So whats the connection? The restaurant has cameos in the FBI's JFK assassination files and the pages of a 1980 Elmore Leonard novel. Houses in this Modern style can be found all over Hollywood, both single-story and two or more stories. In the 1970s mobster Meyer Lansky, pursuing the simple life of a philosophical, Chevrolet-driving, book-borrowing library patron, was often spotted noshing in Wolfie's. By the mid-1980s, after the original Pumperniks closed (another Wolfie Cohen 1950s start-up), Wolfie's was one of few, or perhaps the only, large-scale deli left on the . "They are here to make money." Six years earlier, Green had dropped out of undercover work. Then, in 1976, based on evidence that he would never be healthy enough to stand trial, the Las Vegas skimming charge was dismissed. He came to South Florida in the 1940s from Chicago and opened his Hollywood restaurant and bar in 1948. Lansky moved from New York to Miami Beach in 1933 and to Hollywood in 1934. Dont laughthis is a photo I took 5 years agoyou can find many other photos of this famous house. Following their lead, other locals who supported them and their businesses also became big contributors to the citys organizations, and generally, most city leaders and residents looked the other way and didnt make a fuss over what was going on. "Respectfully, you understand. He entered the meat industry before losing a bundle in the Great Depression and then overseeing a lounge at the Devonshire Hotel in the city's North Loop. Young got the idea from a similar arrangement in California, and had them erected as he was building the Beach Hotel, since there were so many people clamoring for housing in Hollywood in 1925-1926. The next morning, the Miami Herald announced that Sonken, the intimidating icon who had presided over this landmark for decades, had drowned. Sonken claimed entrapment because undercover police had sold him the food and Circuit Court Judge Arthur Franza agreed, throwing out the case and chastising police for an abuse of power that "really shivers the spine of the Constitution." Pivotal moments in mob history transpired over homemade ravioli and Gold Coast's famous Chicken Vesuvio (baked with potatoes and onion). Bally later bought out Catenas shares in its stock, but his own company continued for several more years as Ballys New Jersey distributor, until the Nevada Gaming Commission made Bally sever all ties with him. So your age is between 70s and 90s. Poker games and parties were common at the Capone estate. Meyer Lansky's former home at 612 Hibiscus Drive, Hallandale Beach. A voracious reader, he also quickly exhibited the remarkable math and gambling skills that helped him become "the mob's accountant" as. Meyer Lansky lived here at 512 Hibiscus Dr. We also enjoyed the free bread rolls, salt sticks, tiny prune danishes and other goodies in a basket on the table. Sonken once opened a bag of bagels on a Sunday morning, sniffed, and threw them against the wall. Forbes had estimated his wealth at $300 million, but there was very little money in the will. I'm a businessman. Everything we did back then is legal now, Jimmy Blue Eyes was said to lament soon afterwards. Known as the "Mob's Accountant," he was notorious in his own right, operating criminal rackets from Miami to Las Vegas to Cuba and. "It's a stupid job," he lamented at the time. Meyer Lansky, who led the U.S. mob's exploitation of Cuba in the 1950s, set up a famous meeting of crime bosses at the hotel in 1946. The asking price for the house has been reduced from $850,000 to $795,000. AS FAR BACK AS 1957 THIS restaurant was identified in a column written by investigative journalist Jack Anderson as the underworld message center in the Miami area. More than three decades later, it still is, says Lt. Dave Green of the Broward Sheriffs Office. Lansky and his brother, Jake, pleaded guilty in a Broward court during the 50s to keeping a gambling house and were fined $2,000 each. The settlement was named for Luther Halland, brother-in-law of James Edmundson Ingraham, a Flagler associate. A rise in investigative journalism on the mafia inspired Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee to hold televised hearings into organized crime, which pressured J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to step up enforcement. Yet Lummus admitted that his real-estate firm had sold Capone the Palm Island house. In the photo at left, Harding, center, still wears his golfing plus-four pants, as he greets Youngs sales force. Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House location was converted to an Epicure Gourmet Market, owned by Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House's parent company Jerrys Famous Deli headquartered in Studio City, California. During that time, Meyer Lansky attended school at P.S. The movie Lansky was a sleeper and brought absolutely nothing new to light except that Harvey Keitel has aged gratefully. You could go to any intelligence center in the country and they have something on Joe Sonken, Green says. When someone asked what he knew about Meyer Lansky, Sonken would say, "He orders spaghetti." On paper, he was worth almost nothing. The best way to deal with this was to nod, walk away, and act as if it never happened. 