Early Jewish Gangsters · Jews and Crime and Espionage

While many of the above works refer to an array of Jewish gangsters, here for convenience are more specific works about some of the better-known ones – Arnold Rothstein, Lepke Buchalter, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Dutch Schultz, Mickey Cohen and the Chicago Jewish crime figures:

4.1.1 Arnold Rothstein (1882-1928)

Asinof, Eliot, (Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series [hc, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1961]) 978-0030206412 [pb, Holt Paperbacks, 2000] 978-0805065374 [does not prove conclusively that Arnold Rothstein was the absolute mastermind behind the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Instead, Asinof portrays Rothstein as a cautious, calculated financier who initially rejected the fix before selectively bankrolling pieces of it through intermediaries like Abe Attell and Nat Evans. While the book heavily implicates Rothstein as a vital cog in the machine, Asinof’s narrative and modern historical consensus frame the reality of his involvement differently.

When writing the book in the early 1960s, Asinof did not have access to crucial primary source documents. He relied heavily on contemporary newspaper accounts and interviews with surviving figures. Much of the narrative linking Rothstein to the center of the plot relies on accounts by Abe Attell, a former boxing champion and Rothstein henchman. Attell openly used Rothstein’s name to convince the players that the fix had massive financial backing. However, sports historians point out that Attell’s claims were highly self-serving and designed to deflect blame, making it unclear if Rothstein orchestrated the plot or if Attell was freelancing.

Rothstein was famously known as “The Big Bankroll” because he knew how to manage risks. Asinof illustrates that Rothstein deliberately insulated himself from the actual baseball players. He rejected the initial pitch from player Chick Gandil and gambler Sport Sullivan, only choosing to gamble heavily on the outcome once he realized the fix was moving forward with or without him. Subsequent research by baseball historians, such as the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), indicates that the 1919 fix was actually a chaotic, uncoordinated mess rather than a single, top-down operation run by one mob kingpin. Multiple independent gambling syndicates from Boston, Chicago, Des Moines, and New York were attempting to buy off different players at the same time, often double-crossing each other.

Ultimately, Asinof’s work functions more like a meticulously reconstructed true-crime drama than a definitive legal or historical proof. It confirms that Rothstein profited immensely from the fix and provided the capital that made it look legitimate to the players, but it leaves open the question of whether he truly pulled all the strings. – Google/AI]

Clarke, Donald Henderson, (In the Reign of Rothstein [pb, Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library, 2005]) 978-1425532857 [Reprint of the original 1929 Vanguard Press edition - An early, near-contemporary account of Arnold Rothstein, useful as a primary-source-adjacent text rather than retrospective history.]

Katcher, Leo, (The Big Bankroll: The Life and Times of Arnold Rothstein [Arlington House, 1972] 978-0870001659 [pb, 1994] 978-0306805653 [ pb, Hassell Street Press, 2021] 978-1014175182 [See related film]

Pietrusza, David, (Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series) [hc, Carroll & Graf, 2003] 978-0786712502 [pb, Basic Books, 2004] 978-0786714537 [pb, Basic, 2011]) 978-0465029389

Tosches, Nick, (King of the Jews: The Greatest Mob Story Never Told – A Lively Biography of the Gangster Who Inspired The Great Gatsby) [hc, HarperCollins, 2005] 978-0641703065 [pb, Ecco, 2006] 978-0060936006 [pb, Penguin, 2020] 978-0241990681 [re: Arnold Rothstein]

Film: See King of the Roaring ’20s: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961); and

Boardwalk Empire (HBO, 2010–2014) – details in the companion Filmography.

4.1.2 Lepke Buchalter (1897-1944) and Murder, Inc.

Block, Alan A. (1976), Lepke, Kid Twist, and the Combination: Organized Crime in New York City, 1930–1944 (Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA, 1975)

Elmaleh, Edmund, (The Canary Sang but Couldn’t Fly: The Fatal Fall of Abe Reles, the Mobster Who Shattered Murder, Inc.’s Code of Silence [hc, Union Square Press, 2009] 978-1402761133 [Centers specifically on Abe Reles, the star informant whose 12 days of confessions blew the lid off Murder, Inc. and provided the crucial evidence needed to indict Lepke Buchalter before Reles’s mysterious, fatal plunge from a hotel window.]

