Talk:Samuel Levine

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    A Jewish columnist, Brian Viner, at Great Britain's Jewish Chronicle notes Rich Cohen's look into Jeish criminal history, like this:

"That I know all this is thanks largely to my estimable cousin Ben, a fount of information on Jewish gangster matters. I phoned him the other night and he told me, just as I might tell someone that Arensal are top the league by a point, that of 60,000 Jews living in Argentina by the 1920s, 9,000 were involved in prostitution rackets. You have to admit it's a conversation stopper. Ben -- a big fan of Rich Cohen's book 'Tough Jews,' not the least for its story of Red Levine, a hitman who wouldn't kill anyone on Shabbat -- is a Glaswegian, whose own father was threatened with imprisonment in 1916 for his involvement in a gambling den. And, according to Ben, some of the nastiest loan sharks in pre-war Glasgow were Jewish." [VINER, B., 11-29-02, p. 37]

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I know that there is not a lot of information here. Both books cited each contain just a few sentences each on Sam Levine. If you know more, I'd love to hear it. As far as I am concerned, this guy deserves a novel.

I will add that this is my first entry. No offense will be taken if you correct, insult and/or improve this meager effort.

- Steve, 20:31, 15 August 2005


Hey Steve, here are some things to add and you may want to go to the nytimes website and browse their articles for more info...

Red Levine wasn't involved in the killing of Joe Masseria.. that fictional account comes from the much maligned "Last Testament of Lucky Luciano" which was proven to be a fraudulent account of the real gangsters life. Joe Valachi placed Joe Stracci and Frank Livorsi(Two Ciro Terranova men) as the actual shooters..

Also Bo Weinberg was not involved in the Maranzano murder. That account came from chronic liar Dixie Davis who also created the Night of Sicillian Vespers myth...

Post-prohibition Red Levine became heavily involved in the newspaper racket.. a variant on the restaurant rackets of the time he provided protection for delivery and instituted himself into the unions involved in that trade. Again mor eon later court cases regarded to this can be found in the times.