Jewish Gangsters
Quotes
"After the first World War, Jewish gangsters became major figures in the American underworld and played prominent roles in the creation and extension of organized crime in the United States. During Prohibition fifty percent of the leading bootleggers were Jews, and Jewish criminals financed and directed much of the nation's narcotics traffic. Jews also dominated illicit activities in a number of America's largest cities, including Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, and Philadelphia."
- Robert A. Rockaway, senior lecturer in the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University, writes in his book "Hoodlum Hero: The Jewish Gangster as Defender of His People", American Jewish History, Vol. 82, Numbers 1-4, 1994-95, p. 215.
"It would not be an exaggeration to say that their [the Jewish Gangsters] influence on organized crime in the United States during the 1920´s and 1930´s rivaled, if not exceeded, that of their Italian counterparts."
- "The Jewish Almanac", Bantam Boooks, 1980, page 58.
"An American of Russian Jewish descent, [Robert] Friedman is remarkably well positoned to report on the [Russian] Mafiya, since most Mafiya members are themselves Russian Jews. This curious fact owes its origin to the efforts, during the Nixon administration, of Democratic Senator Henry 'Scoop' Jackson to link trade concessions with Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union ... While the Italian Mafia has a singular link between Italy and America, the Russian Mafiya is more international. Ironically, in a Jewish transit camp near Rome, many Russian-Jewish career crirminals met, exchanged information and departed ... The Russians seem crazier than do the Italians. While the Mafia uses violence to punish enemies ... surgically, the Mafiya will kill the enemy, his wife, his children, and his friends, both as a theatrical warning to competitors and for the sheer joy of tyrannical violence ... Now 30 Russian crime syndicates are operating in at least 17 U. S. cities."
- Houston Chronicle, 5-14-2000, p. 15
"Because the Russian mob is mostly Jewish, it was a political hot potato, especially in the New York area."
- Robert Friedman, Houston Chronicle, 5-14-2000, p. 15
