tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33191675562456138632024-03-14T13:37:18.605-04:00SIX FOR FIVEPORTRAITS AND PROFILES OF JEWISH GANGSTERS IN NEW YORK CITY FROM 1900 - 1945Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-58075318522358795422014-11-02T21:55:00.003-05:002014-11-02T21:55:47.126-05:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Brooklyn bound. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">If you are in NYC between now and next February 22 , 2015 you can catch this exhibit if you'd like. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">There is an official opening reception next Thursday November 6. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">The City Reliquary</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">370 Metropolitan Ave.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Brookyn, NY</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Here is the official press release.</span><br />
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<strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;">MAZEL TOUGH: Jewish Gangsters of New York 1900 - 1945</span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;"><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;">Illustrated Portraits by Pat Hamou</span></strong><br /><u>On view through February 22<sup>nd</sup> 2015</u><u></u><u></u></span></div>
<span class="im" style="background-color: beige; color: #500050; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 20px;">The City Reliquary Museum is pleased to present <em>Mazel Tough: Jewish Gangsters of New York: 1900 – 1945</em>, an exhibition of illustrated portraits by Pat Hamou. Inspired by the intrigue of vintage mug shots and the dark charms of historically colorful characters, artist Pat Hamou's own crime of passion has been the brief yet rich history of the Jewish Gangster. The 29 gangsters presented in the exhibition left a fascinating, yet dark, blemish on the early Twentieth Century Jewish-American experience. Using archival images as a springboard, artist Pat Hamou has created intricate, colorful and textured pen and ink, and watercolor drawings that reflect a bygone era while bringing new life to them. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 20px;">For the duration of the exhibition, the Museum will present a range of educational and social programming. First up:</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;"><br /><br /><a href="http://cityreliquary.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d314f6c7241bcaf87d0d872a&id=d8ec1087f5&e=e7592770ac" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><strong><span style="color: maroon;">Opening Reception and Artist Talk with Pat Hamou </span></strong></a><br /><strong>Thursday, November 6<sup>th</sup> </strong><b><br /><strong><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_939261084" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">7PM – 9PM</span></span></strong></b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 20px;">Join artist and creator of <em>Mazel Tough</em>, Pat Hamou, for a discussion of New York’s rich history of Jewish Gangsters, portraiture, and The City Reliquary’s newest exhibition.<br />Admission is free! </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 23px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/363279437173183/?pnref=story" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/events/363279437173183/?pnref=story</a></div>
Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-10928223236874580082014-10-02T21:48:00.002-04:002014-10-02T21:51:40.182-04:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yes I'm still here!<br />
I'll have some news very soon in regards to a new exhibit that will happen in Brooklyn<br />
Stay tuned and thanks.</div>
Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-62795793331389618532012-07-15T11:46:00.000-04:002012-07-15T11:46:06.621-04:00One hundred years of Herman Rosenthal<style>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Today marks the 100<sup>th</sup>
year anniversary of the murder of Herman Rosenthal.</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Much like one hundred years ago,
New York City and rest of the east coast has been enduring some punishing heat
these last couple of weeks. <span> </span>But
back in July of 1912, a different kind of heat was boiling just under the
surface as Rosenthal’s last days were counting down. He was desperate and
despondent, narrowly escaping one murder attempt already and constantly looking
over his shoulder. His gambling business was in ruins and he pointed the finger
at only one man, Lieutenant Charles Becker of the NYPD. </span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Rosenthal’s story and murder
represented a tectonic shift in the Jewish underworld, shutting the door on the
old ways of business and opening the next.</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Below is part of that story, some
of which has appeared here before, while somewhat lengthy for a blog post, felt
strongly it should be revisited again on its 100<sup>th</sup> year.</span></i></b></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XW2zMHyTTpg/UALigjvHqoI/AAAAAAAAA8c/inLboeR_LNg/s1600/HERMAN+ROSENTHAL+NEW+PAGE+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XW2zMHyTTpg/UALigjvHqoI/AAAAAAAAA8c/inLboeR_LNg/s400/HERMAN+ROSENTHAL+NEW+PAGE+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Herman Rosenthal had a hard time
getting anyone in New York City’s municipal administration to hear him out.
Newspapers had been following his story while he filed complaints with the
city’s various departments, but reporters weren’t getting any real results from
him and relegated Rosenthal to the back pages. These were serious allegations,
without any corroboration; it was one small time gambler’s word against a
police department whose corruptible habits had a long history and was in itself
not a breakout story. Rosenthal’s initial claims and complaints were broad and
vague. With no willing witnesses to come forward and back him up, Rosenthal was
alone, having a hard time selling his story. </div>
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It was a young reporter for
Joseph Pulitizer’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York World</i>,
Herbert Bayard Swope, who finally heard him out after constant prodding from
Rosenthal. </div>
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Swope had his ear to the ground
and knew Rosenthal from frequenting East Side gambling parlors himself, and had
a better understanding the underworld gambling world than most journalists in
the city and his star was quickly rising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was the best man at Arnold Rothstein’s wedding and maintained
curiously balanced life of swimming between street level and high society
social circles. He apparently brought Arnold Rothstein to a party in Long
Island and introduced him to F. Scott<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Fitzgerald,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who was hosting
the party. Rothstein made enough of impression that Fitzgerald made mental
notes and transformed the underworld kingpin in his Meyer Wolfscheim character
in <i>The Great Gatsby.</i></div>
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Swope knew Rosenthal had a sensational
story that could also do wonders in advancing his own career. Rosenthal
promised Swope full exclusive details that he had yet to reveal to anyone else
if he would write the story and Swope convinced his editor to take the risk</div>
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On Friday July 12, Rosenthal
spilled an affidavit to Swope in full color, not holding back on details, and
named Charles Becker as his silent partner. Swope also helped arrange a meeting
with Manhattan District Attorney Charles Whitman on the following Monday, after
Rosenthal’s own earlier attempts had failed. Word reached Becker quickly
through his many municipal moles about Whitman’s interest in finally hearing
Rosenthal’s case, and it set off alarm bells. Newspapers stories were one
thing, as slander and libel was manageable, and he was already preparing to
come to his own defense. Whitman was another matter entirely. He was an
ambitious Republican with an eye on the Governor’s chair in Albany and a strong
distaste for Tammany Hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
results could be very damaging to everyone and Becker knew Rosenthal needed to
be silenced without further delay. </div>
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Swope’s breaking story headlined
the Sunday, July 14, 1912 edition of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New
York</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">World</i> as a two-page spread.
It not only detailed Becker’s involvement, but also the NYPD’s long history of
graft and corruption. Already in the middle of a brutal heat wave, the city
heated up figuratively as well, buzzing with this scandalous story that hit the
papers on that summer morning. The underworld meanwhile got hotter under the
collar, and everyone agreed; Herman Rosenthal was a dead man.</div>
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On the evening of July 15,
Rosenthal was sitting in D.A. Charles Whitman’s office, legally delivering his
affidavit detailing all the aspects he had covered with Herbert Bayard Swope.
After the very lengthy meeting ended around midnight, Whitman, fearing Rosenthal
was probably a marked man, warned him to go straight home afterwards, but
Rosenthal callously shrugged off the suggestion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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He strolled down to the Metropole
Café and Hotel on 43<sup>rd</sup> Street below Broadway; a favorite late night
haunt for gamblers in the Tenderloin whose convenient twenty four hour business
schedule appealed to many of the districts’ night owls. Even though it was late
in the evening, the heat wave was still burning away, and Herman was in need of
a celebratory late night meal. </div>
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The Metropole was quiet, with
just a few customers milling about, and no one seemed able to look Herman in
the eye when he strolled in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
fact, all of 43<sup>rd</sup> Street below Broadway and 6<sup>th</sup> Avenue
seemed eerily somber. </div>
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With a bellyful of steak, Herman cooled himself with a
Horse’s Neck, consisting of ginger ale with a twist of lemon, and spread out
the late editions in front of him. Every newspaper in town had now picked up
yesterday’s breaking story, his name in tall black and white headlines on every
front page. Patrons in the Metropole ignored Herman’s smug, prideful boastings
of his newfound fame, and kept to themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bridgey Webber dropped by around 1:30AM and the two
exchanged a few innocuous words, perhaps to put Rosenthal at ease, before
Webber turned on his heel and left again. Twenty minutes later, a man never
properly identified, approached Rosenthal to tell him that someone was waiting
for him outside and if he could come out for a few minutes. </div>
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Rosenthal gathered
his newspapers under one arm, adjusted his tie and left a hefty tip for his
dinner on the table. ‘Finally’ perhaps thought Herman, they had come to their
senses and it was time for a payoff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Heading out into the hot night air, Herman’s messenger disappeared
quickly to the left ahead of him as he made his way through the lobby and down
the steps of the café. The approaching sound of clicking and shuffling shoes
against the hot pavement came from his right, as four shadowy figures
silhouetted by streetlight, called out his name and quickly approached. </div>
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It was
the last thing he ever saw. Rosenthal hit the pavement face down in a macabre
moment of choreography as newspapers with headlines baring his name strewn all
around to drive the point home. Four bullets, one to the chest, three to his
head, had put an end to the life of Herman Rosenthal. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yScLgtAzQCA/UALfnGwpgpI/AAAAAAAAA8E/ThratnlSnnw/s1600/GYP+LEFTY+LOUIE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yScLgtAzQCA/UALfnGwpgpI/AAAAAAAAA8E/ThratnlSnnw/s640/GYP+LEFTY+LOUIE.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Rosenthal’s murder led to many
aftershocks that reverberated and rippled for a long time. New York’s layers of
corruption were peeled away like a rotted onion. Here was a man whose public
accusations of the police department left him dead on the sidewalk less than
thirty-six hours later. It was hard not to believe members of NYPD’s finest
were involved, and the killing went beyond a mere gambler’s quarrel as
initially reported. While the murder took place in a very busy part of town,
there were no solid witnesses, and confusion on details abounded. The initial
police investigation was a bungled up affair, with witnesses intentionally
disregarded and misleading information on the license plate number of the Gray
Packard that carried the gunmen. Charles Whitman believed he knew deep down who
was behind the murder and the obvious cover up, and speed was the key in
gathering sources and witnesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His suspicions were strengthened when Becker arrived at the 16<sup>th</sup>
precinct a few hours after the incident to view Rosenthal’s body. </div>
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According to
Bald Jack Rose’s court testimony a few months later, Becker, upon seeing
Rosenthal’s corpse, later boasted to those close to him: “ It was a pleasing
sight to me to look and see that squealing Jew there, and if it were not for
the presence of Whitman, I would of cut out his tongue and hung it up on the
Times building as a warning to future squealers.”</div>
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Whitman was determined to bring
the entire matter to justice and through quick vigorous investigating from him
and his staff he succeeded. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
the kind of case that made a man’s career, and would help propel him to
Governor. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Information on the
correct license plate number of NY43313, was the first break, leading to the
car’s actual owner, Louis Libby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In less than 24 hours since the murder, Libby, driver Willie Shapiro,
and Bridgey Webber were in custody, and the chips fell steadily in place from
there. Bald Jack Rose eventually gave himself up as well; momentum on the case
against Becker was building quickly and his name was in the papers too
often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Becker’s biggest mistake
was his trust in his underworld associates, and his years of experience
swimming in the dirty water of this social pool should have provided him with
better judgment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rats
abandoned ship. Rose, Webber and Harry Vallon all flipped to save their skins
when it was clear Becker wasn’t lifting a finger to help them out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Becker himself was sitting in the Tombs
by the end July. Fearing for their lives, all three men requested to be
transferred to another jail uptown after Becker’s arrival.</div>
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Building on the momentum created
by all the press attention the case was getting, Whitman cunningly fast-tracked
it into session. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the eve of
Becker’s first trial to begin on October 6, he found himself short one winning
card of a full house after Big Jack Zelig was murdered. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rose, Webber, and Vallon could not serve
as key witnesses as there were also accessories to the crime, and it was with a
man named Sam Schepps that he was dealt his winning hand. Schepps was a
gambling associate of the three men and apparently party to Becker when
arrangements for Rosenthal’s murder first took place. He however did not<span style="color: red;"> </span>participate in anyway, giving him corroborator status
for Whitman’s prosecution. Schepps had left town after the murder but was
picked up in Hot Springs, Arkansas and brought back to New York for the trial.
