Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series

by David Pietrusza

  Also by DAVID PIETRUSZA

  Teddy Ballgame: My Life in Pictures (with Ted Williams)

  Judge and jury: The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis

  The Roaring Twenties

  Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball (co-editor)

  Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (co-editor)

  Lights On! The Wild Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball

  Major Leagues

  Baseball's Canadian American League

  Minor Miracles: The Legend and Lure of Minor League Baseball

  DAVID PIETRUSZA

  To Cathy Karp Who I look up to.

  The Players in Our Drama- ix

  CHAPTER I • "I've Been Shot" • 1

  CHAPTER 2 • "Nobody Loves Me" • 15

  CHAPTER 3 • "Everyone Gambled" • 23

  CHAPTER 4 • "Why Not Get Married?" • 41

  CHAPTER 5 • "I've Got Plans" • 52

  CHAPTER 6 • "He'll Crucify the Big Feller" • 66

  CHAPTER 7 • "Let's Go Looking for Some Action" • 92

  CHAPTER 8 . "Take Any Price" • 104

  CHAPTER 9 • "Chicken Feed" • 123

  CHAPTER I0 • "I Never Take My Troubles to the Cops" • 136

  CHAPTER 111 • "AM WIRING YOU TWENTY GRAND" • 147

  CHAPTER I2 • "I Wasn't In On It" • 169

  CHAPTER 13 • "The Chic Thing to Have Good Whiskey" • 193

  CHAPTER 14 • "The Man to See Was Arnold Rothstein" • 209

  CHAPTER 15 • "I Can't Trust a Drunk" • 219

  CHAPTER 16 • "I Don't Bet On ... Boxing" • 232

  CHAPTER 17 • "I'm Not a Gambler" • 244

  CHAPTER 18 • "I Will Be Alone" • 268

  CHAPTER 19 • "Will I Pull Through?" • 284

  CHAPTER 20 • Cover-up: "A Decenter, Kinder Man

  I Never Knew" • 294

  CHAPTER 21 • "Tell Me Who is Using My Money for Dope" • 316

  CHAPTER 22 • Aftermath: "A Wonderful Box" • 330

  CHAPTER 23 • Case Closed: "I Did It, You Know"' 343

  CHAPTER 24 • Epilogue • 357

  Notes • 388

  Bibliography • 450

  Acknowledgments • 465

  Index • 467

  NICKY ARNSTEIN

  Debonair international con man. Multimillion-dollar bond thief. Wandering husband of Fanny Brice. Arnold Rothstein's admirer, partner, and fall guy.

  ABE ATTELL

  Featherweight champion of the world. A.R.'s gambling buddy and bodyguard-as well as his indiscreet henchman in fixing the 1919 World Series.

  GEORGE YOUNG BAUCHLE

  Wastrel heir to the YD'S licorice fortune. A.R.'s front man at the Partridge Club, Manhattan's poshest floating card game.

  LIEUTENANT CHARLES BECKER

  Crooked and brutal police vice squad chief. His downfall paves the way for Rothstein to begin his career as the great middleman between the machine, the mob, and the cops.

  HENRY "KID" BECKER

  The Kid conjured up the idea of fixing a World Series. Too bad he didn't live to enjoy it.

  AUGUST BELMONT 11.

  Millionaire high-society sportsman. Erstwhile racetrack partner of Rothstein, but he eventually demanded A.R.'s expulsion from New York's tracks.

  FANNY BRICE

  Broadway's "Funny Lady" found husband Nicky Arnstein's illegal schemes with A.R. no laughing matter, nor the collateral he demanded to provide bail for her incarcerated spouse.

  LEPKE BUCHALTER

  New York's most vicious labor-union racketeer got his start with A.R. He got the chair from District Attorney Tom Dewey.

  SLEEPY BILL BURNS

  A.R. fixed it for Burns and his partner Billy Maharg to take the fall if anything went wrong in fixing the 1919 World Series. It did.

  ASSEMBLYMAN MAURICE CANTOR

  A.R.'s last attorney and the thief at his deathbed.

  GEORGE M. COHAN

  Broadway's "Yankee Doodle Dandy" knew when to bet and when not to bet on a World Series.

  STEPHEN CRANE

  The best-selling author (The Red Badge of Courage) who risked his reputation, his physical safety, and his friendship with Theodore Roosevelt to expose police corruption in 1890s New York.

  NICK THE GREEK DANDOLOS

  America's most fabled gambler-and Rothstein's favorite pigeon.

