Born: 1882
Died: November 6, 1928
AKA: Mr. Big, the Big Bankroll, the Brain, the Fixer, the Man Uptown

Widely considered to be the father of organized crime in America, Arnold Rothstein was a tutor to a number of powerful mob bosses, including Meyer Lansky (see entry) and Lucky Luciano. Always operating in the background, he parlayed his mob activities into multiple millions.

The son of Rothstein the just

Rothstein was born in New York City in 1882 to well-established immigrant parents. His family lived in a comfortable brownstone building on 47th Street west of Lexington Avenue. Rothstein’s father, a respected Jewish merchant, was known as “Rothstein the Just” because of his fairness in business dealings.

Having started with nothing, Rothstein’s father eventually became so well trusted in the New York garment industry that he was called on to settle a labor dispute in...