The gangster's
secretary was
blond, wore a
low•cut blouse,
was chewing
gum and filing
her nails.
was tough because of the
cops" and they couldn't con-
tribute so much. One man
indicated that "I can't give
you a lot of cash, but don't
forget I helped you last year
when you needed guns."
Undeterred, the host con-
tinued. The money, in cash,
was put in a paper bag and
handed to Greenfield.
"There I was," Greenfield
recalled, "walking around
Baltimore at 2 a.m. with
thousands of dollars in a
paper bag." Greenfield's
host was formerly one of
Baltimore's leading Jewish
mobsters.
Mickey Cohen held a fund-
raising affair for the Irgun
in 1947. Leading under-
world figures from Califor-
nia and Las Vegas attended
and, according to Cohen and
others there, more than
$500,000 was raised. The
money, Cohen claimed, was
used to purchase weapons
and have them shipped to
Israel. Meyer Lansky's
Mafia associates controlled
the docks in New York and
New Jersey. Lansky saw to
it that illegal shipments of
military hardware, some of
it new and still packed in oil
and straw, were loaded onto
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ships and sent directly to
Israel, with no questions
asked.
Why did these gangsters
help the Jewish communi-
ty? Some, like Davey Miller,
saw themselves as defenders
and fighters for the Jews.
Meyer Lansky often said he
felt obligated to help the
Jewish community and
Israel because he was a Jew.
In their later years, some
gangsters simply sought the
respect and legitimacy
withheld from them in their
youth. The way to acquire
communal recognition and
approbation was through
r.
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Jewish philanthropy and
devotion to "Jewish causes."
Jewish organizations and
charities rarely inquried as
to how the money given to
them was earned.
Moe Sedway, an associate
of Bugsy Siegel, revealed to
the Kefauver Committee
investigating organized
crime that he was the chief
fund-raiser for the Nevada
United Jewish Appeal.
Meyer Lansky donated
large sums of money to his
synagogue in Miami and
was recognized as a valued
member of the congrega-
tion. Lansky also helped
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