Jewish-American Organized Crime - Research Paper Example

Jewish-American Organized Crime Introduction Organized crime, sometimes known as mafias, mobs, or gangs has long been a part of American history. These crimes have taken on various forms throughout the years and they also have evolved and changed with the times. These organized crimes in the United States have been and are perpetuated by different groups from different migrants, including the Russians, Italians, Jews, Balkans, and Asians. Their activities have included money laundering, murders, theft, robbery, government corruption, smuggling of individuals in and out of the US, and similar crimes. These gangs have a rich and notable history in the US and their goals have transcended to more than just wanting to live the American dream. This paper shall specifically discuss Jewish organized crime in the US. It shall discuss how they came to be, their role in organized crime, how these gangs worked, and how they fell. It shall discuss the various Jewish American organized crime groups, including the True Blue Americans, Plug Uglies, Purple Gangs, Bowery Boys, Brownsville Gang, and Murder Incorporated, and how they became a driving force in the history of American organized crime. This paper shall consider how these gangs came alive in the 1920s and 1930s and how they eventually lost their power before the onset of the Second World War. It shall also explain how some areas were controlled by the Jews, but had Italian mob bosses like Lansky, Rothstein, Siegel, Luciano, Schultz, and Lepke. It shall then establish what the activities of these Jewish gangs were, how they were organized, and what eventually became of these individuals and these Jewish gangs. The rules and laws of these gangs shall also be considered. This paper is being undertaken in order to establish a clear understanding of Jewish American gangs and their evolution, their activities, and their downfall in the United States. Discussion Jewish organized crime in the United States was first seen with the migration of Jews from Easter Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries (City University of New York, n.d). The Jewish mafia was involved in various crimes including racketeering, bootlegging, drugs, and prostitution. Their activities became a major issue among legitimate Jews who lived by the teachings of Judaism because their criminal activities fed the anti-semitic sentiments and the anti-immigrant sentiments which the other Jews and migrants faced (CUNY, n.d). And yet, Jewish organized crime grew to significant proportions in the US, rivaling the numbers of the Italian mafia. In the 1920s, Jewish-American mafia-related criminal activities increased among the poor Jews. Their activities and their membership soon included other criminal activities, spurred on by Prohibition laws. Among the children of the Jewish and Italian migrants, their criminal activities were almost equal to the legitimate opportunities within their grasp (CUNY, n.d). Their criminal activities reached its peak in the early 1900s in New York and arrests revealed that about a sixth of the felons were Jews. Moreover, these second generation Jewish migrants worked with other second generation Irish and Italian migrants to perpetuate their various “rackets” (Foner, 2006). The Jewish-American mafia has mostly been driven by poverty, and many criminal activities have been spurred on by poverty among other ethnic migrants. Moreover, not many of the Jewish mafia members were actually observing the prescriptions of their Judaism faith (American Jewish Historical Society, n.d). Like other organized crime groups, their presence and their activities gradually faded after the Second World War. Various Jewish-American migrants have continued their association with other mafia personalities, however the organizations themselves slowly dissolved. It is nevertheless important to recall how some of the Jewish American gangs which were significant in the past developed and how they gradually faded into obscurity. Jewish-American organized crime in the US included various organized groups, like the Plug Uglies, the Purple Gang, the Bowery Boys, and Murder, Incorporated. These gangs had their own history and their own activities which earned them notorious and deadly reputations across the US, especially in the areas where they were known to operate. Some of these gangs are hereby discussed below. The Plug Uglies were a Jewish street gang which mostly carried out their criminal activities in the western region of Baltimore, Maryland during the mid-1800s (Haskins, 1974). They were formed after the Mount Vernon Hook and Ladder Company was established. The members of the group were primarily runners with the Mount Vernon Company and their leaders included John English and James Morgan (Haskins, 1974). This group was valuable to politicians who