Supermob

by Gus Russo

  In the post-Capone Chicago of the 1930s, the underworld heirs to Capone known as the Outfit, labor unions, and politicians were the ones with power, but they blurred together in murky alliances so as to increase their prosperity. All was for sale in Chicago as long as you had the muscle, brains, education, and economic and/or political power to take it. The Jews and the Italians who ran the Outfit were connected not only by their thirst for power, but by the value they placed in family. The only question was, how could the Outfit's power paradigm be altered to include these new Jewish up-and-comers? The answer was simple and elegant: the Jews would stay in the background. Throughout history, the Jews were never the public leaders; they were always the kingmakers and the power brokers. They knew from experience that a Jew would not get a top spot, however low the level, because of the existing anti-Semitism, even in America. They were always aware that their wealth and position in society could be noticed and another pogrom would ensue. Thus they worked surreptitiously, choosing to focus on the substrata of a business or event.

  The Russians were fully confident that they possessed the drive and resilience to succeed in the shadows. They had only to look at recent history in Chicago for proof: German Jews hadn't allowed their Russian counterparts into The Standard Club, so the Russians had formed The Covenant Club; the Russians couldn't get on the board at Michael Reese Hospital, so they built Mount Sinai; unable to join the Illinois bar, they formed the Decalogue Society in 1935, the oldest and largest Jewish legal fraternity in America, today consisting of sixteen hundred Jewish lawyers.52

  The fields they chose to conquer were, in hindsight, predictable. Historically excluded from many professions such as politics and civic functions, Jews naturally gravitated to becoming bankers and merchants—they were not prohibited by religion from dealing in money. And trade was an abstraction that didn't require social assimilation—enemies often trade. Also, due to their historical wanderings, the Jews were worldlier than their adversaries, and far less provincial. Their wide-ranging travels brought the additional benefit of language skills, which engendered international connections. The Jews' historical Diaspora (dispersion) and relative lack of national roots helped them to identify and exploit more quickly the most lucrative emerging markets. Jewish merchants had operated in Venice, destined to become the first great epicenter of Europe's economic revival, long before it emerged into prominence in the thirteenth century.

  Lastly, Jews were forced to toil in WASP sweatshops, ironically becoming the leaders of the labor union movement, the ascendancy of which brought about a tail-wagging-the-dog economy. It was a successful garment workers' strike by Chicago's Russian Jews in 1910 that established collective bargaining in the clothing industry. Among the most notable accomplishment was the founding of the Federation of Jewish Trade Unions in 1930.

  Unable to compete in the higher circles of industrial capitalism, the Jews fixed their attention on many of the emerging niches of the developing world economy, for which participation they are now best known, such as diamonds, communications, fashion, retailing, entertainment, and the medical-legal professions. But those who came to comprise the Supermob steered toward law, real estate, finance, and partnerships with the gangsters of lore.

  *Charlie Korshak was another family lawyer, but his career was a bust. In his first case, the murder defendant he represented confessed on the stand. It was the first and last case he tried.

  *In his application for membership in the Chicago Bar Association, Korshak listed the following references: David Silberg (111 W. Washington St.), Solomon P. Roderick (139 N. LaSalle St.), Philip R. Davis (188 W. Randolph St.), and his uncle Max Korshak (11 S. LaSalleSt.).

  †In his five-plus decades in the political arena, Marshall Korshak held down a staggering number of elected and appointed posts, such as Fifth Ward committeeman, state senator, Sanitary District trustee, state revenue collector, Cook County treasurer, Chicago city treasurer, city collector, and Police Board member.

  *"Sadiy, the jury appeared glazed over by the staggeringly complex financial testimony and was, instead, moved by the simple rags-to-riches story of Insull.

  *" Like Arvey, PLisenberg espoused charity and donated many millions to over thirty-five institutions, including the Mayo Clinic, which received a $50 million bequest.

  *Moe Annenberg's son Walter, a partner in the race wire, joined the Chicago exodus to California and went on to great success, founding such publications as TV Guide and Seventeen. In 1969, Richard Nixon appointed Walter U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. Walter devoted the second half of his life to philanthropy, establishing a foundation valued at over $3 billion. In 1991 alone, he gave away $1 billion; likewise in 1993. In his father's honor, Walter endowed the prestigious M. L. Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and at the University of Southern California.

