There Will Be Another Sunrise: @OBBookTours - The Jew Mob From Honest Sid by Ronald Probstein

The Jew Mob From Honest Sid

by Ronald Probstein

In the 1920s to 1940s most violent organized crime gangs were centered in New York, a large number of which were run and populated by Jews. Among them were the cohorts and killers Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Champ Siegel. One of the operations of Myer and Bugsy was running a group of contract killers under the sobriquet Murder, Inc. I have written principally about Champ because my father Honest Sid was a long-time friend of his having grown up with him in New York’s Jewish Harlem.

I saw something of Champ’s nature one day when as a young boy my father took me to his apartment to hand over money from a betting operation. On pages 91 and 92 I wrote of the visit:

“Near a window two very pretty, slender women stood silent and motionless, holding glasses in their hands. Nearby, three smartly dressed men in pinstriped double-breasted suits were also holding glasses, but they stared at each other intently and gestured vigorously as they talked.

My father took out an envelope and handed it to Champ. Moments after he slid the envelope into his pocket, two of the men stared to scuffle. Almost before I realized what was happening, Champ pulled a gun out of his pocket. He held it in the air and yelled.

“Cut de fuckin’ rough house! Can’tcha see, dere’s a kid here”

The men backed away from one another immediately, glaring. I had pressed myself tightly against my father’s leg and stood speechless. My father put his arm round my shoulder and said, “Listen Champ, I gotta get the kid back.””

After Champ’s wife died he left New York and went to California. On page 95:

“He tied in with Bugsy Siegel. In the next several years among other things he was arrested for mutiny on the high seas when he held the skipper of a treasure-seeking ship at bay with a shotgun. And he was indicted in a Hollywood gang killing, along with Bugsy. As he had done in New York, he managed to evade any convictions.”