| Nicky Arnstein. Debonair international con man. Multimillion-dollar bond thief. Wandering husband of Fanny Brice. Arnold Rothstein’s admirer, partner, and fall guy. Abe Attell. Featherweight champion of the world. A.R.’s gambling buddy and bodyguard—as well as his indiscreet henchman in fixing the 1919 World Series. George Young Bauchle. Wastrel heir to the Y&S licorice fortune. A.R.’s front man at the Partridge Club, Manhattan’s poshest floating card game. Lt. Charles Becker. Crooked and brutal police vice squad chief. His downfall paves the way for Rothstein to begin his career as the great middleman between the machine, the mob, and the cops. Henry “Kid” Becker. The Kid conjured up the idea of fixing a World Series. Too bad he didn’t live to enjoy it. August Belmont II. Millionaire high-society sportsman. Erstwhile racetrack partner of Rothstein, but he eventually demanded A.R.’s expulsion from New York’s tracks. Fanny Brice. Broadway’s “Funny Lady” found husband Nicky Arnstein’s illegal schemes with A.R. no laughing matter, nor the collateral he demanded to provide bail for her incarcerated spouse. Lepke Buchalter. New York’s most vicious labor-union racketeer got his start with A.R. He got the chair from District Attorney Tom Dewey. Sleepy Bill Burns. A.R. fixed it for Burns and his partner Billy Maharg to take the fall if anything went wrong in fixing the 1919 World Series. It did. Assemblyman Maurice Cantor. A.R.’s last attorney and the thief at his deathbed. George M. Cohan. Broadway’s “Yankee Doodle Dandy” knew when to bet and when not to bet on a World Series. Stephen Crane. The best-selling author (The Red Badge of Courage) who risked his reputation, his physical safety, and his friendship with Theodore Roosevelt to expose police corruption in 1890s New York. Nick the Greek Dandolos. America’s most fabled gambler—and Rothstein’s favorite pigeon. Marion Davies. Model, Broadway sensation, film star, William Randolph Hearst’s longtime mistress, and the target of Bill Fallon’s greatest courtroom scam. Will Davis. He drifted in from California, tried to rob A.R. at gunpoint, made A.R. a fortune in horse-racing tips, and departed just as mysteriously as he arrived. Jack “The Manassa Mauler” Dempsey. Heavyweight champion of the world in the Golden Age of Sports. Did A.R. plot to cheat him of his crown? Big Bill Devery. Being New York's shadiest police commissioner, didn't stopBig Bill from becoming the first owner of the New York Yankees. Legs Diamond. Strong-arm artist. Thief. Labor goon. Bootlegger. Speakeasy operator. A.R’s merciless (and seemingly bulletproof) bodyguard. Draper Dougherty. The attorney general’s alcoholic son on the Big Bankroll’s payroll. Monk Eastman. The original dim-witted but brutal East Side hoodlum. When A.R. wanted a loan repaid, he used the thuggish Eastman to collect. Nat Evans. A.R.’s partner in Saratoga and Long Island gambling houses; his underling in fixing a World Series. Bill “The Great Mouthpiece” Fallon. The Roaring 20s’ most flamboyant and successful criminal-defense attorney. Rothstein and Fallon did a lot of business together, but that didn’t keep the duo from profoundly despising one another. Bridget Farry. The Park Central hotel chambermaid who knew too much. A spell in jail eventually made her forget much. Nat Ferber. Manhattan’s premier investigative journalist made life uncomfortable for A.R.’s cronies. Big Tom Foley. Powerful downtown Tammany district leader and Governor Al Smith’s mentor. Protector of the city’s crooked Wall Street firms. A.R.’s go-to guy at Tammany. Edward M. Fuller. Mastermind of Wall Street’s biggest con operation. Even A.R.’s connections and Bill Fallon’s skills couldn’t keep this miscreant out of Sing Sing. William Jay Gaynor. New York’s irascible reform mayor. He battled Tammany, took a bullet in the head, and did his best to “preserve outward order and decency.” Billy Gibson. He managed boxing