This is a list of Jewish American mobsters and organized crime figures, ranging from the late 19th century to the present day.
Name | Portrait | Life | Years active | Notes | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hyman Abrams | No image available | 1920s–1960s | Lieutenant of Boston Mobster Charles Solomon during Prohibition. Later financed syndicate Las Vegas casinos with Meyer Lansky, Carl Cohen and Jack Entratter during the 1950s and 1960s. | [1] [2] | |
Hyman Amberg | No image available | 1902–1926 | 1919–1926 | New York mobster and chief enforcer for his brothers Joseph and Louis "Pretty" Amberg. Hyman and another convict committed suicide following an unsuccessful escape attempt from Tombs Prison. | [3] [4] |
Joseph Amberg | No image available | 1892–1935 | 1919–1935 | New York mobster who led one of the top gangs in Brooklyn during the 1920s and 1930s with brothers Hyman and Louis Amberg. Amberg and an associate, Morris Kessler, were executed by Murder, Inc. in his Brownsville auto garage. | [3] [4] |
Louis "Pretty" Amberg | No image available | 1897–1935 | 1919–1935 | He and brothers Hyman and Joseph Amberg led one of the top criminal gangs in Brooklyn during the 1920s and 1930s. The last surviving brother, he was murdered a month after his brother Joseph by members of Murder, Inc. | [3] [5] |
Moses Annenberg | No image available | 1877–1942 | 1904–1936 | Newspaperman and organized crime figure. Hired and directed criminal gangs on behalf of the Hearst Corporation during Chicago's "circulation wars" of 1910–1911, and later became owner of the National Racing Wire during the 1920s and 1930s. Later used his wealth to purchase The Philadelphia Inquirer and found the Annenberg Foundation. Jailed for tax evasion in 1939. | [1] [2] [5] [6] [7] [8] |
David Berman | No image available | 1903–1957 | 1916–1957 | Associate member of the Genovese crime family who ran syndicate operations in Iowa and Minnesota from the 1920s to the 1940s. Involved in syndicate casinos in Las Vegas during the 1940s and 1950s, he and Moe Sedway took over The Flamingo after Bugsy Siegel's murder in 1947. | [2] |
Otto "Abbadabba" Berman | No image available | 1889–1935 | 1920s–1930s | Mob accountant and financial advisor for New York mobster Dutch Schultz. | [1] [2] [4] [5] [8] [9] |
Abe Bernstein | No image available | 1892–1968 | 1910s–1960s | Detroit mobster and leader of The Purple Gang. After the end of Prohibition, he ran syndicate gambling operations in Miami up until his death in 1968. | [2] [6] |
William Morris Bioff | No image available | 1900–1955 | 1920s–1930s | Chicago labor racketeer who extorted millions of dollars from Hollywood studios on behalf of the Chicago Outfit during the 1930s. | [1] [2] [5] [8] |
Charles Birger | No image available | 1881–1928 | 1919–1928 | Illinois bootlegger who feuded with the Shelton Brothers Gang throughout Prohibition. | [10] |
Alex "Shondor" Birns | No image available | 1907–1975 | A major gangland figure in Cleveland throughout the 20th century. At one time considered Public Enemy No. 1, he controlled the city's underworld until his murder by Danny Greene in 1975. | [2] | |
Herbert Blitzstein | No image available | 1934–1997 | Loanshark and bookmaker for the Chicago Outfit during the 1950s and 1960s. He was the top lieutenant of Anthony Spilotro when he and his crew were sent to Las Vegas. | [11] | |
Ike Bloom | | 1865–1930 | An early organized crime figure in Chicago associated with "Big Jim" Colosimo. Owned some of the city's most popular nightclubs, such as Midnight Frolics and Kreiberg's, during Prohibition. | [6] | |
Isadore "Kid Cann" Blumenfeld | No image available | 1900–1981 | 1900s–1980s | Minneapolis mobster who ran the city's underworld from the 1920s until his conviction for violating the Mann Act in 1957. Later retired to Miami Beach where he and Meyer Lansky operated a real estate empire and were involved in syndicate operations in Miami and Havana up until his death in 1981. | [1] [2] [12] |
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter | ![]() | 1897–1944 | 1910s–1940s | New York labor racketeer who dominated the Lower East Side with Jacob Shapiro during the 1920s and 1930s. Later headed Murder, Inc. and was eventually sent to the electric chair at Sing Sing for his role in the organization. He is the only major mobster to be executed by the state. | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [13] [14] |
