PSA: Don’t Anger The Wrong Guys, Or You Might End Up With A Pair Of Cement Shoes

When it comes to vintage crime noir movies, nothing is more iconic than the threat of giving someone a pair of cement shoes.

That is, encasing a person’s feet in concrete and dropping them into a body of water. While Hollywood co-opted this extreme form of mafia justice on the silver screen, it’s unclear exactly how widespread the practice has been throughout history.

But a recent story out of Brooklyn, New York, shows that when it comes to methods of disposal, the mafia says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Earlier this week, police discovered the body of a 28-year-old career criminal wrapped in black plastic bags on Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. The man had his arms tied behind his back and his body was weighed down with cement shoes.

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New York City Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told the press that the victim had his feet “submerged in poured concrete,” and that it was “obviously a homicide.”

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However, those pouring the concrete allowed a little too much air to get in during the process, which caused the body to float to the surface and wash up on the shore.

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Traditionally, cement shoes are made by putting a victim’s feet through the holes of a cinder block and then filling those holes with concrete, but buckets are also used. It’s unclear how exactly this victim’s “shoes” were constructed.

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(via DNA Info)

At the time of this writing, police have identified the man who was killed but are withholding his name until family members can be notified. Let this be a lesson to never cross someone who can legitimately threaten you with the possibility of using cement shoes.