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Meyer Lansky lived in Miami Beach, but his brother Jake lived in Hollywood at 1146 Harrison Street. "Don't come here when you're in a hurry," Sonken told the Fort Lauderdale News (forerunner of the Sun-Sentinel) in 1954. Scarfos Fort Lauderdale house was up for sale but is temporarily off the market until more than $1 million in liens are settled with the homes owner of record, Leonard J. Mercer Jr. A smooth-talking businessman with a long history of big plans and big debts, Mercer is serving a four-year federal prison sentence for obtaining a loan under false pretenses, perjury and income-tax fraud. anonymously (anonymous users cannot post links). 68 reviews. Im not a member of the Mafia, he said. He passed away in 1963 in Miami of a stroke. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Johnson wasnt against gambling per se, but he hopes that the racketeers in gambling would be suppressed.. The restaurant has an attractive, ethnic ambience, with red- leather booths and chairs, red tablecloths, an autographed photo of singer Connie Francis on the wall, and attentive waiters and musicians who stroll about the dining room. If Sonken thought you did something wrong, he would unleash an epic string of profanity. It was an Old World eatery with small lamps on the linen-covered tables, where diners dressed up for dinner and servers raked away crumbs between courses. NICODEMO LITTLE NICKY SCARFO 3100 NE 47TH ST., FORT LAUDERDALE. This was Joe Sonken's fiefdom. There was the Rainbo Grill, and a few others on Hollywood Boulevard, and more on the Beach, well before the Hollywood commission gave gambling the official okay in 1948. Also in March, 1920, chief Boatswains Mate Anton Christopher Mickelson receives an Honorable Discharge from the U. S. Navy, which he had joined before World War One. This underworld tour is far from comprehensive, simply because South Florida is a mecca for the mob. 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 Hallandale, FL and the hotel rooms in which he stayed when in New York City according to FBI files. The building was repaired and reopened but the old sign was torn down and replaced with a plain sign lower to the ground. Jake kept a low profile compared to his brother, but was known to be at his side and also a money-counter both in Florida and later in the family's Las Vegas operations. Ive heard that it was originally a private home (its long gone now). Meyer Lansky was the highest-ranking non-Italian in the American Mafia. Green would be welcomed, accepted, and get to know Sonken himself. Starting with the Plantation, according to various sources, by 1936 the former tomato packing barn, called the Plantation, was operated by Julian Potatoes Kaufman with bookmaking, roulette, crap tables, etc. "I knew the parking lot would be secure.". 8:00AM. "You better not hurt the hostages!" Gangsters from the Northeast also enjoyed it for the reasons anyone does the weather, for one, which hearkened back to the "old country." "When he got in trouble (with the IRS), he turned everything over to his brother. Living in Florida for over 45 years, we occasionally visited Rascal House on Collins Avenue and Pumperniks on Hallandale Beach Boulevard. "I run a good, clean place here," Sonken complained this time, noting that the dozens of officers who raided Gold Coast's food "acted like they were looking for John Dillinger." Three of these four Michigan-born brothers became full-fledged, successful gambling operators in the first half of the 1900s, their reach spanning five states: Michigan, Ohio, Florida, California and Nevada. Sonken was a master at publicity. On March 3, 1937, the Broward Times and the Hollywood Herald announces that local clergy were rising up against gambling, urging the closing of gambling places in Broward county. No specific gambling places are mentioned. In the early 1960s, mafia powerhouse Santo Trafficante Jr. and mob flunkey David Ferrie (who years later was portrayed with frenetic flair by Joe Pesci in Oliver Stone's JFK) met other anti-Castro figures at Gold Coast. Bertucelli had convinced a former colleague, Dave Green, to join his department. 