Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, center, handcuffed to J. Edgar Hoover, on the left, with another man on the right, at entrance to courthouse. Louis Buchalter (February 6, 1897 - March 4, 1944) was an American mobster and head of the Mafia hit squad Murder, Inc. during the 1930s. He was one of the premier labor racketeers in New York City during that era. Buchalter became the only major mob boss to receive the death penalty in the United States after being convicted of murder. John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 - May 2, 1972) was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation - predecessor to the FBI - in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972 at age 77. Photographed by Al Aumuller of the New York World-Telegram & Sun Newspaper, 1939.