wanted to control the polls during election days; and they were significant players during election riots. As a result, they earned their notoriety as a group due to their highly publicized activities (Melton, 2005). They were also known to be involved in assassinations in Baltimore, including that of a police officer. Plug Uglies member Henry Gambrill was accused of this crime. This killing was one of the most sensational crimes in the region in that era (Melton, 2005). Their violent activities had a significant impact on Baltimore as it prompted reform in the political and governmental processes. These reforms included the establishment of modern policing, as well as a paid and professional fire department. Court and election reforms were also implemented in Baltimore (Melton, 2005). These reforms, along with the onset of the American Civil War, eventually and effectively, caused the break-up of the Plug Uglies. The Purple Gang was also another notorious organized crime group in the US. They operated during the 1920s and on to the early 1930s mostly in the Detroit area. They were known to be the only Jewish mob group which effectively controlled the criminal world of a major American city (J-Grit, 2007). This gang was mostly made up purely of Jews residing in the Detroit area; hardly were other ethnic groups allowed as members. They were involved in bootlegging, hijacking, drugs, gambling, as well as a significant number of murders. This group was mostly formed in the neighborhood known as Paradise Valley in Detroit, with its members placed in the Bishop School as problem children. Members of this gang mostly had a history of petty thievery and pick-pocketing, and in their older years, they graduated to loan sharking, extortion, and hijacking (J-Grit, 2007). Prohibition triggered the rise of this group into full power in Detroit. They also imported many of their ‘muscle-men’ to strong arm and intimidate the people. Their most notable activities included the 1927 Cleaners and Dyers War; the 1927 Miraflores Massacre; the 1928 murder of police officer Vivian Welch; the 1930 murder of Arthur Mixon; the 1931 Collingwood Massacre; and the 1937 Harry Millman assassination (J-Grit, 2007). The downfall of the gang was caused by various factors. Infighting was one of these factors as members cheated each other in terms of profits and by overstepping each other’s turfs and boundaries. As a result, many killings within the group became apparent, gaining much unwanted attention from the authorities who sensed infighting within the group (J-Grit, 2007). As a result, the authorities were able to charge and prosecute many of the gang members. The Sicilian mob also sensed the weakness of the group and eventually overwhelmed the gang, effectively ending the gang’s power and reign across Baltimore (J-Grit, 2007). The Bowery Boys were a Jewish, anti-Irish and anti-Catholic gang which mostly operated north of the Five Points district of New York City (Adams, 2005). It was mostly made up of single males who frequented brothels, attired mostly in black stovepipe hats and flared trousers. They mostly clashed with Irish gangs within the Five Points and associated well with the ‘Know-Nothing’ political party. They also had various skirmishes with the O’Connell Guards who were associated with the Tammany Hall (Adams, 2005). They also participated in the New York Draft Riots in 1863, looting with other rival gangs. Towards the end of the 1860s however, this mob group would divide into various factions causing the group to gradually lose its power and membership. One of the largest Jewish-American mafia groups in the US in the years leading up the Second World War was the Murder, Inc. group which was a major player in the US at that time. They were known to be able to control and buy out judges and politicians; and they not only lived up to their name by committing murders, but they also took part in numerous other criminal acts, which often involved bootlegging, gambling, and similar crimes (Pierce, 1998). While other Jewish gangs treaded lightly in terms of criminal activities, Murder, Inc. hardly did anything lightly as it traded in murder and other vicious activities. The fact that most of its members were considered hit-men ensured the viciousness and notoriety of their activities. In fact, the group was actually reputed to have killed about 1000 individuals in the US (Sugarman, 2003). Murder, Inc. was managed like a business and like a well-organized criminal group. It was run in many back rooms of known business establishments, from candy-stores to all-night cafeterias. It was headed by Jews, but it included Italian members as well. But of worthy note were its leaders which included Meyer Lansky, Benny Siegel, Lucky Luciano, Dutch Schultz, and Louis Lepke (Sugarman, 2003). Lansky was one of its most influential leaders, and together with Bugsy