Becker should have been a little wearier of his presence at the time of the
assassination arrangements but truly thought he was untouchable, never
entertaining the idea he would actually be arrested for the crime. As sordid
details from the separate trials for Becker and the four gunmen came forth,
press coverage was un-precedented for its time. The rest of the country was
transfixed by its daily developments, re-affirming its theory that New York was
indeed a wicked place where values and moral standards had been over-shadowed
by corruption and greed. Papers as far as London and Paris reported with morbid
fascination as well. </div>
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The New York Jewish community was
going through a moral crisis as well while the trials continued. It had come to
the attention of its leaders that the entire affair had become a very <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jewish</i> one. Of all the men involved in
the case, it seemed only Becker and gunman Dago Frank was not Jewish. The names
and photos of Horowitzs, Rosenbergs, Shapiros, Rosenthals, Rosensweigs, and
other Jewish surnames were mentioned daily in the papers; quick-witted
journalists aptly describing it as ‘The War Of The Roses’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The community looked inwards wondering
where it had gone wrong. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-klX230TR4DM/UALgf1Qs61I/AAAAAAAAA8M/2Rji78TKecs/s1600/ABE+SHOENFELD+NEW+PAGE+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-klX230TR4DM/UALgf1Qs61I/AAAAAAAAA8M/2Rji78TKecs/s640/ABE+SHOENFELD+NEW+PAGE+.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Uptown Jews felt the need to take
action into their own hands on dealing with the growing downtown problem, and a
communal body called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Kehillah</i> was
set up as a Bureau of Social Morals to investigate its own. They employed
undercover investigators to infiltrate and identify Jewish criminals and
places, sending lists of perpetrators and suspects to the Mayor and the police
department, leading to numerous raids and arrests. The Kehillah’s main
investigator was Abe Shoenfeld, who probed all manners of Jewish criminal
activity, and was personally impacted the most by the state of prostitution
carried out by many young Jewish women, and in the dangerous conditions and
unhealthy lifestyles they lived. Though with all of The Kehillah’s intentions
well placed, and with a respectable amount of results on a street level, the
underworld, though turned on its axis as a result of the trials, remained one
of transgress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one saw the
future more clearly after Rosenthal’s death than Arnold Rothstein, inventing
the floating casino in the aftermath. By moving a gambling operation into different
rooms and venues all over the city, it was an almost surefire method that raids
could never be carried out if an operation was never in same location more than
once.</div>
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With little fanfare, they buried
Herman Rosenthal in Brooklyn’s Washington Cemetery. </div>
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What Rosenthal yearned in
life, he only got in death. </div>
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He sought recognition and succeeded only by default by
being murdered; the result unveiling a side of New York City that had long been
hidden from public view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
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He
unknowingly challenged his own Jewish community as well, to question what was
happening in their own neighborhoods and to their sons and daughters. He forced
an underworld to change strategies on many levels in order to continue, and
in-turn, a new era was born which would eventually flourish in a more organized
manner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
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Herman Rosenthal should
have been a minor, supporting player in the annals of early Jewish crime. And
had his life not taken its fateful route, the city’s early 20<sup>th</sup>
century history would have perhaps been documented very differently. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-38510597520226036632011-05-22T13:11:00.009-04:002011-05-22T14:30:02.673-04:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Here are some photos and short write up for the show currently on display in Los Gatos, California... just click on <a href="http://allthingslosgatos.com/2011/05/a-gallery-of-mobsters-at-the-jewish-community-center/#more-984">here</a> for a quick glance.<br /><br />In preparing for this exhibit I thought <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vux50170o9I/TdlEJvKMyPI/AAAAAAAAA7c/nqhrG8JWSfA/s1600/GANGY%2BCOHEN%2B2011%2Bcopy.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 375px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vux50170o9I/TdlEJvKMyPI/AAAAAAAAA7c/nqhrG8JWSfA/s400/GANGY%2BCOHEN%2B2011%2Bcopy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609589744935422194" border="0" /></a>I would contribute some newer portraits that I completed the last few months leading up to this current exhibit.<br /><br />They include new versions of </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >Irving 'Big Gangy' Cohen</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> and </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Meyer</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" > Lansky</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, and the un- cropped version of </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >Dutc</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >h Schultz</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, which was used in the publicity materials.<br />I realized they hadn't been posted here as of yet so here they are...<br /><br />These new portraits were done partly due to the fact that some original artwork from past exhibits are no longer in my possession, but also, this, and past exhibits, are not just the portraits hanging on walls, but also represent the historical arc of the Jewish Gangster from the turn of the Twentieth Century up until the mid 1940's in the way it's displayed. So, it's important that key players are included in the exhibit.<br />Also it's a continuous strive on my end to come up with stronger artistic representations when I feel its needed. These three, among the couple of others that were completed for the show..</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6II1bUJ53Vo/TdlEo7RNDQI/AAAAAAAAA7k/5jftTmdBMvc/s1600/COLOR%2BLAYERS%2Bcopy%2Bcopy.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 368px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6II1bUJ53Vo/TdlEo7RNDQI/AAAAAAAAA7k/5jftTmdBMvc/s400/COLOR%2BLAYERS%2Bcopy%2Bcopy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609590280761969922" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zBgzoTNrICQ/TdlD_SmCRaI/AAAAAAAAA7M/AOs5IeZ2sFs/s1600/CROPPED%2Bcopy%2B2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 340px; height: 278px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zBgzoTNrICQ/TdlD_SmCRaI/AAAAAAAAA7M/AOs5IeZ2sFs/s400/CROPPED%2Bcopy%2B2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609589565468853666" border="0" /></a>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-70862982687090307872011-03-21T17:07:00.008-04:002011-03-21T18:42:15.726-04:00From Underdog To Underworld<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OH1AUa95o5M/TYfB1kAVTQI/AAAAAAAAA6I/v9bFZqz8XGg/s1600/LOS%2BGATOS%2BFLYER3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 309px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OH1AUa95o5M/TYfB1kAVTQI/AAAAAAAAA6I/v9bFZqz8XGg/s400/LOS%2BGATOS%2BFLYER3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586646988718689538" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I'm happy to announce that another comprehensive exhibit, which will feature a selection of over 40 original pieces has now an official opening date.<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:130%;" >From </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);font-size:130%;" >Underdog to Underworld: Jewish Gangsters and the American Dream</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> is third curated title, following </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Real Machers</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> in Washington, DC (2009) and </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Wise Guys: Mobsters In the Mispacha</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> last year in San Francisco.<br /><br />This exhibit will be held at the Addison - Penzak JCC Levy Family Campus in Los Gatos, California - which is nestled in the Silicon Valley about 90 minutes out side of San Francisco.<br />The exhibit dates are from </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >May 2 - June 30 2011</span><span style="font-size:130%;">.<br />There will be a selection of new portraits that I've added for this show and I will update with more details as I have them in the near future.<br />My thanks to Lisa Ceile - curator and coordinator for her help in getting this show together.</span>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-15793892530140027252011-02-16T12:11:00.018-05:002011-05-22T14:11:51.865-04:00The ballad of Waxey Gordon and Gypsy Rose Lee...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KtTrgiGSg7g/TVwG5cismgI/AAAAAAAAA5w/MPAX7D4JyP0/s1600/WAXEY%2BGORDON%2B12%2BX%2B18.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KtTrgiGSg7g/TVwG5cismgI/AAAAAAAAA5w/MPAX7D4JyP0/s400/WAXEY%2BGORDON%2B12%2BX%2B18.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574338022761863682" border="0" /></a><br /><style>@font-face { font-family: "Times"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Had <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_Rose_Lee">Gypsy Rose Lee</a> shimmied her way to a ripe old age, she would of turned one hundred years old this past January 8. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">It <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">wasn</span>’t an easy road for the preeminent first lady of Burlesque to get herself to the top of the heap when she landed top billing at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Minskys</span>’ Republic Theatre in 1931. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsky%27s_Burlesque">Minsky</a> brothers ran a string of theatres of what would be considered by some as the poor man’s version of the Ziegfeld <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Folies</span>. These were New York’s first in a string of ‘variety’ theatres that the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Minksys</span> excelled at; part vaudeville, part striptease, with a good dose of Paris’s Le <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Moulin</span> Rouge thrown in by instituting the runway leading out from the stage into the seated crowd - a first for American theatres. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">It was a big part of live entertainment’s growing pains following the quick demise of vaudeville and the rising competition of the talking picture. A trip to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Minskys</span> always guaranteed at least a shimmer of exposed skin and lowbrow laughs, keeping patrons queued up on the sidewalk on any given night.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Gypsy Rose Lee, born Rose Louise <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Hovick</span>, knew vaudeville well, having endured hard scrabble years on the circuit with her domineering stage mother and playing second banana to her seemingly more talented curly haired younger sibling Ellen, who later changed her name to June Havoc.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">At the age of thirteen, June, who was the star of their act, had had enough and ran away with a boy, leaving her mother and older sister to fend for themselves. Gypsy reinvented herself as a means to take center stage as she <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">wasn</span>’t really the typical beauty of her time, or the kind theatre owners looked for in a headliner. Constantly fighting with her weight, she towered at five feet – nine inches and had a pair of small breasts and an unassuming caboose. She had legs though - long and elegant in stride, and through strict dieting her teenage body morphed into womanhood.<span style=""> </span>It was during this metamorphosis that she officially renamed herself Gypsy Rose Lee as a proclamation of her rebirth.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">And there was <i style="">something </i>about her. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Billy Minsky noticed it when he spotted her act across the Hudson River at the Empire Theatre in Newark in 1931, where her run was starting to garner enough media attention for Minsky to raise an inquisitive eyebrow. She handled the crowds well with a coy yet domineering attitude on stage mixed with a razor sharp sense of humor. Something about her crackled, and with a little bit of grooming from Minsky, she would eventually conquer the Empire City.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Times"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Gypsy Rose Lee’s act swooned a depression-era New York and her star rose quickly within the first year of working for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Minskys</span>. She charmed the likes of Mayor Jimmy Walker and noted columnist and radio personality Walter Winchell among many others including the literary set. It was a combination of smarts and just enough tease to keep audiences clamoring for more and she understood the power she held under the spotlight.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Prohibition was still in play and with popularity came numerous invitations to clandestine parties and passwords into the peepholes of speakeasies around town. It was on such an outing to a private party on Eight Avenue that Gypsy, with her mother in tow no less, made the acquaintance of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Irving </span><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Wexler</span>, better know in underworld circles as <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Waxey</span> Gordon</span>. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Times"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Irving <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Wexler</span>’s upbringing was a far cry from the one Gypsy Rose Lee had, though both knew struggle. Lee spent much of her childhood years on the road with her mother and sister in a long string of motels, and when finances were so low they even resorted to staying in tents. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Waxey</span> Gordon came from a wretchedly poor Polish-Jewish family on the Lower East Side and endured the tough tenement life. He earned the nickname of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Waxey</span> from some who said he was able to remove a victim's wallet 'as though it was dipped in wax', while others claimed as a kid would stick wax to the end of sticks to poke through subway grills to collect the loose amounts of dimes and nickels. Its also claimed it was as well a play on his last name</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">His police record started relatively early with the first arrest in 1905. He spent time as a strong-arm man for <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Benjamin ‘Dopey Benny’ <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Fein</span></span> who led one of the last <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">pre</span>-WWI Jewish gangs of considerable strength in numbers. The Dopey Benny gang specialized in labor disputes and strike breaking during a particularly intense wave of labor unrest in New York’s manufacturing sector, especially in the garment industry.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Waxey</span> came up through the ranks and had a considerable amount of talent for <i style=""><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">schlamming</span></i> despite his unassuming size, making him an asset on the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">frontlines</span>. He spent some time at the Elmira Reformatory as a result of his wilder younger and delinquent days and eventually his crooked path led to a two year term in Sing Sing, which kept him behind walls until 1916.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Times"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Upon his release he spent the next few years drifting and hired himself out as a labor goon and whatever else would come along that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">didn</span>’t involve an honest moment of work. He had lost a benefactor with the leadership demise of Dopey Benny, whose place of prominence on the street had vanished and Jewish gangs had become fractured and fragmented. New rivals like <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Nathan ‘Kid Dropper’ <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Kaplan</span></span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Jacob ‘Little Augie’ <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Orgen</span>’ </span>were vying for power and control for much of the East Side with no consideration for, or want, of ethnic alliance. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">1920 and Prohibition changed everything for many including <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Waxey</span>. It enabled Gordon to take himself off the street and behind a desk realizing how profitable smuggling whiskey in from Canada and the United Kingdom could be. He set up a Central Park bench meeting with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arnold <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Rothstein</span></span> to layout his plan and asked for a $175,000 start up loan. By the time Gordon eyed Gypsy Rose Lee across the room in the smoky haze of the Eight Avenue speakeasy he had banked nearly two million dollars and owned a ten-room apartment on the Upper West Side.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Times"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Gordon sent over four bottles of champagne to Gypsy’s table. The lucrative years were evident on his physique - the once trim labor slugger now had put on considerable weight due to complacency and financial comfort as he slightly waddled over to introduce himself. Whispers at her table explained that he was a big shot gangster but Gypsy thought the now middle-aged <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Waxey</span> looked more like an unassuming banker than a feared underworld figure whose jacket buttons were at the breaking point over a considerable paunch.