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  • Published: 4 June 1999
  • ISBN: 9780099757917
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $27.99
Categories:

Tough Jews



Once upon a time, back in the 20s and 30s, in Brooklyn, there lived a breed of men who exist now only in legend and in the memories of a few old men. Their names were Louis Lepke, Abe Reles, Bugsy Segel, Dutch Shultz, Meyer Lansky, and they were Jewish gangsters: Jews with Guns; tough, fearles Jews who roamed the streets in a time when a Jewish boy could fashion a future that was murderous and daring and wide open. Rich Cohen's father grew up in that world; his family owned the diner where the gangsters known as Murder Incorporated hung out. In TOUGH JEWS he tells their stories and brilliantly evokes their world - a world of street corners and bars and nightclubs; a world where murder was better than cowerdice; where killings were planned and executed with precision and finesse; a world of feuds, wars, schemes, where living into middle age was akind of victory; a world in which for a brief moment, Jews were among the most important criminals in America.

  • Published: 4 June 1999
  • ISBN: 9780099757917
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $27.99
Categories:

About the author

Rich Cohen

Date: 2005-01-07
Rich Cohen is an editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone and the author of four books, including Tough Jews and the widely acclaimed memoir Sweet and Low.

Rich Cohen is the author of Tough Jews, The Avengers, Lake Effect, Sweet and Low and Israel is Real. He is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone and lives in New York City.

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