Tough Jews

(Paperback)

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Description

Once upon a time, back in the 20s and 30s, in Brooklyn, there lived a breed of men who exist now only in legend and in the memories of a few old men. Their names were Louis Lepke, Abe Reles, Bugsy Segel, Dutch Shultz, Meyer Lansky, and they were Jewish gangsters- Jews with Guns; tough, fearles Jews who roamed the streets in a time when a Jewish boy could fashion a future that was murderous and daring and wide open. Rich Cohen's father grew up in that world; his family owned the diner where the gangsters known as Murder Incorporated hung out. In TOUGH JEWS he tells their stories and brilliantly evokes their world - a world of street corners and bars and nightclubs; a world where murder was better than cowerdice; where killings were planned and executed with precision and finesse; a world of feuds, wars, schemes, where living into middle age was akind of victory; a world in which for a brief moment, Jews were among the most important criminals in America.

Reviews

A terrific storyteller, drawing you right into the tenements where young thugs were recruited, the shooting wars and the perceived betrayals, the labour rackets and all-night card games...Few of the tough Jews Cohen writes about lived to see the inside of a recruitment community. They died young and they died out. But this is a dazzling tribute to their courage and to their cool. -- Penny Perrick * The Times *
In the history of American crime - organised crime - Italian names predominate, but there was a time when Jewish names ran them close...Rich Cohen...grew up long after the events he describes, but he has still managed to write an intensely personal book...It is an exciting story...In filling in the detail, Cohen doesn't just rely on family legend, or his imagination: he has done a great deal of research in police archives. But it's the sense of personal involvement which gives the book its pace and its energy...highly readable. -- John Gross * Sunday Telegraph *

Author Bio

Rich Cohen has written for the New Yorker, the New York Observer, the New York Times and many other magazines. He is currently a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. He lives in New York City.