<span style=""> </span>Flanked by bodyguards Gordon exchanged pleasantries briefly and offered them anything they wanted “ on the house” before tipping his hat in a departing gesture of gangster grace. Gypsy flashed a thankful smile, and Gordon seemingly winced on the inside as he turned on his heel.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Gypsy Rose Lee, despite her numerous psychical attributes, unfortunately had a set of sadly crooked front teeth. As Gordon made his exit he was rumored to have commented to those close by that she was “ a great looking broad but those chompers have gotta go”. And he made good on his word.<span style=""> </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Times"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">The next morning her phone rang and a Gordon underling who never identified himself explained that her ‘friend’ from last night had set up on appointment for her at the dental office of Dr. Sam <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Krauss</span> at 1605 Broadway for 10:30 AM and that she should get over there. As a confused Gypsy Rose heard the phone click dead on the other end she <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">couldn</span>’t quite understand what had just happened and never showed up for the appointment.<span style=""> </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Another mysterious but now irate phone call followed her performance that evening, demanding to know why she never showed up for the dental appointment. A bewildered Lee let her mother finally interject and saying they <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">couldn</span>’t afford the dental work, nor did they even know the dentist. Reassurance came from the other end of the phone line that the fee was not to be worried about and “ if the boss wants you to get your teeth fixed you get your teeth fixed if you know what’s good for ya…”.<span style=""> </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">How much of that conversation rings true is perhaps debatable as it reeks somewhat of scriptwriter scribe; but under <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Waxey</span> Gordon’s insistence Gypsy Rose Lee did spend close to two weeks of return dental visits before the procedure was over. It ended up that Dr. Sam <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Krauss</span> had grown up with Gordon on the Lower East Side, and his childhood friend whom he still called Irving, had paid to put him through dental school in order to make a better life for himself as Gordon’s bootlegging empire grew. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">And so began the web <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Waxey</span> Gordon had woven to lure in Gypsy Rose Lee and use her to his compliance and at times, human accessory, during their short years together.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">She had felt compelled that she owed him by accepting his first gift of dental repair and though the murky new world she had now entered had probably left her somewhat uneasy at first, she understandably was unwilling to take a stand due to the fringe element of lawlessness. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">But she was also strong, fiercely independent, and intelligent, and quickly adapted to these new surroundings and learned to use her position as an appendage within the underworld to her advantage. Gypsy was whip smart even if she felt intimidated, and read through much of the underworld <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">façade</span> of materialism and ego that pervaded these fedora <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">cladded</span> roosters. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Times"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Her fees from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Minksy</span>’s Republic had steadily risen, allowing her to buy a home in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Rego</span> Park section of Queens. Gordon sent over an elaborate dining set as a housewarming gift. In turn, he requested her by his side at certain events as a ruse to impress his gangster compatriots - the towering jewel of burlesque and gangland’s ugly duckling. He would bed her when he felt the need and Gypsy was able to become emotionally <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">disinvested</span>, allowing Gordon and at times others from his circle to have their way as long as there was a possible benefit of career or social advancement as a reward.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">One of those rewards were Gordon’s Broadway connections that eventually landed her a top spot in a Ziegfeld production called <i style="">Laid In Mexico</i>, though the title was eventually changed to <i style="">Hot <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Cha</span>!</i> at Gypsy’s insistence. Gypsy had quit <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Minksys</span> in lieu of the chance to work with Ziegfeld.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Florenz</span> Ziegfeld had fallen on hard times, and as his health was failing by this period he resorted to borrowing money from Gordon and other gangsters in order to mount his next show. The show closed after only twelve weeks as a big fat flop. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">She scoured Broadway for weeks, and in the interim lost her home in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Rego</span> Park and in her scuttle went back to work for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">Minksys</span> at a lower rate. Strapped for cash she was close to asking <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Waxey</span> for a loan but the timing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">wasn</span>’t on her side. Gordon’s illegal enterprises had caught up with him. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">He had been on the federal radar all through the ‘20’s but lack of evidence eluded a formal indictment over and over. By the early 1930s, the sentencing of Al Capone had marked a new way of capturing gangsters with accountants rather than G-Men.<span style=""> </span>New York’s Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey along with the FBI placed him on a most wanted list as Prohibition was on the road to repeal in 1933. Easily convicted of income tax evasion due to huge holdings in a variety of trucking firms, buildings and processing plants with no proper paperwork to back up his assets, he was fined $80,000 and sentenced to ten years in jail.<span style=""> </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Even behind bars <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Waxey</span> requested Gypsy Rose Lee’s company and had her come up to visit him (and impress his fellow inmates) at Northeastern Penitentiary before he was to be transferred to Leavenworth in Kansas. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Gypsy complied one last time with Gordon, knowing that she had no use for him after this visit. Enduring catcalls and whistles from inmates on all sides, she vowed to herself that this was to be the last time the two were to share the same room.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> <style>@font-face { font-family: "Times"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">While Gypsy Rose Lee’s life had its fair share of ups and downs she did manage to build an impressive legacy and passed away from cancer in 1970.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">For Irving <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">Wexler</span> however, ten years of rehabilitation seemed to have done him no good. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">During World War II, he was caught selling 10,000 pounds of sugar to an illegal distillery during a time of rationing, and he served another year. By 1950, the narcotics bureau had built a hefty file on him and sentenced him to twenty-five years to life for heroin trafficking. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">On June 24, 1952, while sitting in a doctor's office at Alcatraz, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Waxey</span> Gordon suffered a massive heart attack and died. </span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Select bibliography for Gypsy Rose Lee:</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Gypsy - Memoirs of America's most celebrated stripper</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">by Gypsy Rose Lee</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Harper 1957</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">American Rose</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">A Nation Laid Bare - The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">by Karen Abbott</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Random House 2010</span><br /><br /></span></span><br /></span>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-18527112860040514952011-01-22T16:31:00.014-05:002011-01-22T17:45:44.448-05:00...and finally an update!<span style="font-size:130%;">I've been a little behind on posting lately with other responsibilities on the go and time seems to slip by quickly and before you know it a new year has arrived.<br /><br />First off - the Six For Five showing at the</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" > Exhibition of the American Gangster</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> officially closed last December 20 - my thanks to the organizers for hosting the show.<br />Seems they were not quite ready to let these portraits leave their walls completely, and now a set of framed gicleé prints are on permanent display for the indeterminate future, so if you are in New York City you can still drop by and check them out.<br /><br />On the subject of the Empire City, I am happy to announce that a set of limited edition prints are now available at the newly inducted </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >MOB Scene Gallery</span><span style="font-size:130%;">. Curated by noted archivist and historian <a href="http://www.nycgangland.com/home.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Arthur Nash</span></a>, the gallery is located at 396 <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TTtYFqb2fKI/AAAAAAAAA4k/2oK8OTerwVo/s1600/IMG_3717.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 208px; height: 278px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TTtYFqb2fKI/AAAAAAAAA4k/2oK8OTerwVo/s320/IMG_3717.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565138618860076194" border="0" /></a>Broome St. in the heart of Little Italy between Mulberry and Centre Market.<br /><br /><br /><br />With an unobstructed view of the Old Police headquarters, the MOB Scene gallery sits beside the former NYPD evidence vault from which the heroin seized in the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >'French Connection'</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> case mysteriously vanished. And serendipitously, in 1912 the gallery was a pool hall called the Little Rock, a hangout for some of the underworld's notorious figures.<br />For some more info visit <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mobscenenyc.com/">www.mobscenenyc.com</a><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />Of course this is not the only option to buy some prints, the Six for Five shop on <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/pathamou">Etsy</a> has now re-opened with a selection</span><br />of 15 different prints.<br /><br />Also, there will be </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >another major public exhibition</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> coming this spring in northern California and I will have more details in the near future regarding all that.<br /><br />Finally, just so you know I haven't been sitting idly on my hands, here are three of the more recent portraits that were finished in the last little while - all re-workings of </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >Big Jack Zelig, Monk Eastman, </span><span style="font-size:130%;">and </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Dopey Benny Fein, </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:130%;">who seem to always lurk me back to the drawing table to discover new ways to capture their collective essence.</span><br /></span><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TTtbLMnutGI/AAAAAAAAA48/eISfxUPtixg/s1600/NEW%2BGANGSTERS.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 142px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TTtbLMnutGI/AAAAAAAAA48/eISfxUPtixg/s320/NEW%2BGANGSTERS.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565142012470932578" border="0" /></a></h3><br /><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="UIStory_Message"><br /><span class="text_exposed_show"></span></span><br /></h3><h3 class="UIIntentionalStory_Message" ft="{"type":"msg"}"><span class="UIStory_Message"><br /><span class="text_exposed_show"></span></span></h3>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-12372802105337074612010-11-02T21:22:00.007-04:002010-11-02T21:38:00.034-04:00Six For Five exhibit extended in New York<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TNC7-b9F5yI/AAAAAAAAA4I/SUdInIQ6AJA/s1600/IMG_0382.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TNC7-b9F5yI/AAAAAAAAA4I/SUdInIQ6AJA/s320/IMG_0382.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535130623368619810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />I wanted to pass along a quick post to inform that the </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >Six For Five</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> exhibit at the <a href="http://museumoftheamericangangster.org/">Exhibition Of The American Gangster</a> will now run until December 15. There is a selection of thirteen original portraits on display with accompanying biographical material.<br />My thanks to all those who have dropped by to check it out so far, and also those who have purchased prints, your patronage is much appreciated...</span>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-15397810734998208842010-10-17T22:37:00.010-04:002010-10-18T00:00:29.045-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TLvDSON3DnI/AAAAAAAAA3w/F8HwD_240xI/s1600/me065.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TLvDSON3DnI/AAAAAAAAA3w/F8HwD_240xI/s320/me065.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529227685348707954" border="0" /></a><br /><style>p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }</style> <p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Posts have slowed down (again) considerably due to outside freelance work, but while I prepare a proper new bio to post in the very near future, I wanted to just pass along some information about related news happening around New York and of an interesting new book that has recently been released.<br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">This coming week author Neil Hanson will be making a couple of stops, reading from his book, the first full length biography dedicated to the life of Monk Eastman, entitled <span style="font-style: italic;">Monk Eastman: The Gangster Who Became a War Hero</span>. Five years of research went into telling the tale of Eastman, and it’s also the first time his war experiences with the 106<sup>th</sup> Infantry during WWI are described in great detail. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">I must admit my bookmark is still only at about the halfway point, but since these readings are coming up I figured I’d post about it as Hanson does have some revelatory new information to add to the colorful life of one of Gotham’s most fascinating turn of the century’s gangsters. I suppose perhaps the most vital, at least in accordance with this project, was that it may seem that Monk Eastman <span style="font-style: italic;">wasn’t</span> Jewish at all, a fact also brought forward by Ron Arons in his book <span style="font-style: italic;">The Jews Of Sing Sing</span> a couple of years ago. </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">It seems ol’ Monk has been looped in and hardwired into the history of Jewish Gangsters for so long, from Herbert Asbury to Albert Fried, primarily because he was the first great leader of a predominantly Jewish gang of almost 1200 strong when he was at the peak of his power. Also, subsequently his leadership was taken over by Jews in his own gang who learned much from him, first with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Max 'Kid Twist' Zweifach</span> and then <span style="font-weight: bold;">Big Jack Zelig</span>, before the Eastmans finally petered out into different fractions in the aftermath of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rosenthal/Becker</span> affair and disappeared as dominant force.<br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Whether Eastman was Jewish or not, he is still a major part of the entire history, a key player much like Big Tim Sullivan was and he's a crucial part to understanding the rise of Jewish gangsterism at the turn of the 20th century. Much more of Monk's early life is brought to light as well in this much welcomed new addition to continuing information that seems to come to the surface even as the years between grow wider.<br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"> </p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">Neil Hanson will be reading from his book this Tuesday, October 19 at the <a href="http://www.tenement.org/vizcenter_events.php">Lower East Side Tenement Museum</a>, and will also be on hand at the <a href="http://museumoftheamericangangster.org/">Exhibition Of The American Gangster</a> the following evening of October 20 for a reading and discussion as well.</p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">I've also wanted to re- plug for awhile the Jewish Mob walking tour that happens every Sunday in New York, which is now curated by pal Franklin Abrams in conjunction with <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Lower East Side History Project.