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. It states that architect Addison Mizner had opened an office on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach with Robert L. Weed. Pumperniks owner Charles Linksman attributed Wolfies survival to its proximity to theaters and boxing ring. local news and culture, Matthew Pearl 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). He also persuaded mob bosses to move their money into more profitable and less risky ventures such as gambling, banking and real estate. Two years later he and five others were indicted in connection with a scheme to drug horses at Calder Race Course, which authorities said netted $500,000 between 1975 and 1977. For decades he was thought to be one of the most powerful people in the country. He had run up tabs worth thousands of dollars, and owed thousands more to Sonken in rent for a commercial property. A good friend of mine who now lives in Aventura grew up in North Miami Beach. It was called other things too: "notorious," for example, and a hangout for stars such as Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant. 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. He recalls that Mr. Lansky walked his pet dog outside Wolfie's and once inside he sat at the counter near the back of the deli reading a newspaper. Maybe it was the Gold Coast regular who was at the scene in the parking lot. Meyer Lansky was undoubtedly one of the most famous mobsters of all time. Joe Sonken was as much a celebrity as many of the famous people who frequented his restaurant. It is located at 612 Hibiscus Dr Hallandale, Florida. "If you try anything, we'll kill them!". When a contingent of 40 Chicago gangsters traveled to attend a Miami Dolphins-Chicago Bears game, they packed into Gold Coast. Catena was the underboss, or number two man, in the mighty Vito Genovese Mafia family of New York. He certainly hasnt been thumping his chest about his court victory, Green says. 90s? These days, his name is emblazoned on a building at Nova Southeastern University in Davie and continues to grace charitable grants for causes across the area, including SOS Children's Village of Florida, Memorial Regional Hospital of Hollywood, and the South Florida Wildlife Center. jansens butchery brakpan contact number; funny things to cheer someone up; chris olsen tiktok college; five star alliance membership He was born Maier Suchowjansky in the Soviet Union, and arrived in the United States at age 9, where his family settled in New Yorks teeming immigrant slums. So whats the connection? His family still wonders where it. Enter your email address to follow this blog an, Where to find Joan Mickelson, author, in2019, HOLLYWOODS EARLY SMALL HOTELS FOUND CHIEFLY IN PARKSIDE AND ROYAL POINCIANA: IN SUPPORT OF PRESERVATIONEFFORTS, Correcting Fake News about Hollywood,Florida, YOUR BLOGGER IS HAVING A BOOK SIGNING DEC.3, Listen to my WLRN interview; also read What Makes Hollywood FLspecial, Follow FLORIDA'S HOLLYWOOD: HISTORY and PEOPLE on WordPress.com. The committee quickly shut down illegal gambling in South Florida. 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. After Kaufman took on the Plantation, Alo and Lansky opened several more gambling establishments including the Barn and the Colonial Inn in Hallandale. His single-story, four-bedroom, three-bath house with swimming pool and satellite dish is comfortable, but not palatial. "Oh, it was Joe Sonken's," he explained later. They grabbed $5,080.83 from the register. Lansky, born in Russia in 1902, arrived in New York in 1911. It was there that he met the infamous organized crime figure Meyer Lansky who was also a resident of Miami Beach. It is located . Forbes had estimated his wealth at $300 million, but there was very little money in the will. The maitre d' and a share of diners wore tuxedos, but Sonken, son of a tailor, eschewed even a tie. 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. Sonken is buried in Mount Sinai Cemetery in Miami. 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. It would be wonderful if someone would catalogue them, locate the architects, and provide accurate dates, before they are all torn down, as another of my favorites was (it was on the south side of City Hall Circle). Meyer Lansky, known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Belarusian-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States. one of the robbers yelled as they made their way to Pendleton's car. Even today he remains one of the wealthiest. On July 30, 1975, he arranged to meet Hoffa at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in suburban Detroit for a peace talk. However, with Accetturos attention diverted for so long due to the trial, he appears to have lost some clout. "'The Life' was glamorized," explains Richard Mangan, professor of criminology at Florida Atlantic