Arnold Rothstein

Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 5, 1928), nicknamed "the Brain," was a Jewish-American racketeer, businessman and gambler who became a kingpin of the Jewish mob in New York. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athletics, conspiring in the fixing of the 1919 World Series.

According to the crime writer Leo Katcher, Rothstein "transformed organized crime from a thuggish activity by hoodlums into a big business, run like a corporation, with himself at the top." According to Rich Cohen, Rothstein was the person who first realized that Prohibition was a business opportunity, a means to enormous wealth, who "understood the truths of early century capitalism (hypocrisy, exclusion, greed) and came to dominate them." His notoriety inspired several fictional characters based on his life, portrayed in contemporary and later short stories, novels, musicals and films.

Early life and education

Arnold Rothstein was born in New York City, the son of a wealthy Jewish immigrant racketeer and businessman, Abraham Rothstein, and his wife Esther. Despite his use of chicanery,extortion, and theft in his early years, Abraham Rothstein disavowed such behavior for himself in later years and was known as a philanthropist, donating to Beth Israel Hospital. Arnold was skilled at mathematics, was well-read, and was being groomed to take over the legitimate business of his father. However, Arnold dropped out of school and developed an early interest in illegitimate business which he easily found amongst his father's early connections. His older brother studied to become a rabbi.

Career

By 1910, Rothstein at age 28 had moved to the Tenderloin section of Manhattan, where he established an important gambling casino. He also invested in a horse racing track at Havre de Grace, Maryland, where he was reputed to have "fixed" many of the races that he won. Rothstein had a wide network of informants, very deep pockets from amongst his father's Jewish banking community, and the willingness to pay a premium for good information, regardless of the source. His successes made him a millionaire by age 30.

1919 World Series

In 1919, Rothstein's agents allegedly paid members of the Chicago White Sox to "throw," or deliberately lose, the World Series. He had bet against them and made a significant sum in what was called the "Black Sox Scandal."

Summoned to Chicago to testify before a grand jury investigation of the incident, Rothstein said that he was an innocent businessman, intent on clearing his name and his reputation. Prosecutors could find no evidence linking Rothstein to the affair, and he was never indicted. Rothstein testified:

"The whole thing started when (Abe) Attell and some other cheap gamblers decided to frame the Series and make a killing. The world knows I was asked in on the deal and my friends know how I turned it down flat. I don't doubt that Attell used my name to put it over. That's been done by smarter men than Abe. But I was not in on it, would not have gone into it under any circumstances and did not bet a cent on the Series after I found out what was under way."

Another version has Rothstein turning down the proposal relayed by Attell; this was the second "fix" he'd refused to bankroll. Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, a gambler, had previously approached Rothstein with the same idea. After receiving Attell's offer, Rothstein thought he could reconsider the first offer from Sullivan. Rothstein shrewdly figured that the field was becoming so crowded with would-be fixers that he could risk getting involved and still cover his tracks. David Pietrusza's biography of Rothstein suggested that the gangster worked both ends of the fix with Sullivan and Attell. Michael Alexander concluded that Attell fixed the Series "probably without Arnold Rothstein's approval," which "did not prevent Rothstein from betting on the Series with inside knowledge."^[10]

1921 Travers Stakes

Rothstein owned a racehorse named Sporting Blood, which won the 1921 Travers Stakes under suspicious circumstances. Allegedly, Rothstein conspired with a leading trainer, Sam Hildreth, to drive up the odds on Sporting Blood. Hildreth entered an outstanding three-year- old, Grey Lag, on the morning of the race, causing the odds on Sporting Blood, to rise to 3-1. Rothstein bet $150,000 through bookmakers, allegedly having been informed that the second favorite, Prudery, was off her feed. Just before post time and without explanation, Hildreth scratched Grey Lag from the starting list. Rothstein collected over $500,000 in bets plus the purse, but a conspiracy was never proven.

Prohibition and organized crime

With the advent of Prohibition, Rothstein saw the opportunities for business; he diversified into bootlegging and narcotics. Liquor was brought in by smuggling along the Hudson River, as well as from Canada across the Great Lakes and into upstate New York. Rothstein also purchased holdings in a number of speakeasies.

With his banking support, and high-level Jewish political connections, Rothstein soon managed to end-run Tammany Hall to the street gangs. Subsequently, his criminal organization included such underworld notables as Meyer Lansky,Jack "Legs" Diamond, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, and Dutch Schultz, whose combined gangs and double-dealing with their own respective bosses subverted the entire late 19th century form of political gangsterism. Rothstein's variousnicknames were Mr. Big, The Fixer, The Man Uptown, The Big Bankroll and The Brain.