</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal">To partly quote from the guide:<br /></p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-style: italic; text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">"Trace the steps of pre-Prohibition era gangsters like Monk Eastman, Max “Kid Twist” Zweifach, “Big” Jack Zelig and Benjamin “Dopey” Fein – pivotal figures in the organizing of crime in New York City; paving the way for men like Arnold Rothstein, Meyer Lansky and "Bugsy" Siegel. Learn about the Jewish immigrant experience on the Lower East Side and the conditions that led to organized gangsterism; visit the sites of gang headquarters, shootouts and assassinations, and learn how the Jewish Mob expanded out of the slums and into a contemporary organized crime syndicate."</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">For more info, follow this <a href="http://www.leshp.org/tours/tour-descriptions/51-jewish-mob-walking-tour">link</a></span></div>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-44885198597945484152010-08-24T20:42:00.026-04:002010-08-25T14:03:39.749-04:00New York City Gangland<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/THSBppazO5I/AAAAAAAAA3Q/0Qws22v2CPQ/s1600/NYC+Gangland+Cover.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 221px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/THSBppazO5I/AAAAAAAAA3Q/0Qws22v2CPQ/s320/NYC+Gangland+Cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509170796673842066" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">"Within every photograph, in every American city, are stories to be told."<br />Such reads <a href="http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/">Arcadia</a> Publishing's mantra.<br /><br />I'm sure you've come across one of their publications at some time while browsing at your local bookstore<br />Their catalog is an impressively exhaustive collection of photographic essay books that range far and wide; from collections of vintage railroads in Yosemite to old time baseball teams from Chattanooga to Wichita. They are the infinite documentaries printed and bound that filmmaker Ken Burns will never get around to making. They have also been brave and bold enough to peer into Americana's underbelly for a closer look.</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">I had first commented on their bravura when they published <a href="http://sixforfive.blogspot.com/2008/07/motor-city-machers.html">"Detroit's Infamous Purple Gang"</a> by Lepke biographer Paul R. Kavieff a couple of years back, and now comes Arthur Nash's </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >New York </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >City</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"> Gangland</span>. </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />Nash is a freelance archivist who resides at the Chelsea Hotel and has accumulated one of the most impressive private organized crime collections, lending his archaeological talents to various institutions, researchers and filmmakers. His most prized possession perhaps is the actual barber chair Albert Anastasia sat down in 1957 for his last hot towel wrap and close shave before being gunned down at the Park Sheraton Hotel's barbershop. Ask him about it sometime and maybe he'll let you have a peek...maybe.<br /><br />Arcadia's mantra rings true, but these may not be the kind of stories everyone wants to hear or see.<br />His collection of photographs assembled for </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >New York City Gangland</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> is a nicely arced timeline of Gotham's gangster history, and many have never seen publication up until now.<br />Its peppered with many gems; from a press manipulated photo of </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Arnold Rothstein</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> (to make him look more menacing by painting a fedora on his head), to family photos of Al Capone and Charles "Lucky" Luciano. The book is broken into six sections, covering much of New York's organized crime story from Prohibition to the wild days of the 1960's and the Gallo brother's anarchic approach to an old tradition.<br />Nash also rightfully balances it out with </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Blood On Velvet</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, a chapter on some of the 1930's top crime busters in the city, including numerous photos of the ever photo-op-happy Mayor Floria LaGuardia dumping countless slot machines and armoury into the cold waters of the Long Island Sound. LaGuardia's and Police Commissioner Lewis J Valentine's enormous bounty of confiscated items of lawlessness makes one wonder just how much rusting scrap metal with stories to tell of an era may still sit quietly on that ocean floor to this day.<br /><br />In case any regular followers of this blog may wonder, there is indeed a chapter that is devoted to hardboiled Hebrews in </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Guns and Gelt - La Kosher Nostra</span><span style="font-size:130%;">. Nash's focus is mainly the late 1930s and the torpedos mostly based in Brooklyn, including the freckled face </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Sam "Red" Levine</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> and gunsel gone bit Hollywood player </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Irving 'Big Gangy' Cohen</span><span style="font-size:130%;">.<br />Included as well are gruesome crime scene photos, haunting images of </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Joe Rosen</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, gunned down in his candy store by </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Lepke</span><span style="font-size:130%;">'s henchmen, and the burned corpse of the ill-fated </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Irving "</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Puggy</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >" </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Feinstein</span><span style="font-size:130%;">. Such photos become a shocking and needed reminder that however gangsters may be glorified in historical and nostalgic context, their actions were very real and one must not forget that crucial aspect of the overall bigger picture.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/THSBfFY5h3I/AAAAAAAAA3A/qgsBgdKVjY4/s1600/NYCG+Midnight+Rose.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 251px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/THSBfFY5h3I/AAAAAAAAA3A/qgsBgdKVjY4/s320/NYCG+Midnight+Rose.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509170615203497842" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">Photo of the infamous Midnight Rose's candy store, located at the corner of Livonia and Saratoga Avenues in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and defacto headquarters</span> o<span style="font-style: italic;">f Abe 'Kid Twist' Reles and his troop</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">during the heydays of Murder Inc. </span>Photo courtesy of Arthur Nash.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Nash's real treat in this section are the photos he took of Kings County star prosecutor Micheal F. Vecchione and his unveiling of the actual knotted bedsheets that </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Abe 'Kid Twist' </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Reles</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> supposedly used during his 'escape' and fall to his death at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island. Housed in Reles' actual suitcase, these significant artifacts have only seen the light of day once and Nash was there to photograph them. That alone may warrant the price of admission to the book. One also wonders perhaps if archived in some dusty box in an underground corridor somewhere as well, sit the countless notebooks stenographers filled with Reles' accounts when he sang to the Brooklyn District Attorneys for days on end, waiting for their own unveiling...</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/THSBlKeYy-I/AAAAAAAAA3I/joffl0MVaXg/s1600/NYCG+Vecchione+Reles+Sheets.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/THSBlKeYy-I/AAAAAAAAA3I/joffl0MVaXg/s320/NYCG+Vecchione+Reles+Sheets.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509170719647910882" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">Brooklyn star prosecutor Micheal F. Vecchione unveils Abe Reles' knotted bedsheets recovered from room 623 at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island on November 12, 1941. </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >Photo courtesy of Arthur Nash.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Overall, Nash's collection proves to be a real treasure to any aficionados of New York City's gangster story; its colorful characters that inhabited it and those that lurked in the city's darkest corners.<br /><br />There is a giddiness that may be hard to describe to some when one unearths a photo lost to time, shedding new light to the person in question, but its one I encounter every time, especially since taking on this project.<br />Take his photo of an 18 year old Arthur Flegenheimer, where the future beer baron of the Bronx known as <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dutch Schultz </span>seems almost like an innocent doe (well, kinda); there is an indescribable look in his eyes that almost commands a new perspective on a man who has been painted by historians as crude and as cold blooded as they come. And for the most part they were right. But, with each new photo unearthed like this one, sometimes another piece of a historical puzzle is found and put in place.<br />Much of the old gangster world is voiceless. Their stories passed on, shared, elaborated and exxagerated. <em></em>What we have to breath from are faded snapshots, crinkled mug shots, and controlled circulated press photos, the rest we have make up in our head. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/THSBUkV-AOI/AAAAAAAAA24/SfV1SnN2TlI/s1600/NYCG+1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 186px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/THSBUkV-AOI/AAAAAAAAA24/SfV1SnN2TlI/s320/NYCG+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509170434534146274" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">Eighteen year old Arthur Flegenheimer aka Dutch Schultz. </span></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span>Photo courtesy of Arthur Nash.<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ArtieNash?ref=ts"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">New York City Gangland on Facebook</span></a><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-10088402288782470402010-08-16T21:12:00.006-04:002010-08-24T23:25:04.087-04:00Six For Five on facebook<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TGnlzRzdQPI/AAAAAAAAA2w/MGp3Fd97I-s/s1600/facebook+icon+2.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TGnlzRzdQPI/AAAAAAAAA2w/MGp3Fd97I-s/s200/facebook+icon+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506184688552460530" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Just a quick note to mention I've set up a companion page to the blog on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Six-For-Five/142907169065499?v=info#%21/pages/Six-For-Five/142907169065499?v=wall"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">facebook</span></a> .<br />This will initially tie into the portraits on display currently on display at the Exhibition of the American Gangster and the short abbreviated bios that accompany them.<br />If you've dropped by and seen the exhibit and would like to post any comments please feel free to do so to make the whole thing a little more interactive. Of course if you are not in New York City, or plan to be in the next couple of months, you are still more than welcomed to participate as the page will grow </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-size:130%;">expediently</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> as times goes on</span>.</span>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-29799024265739839952010-08-08T13:15:00.010-04:002010-08-08T21:40:19.352-04:00Previews in the Big Bad Apple...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TF7uFwsNr6I/AAAAAAAAA2Q/fXMiGEoeTPw/s1600/IMG_4061.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TF7uFwsNr6I/AAAAAAAAA2Q/fXMiGEoeTPw/s400/IMG_4061.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503097577430429602" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">For the last few months I've been discussing the opening of the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Muse</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >um Of The American Gangster</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> in New York, and I can formally announce that thirteen portraits are now on view while the museum exhibit space is in previews in preparation for an official opening.<br />Due to some legal procedures requested by the state of New York in regards to by-laws and what <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">constitutes</span> a 'museum' (too complicated to get into here) there had to be a name change to the institution, which is now officially called </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Exh</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">ibition</span> Of The American Gangster</span><span style="font-size:130%;">.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TF7t51v__jI/AAAAAAAAA2I/rm_VYkWZnLg/s1600/IMG_4068.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 271px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TF7t51v__jI/AAAAAAAAA2I/rm_VYkWZnLg/s400/IMG_4068.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503097372630056498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Twelve originals are on exhibit until October 31 as well as a framed <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">gicleé</span> print of Meyer <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Lansky</span> (the original has been sold to a collector and is not in my possession anymore).<br /><br />I also have a selection of high quality <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">gicleé</span> prints available from their gift shop and purchase of original artwork can b</span><span style="font-size:130%;">e worked out privately with the museum.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TF7uPJe6tGI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/glPPrBm2YQw/s1600/IMG_4062.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TF7uPJe6tGI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/glPPrBm2YQw/s400/IMG_4062.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503097738704368738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">The exhibit space is situated above the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Theater 80 St. Marks</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> in the East Village, and was once the former apartment occupied by non other than Leon Trotsky.<br />Also on site includes a collection of prohibition era materials and other gangster ephemera and wares, and also includes tours of the former speakeasy bar and it's underground network which was discovered in 1964.<br /><br />Currently the museum's website is under re-construction but the opening hours for previews are 1PM - 6PM except Sundays and Wednesdays for the time being until the museum officially opens it's doors.<br /><br />Exhibition Of The American Gangster<br />80 St. Marks Place<br />New York, NY<br />1 (800) 603-5520</span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TF7ugZDru6I/AAAAAAAAA2g/nbLIOI8RKnI/s1600/IMG_0318.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TF7ugZDru6I/AAAAAAAAA2g/nbLIOI8RKnI/s400/IMG_0318.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503098034942884770" border="0" /></a>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-86030500797379893032010-07-13T18:08:00.016-04:002010-08-08T14:04:55.042-04:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Boy oh boy times flies.<br />I seem to apologize every so often for the slow down in posts but maintaining the blog thing can prove to be a challenge sometimes.<br /><br />Here are a couple of photos of the current exhibit at the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Katz Snyder Gallery</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> in San Francisco which seems to be going well and getting a good amount of attendance and reaction. My thanks to all who have dropped by so far.<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TDzlBh8qlCI/AAAAAAAAA08/yIkvSfUiulk/s1600/Untitled-1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 156px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TDzlBh8qlCI/AAAAAAAAA08/yIkvSfUiulk/s400/Untitled-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493517459940611106" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">While the exhibit continues until September 15, there's another good reason to be in the Bay Area this summer.<br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.sfjff.org/film/detail?id=1000024">The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival</a> has programmed a series called </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Tough Guys : Images Of Jewish Gangsters in Film</span><span style="font-size:130%;">.<br />Screenings will include Warren Beatty's </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Bugsy</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> - his </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >loosely</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> adapted bio of Ben Siegel; but the little gems are screenings of the rare <a href="http://www.sfjff.org/film/detail?id=5348"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Lepke</span></a> (1975), starring Tony Curtis, and <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.sfjff.org/film/detail?id=5354"><span style="font-weight: bold;">King Of The Roaring 20's - The Story Of Arnold Rothstein</span></a> (1961) starring David Janssen. Both films have yet, and may never see, the DVD treatment - so if you get a chance to see these do yourself a favor. I can't vouch for </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >King Of The Roaring 20's</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, as I've never seen it, but I do have an old VHS copy of </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Lepke </span><span style="font-size:130%;">and though the film feels a little dated, it holds up.