University. Upon their arrivals, all began to give generously to Hollywoods churches, synagogues, fraternal organizations, hospitals, and more. MEYER LANSKY 5255 COLLINS AVE., (NU) 2-A, MIAMI BEACH. Sonken's hands remained on the wheel, as if he could drive his way out. Joe Sonkens Gold Coast Restaurant had been named one of South Floridas best restaurants by the Miami News. Once the car with the robbers and hostages began to move, police resumed their positions and opened fire, shooting at the tires. Gold Coast attracted Bertucelli and his team like moths to flame. In 1978 Accetturo and three cohorts pleaded guilty to extorting $29,000 from a Miami Beach hotelman, which led to his four months at Eglin. Theres no record of individuals pitching tents on the beach. Sonken, 82, concedes that mobsters eat at his restaurant but notes that judges, businessmen and politicians do too. Your film on Meyer Lansky is loosely based on . He died of lung cancer in 1983 at age 80, leaving behind a widow and three children. In 1946 he formed a company to distribute slot and pinball machines. Note: VirtualGlobetrotting is an entertainment website is and is not associated Hollywood Gazette is Hollywood, Floridas only independent, free community newspaper since 2001. Cohen also founded a third Jewish deli, Pumpernik's, at 67th Street and Collins Avenue, which also closed. Jake kept a low profile compared to his brother, but was known to be at his side and also a money-counter both in Florida and later in the familys Las Vegas operations. Meyer Lansky was born Meier Suchowlaski in Belarus, on July 4, 1902 to a poor Polish family that faced persecution and pogroms. He testified in 1968 before a state crime investigation committee checking into the mob presence in his restaurant, but nothing ever came of the committees report. Lansky had no colorful moniker such as Scarface or Bugsy. Most often he was referred to as the mobs financial genius.. With the spread of air conditioning and jet travel, it became easier to visit or live year-round, spurring a construction boom for which the mob was perfectly positioned. 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.". Mobsters living in or visiting South Florida meet at Joe Sonkens and receive or pass messages there, says Lieutenant Green, because it is one way of circumventing wiretaps on their telephones. While Hallandale was home to most of the gaming establishments in the 20s and 30s, Hollywood was also pretty busy. In case its hard to read, it says the Club Greenacres is located 1 1/2 miles west of the Federal Highway on Hallandale Road (Follow the White Arrows), open all night.. Scarfo was often seen taking cronies for a quiet cruise on the Intracoastal Waterway. 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 . He remembers that Mr. Lansky was soft spoken and encouraged him to try Wolfie's "poached eggs and tomatoes." Among the gambling houses he opened were the Greenacres Club in Hollywood and the Colonial Inn near Hallandale. His biggest claim to fame here, according to Dr. Joan Mickelson, local historian and volunteer archivist for the Hollywood Historical Society, is that in 1929, the city of Hollywood, which was having a hard time financially, leased the Hollywood Beach Golf and Country Club to his people. The large rectangular sign rose on stilts against the growing skyline of what was then called "Hollywood-by-the-Sea." The symptoms included paranoia, tremors and jerking motions when he walked. 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. "You got some boys who might want to punch a Nazi?" he asked. Scarfo not only lived in the Spanish-style house he called Casablanca South, he rewarded loyal crime-family members with weekends there. In the photo at left, Harding, center, still wears his golfing plus-four pants, as he greets Youngs sales force. Meyer Lansky's former home at 612 Hibiscus Drive, Hallandale Beach. Stuff and the service are excellent.". Detectives said they had placed bets with a bartender on jai-alai and horses. Proximity to Cuba, another paradise ripe for exploitation (and a pre-Castro gold mine for Lansky), added to South Florida's appeal. "We're not fooling around," a source with the investigation told the Fort Lauderdale News, as officers lugged out 40 cases of mushrooms, 96 cases of tomato juice, and five cases of anchovies. he said of Sage, Bagel & Deli in Hallandale. We're coming out, or you're all dead!". When his case came to trial, Accetturos doctors claimed that he was suffering from Alzheimers disease. Until recently, he lived inconspicuously in an upper middle-class Hollywood neighborhood. The joke among waiters was if he liked you, he cursed at you, and if he didn't curse at you, start looking for a job. So you are in your 80s? 