Kavieff, Paul R., (The Life and Times of Lepke Buchalter: America’s Most Ruthless Labor Racketeer [hc, Barricade Books, 2006] 978-1569802915 [pb, Barricade Books, 2015] 978-1569805176

Turkus, Burton B. & Sid Feder, (Murder, Inc. The Inside Story of The Syndicate Killing Machine [revised edition of 1951 original, Tenacity Media Books]) [pb, 2012] 978-0615643021 [hc, 2015] 978-0996285537 [See further details on this book in U.S. Jewish Prosecutors section of this chapter, below. See also description of the 1960 movie, Murder, Inc., based on the book, in the companion Filmography]

Film: Lepke (1975) – details in companion Filmography

4.1.3 Meyer Lansky (1902-1983)

Auerbach, Patrick, (Mafia Lucky Luciano Meyer Lansky & Bugsy Siegel: The Life And Crimes Of Notorious Gangsters Charles Lucky Luciano Meyer Lansky & Benjamin Bugsy Siegel [pb, independently published, 2023]) 979-8385714803

Eisenberg, Dennis, Dan, Uri & Eli Landau (Meyer Lansky: Mogul of the Mob [hc, Paddington Press, 1979]) 978-0448222066 [pb] 978-0552115872 [See related film]

Hayden, Blake, (Meyer Lansky Biography: The Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled the World’s Gambling Empire [pb, independently published, 2023] 979-8864194690

Lacey, Robert, (Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life [hc, Little, Brown, 1991]) 978-0316511681 [pb, 1992] 978-0099971306

Messick, Hank, (Lansky) [hc, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1971]) 978-0425021088 [pb] 978-0425023259

Montague, Art, (Meyer Lansky: The Shadowy Exploits Of New York’s Master Manipulator [pb, Altitude Publishing, 2005] 978-1552651001

See also: The entry on Zachary Lazar in the U.S. crime fiction bibliography; his novel, I Pity the Poor Immigrant; and the following as well:

Lazar, Zachary,, “Meyer Lansky’s Ghost Haunts My Visit to Miami Beach,” Tablet, April 14, 2014 . See also Adam Kirsch’s review, “I Dream of Lansky: The Dead Jewish Mob King Rules Zachary Lazar’s Law-Bending Novel,” Tablet, April 14, 2014]

The Godfather Part II (1974 – Hyman Roth)

Lansky (1999 - Richard Dreyfuss)

The Lost City (2005 - Dustin Hoffman)

Lansky (2021 - Harvey Keitel)

Lansky: The Zionist Gangster (2025 – documentary: no leading actors)

Note: the different actors portraying Lansky in the above films were all Jews. On the other hand, in the discussion of Bernie Madoff, below in this bibliography, the actors portraying the adult Bernie are mostly non-Jewish. I do not attribute any significance to this fact. Lansky was portrayed by numerous non-Jewish actors (e.g. Ben Kingsley) in different films, and Siegel as well (e.g. Warren Beatty). Harvey Keitel portrayed Lansky and Mickey Cohen but also several non-Jewish gangsters. Dustin Hoffman played Dutch Schultz and Lansky, but several non-Jewish gangsters as well. Richard Dreyfuss, another Jewish actor, has played both Lansky and Madoff and Duddy Kravitz, too, but also Baby Face Nelson. Certain actors can be typecast in certain roles, e.g. as criminals, but not on any obvious ethnic basis.

4.1.4 Bugsy Siegel (1906-1947)

Carpozi, George, (Bugsy: The Bloodthirsty, Lusty Life of Benjamin Bugsy Siegel [pb, Spi Books, 1992 – earlier editions in 1973 and 1976]) 978-1561711482 [This is a much more popular/sensational biography than either Gragg or Jennings. It is useful for seeing the development of the Siegel legend but should not be relied upon as the principal historical source. A contemporary Nevada bibliography describes it as a slimmer 1972 biography reissued in connection with the Warren Beatty film Bugsy.]