  MARION DAVIES

  Model, Broadway sensation, film star, William Randolph Hearst's longtime mistress, and the target of Bill Fallon's greatest courtroom scam.

  WILL DAVIS

  He drifted in from California, tried to rob A.R. at gunpoint, made A.R. a fortune in horse-racing tips, and departed just as mysteriously as he arrived.

  JACK "THE MANASSA MAULER" DEMPSEY

  Heavyweight champion of the world in the Golden Age of Sports. Did A.R. plot to cheat him of his crown?

  BIG BILL DEVERY

  Being New York's shadiest police commissioner, didn't stop Big Bill from becoming the first owner of the New York Yankees.

  LEGS DIAMOND

  Strong-arm artist. Thief. Labor goon. Bootlegger. Speakeasy operator. A.R's merciless (and seemingly bulletproof) bodyguard.

  DRAPER DOUGHERTY:

  The attorney general's alcoholic son on the Big Bankroll's payroll.

  MONK EASTMAN

  The original dim-witted but brutal East Side hoodlum. When A.R. wanted a loan repaid, he used the thuggish Eastman to collect.

  NAT EVANS

  A.R.'s partner in Saratoga and Long Island gambling houses; his underling in fixing a World Series.

  BILL "THE GREAT MOUTHPIECE" FALLON

  The Roaring 20s most flamboyant and successful criminaldefense attorney. Rothstein and Fallon did a lot of business together, but that didn't keep the duo from profoundly despising one another.

  BRIDGET FARRY

  The hotel chambermaid who knew too much. A spell in jail eventually made her forget much.

  NAT FERBER

  Manhattan's premier investigative journalist made life uncomfortable for A.R.'s cronies.

  BIG TOM FOLEY

  Powerful downtown Tammany district leader and Governor Al Smith's mentor. Protector of the city's crooked Wall Street firms. A.R.'s go-to guy at Tammany.

  EDWARD M. FULLER

  Mastermind of Wall Street's biggest con operation. Even A.R.'s connections and Bill Fallon's skills couldn't keep this miscreant out of Sing Sing.

  WILLIAM JAY GAYNOR

  New York's irascible reform mayor. He battled Tammany, took a bullet in the head, and did his best to "preserve outward order and decency. "

  BILLY GIBSON

  He managed boxing champions Gene Tunney and Benny Leonard and made sure he remained on Arnold Rothstein's good side.

  WAXEY GORDON

  A.R. bankrolled Gordon 's bootlegging operations, but only if Waxey did it Arnold's much more profitable way.

  WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST

  The controversial press lord who tried to break Tammany. Instead, he found his own private life on the front page.

  INSPECTOR DOMINICK HENRY

  An honest cop. He dared question why A.R. got away with shooting three other cops.

  JIMMY HINES

  Tammany's powerful and wealthy boss of West Harlem. He netted a fortune from Prohibition and the numbers racket and spent a good part of it covering up the facts of A.R.'s slaying.

  MAXIE "Boo Boo" HOFF

  Philadelphia's
gangland boss who helped A.R. win $500,000 on the first Dempsey-Tunney fight.

  MAYOR JAMES J. "RED MIKE" HYLAN

  Jimmy Walker's obtuse and Hearst-controlled predecessor at City Hall. He battled Rothstein, but to no avail.

  SHOELESS JOE JACKSON

  Baseball's greatest natural hitter. Joe pocketed A.R.'s ten grand to throw the 1919 Fall Classic, then complained he didn't get more. Say it ain't so, Joe.

  ALBERT "KILLER" JOHNSON

  He thought Arnold would never go to the cops after he robbed A.R.'s high-stakes poker game. He guessed wrong.

  BYRON "BAN" JOHNSON

  The most powerful man in baseball thought he had a deal with the man who fixed the World Series. You can't cheat an honest man.

  PEGGY HOPKINS JOYCE

  Actress. Showgirl. Gold digger. Joyce augmented her income by steering rich suckers to A.R.'s Times Square gambling house.

  DOT KING

  The murdered Follies showgirl. She was A.R.'s tenant. Was she one of his drug runners?

  FIORELLO "THE LITTLE FLOWER" LA GUARDIA

  East Harlem's crusading congressman. He hoped to win the mayoralty by exposing Tammany's Rothstein connections.

  AARON J. LEVY

  Majority leader of the New York State Assembly. Wily defense attorney and fixer in the Rosenthal murder case. He graduated to the bench and to protecting A.R.-connected gambling clubs.

  LEO LINDY

  Gangsters, entertainers, newspaper people all made his Times Square restaurant their unofficial headquarters. But no more than did Arnold Rothstein.