<br /><br />Also screening will be Howard Hawk's classic <a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.sfjff.org/film/detail?id=5344">Scarface</a> (1932) starring Paul Muni - and the reason for this screening is Muni, along with Edward G. Robinson, were Jewish actors and graduates of New York Yiddish theatre who played Italian mobsters on the screen during the height of the gangster film genre. Though actual newspaper headlines of the times splashed the prominent names of </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Dutch Schultz</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Louis Buchalter </span><span style="font-size:130%;">and others, film audiences of the '30s were not ready for the representation of Jewish mobsters on the silver screen, nor were the studio chiefs, most of whom were Jewish.<br /><br />Missing from the programming but easily viewable on DVD is </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Murder, Inc</span><span style="font-size:130%;">. (1960), whose script and pacing is rather plodding, but a young Peter Falk makes for a convincing </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Abe 'Kid Twist' Reles</span><span style="font-size:130%;">. Also, and possibly the quintessential Jewish mobster film, is Sergio Leone's sweeping and epic </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Once Upon A Time in America</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, starring Robert De Niro and James Woods as two Lower East Side kids who rise up in the underworld on their own terms.<br />The film festival runs from July 24 - August 9.<br /><br />The SFJFF has also been nice enough to support the ongoing exhibit and will screen these following promotional graphics that I put together for them prior to films screenings.<br /><br />My thanks to Nancy Fishman, who curated </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >'Tough Guys...'</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> for all her support and help in making all this happen.<br /></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TDztWB8Bx8I/AAAAAAAAA1E/6FI2XvtFxpc/s1600/FF+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TDztWB8Bx8I/AAAAAAAAA1E/6FI2XvtFxpc/s400/FF+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493526608218277826" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TDzt6G-PeVI/AAAAAAAAA1U/cQcHuqN8if4/s1600/FF+4.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TDzt6G-PeVI/AAAAAAAAA1U/cQcHuqN8if4/s400/FF+4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493527228045031762" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TDztj1cS7LI/AAAAAAAAA1M/RBtBqV_dqdc/s1600/FF+3+.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TDztj1cS7LI/AAAAAAAAA1M/RBtBqV_dqdc/s400/FF+3+.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493526845382126770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></span></span>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-385451748746247542010-05-31T21:37:00.016-04:002010-08-08T14:05:43.131-04:00Jewish Mobsters cross the Golden Gate<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TAcgAFYYf3I/AAAAAAAAA00/yXSesTvcTq4/s1600/SF.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TAcgAFYYf3I/AAAAAAAAA00/yXSesTvcTq4/s400/SF.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478382657536032626" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/TARkmU47BvI/AAAAAAAAA0k/fevsxP9vsKY/s1600/SF.jpg"><br /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I<span style="font-size:130%;"> am happy to announce the opening of the exhibit </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >'Wise Guys:</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" > Mobsters In The Mishpacha'</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, which will be hosted by the </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >Katz Snyder Gallery</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> and the <a href="http://www.jccsf.org/">JCCSF</a> in San Francisco, Ca.<br /></span></div></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />The exhibit dates are from </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >June 15 to September 15</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> and over forty-one portraits will be on display. For those not up on their Hebrew (which at most times includes myself), Mishpacha translates to 'family' and will be similar to The Real Machers exhibit held in Washington, D.C. last year. There are a few new portraits that have been added to this particular show.<br /><br />Big thanks goes out Nancy Fishman, whose was instrumental in getting this exhibit off the ground in San Francisco. She is also curating this year's <a href="http://www.sfjff.org/">San Francisco Jewish Film Festival</a>, which is celebrating it's 30th anniversary this year. Part of this year's programming will include </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Tough Guys: Images Of Jewish Gangsters In Film</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> (are you starting to see the connection!?) and there will be some cross promotion between the exhibit and film festival.<br /><br />Thanks also goes out to Katz Snyder Gallery curator Lenore Naxon in helping putting this show together. There may be plans for an official reception for the exhibit closer to the start of the film festival in mid- July so stay tuned for details. If you are in the Bay Area, either as tourist or local in the next three months, please drop on by.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >KATZ SNYDER GALLERY /JCCSF</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >3200 CALIFORNIA STREET, </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >SAN FRANCISCO, CA </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" > 415.292.1200</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:130%;" >********************************************************************</span><br /><br /></div>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-75704330215571186982010-05-11T22:21:00.010-04:002010-05-12T11:00:08.342-04:00Sneak Peek : Museum Of The American Gangster Poster<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S-rCbYupdtI/AAAAAAAAAzs/MeHGO6y-IC0/s1600/MOAG+POSTER+FIXED.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S-rCbYupdtI/AAAAAAAAAzs/MeHGO6y-IC0/s400/MOAG+POSTER+FIXED.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470398473145251538" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Posts have slowed a bit in the last little while but with good reason, as this has been one of the results:<br />Here is a peek at a poster I've illustrated and designed especially for the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.moagnyc.org/">Museum Of The American Gangster</a> in celebration of their inauguration.<br /><br />There will be announcements soon about the Museum's <span style="font-style: italic;">official </span>opening in New York City, which is slated in the near future and I will have an update on my involvement as well.<br /><br />In the meantime you can sign up at their official <span style="font-weight: bold;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">facebook</span> page to receive regular updates: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-NY/Museum-of-the-American-Gangster/117097974985967"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">MOAG</span></a><br /><br />I will also announce within the next couple of weeks of yet <span style="font-style: italic;">another</span> exhibit I will be involved in once the official press release is set loose upon the world, but for the time being I've been asked to be hush hush about it...so stay tuned.Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-17622436587665650722010-04-11T12:53:00.029-04:002010-04-13T20:41:57.142-04:00Letters from Purgatory<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S8PHARtpQNI/AAAAAAAAAzU/eB73JONxabA/s1600/GYP_Ldd.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S8PHARtpQNI/AAAAAAAAAzU/eB73JONxabA/s400/GYP_Ldd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459425980871950546" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Ninety –six years ago on the morning of April 13, 1914, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Harry Horowitz</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Louis Rosenberg</span>, </span><span style="font-size:100%;">pictured in the illustration above, and</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Jacob <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Seidenschmer</span></span> along with Italian co-hort Frank <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Cirofici</span>, were led down the hallowed halls of Sing Sing prison to meet their fate in the electric chair.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">All four men, none barely a quarter century old in age, were found guilty of murdering gambler <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Herman <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Rosenthal</span></span>, who was killed in front of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Café</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Metropole</span> on a hot summer evening in July of 1912.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The men were tried as a group in November of that same year, and the hearing had lasted only a week; their verdict and fate took only a mere thirty minutes before the jury reached a decision.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> The four were stunned but stood stoic as the death sentence was handed down.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The case against the gunmen was overshadowed in many ways by the highly publicized trial against Charles Becker, the former Police Lieutenant implicated and charged with ordering <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Rosenthal</span>’s murder. The end result rang almost as a judicial afterthought in the wake of all the attention Becker’s case had gathered, and possibly at least two innocent lives were extinguished, that of Jacob ‘Whitey Lewis’ <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Seidenschmer</span> and Dago Frank <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Cirofici</span>’s, as its shadowy legacy.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Harry Horowitz, underworld moniker: <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Gyp The Blood</span>, and Louis Rosenberg, aka <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Lefty Louie</span>, were no angels, with arrest records and buoyed street reputations to prove it; but in the sixteen months spent in Sing Sing following their conviction they filed numerous appeals in an attempt to reverse their collective fate. Influential members of the Jewish Community tried to have the executions stopped and appealed for clemency. It was the first time such highly publicized criminals of Jewish descent were to be executed, and feared the effect it would have on a community that itself already felt like it had been put on trial in the aftermath of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Rosenthal</span> / Becker affair. The scheduled executions marked a new heightened awareness and sense of shame of the serious criminal problem the Jewish community in New York, especially on the Lower East Side, had on their hands.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">With the execution date finally set, Louis Rosenberg wrote one last statement, which was signed by all four men and delivered to the office of their attorneys, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Wahle</span> & Kringle, at 230 Broadway.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">The tone is obviously somber, but it does take into question how much public scrutiny, press <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">bias</span>, and municipal political motivation (especially for District Attorney Charles Whitman) had influenced their fateful outcome.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">While Rosenberg is at times hazy in his appeal (the New York Times printed it verbatim), it also points directly at what most writers and historians have since concluded; that gamblers <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Bald Jack Rose</span>, <span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Louis ‘<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Bridgey</span>” <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Webber</span></span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Sam <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Schepps</span></span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Harry <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Vallon</span></span> were actually the men behind <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Rosenthal</span>’s killing, not Charles Becker, with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Vallon</span> himself as the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">triggerman</span> while Horowitz and Rosenberg possibly stood by. And that the gambler’s sworn testimonies were <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">perjuriously</span> a well-woven tale of conspiracy and frame up of all those convicted.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />On March 29, the New York Times published Rosenberg’s statement in full. It read as follows:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> Correspondence Department</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> Sing Sing Prison</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Public Opinion:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">I. We ask the public to answer to themselves these questions. Did public opinion convict us?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">II. What created public opinion?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">III. When Jack Zelig was arraigned for trial before Judge <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Malon</span> in June 1912, charged with an offence for which the penalty is fourteen years in State prison, was there one person who read his case at the time who did not believe he was guilty and who not have voted for his conviction?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">IV. What created belief that Jack Zelig was guilty of that crime?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">V. What created that mental attitude in those from whom would have been drawn the jury to try him? Not even the public officials charged with the care of his trial believed him innocent. What do the officials and the public say now about the opinion and belief they had formed on the basis of rumor and misleading inferences gathered from wherever they did?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Zelig was innocent, public officials announced that he was innocent; a Grand Jury said so when they indicted those who falsely accused him. It was only an <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">un</span>-looked for event which enabled him to prove his innocence and escape fourteen years.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">We have been accused by persons what of whom the Court of Appeals said is now well known by the public. Whatever we have said and what we now say we ask the public to please believe us that we in no way mean to criticize the court of judicial administration. As we have always said we are not lawyers. We have our records and briefs on appeals and opinions in our case and naturally in the quiet moments we have read and reread the testimony in our case and the opinions of the Court of Appeals.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">We are still at a loss to understand why Rose, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Schepps</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Webber</span> and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">Vallon</span> are persons not to be believed under oath in the (Charles) Becker case and yet as persons whose testimony in our case should be taken as true and from whom should be accepted in our case the version as the true version of the whole <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Rosenthal</span> affair and of the motive for this terrible crime.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Of (Morris) <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Luban</span> the Court of Appeals states that in the Becker case that he is unbelievable and bases such conclusion on the fact that his story is improbable and that he had a motive in testifying for the prosecution, and that motive was his release from prison in Jersey; that he was placed in the company of Rose, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">Schepps</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">Webber</span>, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Vallon</span> so as to enable him to talk matters over with Rose, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Schepps</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">Webber</span>, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Vallon</span>, so that his story would dovetail with theirs. Yet in one case, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Luban</span> is believed.</span><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >(Willie) Shapiro, another one, was the first one arrested and accused of the murder and afterward indicted on the same blanket indictment with us, and in City Prison (The Tombs) with us boys for a long while and could not identify any one of us until he was placed in that same Fifty-fourth Street jail </span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >(where Rose, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">Webber</span>, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">Schepps</span> were held after being transferred from The Tombs upon Charles Becker’s arrest and arrival at the notorious holding facility)</span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" >, for the same opportunities for meeting and arranging their harmonious stories, which was condemned by the Court of Appeals in the Becker case?<br />The same reasons that made <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">Luban</span> unbelievable in the Becker case and more so, as his motive was to save his own life, Shapiro.<br />Harry Horowitz, Jacob <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">Seidenshner</span> and I swore on the stand we seen <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">Vallon</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Webber</span> and a stranger shoot (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">Rosenthal</span>). <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">Bridgey</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">Webber</span> says he does not know this man, yet it is a fact that this man was in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">Bridgey</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Webber</span>’s gambling room and left with them for the scene of the shooting.