Gragg, Larry D., (Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and the Making of Modern Las Vegas [Praeger, 2015] 978-1440801853 [substantially better documented than other popular biographies, based on more than 2,400 pages of FBI records, New York municipal records, Kefauver Committee material, contemporary newspapers, and recollections from Siegel's eldest daughter. It covers Siegel's New York gang career, California years, race-wire operations, Flamingo investment, murder, and subsequent mythology. Gragg is particularly useful for correcting the familiar claim that Siegel single-handedly “invented” modern Las Vegas.]

Hall, Aaron, (A Gangsters Guide: Bugsy Siegel [pb, independently published, 2025]) 979-8314330357

Jennings, Dean, (We Only Kill Each Other: The true story of The Life and Bad Times of Bugsy Siegel [hc, John Long, 1968] 978-0090891306 [pb, Fawcett Crest 1968] 978-0232011845 [pb, Pocket, 1992] 978-0671770341 [See related film] [- the classic full-length Siegel biography and remains important despite its age. Jennings drew on government sources, files and, especially valuable today, interviews with people who actually knew Siegel and his milieu, including George Raft, Mickey Cohen and Chick Hill. The weakness is that it predates much later archival research and sometimes reproduces the gangster mythology that Gragg subsequently examines more critically.]

Shnayerson, Michael, (Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of the American Dream [hc, Yale UP, 2021]) 978-0300226195

Film: See Bugsy (1991) listing in companion Filmography.

4.1.5 Dutch Schultz

Dutch Schultz (Arthur Simon Flegenheimer – 1901-1935):

Geik, Alan, (Uncle Charlie Killed Dutch Schultz: The Jewish Mob: A Family Affair [pb, Sonador Publishing, 2022]) 978-0578877358

Sann, Paul, (Kill The Dutchman!: The Story of Dutch Schultz [hc, Arlington House, 1971] B00YDKHZY2 [pb, Da Capo Press, 1991] 978-0306804526 [pb, Birdye’s Books, 2015] 978-0988430105 [This is the essential full-length biography. Sann was a veteran New York newspaperman and editor who interviewed people who had known Schultz. The book excellent for its detailed treatment; later biographies have borrowed heavily from it.]

Hendley, Nate. (Dutch Schultz: The Brazen Beer Baron of New York. [pb, Canmore, Alberta: Altitude Publishing Canada, 2005]) 978-1552651049 [A much shorter and more recent biography, clearly written and useful as an introduction. It contains a bibliography, but it does not supersede Sann in depth or primary-source value. There is also a later edition: pb, Five Rivers Chapmanry, 2011] 978-0986642388.

Tomlinson, Gerald, (Murdered in Jersey. [pb, Rutgers University Press, 1994]) 978-0813520780 [Not devoted solely to Schultz, but useful for the New Jersey murder, especially the 1935 Newark shooting and its place among notable New Jersey homicide cases]

Grey, Harry, (Portrait of a Mobster [pb, New American Library, 1958]) B000VZEY24 [An older treatment of Schultz, useful mainly as a period popular account rather than as a modern scholarly biography. See synopsis in the Harry Grey entry in the companion bibliography on American Jewish crime fiction, above, and the entry on the 1961 movie by the same name in the companion Filmography]

Doctorow, E.L., (Billy Bathgate [hc, Random House, 2007] 978-0394575131 [pb, Plume, 1998] 978-0452280021 [See comments on this fictional treatment of Schultz under the Doctorow entry in the companion bibliography on American Jewish crime fiction, above, as well as the entry on the 1991 movie version in the Filmography]

Jewish background on Schultz: He was the son of German-Jewish immigrants Herman and Emma Flegenheimer. His relationship to his Jewish identity was complicated. Near death he requested a Catholic priest and received Catholic last rites; nevertheless, at his Orthodox Jewish mother's request, his body was reportedly draped in a tallit before burial. - ChatGPT

