Joseph "Joe The Greaser" Rosenzweig (17 April 1890 – ), also known as Joe Rosen, was an American

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labor racketeer in the early 1900s as an ally of "Dopey" Benny Fein during the Labor Slugger Wars (1914–1917).

Biography

Rosenzweig was born to Louis and Matilda Rosenzweig in

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, that immigrated to New York in 1895.''

1910 United States census The 1910 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau on April 15, 1910, determined the resident population of the United States to be 92,228,496, an increase of 21 percent over the 76,212,168 persons enumerated during the 1900 census ...

'' He worked as a tailor's presser for several years before forming a criminal gang around 1907. Controlling labor slugging in New York's Lower East Side, Rosenzweig's organization of around one hundred acted mostly as strikebreakers, specializing in breaking up union picket lines, demonstrations and other protests. With political protection from

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, Rosenzweig maintained complete control of strikebreaking and labor slugging well into the early 1910s. Rosenzweig's dominance was challenged in 1913, when Philip "Pinchey" Paul began a war with Rosenzweig, lasting over several months. The war ended with Paul's death the following year, when he was killed by Rosenzweig and several gunmen, including Jacob Heiseman, Benjamin Snyder, and Hyman Berthstein. When he was later arrested for the murder, Rosenzweig agreed to testify against the other gang members. Despite his testimony, Rosenzweig was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, along with Snyder, to

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Prison in December 1915. Upon Rosenzweig's release in 1925, he returned to

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to find his gang had long since disappeared. After he received a warning from ex-lieutenant Waxey Gordon against attempting to reform his gang, he soon left New York retiring from crime thereafter.

Biography

References

Further reading