9. Lansky and his people went to Cuba, where they flourished in Havana until the Castros came into power, and from there to Las Vegas. Somehow, Lummus managed to survive calls for his firing by enraged citizens. They also opened the It Club on US 1 between the port and the airport (a strip joint, now gone), and had a bookie operation in the Hollywood Yacht Club (is this the more elegantly-named Deauville?). But today the person behind the name is mostly misunderstood or forgotten, as is the story of his "magic space" (as one restaurateur called the Gold Coast). (Some of the aluminum ware to make these weapons, the FBI suspected, made pit stops at Gold Coast.) They ran the upscale Club Boheme, and the Club Greenacres, according to Dr. Mickelsons blog. "Oh, it was Joe Sonken's," he explained later. "I do, Judge," the mobster answered. By popular belief, never proved legally, Lansky taught the Mafia's crude leadership of the 1920s and 1930s, showing them the subtleties of financial manipulation, concealment and investment of the proceeds of bootlegging and gambling. Capone was actually not Hollywoods favorite hoodlum, after all. There was no way to avoid proximity to mobsters in the hospitality field in 1930s and '40s Chicago. He had run up tabs worth thousands of dollars, and owed thousands more to Sonken in rent for a commercial property. It opened in 1954 and closed on March 30, 2008. Joe Sonken was as much a celebrity as many of the famous people who frequented his restaurant. In this photo Harding is the tall, white-haired man with a bow tie, in the photo center. To the Jews it was a dirty and shameful . Meyer Lansky, n Maier Suchowljansky (1902-1983), just may be the U.S. icon of 20th century gambling, illegal and legal. One morning we took a short walk to Rascal House for lunch. In 1935, after the Fair, it and other Worlds Fair houses were carried by barge to the Indiana Dunes, where they are being restored, as National Landmarks. The restaurant's name referenced its double identity "Gold Coast" was both a term for Florida's Atlantic cities, including up-and-coming Hollywood, and for the once-swampy stretch of Chicago that through creative redevelopment improbably became elite. Eventually though, he made it onto Al Capones hit list of people that have to be murdered, and was supposedly sent to Florida to be protected by the Lanskys and their cronies. Mizners most productive years were behind him, but Robert L. Weed would design the Florida Tropical House for the 1933 Worlds Fair in Chicago. Meyer arrived to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1911. They orchestrated weapons smuggling and other schemes that were part of a plot to kill Fidel Castro at the Gold Coast. For several years now, I've had an odd contact in my cell phone: the Miami Beach address of the long-deceased gangster Meyer Lansky. This of course is Hallandale. If anyone has more info on the Deauville Yacht Club I would love to hear about it. In one year alone, 2,592 photos of Gold Coast were taken by the FBI. Left, Tent/Beach City, 125-26. "If you want excitement, skydive." This led one fashion designer to offer to publicly dress him. Although he could never be a "made man," Lansky was the unofficial "consigliere" (advisor) to mob chairman Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Never a true Mafioso because he was Jewish, not Italian, Lansky outlived nearly all of his Mafia associates. As you can see, these arent pup tents or camping tents. Sonken was Gold Coast, which was famous for stone crabs and called one of the best restaurants in South Florida by the Miami News. MEYER LANSKY WAS THE antithesis of Al Capone, but no less dominant a figure in the annals of organized crime. Meyer Lansky lost most of his money trying to build a hotel casino in CubaWhen Fidel replaced Batista it was all gone. | Gold Coast attracted Bertucelli and his team like moths to flame. He was tough, protective of his customers and their privacy, and a master at publicity. Thirteen years later, on March 27, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed through the area. Cohen also founded a third Jewish deli, Pumpernik's, at 67th Street and Collins Avenue, which also closed. Despite having only an eighth-grade education, Lansky pioneered the laundering of mob money into legitimate businesses. And he was smart enough to get into money-making businesses. With that in mind, join us on Sunshines exclusive tour of the homes and the haunts of the hoods. "Get the hell out of here and take your gang with you," Sonken said, much to Sinatra's shock, remembers Thomas Lentini in his memoir, Silk Stocking Bandits. In at least one year, his salary from various union posts exceeded that of the top man, Hoffa. Theres no record of individuals pitching tents on the beach. They would send an officer into Gold Coast not just to eavesdrop. Every customer was important, but Sonken didn't kowtow. In 1968, the same year Sonken gave one of his many English bulldogs to a state senator, the Florida Legislature convened an organized crime committee and called in Sonken. #9 Best Value of 2,407 places to stay in Gunzenhausen. It wasn't until 1914 that 12-year old Meyer Lansky and his family migrated to The Lower East Side of Manhattan, where their first known address was a third floor . Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. In the next paper, on March 12, 1937 the headline states that Hollywood merchants did not want a lid on gambling in Broward. And below is one of my favorites, with raised vertical trim, and complete with portholes.. Seventy years ago today, February 14, 1948, a display ad for the erstwhile Colonial Inn in Hallandale, Florida, ran in the Ft. Lauderdale News. Scarfo was often seen taking cronies for a quiet cruise on the Intracoastal Waterway. If there were, you may be sure that Id write about it. Anyone expecting to see an Al Capone at every table and henchmen with automatic weapons standing guard at Joe Sonkens restaurant will be disappointed. Meals were eaten and deals were made. Among the guests were Joe E. Lewis, George Jessel, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and other entertainers who performed in Miami nightclubs. It opened in 1954 and closed on March 30, 2008. This house was one of the Homes of Tomorrow in the 1933 Fair, and its architectural style had a broad influence, particularly in Hollywood. THE RELATIVES ARE VISITING AGAIN AND youre stumped as to where to take them. He coordinated previously disjointed illegal gambling operations, creating layers of employment, legitimate and otherwise, in a farmland area that had long been depressed. Dubbed the financial wizard of organized crime, Lansky was once described by an FBI agent as a man who "would have been chairman of the board of General Motors if he'd gone into legitimate business.". Below is a little information I gleaned from websites. He had major interests in gambling, especially in Florida, pre-Castro Cuba, Las . I hope I have replied to everyone. In fact, in the 30s and 40s, Hallandale had legal slot machines everywhere in drugstores, gas stations, stores and even fishing camps. "Don't take two," said Sonken. An FBI report put Sonken's position this way: Sonken "could not explain why these individuals of the hoodlum element frequent his restaurant, except that he has good food.". His single-story, four-bedroom, three-bath house with swimming pool and satellite dish is comfortable, but not palatial. GERARDO JERRY CATENA 2100 COCOANUT ROAD, BOCA RATON. Less than two years later, another journalist, Kennedy family insider Pierre Salinger, announced to a Senate committee on organized crime that Sonken was "a notorious Chicago figure." We cant say he actually set foot here since he arrived by special train, then walked via a gangplank from the train to the destroyer Monaghan, which took him to the Bahamas. He would have been in his 20s. Who wanted to put an end to Joe Sonken? He also persuaded mob bosses to move their money into more profitable and less risky ventures such as gambling, banking and real estate. Bertucelli would have to gird himself to keep taking on Sonken. Miami's independent source of (Two houses down, 543 Palm Drive, was the home of Joseph LaRatro, now dead, who authorities say was a capo in the Lucchese La Cosa Nostra crime family.). Meyer and Jake Lansky, Julian Potatoes Kaufman, and Vincent Jimmy Blue Eyes Alo were the most famous of Hollywoods big criminal names in the 20s and 30s. There he transferred to the presidential yacht Potomac for a fishing vacation. A man on a walk to get a newspaper saw them and called the police from a pay phone. one of the robbers yelled. One night at their club, an armed man assaulted a "dapper Miami gambler," whipping him in the face with his gun and then opening fire, according to the Miami News. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. People fled. Change). And why would they when they could have electricity and maid service in Beach/Tent City! Meyer Lansky In His Own Words Throughout the 1960s the G-men eavesdropped on the private conversations of Meyer Lansky by bugging his personal residence where he lived with his wife in. In addition to Hollywood stars such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Cary Grant, some of the mob's heavy-hitters, like Meyer Lansky, Vincent Alo, and Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone, would frequent Joe Sonken's Gold Coast Restaurant. I don't bother nobody. In 1979 the House of Representatives Assassinations Committee . This case fell apart when it became clear Leddy had gone behind Sonken's back. Finally, a notice in the Miami News of March 5, 1931, that I find truly exciting. The boss of the Philadelphia-Atlantic City crime family, Scarfo was sentenced last April to life in prison for the murder of another Mafioso, and in May was sentenced to 55 years in prison after his conviction in a racketeering conspiracy that included nine murders and four attempted killings. The three-room gatehouse near the street was built before Capone purchased the property. While Hallandale was home to most of the gaming establishments in the 20s and 30s, Hollywood was also pretty busy. On the evening of Jan. 25, the news finally came: The most famous gangster of them all was dead at the age of 48. There he holds court with visitors regardless of their professions or business connections with his English bulldog, Bozo, sitting at his feet. Meyer Lansky was the highest-ranking non-Italian in the American Mafia. Alo had been the overseer of clubs, speakeasies and illegal gambling in Brooklyn according to Wikipedia. This ad appeared in the Hollywood Herald on February 28, 1936. meyer lansky house hallandale. The symptoms included paranoia, tremors and jerking motions when he walked. If South Florida was the mob's version of Switzerland, Gold Coast was its United Nations, where rival wise guys agreed to get along. He married Anna Citron in 1929, and they had three children. Alo outlived most of his pals he died of natural causes in 2001 in Florida at age 96. "Tony Pro" Provenzano, of