The Jewish Way of Crime Lqging

COMMENTARY 78:2 (August 1984) Observations The Jewish Way of Crime lqging. Mn. josdit believes that had it not been (or Prohibition. jewish aiminality would gndually have disappeared. This seems Jonathan D. Sarna doubtful. but she does ha\'e a point when she compares bootlegging with the rapidly growing movie in dustry, likewise disproportionately HE seamier 1ide of modern Jew· with poverty and overcrowded filled with Jews. Taking a page T ish life has in recent yean be ttheuo conditions-<fisorderly con· from Irving Howe, she points out come the 1ubject o{ considerable duct. piclc.poclc.cting, fencing, gang that in both cases "a bright young scholarly interest. We now know related protection rackeu, arson, Jew could get in at the start with more than we ever did before and horse-poisoning; proceeding to out having to trip over established about the Jewish underworld in better organized and more sophisti· Gentiles along the way." Bootleg Germany dating back. to the 17th cated criminal activities undertak ging also broke down religious and century; the role played by Jewish en by the children of immigranu social barrien, and led to more convicts in the genesis of Austral such as Prohibition-era bootlc:g ethnic diversity not just in the un ian Jewry; the Jewish criminal ele ging and racketeering; and cul derworld but in the country at I ment in 18th- .and 19th<entury minating in Murder Incorporated. large. In speakeasies, groups prcvi· r. England; the activities of Jewish the infamous Italian-jewish gang ously separated sat together, the gangsten in America; and Jewish that in addition to everything dS(' lines between legitimate and ille I t involvement in prostitution rang engaged in money-lending, book· gitimate blurred, and those who : t I ing over five continenu. Historians making, and murder for hire. went into crime seeking fortunes ! who once hesitated to venture into As might be expected, both the could hobnob with d1ose whose ' these aspc:cu o£ Jewish history, numbers of Jews involved in crim· fortunes dribbled into organized whether out of delicacy or for [car ina! activities and the special Jew· crime's coffers. of fomenting anti-Semitism, arc, it ish character o[ the crimes com· From Prohibition, Mrs. Joselit seems, now more than compc:nsat· mittcd declined over time. Early turns her attention to better-known ing for their earlier neglect. I£ a on, as Mrs. Joselit notes and oth· chapters in the history o[ American recent spate of books, articles, and ers have noted before, some dis Jewish criminal activity: racketeer lectures provides any indication of gruntled Jewish immigrants "chose ing scandals, the unsavory relation future trends, then studies of this crime as their vehicle of upward ship between organized labor and dark side of Jewish life-what Ger moL:lity." Through robbery and organized crime, and the oft-told shom Scholcm called the "base fencing operations, they created a tales of Arnold Rothstein, Louis ment"' as distinct from the "salon" parasitic counter-industry that li,·ed Lepkc. and their ilk. The main -will continue to preoccupy social off the garment trade, skimming it~ characters here may be jewish, but historians for years to come. profiu Cor their personal benefit. as Mrs . .Joselit realizes, their his The broad scope: of recent re Others made their living hy ex· tory has less and less to do with search into Jewish criminal behav plaiting Jewish religious practices the jewish community as a whole. ior is well illustrated in Jenna (llle standard history of the kosher Whereas immigrant Jewish crim Wei~man Joselit's comprehensi,·e meat industry in New York is aptly inals had lived and worked almost survey, Our Gang: ]nllisll Crim~ entitled Fraud, Corruption, nnd completely in a Jewish milieu, their and the New York ]~ish Comm11· Holin~ss), or by taking advantage offspring moved out, went into nity 1900-19l0. • Basing herself on of Jews on the High Holidays. But partnership with non-jews, and extensive res<:arch in court records whatever they did, Jewish crimi Americanized: increasingly, thev and old newspaper files. Mrs. Jose nals did not usually engage in vio engaged in the same kinds of crim lit paints a convincing picture of lence; that to them seemed decid inal activities as Gentiles did. an evolving pattern, beginning edly "un-Jewish." "Christians com Parallels between the rags-to with crimes typically associated mit crimes with their hands," the riches rise o{ the East European sociologist Arthur Ruppin once ex "Our Gang" and of Jewish immi plained, "the Jews use their reason." grants generally spring readily to JoNATHAN D. SAII.NA, t~uoci;ate pro Reason continued to govern the mind here, and should occasion no fessor of Americ;an Jewish history •t activities of second-generation .few Hebrew Union College-Jewish Insti surprise. It would be ·more strange tute of Religion in