4.1.6 Mickey Cohen (1913-1976)

Cohen, Mickey, (In My Own Words: As Told to John Peer Nugent [hc, Prentice-Hall, 1975]) 978-0135808528

Lewis, Brad, (Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster: The Incredible Life and Times of Mickey Cohen [pb, BookSurge Publishing, 2009]) 978-1439243657 [hc, 2021] 979-8759005582

Stevens, Steve & Craig Lockwood, (King of the Sunset Strip: Hangin’ with Mickey Cohen and the Hollywood Mob [hc, Cumberland House, 2006]) 978-1581825077

Tereba, Tere, (Mickey Cohen: The Life and Crimes of L.A.’s Notorious Mobster [hc, 2012, ECW Press] 978-1770410008 [pb] 978-1770410633

Film: See Gangster Squad (2013) in companion Filmography.

4.1.7 Chicago Jewish Crime Figures

Garel-Frantzen, Alex, (Gangsters and Organized Crime in Jewish Chicago [hc, History Press, 2013] 978-1540222282 [pb] 978-1626191938

Haller, Mark H., “Organized Crime in Urban Society: Chicago in the Twentieth Century,” Journal of Social History 5 (1971–1972), 210-234.

Kraus, Joe, “The Jewish Gangster: A Conversation across Generations,” The American Scholar 64, no. 1 (1995) [The analysis frames Chicago’s Jewish organized crime as a temporary, single-generation phenomenon that served as an aggressive, temporary path toward assimilation. The work highlights the transition from independent neighborhood bosses, exemplified by Benjamin “Zuckie the Bookie” Zuckerman, to the corporate structure of the Chicago Outfit under figures like Lenny Patrick. Key figures discussed include Zuckerman, Patrick, the Miller Brothers, Jack “Greasy Thumb” Guzik, and Jules Portuguese. – Google/AI]

Kraus, Joe, (The Kosher Capones: A History of Chicago’s Jewish Gangsters [hc, Northern Illinois UP, 2019]) 978-1501747311

Petepiece, Andy and Patti, (Sidney Korshak: The Chicago Outfit’s Fixer [pb, Tellwell Talent, 2025]) 978-1779627841

Russo, Gus, (Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America’s Hidden Power Brokers [hc, Bloomsbury USA, 2006] 978-1582343891 [pb, Bloomsbury USA, 2007] 978-1596912113 [See related film] extensively covers Jewish figures involved in organized crime and corporate-political fixing, tracing their origins directly back to Chicago’s Jewish West Side. The book details how these white-collar power brokers acted as the essential bridge between the illicit street muscle of the Italian-dominated Chicago Outfit and the corporate “upperworld” of Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C. Russo defines the “Supermob” as a tight-knit cadre of second-generation, Eastern European Jewish immigrant heritage lawyers, businessmen, and fixers. He argues that they ultimately profited more from their white-collar criminal careers than their traditional Mafia counterparts. The book anchors itself around Chicago-born attorney Sidney Korshak, whom the FBI once labeled the most powerful lawyer in the world. Korshak grew up on Chicago’s West Side, graduated from DePaul University, and began his career representing Chicago Outfit labor racketeers before moving to Los Angeles to rule over Hollywood labor unions

Prominent Figures Covered: Russo details the lives, interconnected networks, and questionable deals of several major Jewish figures associated with this power structure, including:

John Jacob Factor: A Chicago-linked gangster, swindler, and brother of cosmetics mogul Max Factor.

Lew Wasserman & Jules Stein: The massive power brokers behind MCA (Music Corporation of America), who utilized Korshak’s Outfit-backed leverage to build their entertainment monopoly.

Joe Glaser: The jazz booking agent and manager (notably for Louis Armstrong) who had deep-rooted ties to Chicago mobsters. [Google/AI]

Film: See Sidney Korshak, Hollywood’s Fabled Fixer (2014) in companion Filmography.