The Jews of Sing Sing : gotham gangsters and gonuvim / Ron Arons.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Arons, Ron.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sing Sing Correctional Facility--History.

Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

Jewish criminals--New York (State)--New York--History.

Jewish criminals.

Gangsters--New York (State)--New York.

Gangsters.

Organized crime--New York (State)--New York.

Organized crime.

History.

New York (State)--New York.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xx, 350 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Fort Lee, N.J. : Barricade Books, [2008]

Summary:

"The Jews of Sing Sing traces the histories of both famous gangsters and lesser-known gonuvim (the plural of the Yiddish word gonif, meaning thief), exploring their childhoods and the lives of the people around them, as well as the impact they had on their descendants. These inmates were complex individuals who, on many levels, tried to live normal lives. Many exhibited a sense of humor and cunning, using aliases and taking imaginative steps to avoid law enforcement officials. The Jews of Sing Sing also reveals forgotten details surrounding many of the more well-known Jewish gangsters, debunking many popular myths and showing their interconnectedness over the decades."--BOOK JACKET.

Contents:

1 Isaac Spier: Part I 1

2 Sing Sing's Beginnings and the Earliest Jewish Inmates 19

3 Edward "Monk" Eastman 33

4 "Dopey" Benny Fein 55

5 "Gyp," "Lefty," and "Whitey": The Becker/Rosenthal Affair 67

6 Isidore Fishbein: Prostitution 93

7 Israel Dobreniewski: Abandonment and Bigamy 117

8 Benjamin Gitlow: Anarchy 137

9 Isaac Spier: Part II 169

10 Louis "Lepke" Buchalter 181

11 Irving "Waxey Gordon" Wexler 209

12 Louis Shomberg: Behind the Scenes 235

13 Isaac Spier: Part III 267

14 My Tour of the Prison 281

A Very Short Stories 294

B Statistics Regarding Jewish, Italian, and Irish Criminals Incarcerated at Sing Sing 301

C Jewish Criminals Who Died in Sing Sing's Electric Chair 306

D The Interconnectedness of Jewish Criminals 308

E Jewish Chaplains at Sing Sing 309

F Addresses and Map of Jewish Criminals' Residences as Children and Young Adults 310

G Prison Sentences Served by Major Characters in This Book 312

H Overlapping Prison Sentences of Jewish Criminals 315.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-339) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Arons, Ron. Jews of Sing Sing.

ISBN:

9781569803332

1569803331

OCLC:

179814023