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. He had three children from his first wife, Anna,. With that in mind, join us on Sunshines exclusive tour of the homes and the haunts of the hoods. Among the guests were Joe E. Lewis, George Jessel, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and other entertainers who performed in Miami nightclubs. "Their members are doing business, even in a social or a relaxed setting," Bertucelli explained to the Chicago Tribune. People fled. Amanda Jones specializes in social media marketing. The Club Boheme was on Hallandale beach, literally on the beach, just south of Hallandale Beach Boulevard. Prohibition was totally ignored by the population.. Lansky spent the rest of his life in Miami Beach living with his second wife, Thelma, at the Imperial House in the 5200 block of Collins Avenue. "We're coming out!" Located in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, Flamingo Las Vegas is a true desert oasis. During that time, Meyer Lansky attended school at P.S. 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. The biggest concentration of all is in Broward, says Lt. Dave Green from the organized-crime unit of the Broward Sheriffs Office. He was indicted on charges of income-tax evasion, contempt of court and of plotting with two others to skim more than $14 million from the Flamingo Hotel and Casino (built by his old pal Bugsy Siegel) in Las Vegas. Physical Description. Eventually, Frank Ippolito and Manuel Talavera received sentences for robbery and kidnapping (Talavera, who had two prior robbery convictions, received 120 years in state prison, where he remains). Three years later Accetturo claimed he had recovered from Alzheimers disease. One of Sonken's bartenders, Henry Leddy, had been taking bets on jai-alai and horse races. The center-Strip resort features more than 3,500 guest rooms and suites . The movie Lansky was a sleeper and brought absolutely nothing new to light except that Harvey Keitel has aged gratefully. The dapper but hot-tempered Scarfo, 60, has been in prison ever since, and it is likely he will spend the rest of his life there. "Take ten." More links between Hallandale and Hollywood are mentioned further along. A former busboy recalls clinking two glasses together while clearing a table, when the old man, as staff called the restaurateur, shouted, "Where's the fucking cocksucker busboy?" 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. My Grandfather was a friend of Meyers , my pop held Jimmy Durantes contracts as well as Anette Fuicello and Frankie Avalons. He is buried at Mount Nebo Cemetery, 5505 NW Third St., in Miami Beach. 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.". So closely was Wolfies identified with Miami Beach that in 1959 Northeast Airlines chose it to cater meals for Miami-to-NY passengers; Lindys supplied delicacies to those flying south. He gave the boot to Frank Sinatra and his crew for being disruptive. THE HANGOUT JOE SONKENS GOLD COAST RESTAURANT 606 N. OCEAN DR., HOLLYWOOD. Operation Cherokee would end up taking its toll on Green, his wife, and their three children. 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. And at the first table upon entering the restaurant, you will often see Joe Sonken himself. Kaufman was connected to New York mobster Vincent Jimmy Blue-eyes Alo. Please log in if you don't want to post Postcard. President Warren G. Harding is invited for a round of golf at the nine-hole Hollywood Golf & Country Club and lunch at the Hollywood Hotel (later Park View Hotel), pictured here. And (going out of chronology) on July 30, 1937 the Hollywood police raided the Plantation in Hallandale. His success was such that Lansky once made an uncharacteristic but famous boast to an associate: Were bigger than U.S. Steel.. Despite having only an eighth-grade education, Lansky pioneered the laundering of mob money into legitimate businesses. He has lived there year- round for at least 10 years. To the Italians, being a Mafioso was a thing of honor. One alternative is a tour of the homes and hangouts of South Floridas mobsters, past and present. He persuaded Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista to allow gambling only in hotels worth more than $1 million, then proceeded to build the only hotels that qualified.