Mickey Cohen | ![]() | 1914–1976 | 1923–1961 | Major underworld figure in Los Angeles during the 1930s and 1940s. Later helped Bugsy Siegel set up The Flamingo in Las Vegas and ran its sports book operation. | [1] [2] [5] [8] [9] [11] [12] [14] |
Louis Cohen | ![]() | 1904–1939 | 1910s–1930s | New York mobster who killed Nathan Kaplan on behalf of rival labor racketeers Jacob Orgen and Louis Buchalter in 1923. | [4] |
Moe Dalitz | No image available | 1899–1989 | 1920s–1960s | Leader of the Mayfield Road Gang during Prohibition. He was later involved in the development of syndicate gaming in Las Vegas during the 1940s and 1950s. | [1] [2] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [11] |
Mendel Epstein | No image available | b. 1940s | 1980s –2013 | New York gangster who until his arrest in 2013 led a divorce-gang that kidnapped, tortured and extorted Jewish men into religiously divorcing their wives. | [15] |
John Factor | No image available | 1892–1984 | 1920s–1960s | British-born Chicago gangster and con artist associated with the Chicago Outfit whose staged 1933 kidnapping resulted in the wrongful conviction of Roger Touhy. He later became a prominent businessman and casino owner in Las Vegas 1950s and 1960s. | [2] [6] |
Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein | ![]() | 1889–1977? | 1900–1941 | New York mobster who dominated labor racketeering with Joseph Rosenzweig in the Lower East Side during the 1910s. | [1] [4] [7] [9] |
Abraham Friedman | No image available | 1897–1939 | 1920s–1930s | New York mobster and enforcer for labor racketeer Nathan Kaplan, and later Louis Buchalter and Jacob Shapiro during the 1920s and 1930s. | [4] |
Martin Goldstein | 1905–1941 | 1920s–1930s | Hitman and member of Murder, Inc. Involved in the 1939 murder of Irving Feinstein and later executed with other members of Murder, Inc. in 1941. | [3] [4] | |
Waxey Gordon | No image available | 1889–1952 | 1900s–1950s | New York mobster who oversaw bootlegging operations for Arnold Rothstein during Prohibition. He was eventually imprisoned for tax evasion in 1933 and, again in 1951, for selling heroin. | [1] [2] [4] [5] [6] [8] [9] |
Gus Greenbaum | No image available | 1894–1958 | 1910s–1950s | Member of the Chicago Outfit and ran syndicate casinos in Las Vegas during the 1940s and 1950s. | [1] [2] [5] |
Max "Big Maxie" Greenberg | No image available | 1883–1933 | Detroit mobster and a member of Egan's Rats. | [1] [4] [9] [14] | |
Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik | No image available | 1886–1956 | 1910s–1950s | Financial and legal advisor to the Chicago Outfit. | [1] [2] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] |
Hyman Holtz | No image available | 1896–1939 | 1920s–1930s | New York labor racketeer associated with Jacob Orgen and a later protege of Louis Buchalter. | [3] |
Harry Horowitz aka Gyp the Blood | ![]() | 1889–1914 | 1900s–1910s | Leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang. | [1] [4] |
"Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan | No image available | 1895–1923 | 1910s–1920s | A former member of the Five Points Gang, he and Johnny Spanish fought over control of labor racketeering during the Labor Slugger Wars. | [1] [5] [9] |
Phillip Kastel | No image available | 1893–1962 | 1900s–1950s | New York gambler associated with Arnold Rothstein and Frank Costello. He later ran gambling operations for the Genovese crime family in New Orleans. | [2] |
Harry Keywell | No image available | 1910–1997 | 1920s–1930s | Detroit mobster and member of The Purple Gang. A suspect in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and later convicted of Collingwood Manor Massacre in 1931. | [2] [12] |
Lou Kravitz | No image available | fl. 1933–1939 | 1930s | New York labor racketeer and drug trafficker involved in a major heroin operation with Jack Lvovsky and Yasha Katzenberg during the early 1930s. Later testified against Lepke Buchalter at his trial. | [1] [4] |
Abe Landau | No image available | 1898–1935 | 1920s–1930s | Lieutenant of New York mobster Dutch Schultz. | [1] [2] [4] [8] [9] |
Meyer Lansky | ![]() | 1902–1983 | 1910s–1970s | One of the major underworld figures of the 20th century. He was involved in the formation of the National Crime Syndicate and helped organize syndicate gambling operations in Cuba and Las Vegas. | [1] [2] [4] [5] [7] [8] [9] [11] [12] [13] [14] |