<br />We simply ask people who know of the real conditions in New York City if a man had spent his whole life in the gambling business and who was as shrewd and careful like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">Webber</span> to allow a perfect stranger to enter his gambling room and take midnight trips with him?<br />Now in the records, on Page 452, Folio 1,354, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Schepps</span> states that “ he was told to go as far as he could and not to stop until he got there” He also states that he got $100 from <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">Webber</span>, and from a man he did not know by name $150. Why could it not be that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">Webber</span> also wanted to get this stranger out of the way?<br />There is no attempt or intention on our part to create the idea that we are over-brave or any kind of heroes, for our lives and liberty are just as dear to us as anyone else, yet we do not believe we should be the victims to save men who on their own sworn testimony are concerned in the crime. We ask the public to please judge the facts for themselves.<br />Respectfully<br />Louis Rosenberg<br />Frank <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">Cirofici</span><br />Jacob <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">Seidenshner</span><br />Harry Horowitz</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />This last statement written a couple of weeks before their deaths contrasts sharply with the seemingly jovial tone of the letters they had sent to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Big Jack Zelig</span> in the early fall of 1912.<br />Jack Zelig had been shot and killed on October 5, 1912 while riding a Second Avenue street trolley. He was due in court the next morning to appear for the prosecution on the opening day of the Charles Becker trail, and quite possibly his statements may of been able to clear the accused gunmen’s names in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Rosenthal</span> murder (though that wasn't Charles Whitman’s intention).<br /><br />When Zelig’s body was searched at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">Bellevue</span>, letters from all four alleged gunmen were found in his pockets. They are surprisingly light-hearted in nature, not something you’d expect coming from hardened street toughs; pleasantries exchanged between gentle chaps and not words that emanated from someone who broke people’s backs over his knee on a two-dollar dare in Gyp The Blood’s case:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tombs Prison, October 3, 1912</span><br />Dear Friend <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">Zel</span>: A few lines letting you know I am feeling fine and in good health.<br />Also Louie and Whitey and Frank. I hope you and your wife are the same. Well, old boy, things look fine. They could not look better. I read your letter and Louie and myself were tickled to death to read it. We have a hell of a time here all by ourselves; do nothing but fool around and kick one another.<br />Gee, did you see that piece about Louie in to-day’s Journal. We laughed ourselves sick over it. You remember that fellow who said he was stuck up last week on Second Avenue? Well he is up here with us, and we kid the life out of him. Well <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">Zel</span>, take care of yourself and I know you are one who can do that. So I’ll close with regards and best wishes to yourself and your wife.<br /><br />From your true friend,<br />Harry<br />Regards and best wishes from W and F, Answer as soon as possible if you have time.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Lefty Louis Rosenberg’s letter carried the same kind of optimism. It’s quite obvious that the men had faith in Zelig, a much heralded and respected gang leader, who would clear their names and get them out of prison, so kept up a positive front for Zelig’s sake who was reportedly quite depressed about the entire situation his men were in.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Tombs Prison, October 3, 1912</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">My Dear Pal: I received your letter and I was certainly glad to hear from you, and you certainly know how I more than appreciate what you are doing for me. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">Zel</span>, old man, I <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">ain</span>’t worrying a bit; I eat good food and sleep good, and also having a little fun up here and will certainly be ready for that big Christmas dinner.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">Zel</span>, you tell me you are going to stick to me and to the boys to the end. I know that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_57">Zel</span>, as I as know what you are made of, having full confidence in you, old boy, that you will stick to the end. I know that, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_58">Zel</span>, as I know what you are made of, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_59">Zel</span>, to tell you the truth, I have got it better than a lot of them bum millionaires have got it outside, and was up last night until 3 A.M. in the morning playing cards and eating lamb chops, but who do think was in our party? But George <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_60">Richman</span>, that famous jeweler from Second Ave.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> He came up here to identify <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_61">Frosby</span>, and he failed to identify him, he changed his mind and thought he could keep me company for awhile, and I can assure you he is SAFE. My father and his lawyer called me down to the counsel room yesterday and I had a cheerful chat with him. And after I got through with him he said he was convinced that I really have nothing in this case, and he went away feeling much better. Now old pal let me know you are, and how things are on the outside. I will also tell the boys to write to you. I will now close, trusting this will find you in the best of health, as I am present; also hoping this will cheer you up as your letter cheered me up.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I remain your sincere friend and pal,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />Louie</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Dago Frank <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_62">Cirofici</span>’s letter, undated, seemed slightly more desperate than those of his cellmates. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_63">Cirofici</span>’s predicament was justified; guilty more by association it seemed and was apparently not even present the night of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_64">Rosenthal</span>’s murder. But the Italian hood stood by his Jewish comrades with a gangland sense of loyalty though underneath his penned words one could almost sense a shuddering lamb being sent to the slaughter.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">My dear friend Jack: I read your letter and Jack I tell you it made me feel kind of bad to think you are taking it so hard on our account, but I know what a true pal you are, so I know what about how you feel. I know the night I heard Gyp and Lefty were arrested I cried like a little baby. I had the blues for a week, before that – the day you turned your pockets inside out – was enough for me.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Do you remember it? Dear pal, I have more faith in you than in any living man in this whole country. I tell you the truth right from my heart. I don’t know you long Jack, and I think if it weren't for you I don’t know what would happen to me. Being a Dago, of course, you don’t know what I know. But time will tell, old pal. Even at that, I was always ready to take anything they handed me and say nothing.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Dear Jack, I ought not to be writing you my hard luck story. Don’t mind it. I am as happy as a lord otherwise. Well, old boy, don’t worry, we will have a grand time up at mother’s house as soon as we all get out.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Let us hope they rush things along. The sooner the better. Be cheerful, Jack. There is not a bit of worrying with the four of us. If I have so much faith in you, I am sure the rest of the boys have the same. I have thought many a time how you and your good little wife, God bless her, have worked making up food for us. Tell her I prayed to-day that I can meet her and shake her hand, with ever so much thanks for her great kindness. I think I write you a nice long letter, and hope to get one in return. I would of written long ago, but I did not know your address. Hoping this will find you and your wife happy, and with my best wishes, I remain your true friend.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><br />Frank <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_65">Cirofici</span> Room 328</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">P.S. – Regards to you and Jack Wolf</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Better days coming, dear. Good-night.</span><br /><br />Big Jack Zelig's death, only two days after these letters were written, had dashed all possible hopes of the four men ever finding their freedom in the wake public outcry and pressure, resulting in the fervor of justice that was to come.<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Despite all last minute appeals and reflective editorials in the Yiddish press, nothing could be done to change the minds of authorities in Albany leading up to April 13.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Rabbis were sent to their cells to pray with them in their last hours, and a priest was summoned for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_66">Cirofici</span>.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">It was determined that Dago Frank was psychologically the weakest of the quartet, and it would be even crueler punishment to have him sit through any of the executions and wait his turn. He blubbered like a baby on his way to the chair. Whitey Lewis and Rosenberg only said a few words, reiterating their innocence and the gross injustice befallen upon them.<br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Horowitz was the last to go, and kept mum until the end.<br /></span></div><br /></div>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-75205343388592849272010-03-22T22:45:00.011-04:002010-03-23T10:35:12.538-04:00Our Gotham's 'Changing Of The Guard'<object height="315" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/r9qsnCXfUb0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/r9qsnCXfUb0&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="315" width="500"></embed></object><br /><br />Here is a sneak peak of <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.monk1903.com/">Our Gotham</a>'s latest project "Changing Of The Guard"<br /><br />The short feature will have it's premiere at <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Museum Of The American Gangster</span> in April. I've had a sneak peak myself and its a doozy so kudos to all those involved and more Our Gotham news will be forthcoming...<br /><br />Also speaking of the MOAG, as they gear up for their official opening in the coming weeks, they will be starting a new walking tour on April 1st.<br /><br />Here are some details:<br /><br />The Museum of the American Gangster (MOAG) begins its neighborhood tour offerings on Thursday, April 1, 2010 with a daily tour focusing on the Jewish-American criminal community on the Lower East Side at the turn of the century.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">MOAG's Jewish Mob</span> tour traces the steps of pre-Prohibition era gangsters like <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Monk Eastman, Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">,</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">"Big" Jack Zelig</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Benjamin "Dopey" Fein</span> – pivotal figures in the organizing of crime in New York City; learn about the Jewish immigrant experience on the Lower East Side and the conditions that led to organized gansterism; visit the sites of gang headquarters, shootouts and assassinations, and learn how the Jewish Mob expanded out of the slums and into a contemporary organized crime syndicate.<br /><br />The MOAG Jewish Mob tour was prepared with the direct input of the families and estates of the crime figures discussed on tour, as well as consultation by leading authors like Rose Keefe (The Starker, Guns and Roses, The Man Who Got Away) and Patrick Downey (Gangster City), to provide a one-of-a-kind experience for tour-goers using original source documents, images, firsthand accounts and family stories previously unavailable elsewhere.<br /><br />MOAG's Jewish Mob tours are conducted by Eric Ferrara, Seth Franklin Abrams and Max Weissberg.<br /><br />MOAG's Jewish Mob walking tour will run daily, Monday through Saturday, at 5:00pm, beginning Thursday, April 1, 2010. The fee is $15pp, which does not include entry to the museum. Reservations are not required. Meet at MOAG, 80 St. Marks Place, New York, NY 10003 (between 1st and 2nd Avenues). Closest subways are the L to 1st Avenue, F/V to 2nd Ave, or the 6 to Astor Place.<br /><br />For more information visit <a href="http://moagnyc.org/" target="_blank">http://moagnyc.org</a></div>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-14789333814244190872010-03-18T20:26:00.019-04:002010-04-12T09:36:32.141-04:00Big Tim at Tenement Talks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S6LUkUXuKgI/AAAAAAAAAyk/2Sxohm02CoM/s1600-h/BTS.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 251px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S6LUkUXuKgI/AAAAAAAAAyk/2Sxohm02CoM/s400/BTS.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450152219480304130" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />A quick note to let those in the NYC area that author Richard F. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Welch</span> will be at the <a href="http://www.tenement.org/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lower East Side Tenement Museum</span></a> this coming Monday, March 22 at 6:30 PM as part of their Tenement Talks series.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Welch's</span> recently published book 'King Of The Bowery - <span style="font-style: italic;">Big Tim Sullivan, Tammany Hall, and New York City from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era'</span> (now that's book title!) is the first long-overdue biography of one of New York's most colorful and controversial politicians from the turn of the century and proved to be an enlightening read.<br /><br />As I've mentioned before, the tall <em></em> Irishman known for his twinkling blue eyes, was a key player in shaping the roles Jewish gangsters would play early on. While painted by some as the epitome of the crooked politician, Sullivan, who was also known affectionately as 'The Big Feller', was truly a walking <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">contradiction</span>; giving as much to charity as he took in from an endless bounty of graft. He was also unquestionably progressive and responsible for early women's rights movements and pushing proper labor practices.<br /><br />Despite both the lives of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arnold Rothstein </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);">and</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> H</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">erman Rosenthal</span> ended in bullets, each had taken different trajectories in success and failure, and both owed much of their start to the patronage offered by Sullivan. But Sullivan didn't just help Jews who walked the crooked line. Big Tim knew that Jewish patronage was of key importance, especially since so many lived in his district, and he had more foresight than most of his fellow <span style="font-style: italic;">sachems</span> when it came working with them. According to Richard Welch, Big Tim was one of the first Democrats to bring Jewish professionals into his fold as advisors at a time when most Jews were still frowned upon aand objectified as socialists. Sullivan's helping hand extended to include Max Steuer, who became one of Tammany's, and New York's, most successful lawyers, and as of 1909 - Henry Applebaum, who served as Sullivan's personal secretary and close political operative up until Sullivan's death.<br />Big Tim Sullivan's life ended tragically in the fall of 1913, in the wake of the shooting deaths of Herman Rosenthal and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Big Jack Zelig</span> the previous year. His passing also marked the end of an era of shaky but reliable alliances between Gotham's Jewish gangs and Tammany Hall.<br /><br />There is much more to Sullivan's life so those with any interest should pick up Richard Welch's book and if you are not geographically challenged, drop by the Tenement Museum this coming Monday.<br /><br />*********************************************************************<br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><br />I will have more news coming soon in regards to my involvement with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Museum Of the American Gangster</span>. While the Museum is now open for previews, the exhibit space will only be ready in the coming weeks so stay tuned for updates.</span>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-89948285907611761082010-02-19T13:47:00.023-05:002010-02-23T18:17:21.518-05:00The Museum Of The American GangsterBelow is the official press release for the new <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Museum of the American Gangster</span>, located at <span style="font-weight: bold;">80 St. Marks Place</span> in <span style="font-weight: bold;">New York City</span>, and which is set to open its doors next month.<br />This promises to be an exciting new venue and venture for all those who share an interest in the subject matter, as well as an entertaining and educating experience for the curious.<br /><br />I am also happy to announce that plans are currently in the making to display a selection of my original portraits from this project at the Museum for an extended period of time. I will have more details on all this forthcoming.