Jews & Crime
& Espionage

Section 6.3

Non-fiction Books and Articles on Canadian Jews and Crime

6.3.1 Montreal

Chouinard, Denys, “Fifty years ago, a turning point in municipal political life: The Caron Inquiry, 1950–1954,” Archives de Montréal, September 16, 2004. Fifty Years Ago, A Turning Point in Municipal Political Life: The Caron Inquiry, 1950–1954 | Archives of Montreal (archivesdemontreal.com)

Levine, Allen, “Not your typical Jewish boys”, Winnipeg Free Press, November 3, 2018, adapted from his book, Seeking the Fabled City: The Canadian Jewish Experience [hc, McClelland & Stewart, 2018] 978-0771048050. [Levine explores the complex relationship between these criminal elements and the wider Jewish community, which was deeply embarrassed by these “notorious” figures and their public visibility, such as the large crowds at their funerals. Jewish involvement in illegal activities was frequently used by antisemites to justify broad hostility toward the entire community. Organizations like the Canadian Jewish Review made concerted efforts to distance the “legitimate” community from “Jewish gangsters,” labeling them as “undesirable citizens” who lacked moral education. Bill Brownstein, veteran columnist of the Montreal Gazette, reviewed Levine’s book favourably for its “warts-and-all”

presentation of the Canadian Jewish story. His columns over the years have frequently referred to the Jewish mobsters mentioned above.

Levine’s book also discusses the Montreal Jewish criminals and focuses on the bootlegging of liquor to the US during the Prohibition era (1920–1933).

Saul Bellow’s Father: Levine notes that Abraham Bellow in Montreal turned to bootlegging out of debt, though he was ultimately unsuccessful and was robbed while transporting whiskey.

Large-scale success: Samuel Bronfman, founder of Seagrams, famously profited from the high demand for alcohol during Prohibition (more on this below). Levine characterizes Samuel Bronfman as a visionary who saw Prohibition not just as a legal hurdle, but as a massive business opportunity. While the Bronfmans often tried to “scrub” this part of their history to maintain a respectable public image, Levine and other historians highlight it as the bedrock of their multibillion-dollar empire.  Further books on the Bronfmans include:

Newman, Peter C., (Bronfman Dynasty: The Rothschilds of the New World [hc, McClelland & Stewart, 1978] 978-0771067587 [pb, Bantam Seal, 1979] 978-0770415600 [This is the classic, investigative look at the family. Newman was one of the first to extensively document how they used small Saskatchewan towns near the U.S. border as staging grounds for smuggling.]

Faith, Nicholas, (The Bronfmans: The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram [hc, Thomas Dunne Books, 2006] 978-0312332198 [pb, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007] 978-0312332204 [Faith provides a detailed analysis of the “international booze business” and the “backroom shenanigans” that built the Seagram empire.]

Palmer, Al, (Montreal Confidential: The Low Down on the Big Town [pb,  Véhicule Press, originally published in 1950, 2010 reprint] 978-1550652604 [a gritty, “tell-all” chronicle of the city’s nightlife and criminal underbelly during its mid-century peak. Written by the veteran police and entertainment reporter Al Palmer [1913–1971], the book serves as both a historical record and a “how-to guide” to Montreal’s most colorful and dangerous locales. Leveraging his “Man About Town” column persona, Palmer introduces readers to the “demons and demigods” of the era—including singers, dancers, and various underworld figures. – Google/AI]

Séguin, Félix and Eric Thibault, (Inside the Montreal Mafia: The Confessions of Andrew Scoppa [pb, PCW Press, 2022] 978-1770416673 [While primarily about the modern Rizzuto family, the book explores the historical foundations of organized crime in Montreal, including the era when Harry Ship was the “czar” of the city’s vice.]

