Cement shoes, concrete shoes, or Chicago overcoat [1] is a method of murder or body disposal, usually associated with criminals such as the Mafia or gangs. It involves weighing down the victim, who may be dead or alive, with concrete and throwing them into water in the hope the body will never be found. In the US, the term has become a tongue-in-cheek euphemism for a threat of death by criminals. While a common trope in fiction, only one real-life case has ever been authenticated.
Cement shoes involve first binding, incapacitating or killing the victim and then placing each foot into a bucket or box, which is then filled with wet concrete (a mixture of cement powder, rock, water and sand), or even simply cement powder and water. Typically in films and novels, the victim is still alive as they watch the concrete harden, heightening the torture and drama. [2] [3] After the concrete sets, the victim is thrown into a body of water such as a river, lake or the ocean.
Despite being a theme in Hollywood movies like Lady in Cement and books like E. L. Doctorow's Billy Bathgate , whether such a cumbersome and time-consuming method of execution was practical remained in question. [2] Cement takes many hours or even days to fully harden and, until 2016, there was never a documented case—although crime historian Thomas Reppetto said there have probably been real-life examples that have never been found. [4]
In May 2016, the first and only documented case of "cement shoes" was reported. The body of Brooklyn gang member Peter Martinez, aged 28, better known on the streets as Petey Crack, washed up near Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. His head was wrapped in duct tape, the immediate cause of his death. His feet and shins were encased in concrete set inside a five-gallon bucket. His body floated to the shore due to air in the concrete because it was not given enough time to dry before being thrown into the ocean. [5] [6] [7]
Concrete has been used as a weight to dispose of a body. In 1941, the body of Philadelphia racketeer Johnnie Goodman was found by crab fisherman in a New Jersey creek, weighed down with an 18-kilogram (40-pound) block of concrete. [2] On August 24, 1964, the body of Ernest Rupolo, aged 52, a trigger man who informed on Vito Genovese in 1944, was found in Jamaica Bay, New York, with concrete blocks tied to his legs. [8] It is also speculated that bootlegger Rocco Perri was murdered by being fitted with cement shoes and thrown into Hamilton Harbour in 1944. [9]
The French Army allegedly used cement shoes on Algerians who were murdered on so-called "death flights" during the Algerian War. The victims were called "crevettes Bigeard " 'Bigeard shrimp' after General Marcel Bigeard, who allegedly ordered the procedure. Bigeard put his victims' feet in a basin, poured quick-setting cement in and threw the person into the sea from the top of a helicopter, said Paul Teitgen, secretary general of the French police in Algiers in 1957, and notable opponent of torture during the war. [10]
Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that cures over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most widely used building material. Its usage worldwide, ton for ton, is twice that of steel, wood, plastics, and aluminium combined.
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete. Concrete is the most widely used material in existence and is behind only water as the planet's most-consumed resource.
Mortar is a workable paste which hardens to bind building blocks such as stones, bricks, and concrete masonry units, to fill and seal the irregular gaps between them, spread the weight of them evenly, and sometimes to add decorative colors or patterns to masonry walls. In its broadest sense, mortar includes pitch, asphalt, and soft mud or clay, as those used between mud bricks, as well as cement mortar. The word "mortar" comes from Old French mortier, "builder's mortar, plaster; bowl for mixing." (13c.).
Wuḍūʾ is the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritual purification, or ablution. The 4 Fardh (Mandatory) acts of Wudu are: washing the face, then the arms, then wiping the head, then washing or wiping the feet, and doing these in order, without any big breaks between them.
An orthopedic cast, or simply cast, is a shell, frequently made from plaster or fiberglass, that encases a limb to stabilize and hold anatomical structures—most often a broken bone, in place until healing is confirmed. It is similar in function to a splint.
A concrete mixer is a device that homogeneously combines cement, aggregate, and water to form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the components. For smaller volume works, portable concrete mixers are often used so that the concrete can be made at the construction site, giving the workers ample time to use the concrete before it hardens. An alternative to a machine is mixing concrete by hand. This is usually done in a wheelbarrow; however, several companies have recently begun to sell modified tarps for this purpose.