<br />I must humbly admit there will be something nicely gratifying that the portraits will hang mere blocks away from where many of these men strolled the streets so many years ago and this feels a bit like a homecoming for the artwork. I will post more details as they come in.<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">***************************************************************************************</span></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><br /><object height="364" width="445"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LgPaBNhnvs4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LgPaBNhnvs4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="364" width="445"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Museum Of The American Gangster</span> - Press Release<br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The Museum of the American Gangster (MAOG) presents an opportunity to gain insight into the hidden, inside world of the American gangster through artifacts and stories told by those involved. We are working with a team of criminal authors, historians and related institutions, as well as family members and estates of pivotal crime figures, to create a museum that both casual fans and invested scholars could enjoy and benefit from. Beyond exhibits and artifacts, MOAG will offer dedicated research facilities, access to original source documents and articles, oral histories, workshops, walking tours, live performances, historic reenactments, lectures, movies and presentations.<br /><br />The MOAG at 80 St. Marks Place features a full gallery space with gift shop, as well as an authentic speakeasy and a maze of hidden rooms and artifacts in the basement left over from Prohibition (which are all part of the exhibit). Frank Sinatra was a singing waiter in our restaurant as a youth (yoot?), and our gallery served as living quarters for Leon Trotsky<big><big><strong></strong></big></big> in 1917. The 160-seat, professional Off-Broadway <strong></strong>theater on site premiered <i>You're A Good Man Charlie Brown</i> in 1967 and is the site of Lord Buckley's final performance before his death in 1960. (And that is just the tip of the iceberg.)<br /><br />MOAG's goal is to objectively and authentically present the role that crime has played in shaping the politics, culture, myth and lore of New York City. Criminals will not be glorified or sensationalized, nor will they be vilified -- rather, this institution intends to allow visitors insight into how and why criminals (on both sides of the law) chose the life they did. Where did they come from? What were their options? What was their relationship to the community? This is a chance to dig deep into the lives and minds of some of the country's most successful crime figures.<br /><br />Where better to explore the influence of criminality in America than in the neighborhood where such heavyweights as "Lucky" Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and "Bugsy" Siegel planted the seeds of modern organized crime? Where their predecessors, men like Jack Zelig, Monk Eastman, and Paul Kelly paved the way for future mob influence over labor, politics and entertainment in NYC? Where Tammany Hall headquartered their century-long stranglehold on politics with the assistance of local gangs? Where the most powerful Prohibition-era bootleggers lived, operated and fought for control over an underground empire? Where the infamous Irish-Nativist wars paralyzed Lower Manhattan in the 19th century? Important American history is in our own backyard and MOAG is dedicated to presenting this very important aspect of it.<br /><br />The MOAG daily preview hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 12:00pm to 5:00pm, for a reduced admission fee of only $10.<br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span> <span style="font-size:100%;">Museum previews begin with a special Sunday, March 7, 2010 event, from 12:00pm - 5:00pm.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><b>For more information, visit <a href="http://moagnyc.org/" target="_blank">http://moagnyc.org</a></b></span><br /><big><b><br /></b><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks to the</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" > Knickbocker Villag</span><span style="font-size:85%;">e blog for posting the video.</span><b><br /></b></big>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-56996556539017913152010-02-04T21:31:00.027-05:002010-02-24T23:30:26.739-05:00Sholem Bernstein<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S4X8sRaDVAI/AAAAAAAAAyE/wR9hdy1c0Pk/s1600-h/SHOLEM+B+CROPPED.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 309px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S4X8sRaDVAI/AAAAAAAAAyE/wR9hdy1c0Pk/s320/SHOLEM+B+CROPPED.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442033562264228866" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Apologies for the slowing down of posts since the beginning of the new year but as I have mentioned earlier I've been busy with other projects. As most people who freelance surely know, work schedules can be far from concrete and routine.</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />In that time though I have managed to finish up another portrait to add to the series. This time around is the lesser known <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Sholem</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> Bernstein</span>, a low level operative of the Brooklyn / Brownsville troop of Murder Inc. soldiers.</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Bernstein was a talented car thief whose services were instrumental in <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">procuring</span> getaway cars that would later trace to a dead end in an investigation.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> Nothing of much importance was ever given to Bernstein further than placing his hands on the ten o'clock and two o'clock behind numerous stolen steering wheels, and pushing down on the gas. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Sholem</span>, who some called Sol, drove the getaway car at the fateful murder of candy store owner Joseph <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Rosen</span> in 1936. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Rosen</span> was a former garment industry worker whose trucking business had been forced into retirement by <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Louis 'Lepke' <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Buchalter</span></span>'s powerful influence over labor racketeering in New York. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Rosen</span> was set up with a small candy store in Brooklyn by Lepke in order to try to help the man support his family. This was after a few missteps <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Rosen</span> had working for a couple of other trucking companies under <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Buchalter's</span> control. The candy shop faltered and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Rosen</span>, understandably embittered towards <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Buchalter</span>, demanded financial reprimand and rumors flew that the candy man was looking to blow the whistle on Lepke's empire with one quick visit to Thomas Dewey's office.</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Emanuel 'Mendy' Weiss</span> was one of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Bernstien's</span> passengers on the Sunday morning of September 13 when <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Rosen</span> was face down on the floor of the candy store, his body host to seventeen bullet holes. Joe <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Rosen's</span> murder seemed perhaps inconsequential at the time to Lepke, who had overseen and ordered numerous syndicate hits, all calculated carefully, but this one would later prove to be the foundation of his downfall, and lead to his trip to the electric chair in 1944.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Inevitably <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Bernstien's</span> minor stature in the underworld of Kings County manifested him into an easy pushover for </span><span style="font-size:100%;">the borough's District Attorney William <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">O'Dwyer</span> and prosecutor Burton <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Turkus</span>. Looking at an extended trip</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> to Sing Sing, Bernstein folded like an old accordion and was holed up in room 622 of The Half Moon Hotel in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Coney</span> Island soon after; his neighbor in room 623 was <a href="http://sixforfive.blogspot.com/2008/11/half-hour-at-half-moon.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Abe <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Reles</span></span></a>. He was one of the four important turncoats under police protection, along with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Allie 'Tick <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Tock</span>' <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Tannenbaum</span></span> and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Mickey <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">Sycoff</span></span>, who were across the hall in room 626.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">Tannenbaum</span> and Bernstein were key figures in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Buchlater's</span> trial for the pros</span><span style="font-size:100%;">e</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">cution</span>. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Tannenbaum's</span> corroboration of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">Rosen</span> murder, and the eye witness account from Bernstein, sealed Lepke's fate along with Mendy Weiss.<br />Amazingly enough, court transcripts from the trial detailed that Bernstein's attempted an extortion racket while passing the sometimes agonizingly long hours under lock down at the Half Moon (he, along with the others were there for over a year). This was done through threatening letters sent out to potential victims who shady past he was </span><em></em><span style="font-size:100%;">acquainted with in the old neighborhood. These paper threats passed through the hands of the policemen on duty who were unaware of their content, onto their intended mark. The scam however proved <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">unsuccessful</span>.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;">Like Allie <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Tannenbaum</span> and <a href="http://sixforfive.blogspot.com/2009/05/abraham-pretty-levine-1916-unknown.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Abe 'Pretty' Levine</span></a>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Sholem</span> Bernstein disappeared from sight and was never heard from again following the fall out of the trials and subsequent string of executions.<br />He and Tannenbaum did make court appearances in 1950, when Abe Reles' case and a probe into police corruption was reopened by the serving District Attorney Miles McDonald (O'Dwyer had gone on to be New York's 100th Mayor in 1945). Appearing like hoodlum ghosts out of the past, Bernstein and Tannenbaum made their statements and answered questions then quickly faded away once again, their post-Murder Inc. days still remaining a mystery to this day.</span><br /></div>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-14271019531456431252009-12-26T20:25:00.016-05:002009-12-26T21:06:36.897-05:00Bullets at The Blue Bird Café<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/Sza4beheqRI/AAAAAAAAAxs/FZH9nPDWrYU/s1600-h/M+EASTMAN+11+X+17.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/Sza4beheqRI/AAAAAAAAAxs/FZH9nPDWrYU/s400/M+EASTMAN+11+X+17.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419721983776434450" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;">Eighty-nine years ago…on December 26, 1920, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Monk Eastman </span>was found face down on the cold winter sidewalk near the 14th street subway entrance facing Union Square in the early morning hours following Christmas day.<br />The two policemen had counted a total of five .38 caliber bullets entry wounds in Eastman’s stocky, battle scarred body. After a life of so many violent close calls - a man whose life long love of cats may of attributed to an inherited fabled nine lives - these final bullets had found their mark.<br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br />A native of Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, Monk Eastman was born Edward Osterman in 1873, and was Gotham’s first great Jewish gang leader.<br />His life was a storybook affair of pugilism and violence, blood and broken noses, and as a result inadvertently created the turn of the century gangster archetype. Through pure brawn and probably very little brains he had reached the highest levels of power available to him through the closing years of the nineteenth century up until 1904. He also had hit the lowest lows upon his release from Sing Sing in 1908, unable to reclaim his throne in the underworld and idling in small petty crimes and lost in an opium haze most of his waking hours.<br /><br />It wasn’t until he reached the age of forty-four was he able to regain some semblance of gregarious grace among comrades when he offered his services to the US Army in 1917. He proved to be one on of the most courageous troopers ever enlisted with the 27th Division of the 106th Infantry, known as “O’Ryan’s Roughnecks”, saving countless lives on the battlefields of France through bravery and brash.<br /><br />He had encountered no runs in with the police after his return from the Great War, and was even granted full citizenship, which was restored in 1919 after a his fellow doughboys drew up and signed a petition and sent it to Governor Alfred E. Smith along with tales of his bravery in order to let him participate in the scheduled victory parade along Fifth Avenue. Initially Eastman, who had enlisted under the name of William Delaney, was going to be denied his place in the victory march after his checkered and violent past was uncovered.<br /><br />But it seemed old habits were hard to break and the straight and narrow was a difficult trail to stay on after his discharge. In the early morning hours of December 26, Eastman had been spending the evening cavorting at The Blue Bird Café at 62 East Fourteen Street, near the corner of Fourth Ave. An argument had ensued with a Prohibition officer later identified as Jerry W. Bohan. The disagreement, which became quickly heated, was apparently over the tipping amount for their waiter.<br /><br />His affiliation with Bohan was unclear but obviously the Prohibition officer’s moral stance was possibly a dubious one since Bohan was after all enjoying the illegal swills of a speakeasy and keeping company with Eastman and others. Alcohol fueled misjudgment had played key roles in Eastman’s life in the past; most notably his drunken uptown spree in 1904 where he fired six bullets (all missing their mark) at two Pinkerton detectives following an attempted mugging gone wrong. No longer under Tammany Hall protection, the incident had landed Eastman a Sing Sing sentence for five years, this ending his reign as gang leader and the street glory and respect he would never again regain.<br /><br />High levels of alcohol were noted in the autopsy report done on Eastman. After some further investigating however following his death, detectives found out that Eastman had been involved in some small time dope peddling and bootlegging, and was also under <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arnold Rothstein’</span>s employ as a loan collector.<br /><br />Jerry Bohan, who turned himself in on January 4 of the following year, claimed self-defense in regards to the shooting. Eastman was apparently quite inebriated and aggressively mouthing off insults and threats as he reached into his inside coat pocket while approaching him outside of the Blue Bird Café near the 14th street subway’s southern entrance. Bohan was quicker on the draw. He was eventually charged with manslaughter and was sentenced to a minimum of three years at Sing Sing.<br /><br />Though his public profile in the recent years had dwindled considerably, his killing had the newspapers’ full attention of the front page upon his death.<br />EX-CONVICT, WAR HERO, SHOT DEAD and REFORMED GANGSTER SLAIN trumpeted <span style="font-style: italic;">The Daily News</span>.<br /><br />Speculative articles ran about how his rehabilitation was perhaps not so genuine and how you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks, taking the expected moral high ground editorial approach.<br />The newspaper stories outraged two particular army buddies from the 106th, Hank Miller and John Boland, who put up funds for a military burial after Eastman’s family didn’t come forward to bury their own. Eastman‘s sister Ida had identified his body but never came back to reclaim it. One can only assume that family relations between the former gangster and his blood relatives were strained to the point of disownment.<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Coming to Eastman’s defense and extolling his battlefield bravery, Boland announced to the papers a highly colored quote perhaps not so deserved of a man who had at one time had sent so many men to Bellevue Hospital's accident ward that orderlies started to refer to it as the Eastman Pavilion:</span><span style=";font-family:Times;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span> <span style="font-style: italic;">“Mr. Eastman did more for America than Presidents and generals. The public does not reward its heroes, now they are calling him a gangster instead of praising him as one of those who saved America. But we’ll do the right thing by this soldier and give him the funeral he deserves.”</span><br /><br />On December 30, thousands of mourners showed up for Monk Eastman’s funeral procession including soldiers, women, children, and aging former members of the Eastman gang. He was dressed in full military regalia and laid in a shiny black coffin draped with the Star and Stripes, on which a silver plated inscription read <span style="font-style: italic;">Our Lost Pal, Gone But Not Forgotten.</span><br /><br />As a result of his family not being involved in the interment arrangements, a pastor from the South Third Street Methodist Church read the committal service of the dead. Eastman’s sordid and turbulent life had denied him <span style="font-style: italic;">Kaddish</span> and a Jewish burial.