  †In 1952, with an investment of $3 million, Crown joined a partnership to buy the Empire State Building. He used his earnings to buy out other shareholders, reduce the mortgage, and improve the property to draw new office tenants to the landmark skyscraper at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street. When he sold the building in 1961 for $65 million, his profit amounted to nearly $50 million.

  *H. Burton Schatz, one of the society's founders, cited racial slurs in court, discrimination in hiring, and newspaper ads excluding Jews from applying for jobs as reasons for creating the society. It was formed so "the judges, newspapers, businesses, and the public would get to know that Jewish lawyers are just as decent, just as effective as other lawyers are."

  CHAPTER 2

  From Lawndale lo the Seneca . . . to the Underworld

  You want diplomatic? . . . Greatest diplomats the world ever saw were the German Jews. Where did diplomacy get them. A ticket to Auschwitz.

  RABBI SCHLOMO CUNIN, CHABA HOUSE, LOS ANGELES1

  WITH THEIR LAW DEGREES and chutzpah, Korshak, Arvey, Crown, and the others began to envision a world beyond Lawndale, itself a w community that was always intended as a temporary way station on the road to bigger things. The young Turks of Lawndale, imbued with the "moving spirit," were keenly aware of socioeconomic heights to be scaled. Thus, these entrepreneurs and dreamers alike left their childhood homes, as transitional neighborhoods changed complexion almost overnight. Irving Cutler wrote, "This acculturation happened among some of the more radical, irreligious immigrant Jews as well as many younger Jews, usually American-born . . . But the Jews left the area because . . . they were interested in areas with better amenities, schools, higher status, more space and single family homes . . . The exodus was facilitated by the automobile and the government loans that were readily available, especially to veterans . . . [Some went] to Albany Park and Rogers Park, but more to West Rogers Park (West Ridge).2

  Although many of the Jewish institutions of greater Lawndale were reestablished on the North Side, they would never approach the previous scale. By 1950, Lawndale's population had declined significantly, as the young left in pursuit of their dreams—first stop, downtown Chicago. Rabbi Saul Silber intoned, "Our children are running away from us because we have nothing to hold them with, to make them worthy of their Jewish heritage."3 In truth, the dispersing young Lawndale Jews did not entirely cast off their heritage. Imbued with centuries of tradition, they held on to beliefs such as those crystallized in the paintings of Russian artist Marc Chagall, whose depiction of the fiddler on the roof shows an oval-shaped violinist floating in space over the roof of a peasant village, playing traditional songs. "The Jews sit precariously as the fiddler on the roof" goes the expression, and that notion bound the Lawndale Jews to their traditions until their own passing. For the rest of their lives, the Supermob associates played major roles in Jewish causes of all manners. Interestingly, as a retiring adult in Beverly Hills decades later, Sid Korshak collected Chagall originals.

  As seen, many Lawndale evacuees achieved successful (and legitimate) careers in a variety of fields. But, invariably, some coveted a quicker—and
guaranteed—path to success. These members of the future Supermob concluded that there was no future without some accommodation and/or alliance with the post-Capone Outfit, which seemed to hold a vise grip over Chicago and a powerful influence in many cities to the west, all the way to Los Angeles. Soon, associations would also be forged with East Coast boss Lucky Luciano and his "shadow Jew," Meyer Lansky. Noted New York Police organized crime expert Ralph Salerno wrote, "There is a happy marriage of convenience between Jewish and Italian gangsters. It represents the three M's: Money, Moxie, and Muscle. The Jews supply the moxie. The Italians take care of the muscle. And they split the money between them.4 According to Ira Silverman, NBC's longtime producer and organized crime specialist, "The Jewish lawyers were like 'house counsel' to the mob before the term was invented. They were on lifetime retainer."5

