In 1912, Herman “Beanie” Rosenthal, a Jewish gangster and casino owner, threatened to go to the police and tell about police lieutenant Charlie Becker’s involvement in organized crime.
Rosenthal was soon gunned down by three Jewish and one Italian killer, “Lefty” Louis Rosenberg, “Whitey Louis” (Jacob Seidenshner), “Gyp the Blood” (Harry Horowitz) and “Dago” Frank Cirofici.
Because they did it in front of a zillion witnesses in front of the Metropole Hotel, the Becker-Rosenthal case became a national sensation and shocked Jews around the city into realizing there were Jewish gangsters who were also murderers. (By the way, all four killers AND Becker were executed at Sing Sing in the electric chair.)
Rabbi Judah Magnes of Temple Emanu-El got together with the Mayor and Police Department and hired private detective Abe Shoenfeld to infiltrate and identify the Jewish gangs. Here is his report on the denizens of Segal’s Cafe at 76 Second Avenue, the headquarters of the recently murdered Big Jack Zelig.
I’ll leave it to youse guys to figure out what the monikers (like gun and mack) mean.
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