<br /><br />Six polished black cars and twenty horse drawn carriages made their way to their final stop at Cypress Hills Cemetery. With a bugler sounding taps and three volleys of fire, the life of Monk Eastman was over, and Edward Osterman was laid back down into the Brooklyn ground.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/Sza4beheqRI/AAAAAAAAAxs/FZH9nPDWrYU/s1600-h/M+EASTMAN+11+X+17.jpg"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"></span></a><!--EndFragment-->Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-35712325836015417572009-11-21T21:53:00.007-05:002010-02-24T23:35:01.636-05:00Red Levine Redux<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S4X97WrEowI/AAAAAAAAAyM/_3F_UO36ndc/s1600-h/RED+LEVINE+COLOR+ADJUSTED+09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/S4X97WrEowI/AAAAAAAAAyM/_3F_UO36ndc/s320/RED+LEVINE+COLOR+ADJUSTED+09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442034920887460610" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />I haven't posted in a little while as I've been busy with a variety of freelance assignments and, well, life - but I thought I would share a recent "reworking" of a portrait of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Samuel 'Red' Levine.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I <a href="http://sixforfive.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-thought-with-passover-holiday-coming.html">posted</a> about Red Levine quite awhile ago and currently don't have much more to add as far biographical updates. However, for those who have followed this project with a keen eye may of noticed the artwork has gone through some changes over the course of time. Nothing too substantial or radical mind you, but the line work has become more delicate and the painting process coming forward more so than in the past. My <a href="http://sixforfive.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-thought-with-passover-holiday-coming.html">original</a> attempt at this kosher killer was done quite earlier on when I started this series, where line work was bolder and the watercolor almost as a secondary thought.<br />With the amount of portraits that have been accomplished since then, the self- critical side of me wanted to give Red another go. I was also fortunate to locate a reference photo which has not been circulated or appeared in any known publications to make this new interpretation all that fresher, plus he seems to have a grumpy disposition in this one that just adds to it all....<br /></div>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-46843807841640925822009-10-23T16:35:00.013-04:002009-10-23T22:58:25.133-04:00The Demise of DUTCH SCHULTZ<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/SuIUC1i5P0I/AAAAAAAAAxA/R01fWTe3N_8/s1600-h/DUTCH+SCHULTZ+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/SuIUC1i5P0I/AAAAAAAAAxA/R01fWTe3N_8/s400/DUTCH+SCHULTZ+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395897342509006658" border="0" /></a> Seventy- four years ago today, Dutch Schultz, neé under the very unthreatening name of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arthur Flegenheimer</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">,</span> was shot down at at The Palace Chop House in Newark, New Jersey a couple of months after his thirty-third birthday.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Schultz still remains one of gangland's most infamous figures in the general public mind.<br />Bronx born in 1902 to German-Jewish parents, he<br />remains one of the more undesirable characters in the dark, sometimes blemished legacy left by some of the Jewish crime bosses.<br /><br />Dutch Shultz’s character traits were nefarious at best, despised yet respected by most of the underworld, and considering the bevy of bad apples that lurked in that netherworld, it was a notable achievement. While the Manhattan syndicate, headed and organized by Charles Luciano, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Meyer Lansky</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Ben Seigel</span>, Joe Adonis and <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Louis</span> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Lepke Buchalter</span> ran their business like boardroom shareholders; Shultz remained an outsider partly by choice. His position and power as a Bronx bootlegger and a highly lucrative numbers racket in Harlem gave him leverage with the higher ups and he knew it. Shultz was smart enough early on cutting them in on the Harlem slot machines and lotteries as a way of paying tribute.<br />He only had one rule. “I don’t make money off women or narcotics.”<br /><br />Still something wasn’t quite right with Arthur Flegenheimer. He lacked the dignity and grace that the new mob bosses were trying to instill after tutelage from the late and powerfully influential <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Arnold Rothstein</span>. Schultz was a overly paranoid and narcissistic jitterbug at the best of times. Despite his growing wealth he still dressed in cheap twenty-dollar suits and two-dollar shirts as he believed clothes were not worth spending money on. His crew was a ragtag of associates of mostly Bronx bred Jews like himself, non of whom he really trusted except for maybe his numbers man, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">George Weinberg</span>. He was also quick tempered and complex, running his mouth without impunity of repercussion more times than the downtown boys cared for, but they couldn’t deny his impact and the money that he brought in and he was quietly tolerated. Headstrong and careless, Schultz ran into trouble on numerous occasions with the syndicate in its burgeoning years. He also never shied away from conducting personal violence himself when needed and didn't quite seem to grasp the notion of the boss behind closed doors. His renegade ways harkened back to the wilder days of New York gangland than to the current new order proposed by Luciano and Lansky.<br /><br />In 1932, Vincent ‘Mad Dog’ Coll, a notorious underworld figure in his own right, was also a former partner of Shultz’s who started hijacking the Dutchman’s beer trucks after the two had a major disagreement about profit sharing. A street war ensued and reached its apex when Shultz lured Coll into trap, sending his number one enforcer<span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Abe ‘Bo’ Weinberg</span>, sibling to George, to rid of the Mad Dog problem for good. Weinberg, who was possibly accompanied by other gunmen, cornered Coll in a drug store telephone booth while he was making a call. Trapped in the cubicle of glass and wood with no means of escape, Coll faced the hail of bullets and so went his demise. Dutch was apparently was nearby to ensure the hit was a success, shook off the incident and claimed, "Just another punk with his hands in my pockets."<br /><br />Shultz was gathering more heat as well as more newspaper ink as his empire expanded, ignoring Lansky’s rule to stay out of the press. Schultz however seemed to revel in the media attention, feeding his power hungry persona, but it was all catching up with him as he caught the attention of Federal officials. In wake of the highly ballyhooed lock up of Al Capone, law officials were now realizing that tax evasion was a substantial, surefire measure of getting mobsters into a court room without any violence or chase. A simple subpoena proved to carry more weight than a handful of .38 calibers and a carload of G-men. Schultz was finally charged with income tax fraud, and the trial was cunningly moved to the small town of Malone in upstate New York at the request of Schultz’s lawyers to avoid character profiling by a New York City based jury. While awaiting trial, he hired a public relations firm to spread his money and give to charities, all throughout Malone, glad handing and baby kissing like a politician on a crooked campaign trail. He built up his profile as a government scapegoat, a family man just trying to make an honest living and the big city huckster charmed his way into the hearts of small town America. The scheme worked. The hayseeds were hoodwinked and the Dutchman was acquitted of all charges. However, more legal troubles awaited him back in New York. Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey was appointed to break up the rackets by Fiorello LaGuardia, the diminutive Jewish –Italian Mayor whose heart beat to the pulsing rhythm of mid – 1930s New York through a nine year tenure. His inaugural year included a gang-busting crusade with the Dutchman as his first priority, declaring him the city’s top public enemy on radio and to the press. The syndicate shuddered at all of the sudden attention.<br /><br />During Shultz's time away in Malone, Bo Weinberg had been secretly making arrangements with Lucky Luciano and others to have Schultz's empire taken over, betting that Dutch would be found guilty and never come back. His philanthropist payouts and mounting legal expenses were draining all profits and Weinberg though best that the entire operation should be handed over to a more even-tempered board of directors. Returning to New York, Shultz soon realized he was outnumbered and overpowered by the syndicate, who had given him ample warning to stay out of the press, which he had failed to do and was now faced with a collected cold shoulder from the mob. Feeling betrayed by associates and squeezed out of his Harlem policy games and restaurant rackets, now in the hands of Luciano, Schultz mentally fidgeted about his next move.<br /><br />With Thomas Dewey still on his tail, Schultz went across the river to Newark, New Jersey to get out of jurisdiction, lick his wounds and plan his comeback. But revenge burned brighter and his first order of business was specifically Bo Weinberg. Lured by the possible prospect of reconciliation with his former boss, Weinberg agreed to a meet. The most common story, though clichéd and cinematic, was that he was taken for a boat ride on the Hudson and fitted with cement shoes. Shultz apparently broke the news to Abe’s brother George, explaining in colorful underworld hyperbole:<br />“ Sorry George, we had to fit Abe with a cement kimono.”<br />Abraham Weinberg’s murder was never solved nor was his body ever found.<br /><br />Thomas Dewey continued his pressure tactics, proving to be the proverbial hair up Schultz’s ass. Shultz reached a point of breakdown and vowed to have Dewey assassinated, pleading with Luciano and co. to support him in this endeavor. For a brief while the hit was even considered as men staked out Dewey’s daily routines and try to determine the possibility of that deadly scenario. In the end, the Italians, along with Meyer Lansky and Ben Siegel, said it would be bad for business. Lepke Buchalter and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Jacob ‘Gurrah’ Shapiro</span> were a little more cold blooded in their opinion but were out-voted. Decidedly, Dewey was too high profile political a figure, and the heat would prove to be too much. Schultz, frothed at the mouth and became incensed, walked out and said he would do it himself, thereby sealing his fate.<br /><br />On October 23, 1935, Shultz was in the Palace Chop House in Newark, with the only loyal remaining associates <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Bernard ‘Lulu’ Rosenrantz</span>, <span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Abe Laundau</span>, and <span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Otto Berman</span> at his side. Shultz had been at the Chop House’s backroom every night for the last three weeks, using it as his temporary meeting place, unaware that he was being watched. New Jersey boss <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Abner ‘Longy’ Zwillman</span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"> </span>got word of Schultz’s locale to the boys across the river. At around 10PM, the hulking figure of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Charles 'The Bug' Workman</span> walked into the back room, guns blazing, while <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Emanuel 'Mendy' Weiss</span> watched the front door and a driver only known as Piggy waited outside in the getaway car. Schultz’s co-horts were shot down, but the Dutchman, who went to relieve himself minutes before and wasn’t present to witness the initial carnage . Workman stormed into the mens room, catching Shultz in rather unflattering and compromising position and shot him.<br /><br />Schultz was rushed to the Newark City hospital, where he lay dying and raving for a couple of days, slipping in and out of a coma while police tried to question him about his killers. Strangely enough he asked for a priest for his last rites instead of a rabbi. Two women showed up, each claiming to be his wife. Only one, Frances Flegenheimer, actually was.<br /><br />Schultz began rambling incomprehensible confessional monologues, all of which were transcribed by stenographers who were by his deathbed in rotations day and night and and filled numerous pages of what seemed art first like underworld babble. Investigators tried to find out who shot him through various question periods but with infection setting in and being in a highly fevered state, most of his responses left detectives baffled.<br /><br />Dutch Schultz’s deathbed ramblings have become the subject of many curious literary scholars ever since, scrutinized for possible hidden meaning and even seen by some as an untended precursor to the Beat literature movement fifteen years later. Disjointed and at times poetic, they are a curious last exit of words from man not exactly known for any scholarly attributes but someone possibly facing his demons at death’s door.<br /><br />His final rant lasted a couple of hours, ending with:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"…Look out! Mamma, mamma! Look out for her. You can't beat him. Police, Mamma! Helen, Mother, please take me out. Come on, Rosie. O.K. Hymes would do it, not him. I will settle...the indictment. Come on, Max, open the soap duckets. Frankie, please come here. Open that door, Dumpey's door. It is so much, Abe, that...with the brewery. Come on. Hey, Jimmy! The Chimney Sweeps. Talk to the Sword. Shut up, you gotta a big mouth! Please help me up, Henny. Max come over here...French Canadian bean soup...I want to pay, let them leave me alone..."</span><br /><br />Shultz then fell into a coma, and passed away quietly two hours later.</div>Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-49544640711912796392009-10-11T21:10:00.008-04:002009-10-11T22:32:58.523-04:00Meyer 'Buggsy' Goldstein before and after...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/StKCZu7An7I/AAAAAAAAAwg/xM8msFcYThI/s1600-h/buggsy+4+blog.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PYMNzGat47E/StKCZu7An7I/AAAAAAAAAwg/xM8msFcYThI/s400/buggsy+4+blog.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391515082519781298" border="0" /></a><br />Every so often I like to give a little 'behind the scenes' as to how some of the artwork is approached and how it arrives to its final stroke, as I did <a href="http://sixforfive.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post.html">here</a> awhile back.<br />Most artists don't really like to completely reveal their process in order to maintain a little artistic secrecy and keep a little magic in the mix, and rightly so. However, to change things up a little from a regular biographical post - I thought I'd reveal a before and after on this one...<br /><br />The subject here who has gone from black outlines to final colors is <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Meyer 'Buggsy' Goldstein</span>, close childhood pal of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">Abe 'Kid Twist' Reles</span> and a cog in the machine that was Murder Inc.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Goldstein was the lesser know 'Buggsy' in Jewish gangland, obviously overshadowed by the more infamous <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Seigel</span>; perhaps with the addition of another <span style="font-style: italic;">g</span> to his moniker he hoped to set himself apart from his Manhattan counterpart, but it was rather unlikely anyone would mix up the two hoodlums as Seigel was mob royalty and Goldstein court jester. Born in 1905, he was an original founder of the Brownsville troop and shared second in command duties with <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Harry 'Pep' Strauss</span> under Abe Reles. He kept close ties to the neighboring Ocean Hill mob led by Louis Capone, to whom Goldstein had originally suggested they reach out to when they were looking at expanding their underworld operations across Brooklyn, and allied themselves with the Italians when they decided to put the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Shapiro brothers</span>, Brownsville's original <span style="font-style: italic;">enfants terribles</span>, out of commission for good and share the rewards.<br /><br />Goldstein was kidded on numerous occasions that actor <span style="font-weight: bold;">Edward G Robinson</span> based his on screen gangster persona on the real life Buggsy from Brooklyn. The physical features and stature similarities aside, he also had the same quick quip way of talking and moved along in a duck like walk wrapped in the same tough-guy attitude that Robinson portrayed on screen. Goldstein it seemed started to believe the talk as well - boasting to strangers and family alike that Robinson patterned himself on Meyer from Pitkin street. The probable reality however was when Robinson's (neé Emanuel Goldenberg) star had started to rise in the early 1930s, Goldstein's street success was moving along the same, though vastly different trajectory. The backlots of Warner Bros. studios were along way away from Midnight Roses candy store at the corner of Livonia and Saratoga, and chances are Robinson never popped in for an egg cream and discovered his gangster muse sitting in a corner.<br /><br /></div>While Robinison's career continued on for many years, Goldstein's star was snuffed out by June of 1941 when he went to the electric chair for the murder of <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://sixforfive.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post.html">Irving 'Puggy' Feinstein</a> following damning testimonies from former associates Seymour 'Blue Jaw' Magoon and Abe Reles.Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3319167556245613863.post-29959973235626210342009-10-07T23:31:00.002-04:002009-10-07T23:33:34.049-04:00I have been away / out of town taking care of other responsibilities outside of gangsterland for a bit...but a new post is on its way soon...Pat Hamouhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15806846503125347640noreply@blogger.com0