David Berman (mobster)

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David "Davie" Berman (1903–1957) was a prominent Jewish-American mobster, one of the pioneers of gambling in Las Vegas, Nevada; he was closely associated with Bugsy Siegel at the Flamingo Hotel, and was one of the few mobsters of his era to die a natural death.

A major organized crime leader, David Berman had become a prominent bootlegger in Minneapolis, Minnesota during Prohibition.

Nazi crimes against the Jews angered Berman so much that he joined the Canadian Army to go fight them (Pearl Harbor had not yet brought the U.S. into the war). He served in northwest Europe with the 18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons), a reconnaissance outfit, along with Minnesota friend Nathan Gittlewich. He was well liked. Fellow troopers did not know of his criminal background.

After the war he became a partner with Bugsy Siegel in the Las Vegas syndicate casino The Flamingo.

His daughter Susan Berman wrote a memoir about him, called Easy Street, before her murder in December 2000.

[edit] References

• Cathy Scott "Who Killed Susan Berman? Las Vegas CityLife, February 25, 2004.
• Lisa DePaulo "Who Killed the Gangster's Daughter? New York Magazine, March 12, 2001.
• Douglas Fisher, fellow trooper, 12th Manitoba Dragoons.