Samuel "Red" Levine | 1903–1972 | 1920s–1930s | Hitman and member of Murder, Inc. Involved in the 1931 murders of Abraham "Bo" Weinberg, Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. | [1] [9] | |
Vach "Cyclone Louie" Lewis | No image available | d. 1908 | 1900s | A former circus strongman and bodyguard of New York gang leader Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach. He and Zwerbach were gunned down by Louie the Lump at Coney Island in 1908. | [1] |
Seymour Magoon | No image available | d. 1940 | 1920s–1930s | Hitman and member of Murder, Inc. Later became a state witness and corroborated Reles' testimony. | [4] [9] |
Harry Maione | No image available | 1908–1942 | 1920s–1930s | Hitman and member of Murder, Inc. Participated in the murders of the Shapiro Brothers and George Rudnick. | [4] |
Hyman "Pittsburgh Hymie" Martin | No image available | 1903–1987 | 1920s–1930s | Pittsburgh mobster associated with Moe Davis and Lou Rothkopf. Acquitted of the 1931 murder of Cleveland city councilman William E. Potter. | [2] |
Samuel "Nails" Morton | No image available | 1894–1923 | 1910s–1920s | A former World War I war hero, Weiss was among Dion O'Bannion's top enforcers in the North Side Gang during the early 1920s. | [1] [5] [6] [8] |
Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen | ![]() | 1901–1927 | 1900s–1920s | New York gangster involved in bootlegging and labor racketeering during Prohibition. He took control of the garment district from Nathan Kaplan at the end of the end of the third labor sluggers war. Killed by his former associates Lepke Buchalter and Jacob Shapiro in 1927. | [1] [4] [5] [9] |
Abe "Kid Twist" Reles | ![]() | 1906–1941 | 1921–1940 | One of the most feared hitmen of Murder, Inc. during the 1930s, he later became a government witness and was responsible for sending many of his former partners to the electric chair. Died under suspicious circumstances while in protective custody in 1941. | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [8] [9] [13] |
Harry Rosen | No image available | 1920s–1950s | Major bootlegger in Philadelphia during Prohibition. He was a member of the Big Seven and later involved in drug trafficking with Meyer Lansky during the 1930s. | [2] [6] | |
Chris Rosenberg | ![]() | 1950–1979 | 1970s | A member of the Gambino crime family's DeMeo crew during the 1970s. He was later killed by DeMeo to cover up the murder of Colombian drug cartel members. | |
Bernard Rosencrantz | No image available | 1902–1935 | 1920s–1930s | Bodyguard and chauffeur of New York mobster Dutch Schultz. | [2] [4] |
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal | No image available | 1929–2008 | 1960s–1980s | One of the top sports handicappers in the United States during his lifetime. Secretly ran several syndicate casinos for the Chicago Outfit, most notably the Stardust, throughout the 1960s and 1970s. | [2] [11] |
Joseph "Joe the Greaser" Rosenzweig | No image available | 1891–? | 1910s | New York labor racketeer allied with "Dopey" Benny Fein during the first labor slugger war. | [1] |
Lou Rothkopf | No image available | 1920s–1930s | Longtime associate of Meyer Lansky, he was a member of the Bug and Meyer Mob during Prohibition. Later ran syndicate gambling operations in Cleveland with Moe Dalitz, Jack Licavoli, Maurice Kleinman and Thomas Joseph McGinty (aka T. J. McGinty). | [2] [5] [6] [7] | |
Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein | ![]() | 1882–1928 | 1900s–1920s | One of the first major underworld figures in New York during the early 20th century. Widely reputed to have been behind the Black Sox scandal of 1919. | [1] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [13] |
Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Flegenheimer | ![]() | 1902–1935 | 1910s–1930s | Headed bootlegging and policy rackets in New York during the 1920s and 1930s. | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [8] [9] [12] [13] |
Moe Sedway | No image available | 1894–1952 | 1920s–1950s | Lieutenant of New York mobster Meyer Lansky. Later involved in running syndicate casinos in Las Vegas during the 1940s and 1950s. | [2] |
Irving, Meyer and William Shapiro | No image available | 1904–1931 (Irving) 1908–1931 (Meyer) 1911–1934 (William) | 1920s–1930s | Rivals of Louis Buchalter and Jacob Shapiro during the late 1920s and 1930s. Irving and Meyer Shapiro were killed after initiating a gang war with Buchalter and Shapiro in 1931. William Shapiro was eventually murdered by Murder, Inc. in 1934. | [2] [4] |
Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro | | 1899–1947 | 1910s–1940s | He and Louis Buchalter controlled industrial labor racketeering in New York during the 1920s and 1930s. Shapiro also helped establish Murder, Inc. Died in prison in 1947. | [1] [2] [4] [5] [7] [8] [9] |
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel | ![]() | 1906–1947 | 1910s–1940s | New York mobster associated with Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello and Charles "Lucky" Luciano during Prohibition. Credited with the creation of syndicate casinos in Las Vegas during the 1940s. | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [11] [13] [14] |
Charles "King" Solomon | No image available | 1884–1933 | 1900s–1930s | He and Irish gangster Dan Carroll controlled bootlegging, narcotics and illegal gambling in Boston during Prohibition. Killed at the Cotton Club by rival mobsters in 1933. | [1] [5] [6] [8] [16] |
John "Johnny Spanish" Wheiler | No image available | 1891–1919 | 1900s–1910s | A former member of the Five Points Gang, he and "Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan battled over New York's garment district during the Second Labor Sluggers War. | [1] [5] |
Joseph "Doc" Stacher | No image available | 1902–1977 | 1920s–1960s | An associate of Abner Zwillman and Meyer Lansky. Assisted Lansky in organizing the Atlantic City Conference and later in financing syndicate casinos in Las Vegas. Deported from the U.S. in 1964 and later emigrated to Israel where he died years later. | [1] [2] [5] [9] |
Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss | ![]() | 1909–1941 | 1927–1941 | Hitman and member of Murder, Inc. credited with the murder of Irving Feinstein and at least five other gangland slayings. Sent to the electric chair at Sing Sing in 1941. | [1] [3] [4] [5] [9] |
Albert "Tick–tock" Tannenbaum | No image available | 1906–1976 | 1920s–1950s | Enforcer and hitman for Lepke Buchalter during the 1920s and 1930s. A member of Murder, Inc., he was responsible for the 1939 murder of Harry Greenberg. | [1] [3] [4] [9] |
Benjamin Tannenbaum | No image available | 1906–1941 | 1920s–1930s | Mob accountant for New York labor racketeers Louis Buchalter and Jacob Shapiro during the 1920s and 1930s. Murdered by members of Murder, Inc. in 1941 while babysitting for a friend. | [4] |
Abraham Weinberg | 1897–1935? | 1920s–1930s | Hitman and chief lieutenant for New York mobster Dutch Schultz during Prohibition. Disappeared in 1935 and long presumed to have been killed by the mob. | [4] | |
George Weinberg | No image available | 1901–1939 | 1920s–1930s | Younger brother of Schultz' gunman Abraham Weinberg. After his brother's disappearance in 1935, he agreed to become a government witness but committed suicide while in police custody in 1939. | [4] |
Emanuel Weiss | ![]() | 1906–1944 | 1920s–1930s | An enforcer for New York labor racketeer Louis "Lepke" Buchalter during the 1920s. He was also a member of Murder, Inc. up until his arrest in 1940. | [3] [4] |
Jack "Big Jack" Zelig | ![]() | 1882–1912 | 1890s–1910s | Start of the 20th century gangster and one-time leader of the Eastman Gang. Killed by Phil Davidson shortly before his testimony in the Charles Becker murder trial in 1912. | [1] [9] |
Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach | | d. 1908 | 1890s–1900s | New York gangster and head of the Eastman Gang after the arrest of Monk Eastman in 1904. Engaging in a feud with the Five Points Gang, he and his bodyguard were gunned down by Louie the Lump at Coney Island in 1908. | [1] |
Abner "Longy" Zwillman | No image available | 1891–1959 | 1910s–1950s | Prohibition gangster. Popularly known as the "Al Capone of New Jersey", he was a founding member of the "Big Seven" Ruling Commission. He was also associated with Murder, Inc. | [1] [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [11] [14] |
Salvatore Maranzano, nicknamed Little Caesar, was an Italian-American mobster from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City. He instigated the Castellammarese War in 1930 to seize control of the American Mafia, winning the war after the murder of rival faction head Joe Masseria in April 1931. He then briefly became the Mafia's capo di tutti capi and formed the Five Families in New York City, but was murdered on September 10, 1931, on the orders of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who established The Commission, in which families shared power to prevent future turf wars.
Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was an early Italian-American Mafia boss in New York City. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York City Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 to 1931. In 1930, he battled in the Castellammarese War to take over the criminal activities in New York City. The war ended with his murder on April 15, 1931, in a hit ordered by his own lieutenant, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, in an agreement with rival faction head Salvatore Maranzano.
The Castellammarese War was a bloody power struggle for control of the American Mafia between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano that took place in New York City, New York, from February 26, 1930, until April 15, 1931. The feud was named after the Sicilian town of Castellammare del Golfo, the birthplace of Maranzano.
The Genovese crime family, also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Mafia. The Genovese family has generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside New York, including ties with the Philadelphia, Cleveland, Patriarca, and Buffalo crime families.
The Five Families refer to five Italian American Mafia crime families that operate in New York City. In 1931, the five families were organized by Salvatore Maranzano following his victory in the Castellammarese War.
The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey crime family or the North Jersey Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, Newark, West New York and the surrounding areas. The family is part of the nationwide criminal network known as the American Mafia.
Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In media and popular culture, it has variously been referred to as the Jewish Mob, the Jewish Mafia, the Kosher Mob, the Kosher Mafia, the Yiddish Connection, and Kosher Nostra or Undzer Shtik. The last two of these terms are direct references to the Italian cosa nostra; the former is a play on the word for kosher, referring to Jewish dietary laws, while the latter is a calque of the Italian phrase 'cosa nostra' into Yiddish, which was at the time the predominant language of the Jewish diaspora in the United States.
Anthony Indelicato, also known as "Bruno" and "Whack-Whack", is an American mobster and consigliere of the Bonanno crime family of New York City.
James Matthew Ragen Sr. was an Irish businessman and co-founder of the Chicago-based street gang and political club Ragen's Colts.
Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro was a New York mobster who, with his partner Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, controlled industrial labor racketeering in New York for two decades and established the Murder, Inc. organization.
Marshall Joseph Caifano was an Italian-American mobster who became a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas.
Samuel Jules "Nails" Morton was a soldier during World War I and later a high-ranking member of Dean O'Banion's Northside gang.
Gaetano Reina was an Italian-American gangster. He was an early American Mafia boss who was the founder of what has for many years been called the Lucchese crime family in New York City. He led the family until his murder on February 26, 1930, on the orders of Joe Masseria.
The Lucchese crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. Members refer to the organization as the Lucchese borgata; borgata is Mafia slang for criminal gang, which itself was derived from a Sicilian word meaning close-knit community. The members of other crime families sometimes refer to Lucchese family members as "Lukes".
The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group.
The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the Dragna crime family, the Southern California crime family or the L.A. Mafia, and dubbed "the Mickey Mouse Mafia" by former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Los Angeles, California as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the early 20th century, the family has spread throughout Southern California. Like most Mafia families in the United States, the Los Angeles crime family gained wealth and power through bootlegging alcohol during the Prohibition era. The L.A. family reached its peak strength in the 1940s and early 1950s under Jack Dragna, although the family was never larger than the New York or Chicago families. The Los Angeles crime family itself has been on a gradual decline, with the Chicago Outfit representing them on The Commission since the death of boss Jack Dragna in 1956.
The Trafficante crime family, also known as the Tampa crime family or the Tampa Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Tampa, Florida. The most notable boss of the family was Santo Trafficante Jr. who ruled Tampa and the crime family with an iron fist. Author Scott Deitche reported that Santo Jr. was involved with the CIA to plot assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. After the death of Santo Jr. in 1987, the Tampa Mafia family has been controlled by Vincent LoScalzo.
Phillip "Dandy Phil" Kastel was a Jewish-American organized crime figure, gambler, and longtime associate of both the Genovese and New Orleans crime family.