  CAPTAIN ALFRED LOEWENSTEIN

  The "World's Richest Man." Was Loewenstein also A.R.'s partner in the world's biggest drug ring?

  LUCKY LUCIANO

  A.R. picked this cheap little hoodlum off the streets and turned him into an elegant, rich hoodlum.

  MEYER LANSKY

  Rothstein recognized "Little Man "'s talents and helped make him into the next Rothstein.

  JOHN J. "THE LITTLE NAPOLEON" MCGRAW.

  Baseball's greatest manager. A.R.'s partner in his popular Herald Square pool hall.

  GEORGE "HUMP" MCMANUS.

  The Times Square gambler indicted for A.R's November 1928 murder. Did the big Irishman actually pull the trigger?

  JIMMY MEEHAN

  Small-time professional gambler. His apartment witnessed Broadway's biggest and deadliest poker game.

  WILSON MIZNER

  The Times Square wit ("Be nice to people on the way up ... you'll meet the same people on the way down. ") who tried and failed to trim A.R.'s ego.

  CHARLES FRANCIS MURPHY

  Tammany Hall's savviest, most powerful, and resilient boss. He relied on Rothstein to deal with Gotham's emerging mob.

  INEZ NORTON.

  A.R.'s last mistress. She thought they'd live happily-and luxuriously-ever after.

  COL. LEVI P. NUTT

  The federal drug czar with a secret to hide.

  NIGGER NATE RAYMOND

  The swarthy West Coast gambler who took A.R. for $300,000 in a single card game, but never collected.

  GEORGE GRAHAM RICE

  Inventor of the racing tip sheet. Pioneer stock swindler. Even he could learn a lot from Arnold Rothstein.

  TEX RICKARD

  Boxing's greatest promoter and a man who sensed the great Rothstein 's demise was just around the corner.

  RED RITTER

  The filthy street urchin whom A.R. tried to befriend, but failed.

  FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

  His skillful handling of the scandals that followed A.R.'s murder helped lead FDR from the governor's mansion to the White House.

  HERMAN "BEANSY" ROSENTHAL

  A fatally indiscreet Times Square gambler. Being Rothstein's friend couldn't save him from being rubbed out.

  SUBWAY SAM ROSOFF

  The rags-to-riches construction magnate whom even A.R. feared at the gambling table.

  ABRAHAM ROTHSTEIN

  Arnold Rothstein's upright, intensely religious, and longsuffering father.

  ARNOLD ROTHSTEIN

  King of Manhattan gamblers. The Big Bankroll. Criminal genius. Mastermind of the 1919 World Series. Moneylender. Drug kingpin. Bootlegging pioneer. Gambling house and casino operator. Fencer of millions in stolen jewels and bonds. Labor-union racketeer. Broadway angel. The ultimate political go-between. Mentor to a whole generation of New York thugs, hoodlums, and felons.

  BERTRAM "HARRY" ROTHSTEIN.

  Arnold's jealousy of his older brother helped propel him into rebellion and a life in the underworld.

  CAROLYN ROTHSTEIN

  Arnold Rothstein's former showgirl wife. She faced the agony of with high-stakes anxiety, lonely nights, murder plots-and her husband's string of younger showgirl mistresses.

  DAMON RUNYON

  Fabled chronicler of Arnold Rothstein's Broadway, author of Guys and Dolls. He shared whispers with A.R. just before Rothstein walked up Broadway to his violent end.

  ABE SCHER

  Night cashier at Lindy's. He took the call that summoned A.R. to his death.

  JUDGE SAMUEL SEABURY

  The patrician politician who brought down Rothstein's pals in Tammany Hall.

  WILLIE SHEA

  Greed and booze cost Shea his share of Rothstein's lucrative 46th Street gambling house.

  ALFRED E. SMITH

  New York governor. The first Catholic presidential candidate. Protege of A.R.'s pal, Big Tom Foley, and sworn enemy of William Randolph Hearst.

  SIDNEY STAJER

  Drug addict. Petty criminal. And one of A.R.'s closest friends.

  CHARLES STONEHAM

  High-stakes gambler. Owner of the New York Giants. He depended on A.R. to protect his crooked Wall Street operations from the law.

  HERBERT BAYARD SWOPE

  Legendary journalist. Adviser to presidents-and best man at A.R.'s wedding.

  JOSEPH J. "SPORT" SULLIVAN

  The Boston bookmaker who helped A.R. pay off the 1919 Black Sox.