Siegel formulated Murder, Inc. He was considered a brilliant ‘mastermind,’ minding the business aspects of the mafia and all other management matters. Lansky came from a life of poverty and hardship and he learned how to gamble at a very young age after passing by many craps table in his neighborhood. He was driven by the need to help his family, especially his mother. He resolved to indeed help his family by playing craps games and winning such games, by hook or by crook (Pierce, 1998). As he started winning these games, he also started earning money. This motivated him further to live a criminal life. He was no longer a poor son of a Russian immigrant; he was starting to hurdle through poverty and to give his family a better life (Sugarman, 2003). As a migrant, he was also bullied around by his fellow migrants, including the older Italian and Irish gang members. This compelled him to come up with a means of protecting himself and others from such bullying. This eventually led him to organized crime. In the 1930s, Lansky was involved in less criminal activities by breaking up rallies of Nazi supporters in New York (Lacey, 1991). During the Second World War, he assisted in the Office of Naval Intelligence’s Operation Underworld where criminals were recruited to detect German infiltrators as well as submarine saboteurs. When Murder, Inc. slowly faded into obscurity in the 1940s and 1950s, Lansky tried to live a low profile life in Miami to the frustration of the FBI trailing him (Lacey, 1991). He fled to Israel to evade tax evasion charges, and two years after he was deported back to the US. He was however acquitted of his crimes in 1974. He spent the next years of his life in Miami Beach and died of lung cancer in 1983 (Lacey, 1991). Arnold Rothstein was also one of the most influential leaders of organized crime in America and was largely influential to Murder, Incorporated as an organized crime group. He was involved in almost anything in the mafia, including illegal gambling and selling alcohol during Prohibition (Pierce, 1998). He was also into narcotics. He accepted various members into his mafia, including Jews, Irish, Italians, and Blacks. He even accepted women. He was involved in many night clubs and cabarets. He also bankrolled many bootleggers, giving them trucks and illegal merchandise (Blog Spot, 2006). He also provided manpower and protection for these bootleggers. When things went wrong, he also provided lawyers and bail for these bootleggers. He was killed in 1928 in New York City. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was a gangster very much associated with gambling and Las Vegas. He was considered a hothead as he sometimes shot first and asked questions later. He was also one of the main movers in starting gambling in Las Vegas. He convinced his friend Meyer Lansky to finance The Flamingo, a casino in Las Vegas; however, this venture would fail. Within a month of its opening, it would close (PBS, 2005). He was given a chance to reopen, however he was already a hunted man due to his previous mafia activities. He was murdered by an unknown gunman while he was reading the evening paper in his girlfriend Virginia Hill’s living room (PBS, 2005). On his death, Syndicate leaders Berman, Greenbaum, and Rosen took over The Flamingo and turned it into a profitable venture. Its success spurred the development of the strip and its casino resorts (PBS, 2005). Dutch Schutz was the only mob boss to be killed by the organization itself (Sugarman, 2003). He mostly bootlegged beer, earning him the nickname Beer Baron. He was hunted down by the organization after he decided to have Tom Dewey, the Attorney General killed, breaking the primary rule of the organization which was to only “kill our own.” And Tom Dewey was not theirs, he was a government official who was actively seeking the downfall of the mafia (Sugarman, 2003). His death would have brought unwanted attention to the organization. Schutz was shot and later died of his wounds in New Jersey. Louis Buchalter was also another one of the former leaders of Murder, Inc. He had a rough childhood and also came from a life of poverty. He was mostly involved in the labor rackets, inheriting the labor racketeering activities of Rothstein (Kaellis, 2008)). At the fall of the organization, he was one of those who went into hiding. He would later give himself up to authorities. He was sentenced to death row, and later executed in 1944. These were the notorious leaders of the Jewish mafia who played a major role in running and directing various criminal activities across America during the 1920s to the pre-WWII period. They have gained much notoriety from their activities and through these activities they have made organized crime a compelling organization in America. Most of the early Jewish gangs in America operated also in New York’s Lower East side. Shady Jewish