in the early years of the 20th Century in New York's Lower East Side. Perhaps the best known of these was the Giuseppe Morello gang which was based on Prince Street in Manhattan. In April 1903 a Buffalo resident named Benedetto Madonia was found stuffed in a barrel on the East Side. His murder was traced to the counterfeiting ring which was notorious for the $5 bills it regularly passed. Twelve suspects were arrested and detained as witnesses. A number of those arrested had seen Madonia on the last night of his life. They met him in a butcher shop on Stanton Street.