Usher, Catherine, “Under the Reign of the Underworld:” Montreal’s Jewish Gangsters of the 1920s & 1930s” [April, 2023] https://ontariojewisharchives.org/cms_uploads/pdf/Usher_Under_Reign_Underworld.pdf

Weintraub, William, “Wide-Open Town: Girls, Gambling, Graft,” in Weintraub, William, (City Unique: Montreal Days and Nights in the 1940s and ’50s) [hc, McClelland & Stewart, 1996] 978-0771089916 [pb, McClelland & Stewart, 1996] 978-0771089749 [Montreal in the 1940s and ’50s was Canada’s largest, richest, most vibrant and colourful city. It was, at the end of those prosperous decades, “bursting at the seams,” still growing, still far ahead of Toronto. No one then could foresee the rise of Quebec separatism, which would cripple the city, and send it into its long decline.

William Weintraub (1926–2017) was a prominent Canadian journalist, author, and filmmaker who spent his career documenting the social and political life of Montreal. He had a long and distinguished career with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), where he wrote, produced, or directed over 150 documentary films.

In City Unique, Weintraub introduces the reader to many of the extraordinary characters who gave Montreal its singular flavour. They include Camillien Houde, the mayor who was interned during the war for advocating treason; Lili St. Cyr, the ultimate striptease artiste, who mesmerized men and boys; Maurice Duplessis, the dictatorial premier who could evict individuals from their homes if he suspected they were communist; and Anna Beauchamp, the flamboyant madam who operated a string of at least a dozen brothels.

The geography of the book is centered around the invisible boundaries that separated Montreal’s ethnic and social groups:

The Main (Saint-Laurent Boulevard): The literal and figurative dividing line between the English (West) and French (East). It was the heart of the “third solitude”—the Jewish community—and packed with gambling joints, nightclubs, and deli shops.

Downtown (Ste. Catherine Street): The hub of nightlife and neon lights. Weintraub describes a time when this area was even more vibrant than it is today, filled with iconic venues like Ruby Foos and Bill Wong’s.

Westmount: Portrayed as the enclave of the rich, “fading” Anglo-Scots moneyed class and the newer English-speaking elite.

Plateau Mont-Royal: Mentioned in the context of the French-speaking working-class community that would eventually lead the “Quiet Revolution” following this era. 


Montreal was a “wide-open town,” the vice capital of Canada, where the amply bribed police and politicians connived to resist all attempts at reform. The city was filled with illegal gambling dens, bookmaking operations and brothels that flourished long after the repeal of Prohibition. But two crusaders, Pacifique Plante and Jean Drapeau (later to be elected mayor), were determined to clean up the city and Weintraub gives a lively account of their battle with the vice lords.

During the era, far-reaching changes took place within the communities that comprised Montreal’s three solitudes - the English, the French, and the Jewish - and the author examines their effects. The Jewish community was characterized by a vibrant Yiddish culture, including its own newspapers like the Keneder Adler and institutions like the Jewish Public Library. Many residents worked in the burgeoning garment industry (“needle trades”) as manufacturers and union organizers. Weintraub expresses a particular “open affection” for the iconic delicatessens along The Main, which served as social anchors for the community.

He also describes the city’s passionate ideologues, both communist and fascist, their struggles and changing fortunes in the aftermath of the Second World War. He examines, too, the emergence of a generation of novelists, playwrights and poets, including Hugh MacLennan, Gabrielle Roy, Irving Layton, Mordecai Richler and others who set a new standard for Canadian literature.