champions Gene Tunney and Benny Leonard and made sure he remained on Arnold Rothstein’s good side. Waxey Gordon. A.R. bankrolled Gordon’s bootlegging operations, but only if Waxey did it Arnold’s much more profitable way. William Randolph Hearst. The controversial press lord who tried to break Tammany. Instead, he found his own private life on the front page. Inspector Dominick Henry. An honest cop. He dared question why A.R. got away with shooting three other cops. Jimmy Hines. Tammany’s powerful and wealthy boss of West Harlem. He netted a fortune from Prohibition and the numbers racket and spent a good part of it covering up the facts of A.R.’s slaying. Maxie “Boo Boo” Hoff. Philadelphia’s gangland boss who helped A.R. win $500,000 on the first Dempsey-Tunney fight. Mayor James J. “Red Mike” Hylan. Jimmy Walker’s obtuse and Hearst-controlled predecessor at City Hall. He battled Rothstein, but to no avail. Shoeless Joe Jackson. Baseball’s greatest natural hitter. Joe pocketed A.R.’s ten grand to throw the 1919 Fall Classic, then complained he didn’t get more. Say it ain’t so, Joe. Albert “Killer” Johnson. He thought Arnold would never go to the cops after he robbed A.R.’s high stakes poker game. He guessed wrong. Byron “Ban” Johnson. The most powerful man in baseball thought he had a deal with the man who fixed the World Series. You can’t cheat an honest man. Peggy Hopkins Joyce. Actress. Showgirl. Gold digger. Joyce augmented her income by steering rich suckers to A.R.’s Times Square gambling house. Dot King. The murdered Follies showgirl. She was A.R.’s tenant. Was she one of his drug runners? Fiorello “The Little Flower” La Guardia. East Harlem’s crusading congressman. He hoped to win the mayoralty by exposing Tammany’s Rothstein connections. Aaron J. Levy. Majority leader of the New York State Assembly. Wily defense attorney and fixer in the Rosenthal murder case. He graduated to the bench and to protecting A.R.-connected gambling clubs. Leo Lindy. Gangsters, entertainers, newspaper people all made his Times Square restaurant their unofficial headquarters. But no more than did Arnold Rothstein. Captain Alfred Loewenstein. The “World’s Richest Man.” Was Loewenstein also A.R.’s partner in the world’s biggest drug ring? Lucky Luciano. A.R. picked this cheap little hoodlum off the streets and turned him into an elegant, rich hoodlum. Meyer Lansky. Rothstein recognized “Little Man”’s talents and helped make him into the next Rothstein. John J. “The Little Napoleon” McGraw. Baseball’s greatest manager. A.R.’s partner in his popular Herald Square pool hall. George “Hump” McManus. The Times Square gambler indicted for A.R’s November 1928 murder. Did the big Irishman actually pull the trigger? Jimmy Meehan. Small-time professional gambler. His apartment witnessed Broadway’s biggest and deadliest poker game. Wilson Mizner. The Times Square wit (“Be nice to people on the way up . . .you’ll meet the same people on the way down.”) who tried and failed to trim A.R.’s ego. Charles Francis Murphy. Tammany Hall’s savviest, most powerful, and resilient boss. He relied on Rothstein to deal with Gotham’s emerging mob. Inez Norton. A.R.’s last mistress. She thought they’d live happily—and luxuriously—ever after. Col. Levi P. Nutt. The federal drug czar with a secret to hide. Nigger Nate Raymond. The swarthy West Coast gambler who took A.R. for $300,000 in a single card game, but never collected. George Graham Rice. Inventor of the racing tip sheet. Pioneer stock swindler. Even he could learn a lot from Arnold Rothstein. Tex Rickard. Boxing’s greatest promoter and a man who sensed the great Rothstein’s demise was just around the corner. Red Ritter. The filthy street urchin whom A.R. tried to befriend but failed. Franklin D. Roosevelt. His skillful handling of the scandals that followed A.R.’s murder helped lead FDR from the governor’s mansion to the White House. Herman “Beansy” Rosenthal. A fatally