H2: Jewish Gangsters

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Introduction

- To fully explain how Jewish people may have become involved in gangster life, you need to explain the conditions of poorer areas in big cities in America at the turn of the century.

- Explain about the huge number of immigrants that came to cities such as New York and Chicago not knowing how to speak English and in a country that had very little welfare support for poor people.

- Ask your audience to imagine, if they can, how it felt with so many people living in 1.5 square miles. What were those conditions like? How do you think people felt? What sort of jobs did people do? All this helps to set a scene of the inadequacies of life in the cramped areas of urban New York and Chicago etc.

Prohibition

- You need to study the period of prohibition in the United States. You can make this in to a discussion by throwing open questions to the floor.

- Do people find it strange that the United States banned alcohol completely for a number of years this century? Do you think that could happen here? If it did happen here, how would the population react? Drink, after all, is bad for you and has proven to lead to violence, addiction and social problems. But is this a reason to stop people from drinking?

- Imagine closing all the pubs in Great Britain. What would happen?

- People in the audience may believe, quite fairly, that the government should never have banned alcohol. But does this mean that gangsters were right to break the law? You can now take the discussion slightly deeper.

Mention how Al Capone, the most famous gangster of his time and a popular symbol for this era declared that "You cannot cure a thirst by law".

This opens up a new discussion that you can use. Capone wanted to know what he did that was so awful. Ask whether he had a point? Not only did he provide a service that was illegal, but he also bribed men and women who were a threat to him. When looking at gangsters it is easy to glorify their actions and ignore the death and corruption that gangs wrought on the American public.

Once Upon a Time in America - Gangsters and the movies

- You may well have seen films about organised crime such as the GodFather or Bugsy. These films can be useful in setting a scene for showing how gangsters emerged and the lives they led. Why not book these films from your local video store and play some scenes from them. (Avoid violen scenes which may upset younger participants).

- By showing scenes from the Godfather you can help to convey the images of the Urban ghetto that existed in America at the early part of this century and how young men were attracted to the financial rewards that it had to offer. In the Godfather, Benito Corleone rises from a poor man working in a store to someone who through organised crime, could drastically improve the wealth and status of his family.

- Discuss with the audience why and how decent Jewish men and women who had come across from Russia became involved in the world of crime, in spite of the condemnation from the vast majority of Jews.

- Reactions to the Mafia you may well have shown clips of films about organised crime such as the GodFather . How do these films portray gangsters? How do people feel when they came out of such films. Do they think gangsters were glamorous? Do the films encourage crime or show the horrors that it brings?

Defenders of their People

- Tell the stories about gangsters who supported the Jewish community and Israel through Charitable donations and through fighting anti-semitism. These are amusing and fun to read out.

- Ask whether charities should take gangsters money? Was the Jewish community two faced in their treatment of gangsters by accepting their money but refusing to accept them as members of the community? Why did gangsters give money to charities? Was it purely for good reasons or, was it to have them accepted in society to cover their images as ruthless men.

Gangsters and Judaism

- Photocopy the stories of individual Jewish gangsters mentioned in this issue. Give them to people who can then act out their part in full. Maybe they can dress up and tell their story with an American accent.

- Then read out the ten commandements and ask each gangster which commandment they have broken. Then ask the gangsters how can they believe in Judaism and still commit horrific crimes. You can invite members of the audience to ask other questions to find out more from the gangsters.

- End up by showing how gangsters were proud of being Jewish but could not transfer Jewish beliefs to modern America. In aworld of money and opportunity they failed to connect with the essential morals of Judaism that make the religion so special. Gangsters failed to adhere to the moral code which is laid down in the commandements and acts as the whole basis of Judaism. Failure to believe and practice these morals is to fail the religion in its entirety.

Where are they now?

- In 1998 there are literally no prominent Jewish gangsters in the world. Why? Ask people to shout about the professions of their parents - Doctors, Lawyers, taxi Drivers, Accountants. They are certainly not gang land murderers. How would your parents and friends feel if you became a murderer or broke the law?

Conditions in America, as in Britain for the jewish community are much better then they were at the turn of the century. With better jobs and living conditions the need to resort to crime is far less appealing than it use to be. And thankfully so.

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