Praying to God was not the only act of submission that Poppy conceded to. He also yielded to a basic, human need. Abe “Longy” Zwillman (1899-1959) was known as the Al Capone of New Jersey, running the state as his personal fiefdom. As a youth in Newark’s rough Third Ward, he was a pushcart peddler and, because of his 6’2” frame and attitude, became a protector of fellow Jewish merchants. He began selling lottery tickets,…
Continue readingOlder, more relaxed, and with no need to exert authority, Poppy’s affection for his grandchildren was enormous. The rind peeled, his sweetness emerged. My father never tasted it. Prior to the War, Dad studied at Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania, his thesis covering the liquor industry but his heart wasn’t in it. When the War ended, Dad had ambitions to get into the air cargo business with another officer he’d met in…
Continue readingAccording to its press book, a movie was loosely based upon Terry Druggan, his partner Frankie Lake, and their activities. William Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), starred James Cagney as Tommy Powers/Terry Druggan and featured Edward Woods as Matt Doyle/Frankie Lake. The 1923 tragi-comic death of Sam “Nails” Morton was depicted in the movie: An avid horseman, Nails (in the film, “Nails Nathan”) was riding in Lincoln Park one morning, a stirrup broke, the horse…
Continue readingJulius Rosenwald wasn’t the only one keeping an eye on Ed Gertz. Concurrently, Chicago was in the midst of bitter Taxi Wars. The taxi business was still developing, wholly unregulated, and competition amongst growing cab companies and independents was fierce, endangering drivers, riders and pedestrians who had to dodge the pack of cabs that would descend upon potential fares en mass with contesting drivers invariably getting into fights. Poppy supplemented his income working as a…
Continue readingIn 1953, a paperback book, The Inside Story of Narcotics, was issued by religious publishing house, Zondervan. Released at the height of hysteria about a national epidemic of teen-aged junkies that did not exist, it was written by one Jim Vaus. “Every trade has a technical language. Even Christians have a language of their own. They speak of being ‘saved,’ of a ‘Christian worker,’ or of ‘putting out fleece.’ The person not used to their…
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