activities were already existent during this time and the organized crime would later build on these activities, alongside poor conditions for these migrants (Fried, 1980). These gangs were formed mostly by young Jewish adults who were originally involved in petty crimes by stealing from push carts as slum adolescents, extorting money from store owners, and by “schlamming” or maiming (Fried, 1980). They wanted to earn money quickly and the criminal lifestyle was the only way for them to earn such money. Their presence in American society sent a crime wave across New York in the 1920s and their activities were also echoed by other gangster groups, including the Irish and the Italian second generation mafia (Fried, 1980). Some of these activities were greatly exaggerated and some were proven to be true. Nevertheless, whether or not they are true, these Jewish-American mafia groups impacted significantly on America in the pre-WWI era. Jewish-American mobsters would like Dopey Benny Fein and Joe Rosenzweig involved themselves in labor racketeering, supporting business owners or labor unions, acting as ‘strong arming’ men (Fried, 1980). Rothstein is known best for evolving these street gangs into an organized crime group, which is managed like a corporation. Rothstein understood the capitalism which dominated in the 1920s and 1930s era, especially in the very face of Prohibition. Unlike Lansky, Lepke, and Siegel who came from poverty, Rothstein came from a life of privilege and as such knew how to move within the system very much like a corporate businessman (Blog Spot, 2006). He transformed the rugged gang thug in the streets into a well-dressed businessman. From such well-dressed countenance would come the stereotypical image of the gang member often pictured in movies and TV shows. Beyond the well-dressed stance however, the activities of these groups remained essentially the same with their operations mostly in the underworld of crime, the illegal distribution of alcohol and drugs, and the ultimate crime of all – murders. The Jewish mafia was seen mostly in the biggest US cities like Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, and Philadelphia (Fried, 1980). Other bootlegging gangs and groups headed by other Jewish crime lords would make their mark in the US crime world in the early 19th century era. Many of them managed to earn their riches through their activities (Fried, 1980). Conclusion The Jewish organized crime in the United States earned much notoriety during the 1920s through the 1930s with their criminal activities which included bootlegging, corruption, theft, bribery, kidnapping, and murders. These activities were carried out by these groups in the different areas which they controlled. Leaders included Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Schutz Rothstein, and Buchalter. These leaders have controlled the mafia activities, steering their organizations towards criminal activities which yielded the most profit and benefit for the organization. These organized crime groups include the Purple Gang, the Plug Uglies, the Bowery Boys, and the Murder, Inc. These groups engaged in various criminal activities, and they rose to prominence with these activities. The years of prohibition especially gave these organizations much power and influence. In the years leading up to the Second World War, these groups lost their power and steam; and they started breaking up within themselves, only to gradually fade into obscurity. Yet, their influence in American society during their years in power cannot be ignored as they were able to compel the government authorities to establish measures to fight against these groups and these notorious mafia members. Works Cited Adams, P. (2005). The Bowery Boys: Street Corner Radicals and the Politics of Rebellion. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishing. American Jewish Historical Society (n.d). But They Were Good to Their People. Retrieved 20 August 2011 from http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Modern_History/1914-1948/American_Jewry_Between_the_Wars/Gangsters/gangsters_good.shtml Blog Spot (2006). Arnold Rothstein. Murder Incorporated. Retrieved 20 August 2011 from http://toughjews.blogspot.com/2006/05/arnold-rothstein.html City University of New York. (n.d). Jewish Immigrants and Crime. 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Benjamin Siegel (1906-1947). American Experience. Retrieved 20 August 2011 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lasvegas/peopleevents/p_siegel.html Pierce, W. (1998). Paying the Organizatsiya. Jew Watch. Retrieved 20 August 2011 from http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-crime-mob-2.html Sugarman, M. (2003). Murder Inc.: Jewish Gangsters in America. I. L. Peretz. Retrieved 20 August 2011 from http://www.ilperetz.org/graduates/michael_sugarman.htm Read More