Cincinn•ti, is the ish criminals, but their patterns of if licit and illicit paths up the lad •uthor of People Walk--~ Their criminality also reflected their der should have markedly diverged. Heada: Moacs Weinberger'• Jew• and growing asaimilation. Like many Judaiam in New York (Holmes IT others in the post-World War I • Indiana UniYCnity Prcsa. %24 PP~ Meier). era, they bc<:ame engaged in boot- $19.9S. 55 ~/CONMENTAil.Y AUGUST 1914 What does make Mn. J<Melit's every kind covcccd the community United Sutes, (or example, Mr. book unusual is ha- ICI"Upulous at with shame, jewish involvement in Bristow finds evidence of ••well-di• tention to anothtt side of the the white-slave trade seemed par· rected mass Uewish] working<lass story: the reaction of the estab ticularly mortifying. Openly ftout· support" or anti-prostitution efforts. lished jewish community to the ing law and tradition, je~ions, something not found in the gener criminals in its midst. in some cases, of notable bmilies al worldwide anti-slavery move Shock, embarrassment, anger, and --played a conspicuous role in the ment in which both Jews and non an undentandable desire to avoid modern history of vice as pimps, Jews participated. Those involved bad publicity did not prevent the prostitutes, and brothclkccpen. For in vice were often ostracized: some oft-maligned leaden o{ the Jewish over hat£ a century they actually even met with violence. Of course, community {rom taking appropri· dominated the international traffic there were Jews who refused to ate and concerted action against in Jewish women that was ttn· confront the subject for fear of lawbrealc.en. Such action bespoke tercd in Eastern Europe. This is a drawing further attention to it, a staunch commitment to keep sad story, filled with grim cvi· and also jews who insisted dog· American jewry's house in order, dence o( wcial breakdown and CX· matically that wciety itself had to and included the establishment o£ ploitation, and (or understandable be transformed ~(ore any solution the first jewish rdormatory in reasons it is not one that most to the problem could be attempted. America (the Hawthorne School) Jewish historians ha\'e sought to Rut considering how many other and o£ the jewish Board o£ Guard dwell upon. Now Edward J. Bris pressing problems called for solu i:ans: the anti-crime measures o£ tow, the author o£ an earlier book. tions, the jewish battle against vke the New York. Kehillah (an over on the history o£ wcial-purity move did attract more support than arching communal body whose ments in Britain, has recounted the might have been predicted. both career lasted from 1908 to 1922): story at length in Prostitrllio" (rom men and from women. the campaign to replace ceremo end Prejudice: The jewish Fi(ht Mr. Bristow repeatedly empha nial wine with ritually permissible Against White Slavery 1870-1919. • sizes his view that the "strongest gTape juice during Prohibition: Mr. Bristow understands that rationale (or attempting to combat and the vigilant private monitor· Jews "were only one o£ many white slavery" was "self-defense ing o£ Jewish criminal ~havior by groups" involved in prostitution: against anti-Semitism." This need jewish institutions. [\'en those "There were more French prosti· not ~ taken too seriously. Once lilc.e Louis Marshall, who blamed lutes in Paris than Jewish prosti· again, a contemporary historian is jewish crime not on je.... "S but on lutes throughout the world."' He displaying too little regard for "conditions in this city and this also appreciates the socioeconomic community responsibility as a crit country," still took. upon them· conditions and the weakening of ical factor in jewish ~havior. selves the burden o£ helping to traditional religious controls that Some Jews really were motivated, stamp that crime out. made Jewish prostitution Car more just as they claimed, by the desire Mrs. Joselit suggests that thii or a problem in the modern world to "sanctify God's name" through feeling o£ duty derived from an than at any earlier time in Jewish humanitarian action. Others, as age-old Diaspora insecurity, a (ear history. Unfortunately, he proves 1\farion Kaplan has shown, used that criminals would jeopardize not quite so skillful at penetrating the battle against white slavery c.~ the status o£ American Jews gener· the world in which Je"·ish prosti a vehicle for drawing attention to ally. Gi,·en the nati,·ist rhetoric o£ tutes lived. He kno"·s that some feminist concerns. The fact that the day, such fears would hardly observed the Sabbath. holidays. anti-Semites, Hitler among them, h:ave been groundless. But it is and dietary laws. and that in Ar· linked "Jewry and prostitution" also cle:ar that jewish anti-crime gentina they had their m•·n syna may ha"e provoked some self-de measures stemmed at least in part ~ogue and beudit or~anization.

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