The 1940s and ’50s were a unique period, different from everything that came before - the Great Depression, the lingering stuffiness of the Edwardian era - and different from the period that followed - signaled by Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. It was a pivotal, momentous time. – Amazon & Google/AI]

The most prominent Jewish gangsters of the 1930s-50s who emerge from Weintraub’s and other accounts, including the “Juifs d’ici” web-pages of the CJA (Canadian Jewish Appeal) and CJC (Canadian Jewish Congress) were:

Harry Davis (Né Chaskel Lazarovitch - 1898–1946) – born in Romania and emigrated to Montreal with his family at the age of 10. He rose as a “vice lord” in Montreal’s gambling, narcotics and prostitution industries and became a leading “edge man”, the term used for the figure responsible for “mediating” between the city’s organized criminal enterprises and its elected officials and police. He ran the Mount Royal Bridge Club, the city’s most lucrative gambling den, and was heavily involved in smuggling morphine, heroin, and cocaine from Europe. His first major setback was a 14-year prison sentence in 1933 for drug trafficking, largely due to an informant’s testimony. He was regarded as being behind the 1934 assassination of the informant, Charlie Feigenbaum. Davis was himself shot to death in 1946 at his gambling house, at 1244 Stanley Street near the corner of Ste. Catherine West. (see note on Louis Bercovitch below).

“Fat Charlie” Feigenbaum (1891–1934) - A former associate of Harry Davis who turned police informant. In retaliation, he was shot dead “in broad daylight” on Esplanade Avenue, in what was considered Montreal’s first gangland slaying.

Pincus “Pinky” Brecher (1898?-1934) – American-born associate of Davis and Feigenbaum whose expertise was in smuggling narcotics from Montreal into the US. He was referred to as “the New York connection”. He was arrested in 1933 for these activities, and incriminated by Feigenbaum’s testimony. Following his conviction in September 1934, he committed suicide in his jail cell, according to the New York Times. According to an alternative account in the Winnipeg Free Press, he broke free from his guards at the courthouse and was killed in a fall when attempting to leap over an open passageway.

Harry Ship (Né Shipshovitz - 1913 – 1998) – known as the “Gentleman Gambler” and “King of the Montreal Gamblers”. He studied mathematics at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario (though he did not bother graduating), acquiring skills which he used to professionalize and modernize his bookmaking operations. He controlled a network of “white houses” on Ste-Catherine Street (high-tech booking parlors equipped with multiple phone lines and headsets to manage thousands of dollars in bets daily) and illegal casinos in Lachine, Greenfield Park, and Côte St. Luc. Unlike Harry Davis, who was known for narcotics smuggling and the city’s first underworld killing, Ship focused on high-volume gambling and maintained a more “gentlemanly” public persona, even carrying a business card and address book that included the mayor’s name. Unlike his predecessors, Ship was relatively polished and preferred bribery over violence, admitting to making roughly $1 million annually in the mid-1940s. His dominance waned after the Caron Inquiry (1950–1954), a massive public investigation into police corruption that targeted his gambling syndicate and eventually paved the way for the Cotroni crime family to take control. 

Max Shapiro (1891–1962 est.) - a contemporary and partner of Harry Ship in the illegal gambling industry. He ran some of the city’s most successful gambling houses starting in the 1920s. He was less flamboyant than Davis and eventually pivoted toward legitimate business interests. With several partners, he opened the famous Ruby Foo’s hotel and restaurant. While his illegal operations were curtailed by the same cleanup efforts that targeted Ship, he is often remembered for his successful transition into the Montreal hospitality industry. 

Louis Bercovitch, alias “Joe Miller”, est. 1910–1961, was a Montreal gambler and underworld figure who gained notoriety for the 1946 assassination of the city’s vice king, Harry Davis. He was also the alleged driver during the 1934 assassination of Charlie Feigenbaum. Bercovitch was seeking to open his own gambling parlour, for which Harry Davis’ approval was required. Davis refused. The two met and argued vehemently. Bercovitch alleged that Davis threatened to kill him (“as had happened to Feigenbaum”), whereupon he drew his weapon and shot Davis in self-defence. He was convicted of manslaughter and served eleven years of a sentence before his release in 1958.

Harry Feldman (1900–1980) - He owned a three-story building at the central corner of Bleury Street and Ste-Catherine Street in downtown Montreal. While the ground floor was a legitimate business, the upper floors housed sophisticated bookmaking operations. He was a part-owner of several high-profile Montreal venues, including the famous nightclub, Chez Paree. Unlike many of his contemporaries in organized crime, Feldman was known as a “good family man” who lived quietly and avoided involvement in the drug trade. He was never apprehended despite a 14-year criminal career.

