38: Friday, June 6, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS BECOME A HYPNOTHERAPIST Licensed By The Michigan Board of Education -4. • ' fi • v.'s'. .`"4 We're going to help you look terrific. Professional Certified Hypnotherapists Sol Lewis, Director Lois MunKachy, Ph.D., Co-Director Jewish Gangsters: Way Out Of The Ghetto G4 MPl -?\ •""-";: :7W r 'N ' 5 •P Woodward and Maple Birmingham 642-1965 \.• 3036 W. 12 Mile, Berkley, Mich. 48012 Send For Free Brochure or Call ... (313) 548-5683 BY ZEV GOLAN Special to The Jewish News kerchevid, in Ihe "Hoge Grosse Poinle 884-0701 C your advertising dollars do better in THE JEWISH NEWS Call Us Today! 354 - 6060 Just in Time for Summer ,orit sal e "POPULARITY" TOWELS Bath Towel Hand Towel Wash Cloth Jumbo Bath Sheet Terry Tub Mat Colors: CERULEAN.BLUE REGAL BLUE TEA ROSE SCARLET SILVER reg. NOW 14.00 9.75 3.75 26.00 24.00 $ 6.59 $ 4.79 $ 2.39 $12.99 $11.99 PEACHGLOW CAFE AU LAIT CHAMPAGNE LEMONADE WHITE BOTTLE GREEN We Discount .. . • • • • Graber Vertical Blinds Graber Pleated Shades LaPetite Mini-Blinds P.V.C.'s, Macrames, Shadecloth SEVENTH HEAVEN 855-3777 1 %Lost, C ot:4 [ WSA ltd. Hunters Square Orchard Lake & 14 Mile Rd. M., T. & Sat. 10-6 W., Thurs. & F. 10-9 Sunday 12-5 ON YOUR FIRST VISIT TO THE ELECTROLYSIS CENTER WITH THIS COUPON LOOKING BACK For several years former De- troiter Robert Rockaway of Is- rael's Tel Aviv University has been seen in the company of hit-men, thieves, gamblers and prostitutes. Jewish hit-men, thieves, gamblers and prosti- tutes. Rockaway has been re- searching the Jewish gangsters of yesteryear, some of whom were once the leaders of or- ganized crime in America. "Crime was exciting and pro- vided a challenge for men of ability, agressiveness and dar- ing," explains Prof. Rockaway, teacher of American Jewish his- tory at Tel Aviv. The Jewish gangster, he says, "chose crime because it was the quickest way to achieve material success, power, recognition and status ... to move up and out of the ghetto." Rockaway has been interview- ing aging Jewish gangsters for over a decade, concentrating on those who were active in the period between the two World Wars. He is most intrigued by their relationships to Jewish identity and causes, to their families and to the surrounding community. - Rockaway has come to the conclusion that "these people were like most American Jews." They never denied their Jewishness and while not Or- thodox, most attended synagogue on at least some of the Jewish holidays. "They were a part of their generation." They also contributed to Jewish charities and to Israel — especially after they'd accumu- lated some wealth through their criminal efforts. "Bugsy" Siegel was a handsome, maverick New York mobster who in the 1930s helped Lucky Luciano found America's organized crime syn- dicate. In 1947 he contributed several thousand dollars to the groups fighting to establish a Jewish State — several days be- fore he was shot to death. Siegel's supposed associate, Meyer Lansky, "remained a strong supporter of Israel and of Jewish philanthropies" accord- ing to Rockaway, who was granted several interviews with Lansky before the latter's death. Rockaway emphasizes that Jewish gangsters tried to keep business and family life sepa- rate. "They saw what they were doing as business. They thought: we never hurt anyone except those who were in the business." Today the former lawbreakers are typical Jewish grandparents belonging to synagogues, sup- porting Israel and complaining about the lack of morality among the youth they see. On the whole, they wanted better or more respectable lives for their children and in some cases they achieved just that — Moe Annenberg ran a tele- graphic news service for bookies in the 1930s, earning up to $6 million a year during the De- pression; in 1939 he was sent to prison for income tax evasion. Moe's son is Walter, publisher, editor and former U.S. Ambas- sador to Great Britain. Rockaway has also examined the Jewish community's attitude towards these wayward sons, and freely admits that this is a topic about which it is easier to lecture in Israel. In America, local Jewish leaders would often ask Rockaway not to speak on the subject, for fear of supplying fodder to anti-Semites. Espe- cially in the past, he says, Jews wanted "that there should be only good Jews." The current generation is more relaxed and not overly worried about the hit-men of a previous generation. Rockaway occasionally receives letters from students whose grandparents were involved in the events of 50 years ago. At Tel Aviv University, Rock- away teaches both regular uni- versity courses and in the spe- cial "one-year program" de- signed for foreign students studying in Israel - often Ameri- can college students who have travelled the 6,000' miles to Is- rael to learn about, among other things, the history of Jews in America. Rockaway moved to Israel 15 years ago from Detroit and is working on a history of Jewish Detroit. He returns to the U.S. a couple of times a year and on his journeys frequently arranges interviews with surviving gun- men, crime syndicate leaders and petty criminals. Rockaway likes to spice up his lectures with anecdotes: "There was one Orthodox guy, a killer, who would not accept a contract . on Friday night after sundown ... there were Jewish criminals who took it upon themselves to give trouble — violent trouble — to the Nazi Bund in New York in the 1930s ... there was Arnold 'The Brain' Rothstein, most famous for alledgedly fixing the 1919 Baseball World Series, who as he lay dying in a pool of blood refused to break the criminal code of ethics by informing on his executioner. "Instead he told the policeman who asked who'd shot him that `your mother' (`mudder' was Rothstein's term) had done it. Then he died." Rockaway theorizes that many Jews secretly admire the Jewish gangster because he suc- cessfully competed with non- Jews and proved himself able. In the 1930s, before the re- creation of the Jewish State, Jews around the world were often as not dependant on the goodwill of their non-Jewish neighbors. Jewish gangsters, in contrast, played the "non- Jewish" game of violence and crime and made it to the top, gaining authority and inspiring fear within their own world. In pre-Emancipation Europe, says Rockaway, "tens of Jews were often killed because of one bad Jew."