Besha Starkman
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Besha Starkman (Tobin) (Perri), criminal; born 14 April 1889 in Poland; married (1) Harry Tobin on 15 December 1907, and they had two daughters, and (2) (in common law) Rocco Perri; died 15 August 1930 at Hamilton, Ontario,[1] buried in Ohev Zedek Cemetery.
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[edit] Bio
Besha (Bessie) Starkman had Polish parents, Shimon (Sam) and Gello (Gloria) Starkman, who were among the thousands of destitute East European Jews who arrived in Toronto at the end of the nineteenth century. The family settled in "The Ward" (St. John's Ward), the overcrowded home of many poor immigrants to Toronto. She later married Harry Tobin, a Russian who worked as a driver for a bakery. Starkman and Tobin had two daughters--Lilly and Gertrude.
For three months during 1912, they had a new boarder, Rocco Perri, aged twenty-four. Starkman invited him home, since he needed a place to stay. Perri wooed and won her over. Starkman abandoned her family, Jewish faith. They both then moved to St. Catharines, Ontario with no money and no friends. Once there, Perri secured a job as a labourer on the Welland Canal enlargement project. Some of the Italians shunned them because Bessie was Jewish.' It was also said that Starkman left a few times, but returned to Perri.
After the outbreak of war in August 1914, the Canadian government cut off funding for the canal project, leaving Perri again unemployed. He found work in a bakery, then as a labourer, and finally came to Hamilton, Ontario with Starkman in 1916 to work at a travelling salesman for the Superior Macaroni Company. Starkman and Perri wanted more for themselves.
In late 1916, the ambitious couple saw an opportunity. The Ontario Temperance Act (OTA) was introduced in 1916 as a temporary wartime measure by Conservative Premier William Hearst (Ontario premier) (a tempernce advocate and pillar of the Methodist church). It made possession of liquor and beer outside one's home illegal. Although one could retain a 'cellar supply' for personal consumption, it was illegal to sell a drink. As a result, the government closed bars, taverns, clubs and liquor stores. Selling liquor in Hamilton was a five million dollar business.' Bessie's brains and drive combined with Perri's connections, got them started.
Starkman was more than just a mistress to Perri. She was Perri's Queen, his second in command, the financial brains of the gang. Perri had ignored the major rule that a woman had no place in the mob. Starkman had been his right hand from the beginning.' Many considered Starkman the boss of the 'Perri mob.' She handled money, bookkeeping, and day-to-day business. She also commanded begrudging respect from gang members. Yet Starkman 'never forgot that Rocco was the boss.' They were said to have been 'grossing well over a million dollars a year--about 2.4 million dollars a month in today's currency .(December 2006) They had established a business system they were able to follow until Starkman's death.
[edit] Murder on Bold Street
Starkman and Perri were out from one o'clock in the afternoon of 13 August 1930, and returned home from visiting friends about 11:15 in the evening. After Perri drove the car into the garage from the Bold Street entrance, Starkman and Perri remained in the car finishing a conversation. Then Starkman got out of the car first and headed for the garage light switch so that Perri could close the garage door. Before Starkman could reach for the switch, shots rang out. One hit her in the neck, the other in her side, and another struck a tin pan in the garage. Perri moved towards his wife, heard a second shot, and ran out of the garage into the street, where a neighbour was out walking is dog, heard him yelling, 'My girl has been shot!' Reports implied that there had been three men--two who had shot Starkman and one who had driven the getaway car. Two twelve gauge, double-barrelled rifles, found near the garage, had been wiped clean of fingerprints. The police had virtually no concrete evidence about the identity of the murderers. Perri later said that he believed the motive had been robbery. However, though Starkman was wearing $10,000 worth of diamonds, none of the jewellery was taken.
[edit] Funeral
Starkman's funeral took place two days after the death and was the most flamboyant Hamilton had ever seen. The $3,000 casket was described by the funeral directors, Brown Brothers, as 'bronzed silver steel, full couch length, of state design with silver extension handles.' In their opinion, 'it was one of the finest and costliest made, similar in design to the one Rudolph Valentino was buried in and much like those 'obtained for many New York gangsters.' Huge crowds were drawn to the funeral. The burial itself was brief; the crowd was becoming uncontrollable and there was much yelling of orders to stand back. Finally, however. Starkman's body lay buried in the Ohev Zedek Cemetery, which means, ironically, "Lovers of Justice."
The full extent of police investigation into the murder was not clarified until later. Several theories were developed to explain the killing. The most popular theory was that Starkman's failure to pay for a shipment of narcotic drugs delivered by a Rochester mob led to her death. The results of the investigations were inconclusive.
[edit] See also
- Rocco Perri, Starkman's common-law husband and business partner.
- Charles William Bell, Playwright, Politician and Perri's Lawyer. 1876-1938.
[edit] References
- ^ Bailey, Thomas Melville (1992). Dictionary of Hamilton Biography (Vol III, 1925-1939). W.L. Griffin Ltd.
- "King of the Mob: Rocco Perri and the women who ran his rackets" by James Dubro & Robin F. Rowland (Toronto)-1987
- Rocco Perri Scrapbook (Hamilton Herald Newspaper articles) 12 April 1927, 14, 16, 18 August 1930
- Hamilton Public Library clippings, Hamilton, Famous and Fascinating, Thomas Melville Bailey and Charles Ambrose Carter.