Barney Shulkin (1898–1981) – [a contemporary and associate of Harry Ship and also associated with Harry Davis and Harry Feldman in running the Montreal vice scene of the 1930s and 40s, especially the illegal gambling industry. Shulkin was a notable witness and subject during the Caron Inquiry (Public Inquiry into the Police Department of Montreal). This massive investigation, led by Pacifique Plante and Judge François Caron, aimed to dismantle the corruption and illegal gambling networks protected by the police.] [Google/AI, Amazon & a bit of Wikipedia]

6.3.2 Toronto – Hamilton - Ontario

Ainsworth, Amelia & Rick Halpern, “Jews with Knives: Toronto’s Depression-Era Kosher-Slaughter Infrastructure and the Kehilla Enquiry of 1932,”  American Review of Canadian Studies 50, no. 2 (2020)

Halpern, Monda, (Alice in Shandehland: Scandal and Scorn in the Edelson/Horwitz Murder Case [hc, McGill-Queen’s UP, 2015] 978-0773545595 [By 1931, Ben and Alice Edelson had been married for two decades and had seven children, but for years Alice had been having an affair with the married Jack Horwitz. On the night of 24 November, Ben, Alice, and Jack met at Edelson Jewellers to “settle the thing.” Words flew, a brawl erupted, and Jack was shot and killed. The tragedy marked the start of a sensational legal case that captured Ottawa headlines, with the prominent jeweller facing the gallows. Through a detailed examination of newspaper coverage, interviews with family and community members, and evocative archival photographs, Monda Halpern’s Alice in Shandehland reconstructs a long-silenced murder case in Depression-era Canada. Halpern contends that despite his crime, Ben Edelson was the object of far less contempt than his adulterous wife whose shandeh - Yiddish for shame or disgrace - seemed indefensible. While Alice endured the censure of both the Jewish community and the courtroom, Ben’s middle-class respectability and the betrayal he suffered earned him favoured standing and, ultimately, legal exoneration. Revealing the tensions around ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and class, Alice in Shandehland explores the divergent reputations of Ben and Alice Edelson within a growing but insular and tenuous Jewish community, and within a dominant culture that embraced male success and valour during the emasculating 1930s. – Amazon]

Hamilton (Bessie Starkman) Figures

While Montreal was the hub, other regions had notable Jewish figures intertwined with the Italian mob. Community Stigma: These figures were often viewed with a mix of fear and “perverse pride”. While the official community leadership (like the Canadian Jewish Congress) tried to distance themselves, the massive turnout for gangsters’ funerals suggested a complex social reality.

Bessie Starkman(1890–1930)  (and Rocco Perri): Based in Hamilton, Starkman was the Jewish common-law wife and business partner of the “King of the Bootleggers,” Rocco Perri. She was the “brains” of their massive bootlegging empire during the 1920s. She was assassinated in 1930 in a targeted gangland hit. See:

Monda Halpern, “A ‘Ghoulish Jamboree’: The Not-So-Jewish Jewish Funeral of Mob Boss Bessie Starkman” Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes, Vol. 36, 2023, pp. 51-78 [A detailed article about Bessie Starkman’s criminal career and sensational funeral, following her murder in Hamilton, Ontario in 1930. Despite Starkman’s radical deviation from the life patterns typical of Polish Jewish immigrants to Canada, the author contends that she retained significant elements of her Jewish identity. Her ostentatious public funeral was a mass event, widely covered in the press, which provided an often-bizarre and conflicting juxtaposition of Jewish and Italian burial customs. Prof. Halpern is in the process of completing a book on Bessie Starkman.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Starkman#:~:text=In%201912%2C%20Starkman%20met%20Rocco,immigrants%2C%20were%20already%20marginalized%22. – Wikipedia article on Bessie Starkman

Cole, Trevor, (The Whisky King: The remarkable true story of Canada’s most infamous bootlegger and the undercover Mountie on his trail [hc, HarperCollins, 2017] 978-1443442237 [pb, Harper Perennial, 2018] 978-1443442244 [The story of Rocco Perri, Bessie Starkman’s criminal partner and common-law husband.]