  BIG TIM SULLIVAN

  A.R.'s earliest patron. State senator. Congressman. Tammany boss of the Lower East Side. Theater and amusement-park baron. Protector of vice. Father of gun control-and accessory to murder.

  CIRO "THE ARTICHOKE KING" TERRANOVA

  The cowardly racketeer who lived in A.R.'s Fairfield Hotel, controlled New York's produce supply, and literally penned written contracts to have his enemies rubbed out.

  TITANIC THOMPSON

  The country-boy cardsharp and legendary golf hustler who sat in on Rothstein fatal card game at Jimmy Meehan s.

  GENE TUNNEY

  The erudite ex-Marine who defeated Jack Dempsey for the heavyweight crown. Did he need a little help from A.R.'s friends?

  JAMES J. "GENTLEMAN JIMMY" WALKER

  New York's flamboyant jazz Age mayor. Rothstein's connections to his political machine proved profitable-and ultimately career-ending.

  JOSEPH WARREN

  Jimmy Walker's former law partner and police commissioner. Walker made him take the fall for not solving a crime that nobody wanted solved.

  JOHN B. WATSON

  Father of the behaviorist school of psychology. Expelled from the faculty at John Hopkins. A.R.'s shrink.

  GROVER WHELAN

  Gotham's most dapper city official. Officially, he assumed the police commissionership to solve A.R.'s murder. His real agenda: Purge the department of its honest cops.

  GERTRUDE VANDERBILT

  Bill Fallon's faithful mistress, but ultimately the cause for his break with Nicky Arnstein.

  ALBERT VITALE

  One of the worst of New York's crop of venal judges. Discovery of his "loan" from A.R. helped topple "the system."

  VICTOR WATSON

  Editor of Hearst's New York American. He paid the ultimate price for keeping on Rothstein 's trail.

  BOBBIE WINTHROP

  A.R.'s longtime mistress. He went to her funeral-and then to the track.

  CHARLES SEYMOUR
WHITMAN

  Crusading Manhattan district attorney. Did he make a deal with Rothstein to solve Beansy Rosenthal's murder-and further his gubernatorial ambitions?

  R. BET HE WAS GOING TO DIE.

  It was Sunday, November 4, 1928, and Arnold Rothstein sat in his office, calmly filling out a $50,000 life insurance policy on himself. A. R. liked to pretend he was in the insurance business, or in real

  estate or bail bonds, any sort of "legitimate" business. His 45 West 57th Street offices housed his various holdings: Rothstein, Simon Company, Inc.; the Hooper Realty Corporation; the Rothmere Mortgage Corporation, Inc.; the Juniper Holding Company, Inc.; the Lark Holding Company, Inc.; the Cedar Point Realty Corporation; the Rothstein Brokerage Corporation; the Redstone Building Company; the Rugro Holding Corporation; and, as one of his functionaries would soon put it: "corporations of minor importance in which the decedent was interested as a stockholder." Yes, Arnold Rothstein of Fifth Avenue, mild of manner, conservative, cautious, and understated in speech, habit, and dress, teetotaler and nonsmoker; could claim-and invariably did-to be simply the proverbial "legitimate" businessman.

  Nobody believed him.

  For, Arnold Rothstein-the "Big Bankroll," the "Great Brain," "The Man Uptown"-was not what he took such pains to appear to be. In one sense, his charade was a dismal failure. Most Americans thought of him as a gambler and, in fact, most Americans had heard of him. After all, A. R. had not only fixed the 1919 World Series; he had gotten away with it.

  Yet, even being America's most notorious gambler was just part of Rothstein's disguise, another layer of the onion to be peeled off until you got to-

  Until you got to what? Where did the real Arnold Rothstein begin? As the ruthless millionaire usurer lurking for hours on bitter cold Manhattan streets to waylay some poor soul who owed him one or two hundred dollars? The middleman between other gamblers and gangsters and Tammany Hall's biggest bosses? The fence for millions in stolen goods? The shadowy figure manipulating Garment District labor wars until small-time hoodlums no longer worked for the unions and bosses, but gave orders to both labor and management? The financier of Prohibition-era speakeasies and rumrunners? The shadowy figure now working with feverish diligence to create a massive intercontinental drug trade?

  Or was it that like the onion, once you peeled all the layers away, there was ... nothing.

  A mystery. A smiling, witty but ultimately cold and gray presence that overwhelmed everyone and everything about him. "To understand it all," one associate would say, "you had to know Rothstein. He lived only for money-he even liked the feel of it. He wasn't right even with himself. For every friend he had a thousand enemies."