There are gangster names that are recognized by all of us. These names bring shivers to our spines.
But there are also funny gangster names with unusual origins. Yet, these do not make infamous mob hits any less terrifying.
Here is a list of the 20 most memorable, funny nicknames which hide horrible crimes.
Funny Gangster Names: Men Who Live For Crimes
A man covered by his trench coat walking in the night. A figure with a gloomy profile hides a powerful weapon, with his finger always on the trigger. A gentleman whose rule is to commit crimes. Sounds familiar?
The gangsters are among fascinating figures of popular culture. Thanks to Joe Valachi, his memoirs, The Valachi Papers, and the movie about his life, the existence of an open secret was confirmed. The underground organizations controlled the black market and operated with strict codes.
Valachi's testimony was so mediatized that the term La Cosa Nostra and other elements that surrounded the unknown world of the Mafia soon became widespread. But famous gangster names are not reserved for the Italian-American phenomenon only.
The Rise Of The Mafia
The origins of the Mafia date back at least to the second half of the 19th century. This was in Italy when Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the island of Sicily as the new Italian Nation.
The incorporation of Sicily into Italy brought a sequence of murders, robberies, and settling scores. But, above all, that was a time of continuous revolts against the Italian invasion. It was during these years that the Sicilian Mafia was first heard of.
With the appearance of the new Italian state, the Sicilian Mafia arose. This was similar to the rise of the Yakuza in modern Japan. Or the rise of the Russian Mafia and the fall of the USSR. The development of industrialization and trade allowed the birth and empowerment of the Sicilian Mafia.
After establishing Italian fascism, the official of Palermo, Cesare Mori, used the extraordinary powers granted to him to prosecute the Mafia. This forced many gangsters to flee abroad. Many of them escaped to the United States.
Arriving in North America, the immigrants translated the schemes and practices of the Italian Mafia into illegal activities. In this way, the American mafia organizations flourished in the 1920s.
Gangster Names
Over the years, the term mafia has become quite popular. It is currently used to refer to large organized crime groups with similar behavior. Among them are the Mexican Mafia, the Serbian Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Chinese triad, the Japanese Yakuza, and various drug cartels.
Al Capone, Bugsy Siegel, Machine Gun Kelly (George Celino Barnes), and Mickey Cohen are some of the legendary gangster names in the history of the Mafia. These gangster names have one thing in common: they evoke fear and horror in others.
Underworld greats can't always choose their nickname. But once they have one, they're usually known and feared in the scene. Below we explain who is behind "Schnitzel-Walter" and "Teos Soup Cook" – and how they got their gangster names.
Funny Gangster Name No. 1: Schnitzel Walter
Walter Burkhard or "Schnitzel-Walter" worked as a deboner in a Frankfurt slaughterhouse. He got his gangster name there, as Schnitzel means a thin slice of meat. He was head of the now-banned Hell's Angels charter Westend.
Members of the club control parts of Frankfurt's red-light district. "Schnitzel-Walter" runs several brothels. Burkhard said:
"My shops are clean. I don't force anyone to buy anything! We ensure order in the station district with hired security. Prostitution is allowed in Germany."
Funny Gangster Name No. 2: Thrombosis Paul
Paul E. is called "Paul with thrombosis" because of a vein condition. The former Frankfurt neighborhood gangster lived on a Finca in the town of Lloret de Vistalegre on Mallorca.
He was arrested in 2013 during a rocker raid on Mallorca and is considered a close confidante of the imprisoned Hell's Angels boss Frank Hanebuth.
Funny Gangster Name No. 3: Trash
For years, Christian M. was president of the Hells Angels in the Düsseldorf area.
In October 2013, his offshoot "Midland" was dissolved. His gangster name "trash" is based on his last name.
Funny Gangster Name No. 4: Teo's Soup Cook
Santiago Meza Lopez was only called "Teo's Soup Cook." This Mexican's specialty was dissolving more than 300 corpses in caustic soda until his arrest in 2009.
His job was to make people disappear in the name of his boss Teodoro Garcia Simental.
Funny Gangster Name No. 5: The Lucky One
Hernandez Lechuga ran the cartel's bloody dealings in southern and eastern Mexico. A bounty of 15 million pesos (800,000 euros) had been placed on the Zeta founding member, nicknamed "The Lucky One."
In Cordoba, in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, elite investigators snapped and arrested the dangerous drug boss. Since he is in prison, his gangster name doesn't fit anymore. How he got it is not known.
Funny Gangster Name No. 6: The Bald Man
Drug lord Mario Armando Ramirez Trevino, or "The Bald Man," has been arrested in the town of Río Bravo near the Texas border. Ramirez was a leader of the notorious Gulf Cartel.