  Jewish lawyers of the period made no apologies for their cozy relationships with the hoods. Typical of their philosophy is the statement of one retired Chicago Jewish attorney who was close to both Korshak and the crime bosses. "In those days it was so much different than today," said the attorney, who asked for anonymity. "In the early thirties, a Jewish kid right out of law school didn't have a lot of opportunities. All he could do was get into some kind of 'collection' practice, like a collection agency. Where else do you go? So he gets this opportunity to make the kind of money the WASP lawyers were pulling in and he took it. We all took it if it was offered to us. Sidney was just the best of the bunch."6

  Former Chicago FBI agents Fran Marracco and Pete Wacks experienced the mob-Supermob alliance firsthand. According to Marracco, "The Italians knew that if you wanted something done, you didn't get an Italian accountant or lawyer. You got Jews. On the wiretaps we'd hear the Italians and how they stereotypically described the Jews' abilities with money. They respected their work ethic. They knew that the Jews came from this bad situation in Europe and they were hungry for success. They didn't want to be without. We used to call it the Kosher Nostra, the Jewish Mafia."7 Wacks heard one hood remark, "If we didn't have the Jews, we'd still be hiding money under the mattress."8

  Lawndale's Supermob evacuees were likely cognizant of Jewish proverbs such as "God help a man against gentile hands and Jewish heads" and "Heaven protect us against Jewish moach [brains] and gentile koach [physical force]." The successful use of sechel (smarts) rather than mere brute force was the only option. More important, for the Supermob, organized crime—or an association with it—was not a moral choice, but a political and economic reality, which translated into power and a "seat at the table." It was also pure Arvey, who later wrote, "I knew some men who were bookies in the old days who were well-respected—real estate operators, capitalists, and very acceptable in high society . . . They weren't degraded at all. They weren't demeaned by the fact that they were doing an illegal act . . . This was a different sense of morality."9 In their Faustian bargain, the Supermob founders were making money and security for the family the fastest way they knew how, a rationale fueled by the insecurity of their position in America (or any other country throughout history).

  Later in life, Sid Korshak bragged to friends about how, while still studying law at DePaul, he made his liaison with the Outfit by advising Al Capone. Bob Evans, a Korshak pal, protege, and later production chief at Paramount, called Korshak Capone's consiglieri.10 Movie executive Berle Adams recently recalled, "I heard that Sidney was Capone's chauffeur. Everybody heard it."11 One of Korshak's closest friends in the Hollywood legal whirl, Greg Bautzer, informed editor Tom Pryor of Daily Variety that Sid told him he drove for Capone. Few in Chicago accept that proposition, given that a don's driver doubles as a bodyguard, the most trusted position in the crew, and is always an Italian. Often, the driver inherits the role of boss, as was the case with both Joe Batters Accardo and Sam Giancana. But there was, in fact, a Capone connection to Korshak's early work for the Outfit.

  According to a retired Chicago attorney who was close to Korshak, the original link surfaced many years later, when the attorney (who asked not to be identified) had a chance encounter with a retired Abe Teitelbaum, formerly Al Capone's personal lawyer. (Teitelbaum had often stated, "Alphonse Capone was one of the most honorable men I ever met."12) When the source mentioned his friendship with Sid Korshak, Teitelbaum smiled and said, "I gave Sidney his first business clients. I was returning the favor because his uncle Max had started me in the law business." It is not a stretch to assume that many of those clients were from Capone's Syndicate, later called the Outfit.

  With his chosen clientele now arranged, Korshak formed an early partnership with a fellow DePaul alumnus, attorney Edward King, lawyer for Capone's heir Frank Nitti. However, King, who was also cocounsel with Marshall Korshak at Windy City Liquors, soon found greener pastures in New York, working for Mob Commission boss Meyer Lansky and his adviser Moses Polakoff. From that point, according to others like former Chicago reporter James Bacon and Chicago FBI man Bill Roemer, Jake Guzik became Sid's chief liaison to "the boys." Guzik was born in Russia in 1887, making him an elder in the Capone organization. He had the dubious distinction of being part of a family that was entirely devoted to white slavery—his parents were imprisoned on that charge, and all six of their children were pimps. Breaking out of the world of whoring, Guzik was likely the first Ashkenazi to find his way into Capone's inner sanctum, becoming both his bookkeeper and political-payoff wizard. Guzik was imprisoned for tax evasion in 1931, the same year the IRS nailed Capone.