Dubro, James and Robin F. Rowland. (King of the Mob: Rocco Perri and the Women Who Ran His Rackets) [hc, Viking, 1987] 978-0670815333 [pb, Penguin Books Australia, 1988] 978-0140098235

Keefe, Rose, (Bessie Perri: Queen of the Bootleggers [pb, CreateSpace Independent, 2014] 978-1503216112

Nicaso, Antonio. (Rocco Perri: The Story of Canada’s Most Notorious Bootlegger [pb, Wiley, 2004]) 978-0470835265

Steinke, Gord, (Mobsters & Rumrunners of Canada [pb, Folklore Publishing, 2004]) 978-1894864114 [Includes material on Rocco Perri, the Purple Gang, Dutch Schulz and the Bronfman family – Google/AI]

Gertrude Schumacher: In Toronto’s “The Ward” neighborhood, Schumacher operated a small-scale but notorious bootlegging business out of her home grocery store, reflecting the “survivalist” nature of Jewish crime in high-poverty areas. [Note: I was unable to find any other references to Schumacher or her criminal activities.]

Pre-Mafia Dominance: Levine emphasizes that these Jewish syndicates were the primary controllers of gambling and vice until the arrival of New York’s Cosa Nostra (via the Cotroni family) in the early 1950s.

6.3.3 Toronto – Christie Pits Riot

Levitt, Cyril & William Shaffir, (The Riot at Christie Pits) [hc, Lester & Orphen Dennys, 1987] 978-0886190934 [pb, New Jewish Press, 2018] 978-1988326085 [ The foreword to this book is a story about the riot by the prominent Canadian author, Morley Callaghan. It is remembered as one of the worst outbreaks of ethnic violence in Canadian history. The conflict involved more than 10,000 participants and spectators and lasted approximately six hours. It was triggered on August 16, 1933 after an amateur softball game at Willowvale Park (now Christie Pits) between a predominantly Jewish team and a non-Jewish team, who included a group of Nazi-inspired youths known as the ”Pit Gang” and who displayed a white banner with a black swastika. As the game ended, the group unfurled the banner and shouted “Heil Hitler”. Jewish players and spectators, along with supporters, rushed to destroy the symbol, sparking a massive brawl that quickly spread from the ballpark into the surrounding streets. 

The event took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the recent rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. In Toronto, “Swastika Clubs” had formed earlier that summer, particularly in The Beaches area, to protest and intimidate Jewish residents. At the time, Toronto was overwhelmingly British and Protestant, and Jewish residents—the city’s largest minority—faced significant systemic discrimination in employment, housing, and social life.

The fighting involved Jewish and Italian youths (who allied with the Jews against a shared history of marginalization) facing off against members of the “Pit Gang” and other Anglo-Canadian Nazi sympathizers. Only a handful of police were initially on duty; reinforcements eventually arrived on horseback and motorcycles to quell the violence by roughly 2:00 AM. Dozens were seriously injured by weapons like baseball bats, lead pipes, and broomsticks, though no fatalities were reported. Following the riot, the public display of the swastika was banned in Toronto, marking one of Canada’s first policies against hate speech. The event led to a revival of the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1934 and is now cited as a turning point that eventually helped shape Toronto’s transition into a more inclusive, multicultural city. - Google/AI]. See also the entry in the Canadian Jewish fiction section above on Aren X. Tulchinsky and his novel, The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky.

Halpern, Monda, “The ‘Maelstrom’ at Christie Pits: Jewish Masculinity and the Toronto Riot of 1933.” Canadian Jewish Studies, 28 (2019): 12-33.

