Gangsters vs. Nazis: How the Jewish mob fought American admirers of the Third Reich

Abstract

This article describes the rise of antisemitism in the United States concomitant with Hitler's rise to power in Germany. American Jews were frightened and the response of the Jewish establishment was tepid. The Jewish American group that did undertake robust militant responses was the Jewish mob. Nathan Perlman, a former Republican congressman, secretly reached out to and sought the help of Meyer Lansky, a prominent organized crime figure. They attended Nazi rallies and violently attacked the Nazis--but did not kill any of them. Talk show host, Larry King, described how when he was growing up in Brooklyn, “Jewish gangsters were our heroes. Even the bad ones were heroes to us.” Click on the link to read the article.