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a watertight retaining structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships.
Death flights are a form of extrajudicial killing in which the victims are dropped to their death from airplanes or helicopters into oceans, large rivers or even mountains. Death flights have been carried out in a number of internal conflicts, including by France during the 1947 Malagasy Uprising and the 1957 Battle of Algiers, and by the junta dictatorship during the Argentine Dirty War between 1976 and 1983. During the Bougainville conflict PNGDF helicopters were used to dispose of corpses that had died under torture, and in some cases, still-living victims.
Rocco Perri was an Italian-born organized crime figure in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was one of the most prominent Prohibition-era crime figures in Canada, and was sometimes referred to as "King of the Bootleggers" and "Canada's Al Capone."
Concrete degradation may have many different causes. Concrete is mostly damaged by the corrosion of reinforcement bars due to the carbonatation of hardened cement paste or chloride attack under wet conditions. Chemical damages are caused by the formation of expansive products produced by various chemical reactions, by aggressive chemical species present in groundwater and seawater, or by microorganisms. Other damaging processes can also involve calcium leaching by water infiltration and different physical phenomena initiating cracks formation and propagation. All these detrimental processes and damaging agents adversely affects the concrete mechanical strength and its durability.
This is a glossary of words related to the Mafia, primarily the Italian American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia.
"Forget about it" is, like, if you agree with someone, you know, like "Raquel Welch is one great piece of ass. Forget about it!" But then, if you disagree, like "A Lincoln is better than a Cadillac? Forget about it!" You know? But then, it's also like if something's the greatest thing in the world, like, "Minchia! Those peppers! Forget about it!" But it's also like saying "Go to hell!" too. Like, you know, like "Hey Paulie, you got a one-inch pecker?" and Paulie says "Forget about it!" Sometimes it just means "Forget about it."
Lupara bianca is a journalistic term for a Mafia murder done in such a way that the victim's body is never found.
Harrison Frank "Marty" Graham is an American serial killer who murdered seven women in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between mid-1986 to mid-1987, keeping their remains in his apartment. In 1988, he was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to death, but his sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment. Graham lived less than a mile and a half away from the home of another murderer, Gary M. Heidnik, who was also arrested during the same time period for similar crimes.
Rajee Narinesingh is an American actress, LGBT activist, author, singer, and reality television personality, most widely known for her appearances on the E! Entertainment docu-series, Botched, which documented her struggles to remove cement from her face, breasts and hips after previous mismanaged fillers by a fake doctor. Most of the concrete-like substance was removed from her face after her second appearance on the show.
The Papalia crime family also known as Papalia 'ndrina, is a 'Ndrangheta organized crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as well as Platì in Southern Italy and Buccinasco in Northern Italy. Another branch of the family is based in Griffith, New South Wales, Australia.
DNA Doe Project is an American nonprofit volunteer organization formed to identify unidentified deceased persons using forensic genealogy. Volunteers identify victims of automobile accidents, homicide, and unusual circumstances and persons who committed suicide under an alias. The group was founded in 2017 by Colleen M. Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press.
Tales from the Hood 3 is a 2020 American horror-comedy anthology film written and directed by Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott and executive-produced by Spike Lee. The film is the sequel to Cundieff and Scott's 2018 horror anthology Tales from the Hood 2.
The Oklahoma City Butcher is an unidentified serial killer who murdered three women between 1976 and 1986 in Oklahoma City. The killer murdered, dismembered, and mutilated young homeless Native American women.
The Gentleman of Heligoland is the nickname of an unidentified decedent whose body was found in the waters off Heligoland in 1994. His body showed signs of having been beaten and his death is a suspected case of murder. Another name for the unidentified decedent is North Sea Man.
"There's a lot of urban legend to this — cement shoes, concrete shoes, concrete gloves, whatever you want to call it — but it all has some sort of truth to it," said Reppetto, [...] "It started somewhere real and took off."