Abraham Beckerman (September 27, 1890 – July 31, 1964) was an English-born American labor leader, politician and convicted criminal. In 1937, he was found guilty of
racketeering
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...
for using his position as general manager of the Fur Dressers Factor Corporation to aid mobsters
Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro and
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter in a conspiracy to control the $75 million fur-dressing industry.
He was previously a
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
politician, representing
Manhattan's 6th district on the
New York City Board of Aldermen
The New York City Board of Aldermen was a body that was the upper house of New York City's Common Council from 1824 to 1875, the lower house of its Municipal Assembly upon consolidation in 1898 until the charter was amended in 1901 to abolish ...
from 1918 to 1921. After he left office, he became general manager of the
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
Joint Board of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Indus ...
. During his tenure, Beckerman fought to rid the unions of
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
influence with what former colleague
Baruch Charney Vladeck dubbed "Beckerman's knuckles."
References
External links
*
Our Campaigns - Beckerman, Abraham I.FBI - Fur Dressers Case
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckerman, Abraham
1890 births
1964 deaths
Politicians from London
Members of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America politicians from New York (state)
American socialists
New York City Council members