indiscreet Times Square gambler. Being Rothstein’s friend couldn’t save him from being rubbed out. Subway Sam Rosoff. The rags-to-riches construction magnate whom even A.R. feared at the gambling table. Abraham Rothstein. Arnold Rothstein’s upright, intensely religious, and long-suffering father. Arnold Rothstein. King of Manhattan gamblers. The Big Bankroll. Criminal genius. Mastermind of the 1919 World Series. Money Lender. Drug Kingpin. Bootlegging pioneer. Gambling house and casino operator. Fencer of millions in stolen jewels and bonds. Labor-union racketeer. Broadway angel. The ultimate political go-between. Mentor to a whole generation of New York thugs, hoodlums, and felons. Bertram “Harry” Rothstein. Arnold’s jealousy of his older brother helped propel him into rebellion and a life in the underworld. Carolyn Rothstein. Arnold Rothstein’s former showgirl wife. She faced the agony of with high-stakes anxiety, lonely nights, murder plots—and her husband’s string of younger showgirl mistresses. Damon Runyon. Fabled chronicler of Arnold Rothstein’s Broadway, author of Guys and Dolls. He shared whispers with A.R. just before Rothstein walked up Broadway to his violent end. Abe Scher. Night cashier at Lindy’s. He took the call that summoned A.R. to his death. Judge Samuel Seabury. The patrician politician who brought down Rothstein’s pals in Tammany Hall. Willie Shea. Greed and booze cost Shea his share of Rothstein’s lucrative 46th Street gambling house. Alfred E. Smith. New York governor. The first Catholic presidential candidate. Protégé of A.R.’s pal, Big Tom Foley, and sworn enemy of William Randolph Hearst. Sidney Stajer. Drug addict. Petty criminal. And one of A.R.’s closest friends. Charles Stoneham. High-stakes gambler. Owner of the New York Giants. He depended on A.R. to protect his crooked Wall Street operations from the law. Herbert Bayard Swope. Legendary journalist. Adviser to presidents—and best man at A.R.’s wedding. Joseph J. “Sport” Sullivan. The Boston bookmaker who helped A.R. pay off the 1919 Black Sox. Big Tim Sullivan. A.R.’s earliest patron. State senator. Congressman. Tammany boss of the Lower East Side. Theater and amusement-park baron. Protector of vice. Father of gun control—and accessory to murder. Titanic Thompson. The country-boy cardsharp and legendary golf hustler who sat in on Rothstein fatal card game at Jimmy Meehan’s. Gene Tunney. The erudite ex-Marine who defeated Jack Dempsey for the heavyweight crown. Did he need a little help for A.R.’s friends? Mayor James J. “Gentleman Jimmy” Walker. New York’s flamboyant Jazz Age mayor. Rothstein’s connections to his political machine proved profitable—and ultimately career-ending. Joseph Warren. Jimmy Walker’s police commissioner and former law partner. Walker made him take the fall for not solving a crime that nobody wanted solved. John B. Watson. Father of the behaviorist school of psychology. Expelled from the faculty of John Hopkins. A.R.’s shrink. Grover Whelan. Gotham’s most dapper city official. Officially, he assumed the police commissionership to solve A.R.’s murder. His real agenda: Purge the department of its honest cops. Gertrude Vanderbilt. Bill Fallon’s faithful mistress, but ultimately the cause for his break with Nicky Arnstein. Albert Vitale. One of the worst of New York’s crop of venal judges. Discovery of his “loan” from A.R. helped topple “the system.” Victor Watson. Editor of William Randolph Hearst’s New York American. He paid the ultimate price for keeping on Rothstein’s trail. Bobbie Winthrop. A.R.’s longtime mistress. He went to her funeral—and then to the track. Charles Seymour Whitman. Crusading Manhattan district attorney. Did he make a deal with Rothstein to solve Beansy Rosenthal’s murder—and further his gubernatorial ambitions? |
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| The Players in Our Drama |
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