Michaels, Jamie (Author) and Doug Fedrau (Illustrator), Christie Pits [Graphic Novel, pb, Dirty Water Comics, 2019]) 978-0995294615 [- An exceptional graphic novel that serves as a visceral, visual history of the riot. It traces several distinct characters on both sides of the conflict leading up to the fateful baseball game. It brilliantly illustrates the gritty street-level tensions of 1933 Toronto and the aftermath that led the city to pass Canada’s first anti-hate legislation.

Maxie Bluestein (1912–1984) first came to prominence as one of the sons of East European Jewish immigrants, who fought on the Jewish side of the Christie Pits riot. He symbolized the “tough” Jewish youths of the 1930s, like Sammy Luftspring, who were willing to physically defend their community against antisemitic groups like the Swastika Clubs. He later emerged as a bridge between the street-level resistance of the 1930s and the structured gambling underworld of the 1950s and 60s. He was a high-stakes, independent gambler who operated outside the control of major crime syndicates. He ran the lucrative Lakeview Club, an illegal gambling den that reportedly earned more than $13 million a year at its peak. For years, he resisted efforts by the American Mafia and Canadian crime families to “muscle in” on his operations, particularly rebuffing a 1955 attempt to bring him into a larger syndicate. The defining moment of his public life occurred on March 21, 1961, at the Town Tavern (located at Queen and Yonge Streets when he was severely beaten by members of the Hamilton Mafia, who were contending for domination of illegal gambling in Toronto. He subsequently stepped away from his high-profile gambling activity, as the American and Mafia elements took over. A Jewish contemporary of his in the Toronto gambling underworld was Davy Bossin (“Davy the Punk”, 1905–1963), whose life and activities were memorialized in a biography by his son, Bob Bossin.

Bossin, Bob, (Davy the Punk: A Story of Bookies, Toronto the Good, the Mob and My Dad [pb, Porcupine’s Quill, 2014]) 978-0889843691 [This provides a detailed look at the 1930s–60s gambling scene in Toronto and features figures like Maxie Bluestein.]

Davy Bossin  and Maxie Bluestein  were contemporaries and fellow Jewish figures in Toronto’s underworld, but they typically operated in different niches of the gambling industry. While they were not close “business partners” in a formal sense, they were professional associates within the same tight-knit network of Jewish bookmakers. They both inhabited the same social world of Spadina Avenue and the “Ward,” where the Jewish underworld maintained a united front against outside “muscle,” particularly the Italian Mafia. Despite his notoriety as “Davy the Punk” in the gambling world, Bossin was considered a respected and generous member of Toronto’s Jewish community. – Google/AI]

Luftspring, Sammy, (Call Me Sammy [hc, Prentice-Hall, 1975] 978-0131126497 [In his memoir, Luftspring characterizes his family’s involvement in bootlegging as a common means of survival in Toronto’s immigrant neighborhoods during the Prohibition era. It was a widespread practice among his neighbors in St. John’s Ward and Kensington Market. Because it was so common for working-class families struggling in poverty, many such small-scale operations often went unprosecuted or were ignored by local authorities unless they reached a certain scale. The family’s bootlegging was actually successful enough to facilitate their move from the impoverished “Ward” to the slightly more affluent Kensington Market area, suggesting they operated without significant legal disruption. There is no record of them ever being arrested or prosecuted for these activities. Luftspring (1916–2000), by the way, was a successful professional boxer who won the Canadian welterweight title in 1938, retiring in 1940, and becoming a professional boxing referee for many years thereafter. He participated in the 1933 Christie Pits riot. – Google/AI]

Staunton, Ted (Author) and Josh Rosen (Illustrator), (The Good Fight (Graphic Novel, pb, Scholastic Canada, 2021) 978-1443163835 [Another highly regarded graphic novel treatment of the era. It explores the depression-era street politics of Toronto through the eyes of a young boy navigating neighborhood gangs, culminating directly in the chaos of the Christie Pits clash.