Why the nickname? He has just a little or hardly any hair on his head.
Funny Gangster Name No. 7: The Craziest
Drug lord Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, also known as "El Mas Loco" (The Craziest), was the founder of the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel.
He wrote a kind of a Mafia bible called Pensamientos de El Mas Loco (Thoughts of the craziest). In it, he justified the brutal treatment of his enemies.
Funny Gangster Name No. 8: La Barbie
Edgar Valdez Villarreal, or "La Barbie," is an alleged drug trafficker who worked with Mexican drug cartels, most notably the Beltran Leyva cartel.
His football coach nicknamed him "La Barbie" after being called Ken because of his good looks.
Funny Gangster Name No. 9: Lacquer Shoes
Dietmar Traub was a Hamburg pimp in the 1980s.
As the name suggests, "Lacquer Shoes" had a crazy passion for "extravagant shoes." Traub was shot in 1984 by St. Pauli killer Werner Pinzner.
Funny Gangster Name No. 10: The Beautiful Misha
In the 1970s, Michael Luchting from Stuttgart was only called "The beautiful Mischa" in St. Pauli. Why? He was a handsome playboy who liked to party and drive expensive cars. He was also responsible for recruiting women in the pimp gang "GMBH."
Luchting was found dead in a forest near Thieshope near Hamburg in 1982.
Funny Gangster Name No. 11: The Cigar
Carmine, "The Cigar" Galante, was the leader of the Bonanno family of La Cosa Nostra in New York.
Galante was an avid smoker. Even when other Mafiosi shot him in 1979, he had a cigar in the corner of his mouth.
Funny Gangster Name No. 12: Corvette Ralf
Ralf Kuhne quickly got his nickname recognized in the pimp scene in St. Pauli.
He was called "Corvette-Ralf," as he loved the US sports car Corvette. He, too, died from the bullets of the notorious St. Pauli killer Werner Pinzner.
Funny Gangster Name No. 13: Frieda Schulz
Until the mid-1970s, Wilfried "Frieda" Schulz pulled the strings in Hamburg's Kiez.
He was the Godfather of St. Pauli. His vanity earned him this nickname: "Frieda" is said to be his name, based on a flower seller.
Funny Gangster Name No. 14: Scarface
Al Capone had a large scar, earning him the nickname "Scarface."
In 1917, he was flirting with the sister of gangster Frank Gallucio in a New York bar. Gallucio, already drunk, pulled a knife across his face.
Funny Gangster Name No. 15: Stupid Tunn
Red light district giant Anton Dumm was better known in Cologne in the 1960s as "Stupid Tunn." Tunn was his Cologne gangster name.
In December 1965, Dumm was arrested and later sentenced to three years in prison for pimping, among other things. He is even said to have been hired as Romy Schneider's bodyguard.
Funny Gangster Name No. 16: Schafers Nose
Anyone who sees Heinrich Schafer doesn't have to wonder for long what his nickname means: "Schafer's nose."
The man with the extra-large nose was a Cologne prostitution chain legend. He began his career as a feared thug and bouncer, then quickly became one of the most powerful pimps in town.
Funny Gangster Name No. 17: Sonny Black
Dominic Napolitano was nicknamed "Sonny Black." He was made famous by the mafia film Donnie Brasco.
The Mafia great had naturally blonde hair. But he turned gray at a somewhat young age, so he dyed his hair black to cover it. That's how he got the nickname Sonny Black.
Funny Gangster Name No. 18: Crazy Horse
John Joseph Gotti, Jr. had several gangster names - El Dapper Don, Teflon Don, Johnny Boy. But Crazy Horse is probably the most amusing one.
Crazy Horse Gotti worked his way up to become the boss of the Gambino crime family when he took out Paul Castellano.
He was a serious trader whose expensive tastes and easy smile earned him friends and influence. It wasn't until the '90s that the serious charges were upheld, giving him a life sentence behind bars.
Funny Gangster Name No. 19: Bumpy
Ellsworth Johnson was known as "Bumpy" due to a bump on the back of his head. He helped break the racial barrier in crime during the 1930s as one of the most infamous black mobsters in running numbers, drugs, guns, and anything else you could want.
Respected and loved, Johnson set the standard for smooth, charming assassins in the age of public enemies. He is also known as "The Professor" for his love of books and philosophy. Another nickname is The Real Godfather of Harlem.
Funny Gangster Name No. 20: Superfly
Frank Lucas was an intelligent heroin dealer who started his mob. He was so adored and respected by those in his neighborhood that it was not uncommon for him to execute people on the street in broad daylight with no one choosing to testify against him.
A devoted family man and pillar of his community, Lucas showed true honor among thieves and is famous for his kindness, sincerity, and kindness and his uncompromising criminal practices.
