Burton Turkus was born in Brooklyn in 1902 to an immigrant watchmaker and a seamstress. After working the night shift as a telegraph operator at Western Union to pay for his courses, Turkus got his law degree through New York University and was admitted to the bar in 1925.

In 1940, Turkus was appointed Chief of the Homicide Division in the District Attorney of Kings County's office. It was at this time when Turkus took part in one the D.A. office's most famous cases, the "Murder, Inc." prosecution. He personally prosecuted many of the crime syndicate's leading members and obtained nine first-degree murder convictions, making him one of the nation's authorities on organized crime and racketeering. Through his success, Turkus became something of a local celebrity in Brooklyn and beyond, regularly appearing in newspapers and magazines, publishing books, articles, and hosting his own television show entitled Mr. Arsenic in 1952.

In 1942, Turkus ran for the position of County Judge without success, but played major roles in the campaigns of Thomas Dewey for Governor of New York in 1945 and President in 1948, serving as Chairman of the Citizens Non-Partisans Committee. Turkus was promoted to Chief Assistant District Attorney in 1945.Turkus also served as a member of the New York State Board of Mediation from 1947-1957, where he arbitrated and mediated in nearly a thousand labor management controversies for a diverse range of industries. Turkus led the way in implementing "instant arbitration," which allowed settlements to be made on labor disputes without a formal hearing.

Using his experience and expertise, Turkus participated in numerous projects to educate and entertain the country on the subjects of Murder Inc. and criminal prosecution, among other related topics. A film based on the Murder Inc. trials starring Humphrey Bogart entitled The Enforcer, on which Turkus served as a consultant was released in 1951. That same year, Turkus's book Murder Inc – The Story of the Syndicate was published and became a non-fiction bestseller. The book was the basis for the second feature film based on the trials, simply entitled Murder Inc. In the following years after publishing his memoir Turkus wrote for numerous publications including Readers Digest, Look Magazine, and New York Journal American. In 1953 Turkus headed the Advanced School for Detectives of the State of New Jersey, the first school of its kind to instruct law enforcement officers on the latest techniques in the apprehension of criminals and their prosecution, where he served as Director In Charge.

Turkus continued working on cases through the 1970s and died on November 22nd, 1982, leaving behind a wife and son.