Episode 38: Rich Cohen "The Tough Jews of the Mafia"

Rich Cohen is an American non-fiction writer. He is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. He is co-creator, with Martin Scorsese, Mick Jagger and Terence Winter, of the HBO series Vinyl. His works have been New York Times bestsellers, New York Times Notable Books, and have been collected in the Best American Essays series. In 2022, Cohen became a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. Given his expertise on so many subjects, we asked him to impart some of his knowledge about a particular historical phenomenon: 20th Century Jewish-American Mobsters. His fascination with Jews in the mafia and his father's upbringing inspired him to write 'Tough Jews'. When people think of Jews, they don't usually associate it with toughness (except for maybe Israelis). There's a misconception that the Jewish-American mobsters of the last century were the accountants or the "brains" behind La Cosa Nostra (the Italian mafia), but in reality, they were often the muscle. Learn about Murder Inc. and notorious Jewish criminal masterminds such as Rothstein, Lepke, Lansky, Segel, Schultz, and more. Cohen explains why Jews and Italians worked so well together, leading to the creation of 'The Commission', which turned territorial rival gangs into an organized crime syndicate that spanned across the US and beyond. We wondered why the children of Jewish gangsters didn't join "The Life," yet the sons of Italian gangsters followed their fathers' footsteps — and Mr. Cohen offered insights that'll surely pique your curiosity. The allure of "The Life" is understandably very strong. In a strange way, it's similar to being part a religious community (as crazy as that sounds), in the sense that it requires its members to live by an unbreakable Code, to follow rules that supersede the law of the land, to have a deep sense of loyalty and care for family and community. The story of the Jews is that of triumph over tragedy, which is the definition of "tough." Enjoy these lesser-known stories of Jewish history.