In the early 1900s, prior to World War I, New York City was a vortex of vice and corruption. On the Lower East Side, then the most crowded ghetto on earth, Eastern European Jews formed a dense web of crime syndicates. Gangs of horse poisoners and casino owners, pimps and prostitutes, thieves and thugs, jockeyed for dominance while their family members and neighbors toiled in the unregulated garment industry.
But when the notorious murder of a gambler attracted global attention, a coterie of affluent German-Jewish uptowners decided to take matters into their own hands. Worried about the anti-immigration lobby and the uncertain future of Jewish Americans, the uptowners marshalled a strictly off-the-books vice squad led by an ambitious young reformer.
The squad, known as the Incorruptibles, took the fight to the heart of crime in the city, waging war on the sin they saw as threatening the future of their community. Their efforts, however, led to unforeseen consequences in the form of a new mobster class who realized, in the country’s burgeoning reform efforts, unprecedented opportunities to amass power.
My guest is journalist Dan Slater, author of “The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld”.
Dan’ Slater’s publisher page (with links to purchase the book): https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/dan-slater/the-incorruptibles/9780316427715
Dan Slater on Twitter/X: https://x.com/bydanslater
Dan Slater on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bydanslater