6.3.4 Toronto – Idsinga, Hank, The High Road: Confessions of a Homicide Cop

Idsinga, Hank, (The High Road: Confessions of a Homicide Cop [pb, Simon & Schuster, 2026] 978-1668076408 [- primarily a memoir about homicide investigations and Hank Idsinga’s 34-year career with the Toronto Police Service (TPS). He spent 18 of those years working specifically within the Homicide squad, serving as the unit’s top inspector for his final five years. One of its most controversial themes is his allegation that antisemitism—and other forms of prejudice—persisted within the senior ranks of the Toronto Police Service. Those allegations received extensive media attention upon the book’s publication and prompted calls for an independent review by the Toronto Police Service Board.

Idsinga is careful not to portray the Toronto Police Service as institutionally or uniformly antisemitic. In fact, he repeatedly emphasizes that the overwhelming majority of officers are honest, decent professionals. His concern is that a relatively small number of senior officers wield disproportionate influence, creating a culture in which overt prejudice can flourish without meaningful consequences.

The most serious allegations concern a senior officer whom Idsinga does not identify. According to the memoir, this officer repeatedly made openly antisemitic remarks. He presents these not as isolated slips of the tongue but as evidence of deeply held prejudice.

Idsinga reveals that his own grandfather was murdered during the Holocaust. Many colleagues apparently did not know of his Jewish heritage. He writes that hearing such remarks from a superior left him “feeling physically ill.” The irony, he notes, was profound: he had entered policing partly because of his family’s Holocaust history, only to encounter antisemitism near the end of a career he otherwise regarded with pride.

The memoir does not single out antisemitism as the only form of prejudice. Idsinga argues that the same dysfunctional leadership culture also tolerated anti-Black racism, misogyny, homophobia, cronyism, favouritism and failures of accountability. His broader thesis is that organizations inevitably reflect prejudices existing in society, but leadership determines whether those prejudices are challenged or permitted to flourish.

A recurring theme is that inappropriate behaviour by influential officers often went unchallenged. Idsinga suggests that officers who objected to such behaviour risked professional consequences, contributing to a culture in which offensive remarks were normalized or dismissed as jokes rather than treated as misconduct.

One of Idsinga’s strongest qualifications is that he does not accuse the entire Toronto Police Service of antisemitism. He explicitly states that most officers are ethical; he loved his career; he retains many close friendships within the service. His concern is that “a few bad apples” occupying positions of authority can damage both morale and public confidence in an organization of thousands.

Idsinga argues that prejudice among police leaders has consequences beyond offensive language. He suggests that citizens deserve confidence that investigations and police discretion are exercised free from personal bias. Even if only a minority of officers exhibit prejudice, he contends, tolerance of such attitudes by leadership undermines trust in the institution.

The allegations sparked immediate public controversy. The Toronto Police Service Board requested Ontario’s Inspectorate of Policing to consider an independent inspection into the allegations and broader organizational culture within the service. TPS leadership stated that the allegations were being taken seriously.

The discussion of antisemitism occupies only a relatively small portion of The High Road, but it became the book’s most consequential public revelation. Idsinga’s central message is nuanced:

  • the Toronto Police Service is not portrayed as broadly antisemitic;
  • most officers are portrayed positively;
  • however, he alleges that a small number of influential senior officers expressed overt antisemitic views and that organizational culture failed to confront them adequately.

The memoir therefore uses antisemitism not simply as a personal grievance but as an illustration of a larger argument about leadership, accountability, and institutional culture within one of Canada’s largest police services. – ChatGPT] Note: The Amazon blurb on this book – typically the one issued by the publisher – sticks to highlighting the most prominent cases solved during Idsinga’s career. None of the above on anti-Semitism is mentioned. Additional note: Thanks to my old friend, David Kaufman, a Toronto resident, for bringing this important recent book to my attention.