  Abe Teitelbaum escorting Al Capone from court (Library of Congress)

  Jake Guzik, undated mug shot (Chicago Crime Commission)

  Korshak's recruitment origins aside, there was no argument about whom Sid Korshak ultimately served. Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, another Arvey protege, recalled just before his death in 2001, "Sidney and I were rivals in the thirties. He had silent partners in his law firm—he was with the hoodlums. He almost never took a case to trial—he was always making deals."*'13 Marovitz remarked that Arvey had played a role in getting him the seat on the federal bench years earlier.14 "Jake Arvey picked me up when I was nineteen and helped me every step of the way," Marovitz would say at Arvey's funeral. "I owe him a l o t . "15

  Not quite a year after his graduation, Sidney Korshak made his first known appearance in a court of law—but not to use his law degree in defense of a client. In May of 1931, Sidney, apparently influenced by his older brother, Ted, was arrested with his senior sibling after an early-morning brawl at a Loop club called The Showboat. The arrest came about when Sidney tried to stop the arrest of Ted. "You can't arrest him, he's my brother," warned Korshak. "Don't you know who I am?" The unimpressed cops promptly added Sidney to their paddy wagon. Although Sidney was held on $2,400 bail when he was discovered packing a pistol, the charges were eventually dropped.16

  In October of 1931, Sidney finally appeared in court to exercise his legal muscle. It was an unimpressive debut. Hired to defend young toughs Joe Carbona (twenty-two) and Louis Cadulo (twenty-four) for grand theft auto, Korshak quickly lost the case and the two were sentenced to six months in the House of Corrections.

  Korshak's next known appearance before the bench was no improvement. On May 2, 1933, Korshak was secured to defend one Jack Niedle for assault with a deadly weapon. Niedle was found guilty, sentenced to a year in jail, and hit with a $500 fine.17 In September, Korshak appeared with his associate Ed King in defense of Sam Battaglia, a notorious Capone racketeer. At the time, the chief of detectives was cracking down on known mobsters, often citing them with nuisance vagrancy citations. Korshak and King had failed to deliver their client for an earlier appearance, and on September 5, Judge Thomas A. Green lit into them. "You attorneys are in contempt of the court," Judge Green bellowed. "The bailiffs will take you into custody." One lawyer was held in an anteroom and the other in the jury box. Green then turned to the court reporter and dictated to her for the record: "Policemen, lawyers, and some judges seemed to be under gangster influences." He ordered the $10,000 bond
of Battaglia forfeited and set new bonds at $30,000. He then instructed the police chief that if other judges ever reduced bail, he should make a list of such judges and publish it. Then he directed the bailiffs to free attorneys King and Korshak.18

  James Bacon, renowned Associated Press reporter in Chicago at the time (later in Hollywood), recently recalled the gangster-crackdown period. "That's when I first became aware of Korshak," Bacon said. "They would arrest these guys for vagrancy. They might have twenty grand on them, but they were arrested for vagrancy. Sidney was always the lawyer down there defending them."19 In Korshak's FBI file, the Bureau noted Korshak's "close contact with police officials and judges in the Police Courts in Chicago." Simultaneously, the Bureau noted, "Sidney Korshak was one of the Chicago attorneys used most frequently by the Syndicate."

  Despite his courtroom failings, or perhaps because of them, Korshak's underworld bosses stuck with him. But it was apparent to all that his particular skills were of better use outside the bright lights of the city's courtrooms. The adjectives most often used to describe the young barrister—suave, slim,tall, and imperious—were the same attributes that made him the perfect corporate liaison for the most powerful underworld organization in the history of the nation. "Korshak was considered to be a fair-haired boy in the organization with the blessings of [Outfit boss] Tony Accardo," said veteran Chicago columnist (and Korshak friend) Irv Kupcinet. The gang had just emerged from the financial high of the bootlegging era, anxious to exploit new treasures such as labor, casino gambling, and entertainment. Aware that it would take someone with much more refinement than that of its typical crew member to mix with legitimate society, the bosses began headhunting for the right man with a law degree to smooth the transition into the next evolution of their enterprise, and the short list of candidates was topped by Sidney Korshak.