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Jewish-American organized crime emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been referred to variously in media and popular culture as the ''Jewish Mob'', ''Jewish Mafia'', ''Kosher Mafia'', ''Kosher Nostra'',〔(Forgetting sixth commandment: Jewish gangsters were once known in organized crime circles as the "Kosher Nostra" ), ''The Jewish Independent'', September 19, 2008〕 or ''Undzer Shtik'' ((イディッシュ語:אונדזער שטיק)). The last two of these terms refer to the Italian ''Cosa Nostra'' ((:kɔza nɔstra)); the former is a play on the word ''kosher'', referring to Jewish dietary laws, while the latter is a direct translation of the phrase (Italian for "our thing") into Yiddish, which was at the time the predominant language of the Jewish diaspora in the United States. In the late 19th century in New York City, Monk Eastman operated a powerful Jewish gang that competed with Italian and Irish gangs, notably Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang, for control of New York City's underworld. Another notorious gang, known as the Lenox Avenue Gang, led by Harry Horowitz, consisted of mostly Jewish members and some Italian members (such as Francesco Cirofisi). It was one of the most violent gangs of the early 20th century and became famous for the murder of gambler and gangster Herman Rosenthal. In the early 1920s, stimulated by the economic opportunities of the Roaring Twenties and later, Prohibition, Jewish organized crime figures such as Arnold Rothstein were controlling a wide range of criminal enterprises, including bootlegging, loansharking, gambling, and bookmaking. According to crime writer Leo Katcher, Rothstein "transformed organized crime from a thuggish activity by hoodlums into a big business, run like a corporation, with himself at the top."〔Katcher, Leo (1959/1994). ''The Big Bankroll. The Life and Times of Arnold Rothstein'', New York: Da Capo Press〕 Rothstein was allegedly responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series.〔Pietrusza, David (2003). ''Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series''. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-1250-3〕 At the same time, the Jewish bootlegging mob known as The Purple Gang dominated the Detroit underworld during Prohibition, while the Jewish Bugs and Meyer Mob operated in the Lower East Side of New York City before being absorbed into Murder Inc. and becoming affiliates of the Italian-American Mafia. The largely Jewish-American gang known as Murder Inc. and Jewish mobsters such as Meyer Lansky, Mickey Cohen, Dutch Schultz, and Bugsy Siegel developed close ties with and gained significant influence within the Italian-American Mafia, eventually forming a loosely organized, mostly Jewish-Italian criminal syndicate known in the press as the "National Crime Syndicate." For decades after, Jewish-American mobsters would continue to work closely and at times compete with Italian-American organized crime.〔Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia, pp. 319-21〕 ==Origins and characteristics== Jewish-American gangsters were involved in many different criminal activities, including murder, racketeering, bootlegging, prostitution〔Edward J. Bristow, Prostitution & Prejudice, The Jewish Fight against White Slavery, 1870–1939, Schocken, 1983〕 and narcotics. Their role was also significant in New York's burgeoning labor movement, especially the garment and trucking unions, as well as the poultry industry. Jewish organized crime fueled anti-Semitism and deeply concerned the Jewish community.〔(Killer Jews ), by Rachel Rubin, Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 8(2) (2001) 145–148〕 Jewish organized crime was used by anti-semites and anti-immigration supporters as arguments to bolster their agenda. Jewish gangs controlled portions of the Lower East Side and Brownsville in New York City,〔(Books: Jewish Crime ), The New York Times, August 8, 1984〕 and were also present in other major American cities. Jewish-American organized crime was a reflection of the ethnic succession among gangsters, which has tended to follow the immigrant waves in the United States: English, German, Irish, Jewish, Italian, Asian and Latino. Ethnic involvement in organized crime gave rise to alien conspiracy theories in the US law enforcement community, in which the conception of organized crime as an alien and united entity was vital. The involvement of a small percentage of recent immigrants in organized crime created a lasting stereotype of devious immigrants corrupting the morality of native-born Americans. Organized crime was a complex set of relations between the recently arrived Jewish and Italian criminals and groups like the Irish-American organized crime networks, which had been established before the 1920s and which the newer groups were sometimes subordinate to.〔(Organized Crime, USA: Changing Perceptions from Prohibition to the Present Day ), Michael Woodiwiss, BAAS Pamphlet No. 19 (First Published 1990)〕 From the late 1960s, Jewish-American organized crime became part of an entire literature on "tough Jews." The Jewish gangsters and boxers in the post-World War II era were seen as tougher, more aggressive role models, which freed Jews from the dominant stereotypes of cowardice, pacifism, intellectualism and professional legitimacy. The stigma of defenselessness and powerlessness associated with Jews, compared with the physical aggressiveness and lawlessness more associated with the Irish and Italian immigrants, began to disappear.〔''European Anti-Semitism and Anti-Americanism'', by Andrei Markovits, in: O'Connor, Brendon (Ed.) (2007). ''(Anti-Americanism: Historical perspectives )'', Westport (CT): Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 1-84645-025-X〕〔〔(Defenders of the faith ), by Linda Grant, ''The Guardian'', July 6, 2002〕 According to Rich Cohen, author of ''Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons and Gangster Dreams'': if Jewish gangsters still thrived today, if they hadn't gone legit, if Jews of my generation didn't regard them as figments, creatures to be classed with Big Foot and the Loch Ness monster, I think the Jewish community would be better off.〔Cohen, Rich (1999). ''Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams'', London: Vintage; (Review of Tough Jews in The New York Times ). For a critique on this interpretation, see: Adam Levitin, (Tough Jews by Rich Cohen ), Commentary, August 1998. See also: (Home Boys ), by Paul Breines, Los Angeles Times, March 29, 1998; (Jews You Can Use: The so-called glamour of the Jewish mob ), by Jeffrey Goldberg, Slate, April 12, 1998; and (Tough Guys ), by Tom Teicholz, Jewish Journal, August 13, 2004〕 Following Cohen's line of reasoning, one could say that Jewish-American organized crime played a role in the emancipation of the Jewish-American community from the ancient stereotypes. However, Cohen's description of Jewish gangsters ignores their criminality and immorality. These tough characters were still gangsters who extorted, exploited and murdered other members of the Jewish-American community for profit. They forced Jewish women into prostitution,〔 and were generally considered a scourge within their own community.〔(Gangsters, Genes, Guns & Gamblers ), Moment, July/August 2008〕 The Yiddish press and literature of the 1920s and 1930s was resolute in its condemnation of Jewish mobsters. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jewish-American organized crime」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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