New York's Genovese crime family, apparently also plotted the as-yet-unsolved Jimmy Hoffa murder at Gold Coast. Gangsters from the Northeast also enjoyed it for the reasons anyone does the weather, for one, which hearkened back to the "old country." Wolfies was a 24-hour-a-day haven for the elderly living in kitchenless beachfront rooming houses (destined to be restored as art deco boutique hotels in the 1990s). The heat turned up on Sonken when a 1957 article by columnist Jack Anderson claimed the restaurateur didn't just serve steaks to the mafia, he was mafia. The boom years for Wolfies and all of Miami Beachs deli-style eateries came after World War II when Jewish veterans and retirees, mostly from New York and the Northeast, flowed into Miami Beach by the thousands as permanent residents, snowbirds, and tourists. ACCETTURO IS A CAPO OR lieutenant in the Lucchese crime family of New York, and a powerful force in the familys New Jersey operations, authorities say. These addresses are all public knowledge, by the way. "I don't like it," Sonken told a reporter. By Shelley Sackett When Jonathan Lang '98 set out to write a graphic novel about the notorious Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky, he was determined to capture the mobster's life in all its moral complexity.. Join the New Times community and help support Law enforcement municipal, state and federal had repeatedly taken shots at bringing down Sonken. In 1972 Sonken was arrested by Broward Sheriffs undercover deputies and charged with operating a gambling house out of his restaurant. My mother said that back in her flapper days, shed go to Italian restaurants and drink red wine out of coffee cups, Dr. Mickelson laughed. Lansky and Batista fled Cuba on the same day. In the last week of March, 1920, Selznick Pictures Corporation is filming scenes for a movie The Flapper with Olive Thompson. The Club Boheme was on Hallandale beach, literally on the beach, just south of Hallandale Beach Boulevard. It also attracted politicians looking for the liberal vote and visiting borscht-belt performers such as Milton Berle and Henny Youngman, as well as big and little gangsters and bookies with a yen for chicken livers, pastrami, and cheesecake. After being booted out of Israel, where he had fled with Thelma when he was indicted, Lansky beat the first two charges. In addition to stars from the sports world and the "other" Hollywood, like boxer Rocky Marciano and The Honeymooners' actress Audrey Meadows, who serenaded the restaurant-goers for three hours one night, another crowd made itself comfortable and conspicuous at Sonken's gangsters, including the mob's business mastermind, Meyer Lansky. In addition to Lansky, Gold Coast regulars included characters with robust rap sheets like Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo, John "Peanuts" Tronolone, and "Fat Hymie" Martin. The only hint of wealth is the gold Mercedes in the driveway. Casino owners were occasionally put in jail but the gaming continued. The gunmen handcuffed the two bartenders and the night manager, Gale Pendleton. Where Capone was a paunchy, loud and flamboyant thug, Lansky was small and thin, a soft-spoken, grandfatherly sort who dressed and lived conservatively. When called the "Toots Shor of the South" in 1970 by the Miami News referencing a famous New York restaurateur Sonken quipped back that Shor was the "Joe Sonken of the North.". Julian Kaufman was a Chicagoan who was on the run from Al Capone. The charge was dismissed a month later for lack of evidence. In January 1947, Capone collapsed with a brain hemorrhage, followed a week later by bronchial pneumonia. AL SCARFACE CAPONE 93 PALM AVE., PALM ISLAND, MIAMI BEACH. Meanwhile, Capone was busy spending more than $100,000 in improvements to his new home. Hallandale was a gamblers paradise and soon became known as the Wall Street of South Florida, due to the many banks and other financial companies that had opened there to support the illegal gambling trade. My thanks to all of you who write me to share with me your knowledge of early Hollywood history. As it happened, J. W. Young himself was out of town at the time of the Presidents visit. When a couple complained loudly that the presence of Sonken's dogs in the restaurant was unsanitary, a flick of his wrist was all it took for the maitre d' to escort out the troublemakers. Left, the Roadside Rest on Miami Beach. Proximity to Cuba, another paradise ripe for exploitation (and a pre-Castro gold mine for Lansky), added to South Florida's appeal. [3] As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,113. In May 1928, City Council members unanimously opposed Capones presence in their community. They orchestrated weapons smuggling and other schemes that were part of a plot to kill Fidel Castro, a CIA operation later investigated for connections to Kennedy's death, according to FBI files declassified in 1992. The task force, if successful, might have pressured Sonken to turn over information against his big-name customers. "We're coming out!" A LITTLE HISTORY FROM THE INTERNET (credit goes to the writer's of the information, not me.). In fact, in 1937 Oscar Johnson, the same manager of the Beach Hotel that was a major source of revenue in Hollywood in the 1930s, and whose hotel would overlook the trailers, said that such mobile housing was the thing of the future and didnt object.
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