Rothstein frequently mediated differences between the New York gangs and reportedly charged a hefty fee for his services. His favorite "office" was Lindy's Restaurant, at Broadway and 49th Street in Manhattan. He often stood on the corner surrounded by his bodyguards and did business on the street. Rothstein made bets and collected debts from those who had lost the previous day. Meanwhile, he exploited his role as mediator with the city's legitimate business world and soon forced Tammany Hall to recognize him as a necessary ally in its running of the city.

Some say Rothstein was the "Moses" of the Jewish gangsters, the progenitor, a rich man's son who showed the young hoodlums of the Bowery how to have style. The Sicilian-American gangster Lucky Luciano later said of him, Rothstein "taught me how to dress."

Murder

On November 4, 1928, Arnold Rothstein was shot and mortally wounded during a business meeting at Manhattan's Park Central Hotel at Seventh Avenue near 55th Street. He died the next day at the Stuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital in Manhattan. The shooting was allegedly linked to debts owed from a 3-day, high stakes poker game which he had participated in the previous month with several associates and acquaintances. Rothstein was said to have had a cold streak, and owed $320,000 at the end of the game. He refused to pay the debt, claiming the game was fixed. The hit was arranged to punish Rothstein for reneging on this debt.

The gambler George "Hump" McManus was arrested for the murder, but later acquitted for lack of evidence.

According to Kevin Cook in his book Titanic Thompson (2010), the poker game was fixed by a gambler, Titanic Thompson (real name Alvin Clarence Thomas) and his associate, Nate Raymond. Due to some complicated side bets, by the end Rothstein owed $319,000 to Raymond (much of which Raymond was due, by secret agreement, to pass on to Thompson); $30,000 to Thompson; and approximately $200,000 to the other gamblers present. McManus owed Rothstein $51,000. Rothstein stalled for time, saying that he would not be able to pay until after the elections of November 1928, when he expected to win $550,000 for successfully backing Hoover for President and Roosevelt for Governor. Thompson testified at McManus's trial, describing him as "a swell loser" who would never have shot Rothstein. According to Cook, Thompson later told some of his acquaintances that the killer had not been McManus, but his "bag-man", Hyman Biller, who fled to Cuba shortly afterwards.

In his Kill the Dutchman! (1971), a biography of Dutch Schultz, the crime reporter Paul Sann suggests that Schultz murdered Rothstein. He says this was in retaliation for the murder of Schultz's friend and associate, Joey Noel, by Rothstein's protégé, Jack "Legs" Diamond.

On his deathbed, Rothstein refused to identify his killer, answering police inquiries with, "You stick to your trade. I'll stick to mine." Rothstein was buried at Ridgewood's Union Field Cemetery in an Orthodox Jewish ceremony.

Break-up of empire

At his death, Prohibition was in full swing, various street gangs were battling for control of the liquor distribution, and the carefully constructed political boss structure of the late 19th century was in total collapse. Frank Erickson, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and other former associates split up Rothstein's various "enterprises" after his death. With the break-up of his empire, the corrupt and already weakened Tammany Hall was critically injured as it relied on Rothstein to rein in the street gangs thereby giving a facade to Tammany's importance with the legitimate interests of the city. Consequently, with the death of Rothstein the break up of Tammany began in earnest which contributed to the rise of the reformer Fiorello La Guardia, elected as mayor.

Ten years after his death, Arnold Rothstein's brother declared Rothstein's estate bankrupt and Arnold's wealth disappeared.

In popular culture

• The author F. Scott Fitzgerald used Arnold Rothstein as a model for Jay Gatsby's crooked associate Meyer Wolfsheim in the novel The Great Gatsby.
• Rothstein's patronage of floating crap games provided the model for Nathan Detroit in the musical Guys and Dolls.
• Rothstein is referred to as "The Brain" in several of Damon Runyon's short stories, including a fictional version of his death in "The Brain Goes Home".
• Rothstein was portrayed by several actors in films: By Robert Lowery in the 1960, The Rise and Fall of "Legs" Diamond; by David Janssen in the 1961, King of the Roaring 20's - The Story of Arnold Rothstein (aka The Big Bankroll); by Michael Lerner in the 1988, Eight Men Out, based on the Black Sox Scandal; and by F. Murray Abraham, in the 1991 Mobsters.
• In The Godfather Part II, Hyman Roth mentions Rothstein as someone who arranged a sport game result. Even more, Roth is a nickname that Vito Corleone gave him when he was a young boy, after Hyman confessed admiration of the gambler.
• In the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, a fictionalized version of Rothstein is portrayed by Michael Stuhlbarg.
• In an episode of the ABC series, The Whole Truth, a judge refers to Rothstein's murder as a code for ordering a murder he had taken bribes and was trying to cover his trail.

Associates

• Waxey Gordon - worked as a rum-runner for Rothstein during the first years of Prohibition.
• Harry "Nig" Rosen - involved in narcotics with Rothstein during the mid-1920s.
• Matthew and Jared Rothstein - grandsons of Rothstein; inherited money after Rothstein's death.