| Mickey Cohen |
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Information AboutMickey Cohen |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MICKEY COHEN | |
| jewish american mobsters | |
| american tax evaders | |
| 1913 births | |
| 1976 deaths | |
| stomach cancer deaths | |
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EARLY LIFE In 1913, Mickey Cohen was born in Brooklyn, NY. However, 1914 is the year of birth on his burial plaque. Between 1916 and 1919, Cohen's mother Fanny, from Kiev, moved to Boyle Heights, Los Angeles and opened a grocery/drug store. She initially left with only Mickey and his sister Lillie, sending for the rest of the family later. At age 6, Cohen was selling newspapers on the street. Either his brother Harry or Louie would drop him off at his regular corner. Cohen's brother Sam, an orthodox Jew, was not corrupted by Harry. By age 9, Cohen delivered alcohol from a gin mill operated by his older brother in the drug store. His brothers operated a second location. In 1923, at age 9, Cohen was caught doing this, but avoided prosecution due to his brother's connections. As a teenager, Cohen began boxing in illegal prizefights in Los Angeles. He eventually moved to the East Coast to train as a professional boxer, doing fights in the Midwest along the way. In New York, Cohen eventually fought and lost a match against World Featherweight Champion Tommy Paul. Cohen lived first in Cleveland, then New York, and Chicago, where he was acquainted and ran a gambling operation for the Capones. Cohen became an adept gambler. In Cleveland he met Lou Rothkopf who worked with Moe Dalitz. While in New York, Cohen became associates with Tommy Dioguardi, the brother of labor racketeer Johnny Dio , and later on with Owney Madden . PROHIBITION AND THE CHICAGO OUTFIT During Prohibition, Cohen moved to Chicago and became involved in organized crime working as an enforcer for the Chicago Outfit , where he briefly met Al Capone . During this period Cohen was arrested for his role in the deaths of several gangsters in a card game gone bad. After a brief time in prison, Cohen was released and began running card games and other illegal gambling operations. He later became an associate of Mattie Capone, Al Capone's younger brother. While working for Jake Guzik , Cohen was forced to flee Chicago after an argument with a rival gambler. In Cleveland , Cohen again worked for Lou Rothkopf , an associate of Meyer Lansky and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel . However, there was little work available for Cohen in Cleveland, so Rothkopf arranged for him to work with Siegel in California. FROM SYNDICATE BODYGUARD TO LOS ANGELES KINGPIN Mickey Cohen was sent to Los Angles by Meyer Lansky and Lou Rothkopf to watch Bugsy Siegel. During their association Mickey helped set up the Flamingo Hotel and ran its sports book. He also was instrumental in setting up the race wire, which was essential to Las Vegas betting, perhaps only second to the Hoover Dam. In 1947, the crime families ordered the murder of Siegel due to his mismanagement of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas; most likely because he was skimming money. According to one account which does not appear in newspapers, Cohen reacted violently to Siegel's murder. Entering the Roosevelt Hotel where he believed the killers were staying, Cohen fired his two .45 semiautomatics into the lobby ceiling and demanded that the assassins meet him outside in ten minutes (Nash; pg. 741). However, no one appeared and Cohen was forced to flee when the cops arrived. After Siegel's death, Cohen was given control of the Las Vegas gambling operations In later years, the Los Angeles crime syndicate was taken over by Frank Carbo of the Dragna family. Despite this changeover, Mickey Cohen continued to run its gambling operations. However Cohen's violent methods came to the attention of state and federal authorities investigating Dragna operations. During this time, Cohen faced many attempts on his life, including a bombing of his home on posh Moreno Avenue in Brentwood. Cohen soon converted his house into a fortress, installing floodlights, alarm systems, and a well-equipped arsenal kept, as he often joked, next to his 200 tailor-made suits. Cohen also hired bodyguard Johnny Stompanato briefly before Stompanato was killed by Lana Turner 's teenage daughter, Cheryl Crane . While Cohen did pay for Stompanato's funeral, he ordered a cheap coffin and then sold Lana Turner's love letters to Stompanato to the press. Stompanato ran a sexual extortion ring as well as a jewelry store. He was one of the most popular playboys in Hollywood. One time Frank Sinatra visited Mickey at his home, begging him to get Stompanato to stop dating Ava Gardner. LATER YEARS In 1950, Mickey Cohen was investigated along with numerous other underworld figures by the US Senate Committee known as the Kefauver Commission . As a result of this investigation, Cohen was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to prison for four years. When he was released, he started up all over again, and became an international celebrity. He sold more newspapers than anyone else in the country. His appearance on television with Mike Wallace in the late 50s rocked the media establishment. He ran floral shops, paint stores, nightclubs, casinos, gas stations, a men's haberdashery, and even an ice cream parlor on San Vicente Blvd. in Brentwood proper, according to author Richard Lamparski. In 1961, Cohen was again convicted of tax evasion and sent to Alcatraz. During his time on the Rock, another inmate attempted to kill Cohen with a lead pipe. In 1972, Cohen was released from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary , where he had spoken out against prison abuse. Mickey Cohen died in his sleep in 1976 and is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California . He had been misdiagnosed with an ulcer, which turned out to be stomach cancer. After his bout with surgery, he continued touring the U.S., including television appearances, once with Ramsey Clark. As an elder statesman, he even appeared on the Merv Griffin show. Cohen knew everyone in Hollywood, from the entire Rat Pack to Marilyn Monroe. In politics, he befriended Richard Nixon. His pal Billy Graham once asked him to appear at an Evangelist rally in Madison Square Garden. At the time of the abduction of Patty Hearst , Cohen claimed to know facts about Hearst's abductors and other circumstances of the issue. However, journalists at the time dismissed this as way for the "gentleman mobster" to put himself back in the limelight. Mickey called Patty's father "Randy", and met with him and his wife at Gatsby's, a restaurant he controlled. Mickey had been friends with William Randolph Hearst, with whom he maintained a long respectful friendship. Cohen's girlfried Liz Renay herself spent three years behind bars for refusing to squeal on him. One of his other many girlfriends, Candy Barr, served prison time for marijuana possession. Two of his other favorites were Tempest Storm and Beverly Hills, and the former had a bust insured with Lloyd's of London. IN POPULAR CULTURE
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