Joseph Silver
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Joseph Silver (born Józef Lis; 1868–1918) was a Polish gangster active in the late 19th century and early 20th century. A career criminal, Silver was involved in
organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...
, specifically
human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...
and
prostitution ring Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
s throughout
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, the
Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
and
Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...
, oftentimes supported by corrupt law enforcement, becoming known as the "King of
Pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...
s".


Early life


Background

Silver's family, on both his paternal and maternal side, were
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
tobacco merchants and hailed from
Działoszyce Działoszyce is a town in Pińczów County in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in southern Poland, with 2,882 inhabitants as of December 2023. History The town is located in historic Lesser Poland, and the earliest mention of Działoszyce in hist ...
and
Opatów Opatów (; ) is a town in southeastern Poland, within Opatów County in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Province). Historically, it was part of a greater region called Lesser Poland. In 2012 the population was 6,658. Opatów is located ...
respectively, in what is now
Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship ( ), also known as Holy Cross Voivodeship, is a voivodeship (province) in southeastern Poland, in the historical region of Lesser Poland. The province's capital and largest city is Kielce. The voivodeship takes its ...
. His father Anzelm Lis was born in 1849 in Chmielnik while his mother Hanna Kweksylber was born in 1850 in
Staszów Staszów is a town in southeastern Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (historic province of Lesser Poland), about southeast of Kielce, and northeast of Kraków. It is the capital of Staszów County. The population is 15,108 (2010), which ...
. They separately moved to
Kielce Kielce (; ) is a city in south-central Poland and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the banks of the Silnic ...
in 1863, married in 1866 and lived primarily in a
tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...
on Hipoteczna Street (now Wolności Square). Silver was born in 1868 as the third of nine children (five girls and four boys) and raised with
Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
as the household language. The marriage of Silver's parents was marked by dysfunction. Hanna had several extra-marital affairs, resulting in the birth of Silver's younger brother Jacob in 1873, who was knowingly raised as Anzelm's son. Anzelm, a tailor by trade, was active in petty crime, being involved in the smuggling of alcohol and tobacco, and is known to have acted in at least one robbery on a fur store, but despite being identified, he was released without punishment after the arrest. The couple divorced in 1892, but they still shared living space, eventually reconciling in 1912. South African historian
Charles van Onselen Charles van Onselen (birth 14 August 1944, Boksburg) is a researcher and historian based at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Education Van Onselen holds a B.Sc. and U.E.D. from Rhodes University, a B.A. Hons. from the University of the ...
posits that Silver's
misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...
was influenced by his mother's infidelities.


Name

His original Polish name "Lis" means "Fox". His alias "Silver", was a reference to his mother, whose maiden name was Kweksylber, derived from the German surname Quecksilber, both meaning Quicksilver. He was also known as Joe Liss, Joe Eligmann, James Smith, Joseph Schmidt, José Silva (also Silves), J. Cosman, Charlie Silver, Charles Greenbaum, Abraham Ramer and Ludwig.


Career

At age 15, Silver, following the footsteps of several cousins, left Poland, obtained a passport on 14 August 1884, and entered the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
sometime in 1885, beginning his criminal career in the East End of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, where he also started taking on numerous aliases and began cooperating with corrupt police officers for his personal gain, until leaving for the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 1889. In
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, he served two years at
Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison for men operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining (village), New York, Ossining, New York, United States. It is abou ...
prison for a
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...
burglary in which he stole $1.50 () and a silk shawl. Silver was released on 12 October 1891 and according to his own testimony, supported by police records, he ended up working as a "special agent" for NYC's . Between 1893 and 1894, Silver was involved in criminal activity in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
and in 1895, Silver fled New York for London, where he went on to run a
brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...
near
Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a major central London railway terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Undergroun ...
. Shortly after, he was tried for rape, but acquitted on a technicality before serving a sentence in
HM Prison Pentonville HM Prison Pentonville (informally "The Ville") is an English Category B men's prison, operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Pentonville Prison is not in Pentonville, but is located further north, on the Caledonian Road in the Barnsbury ar ...
and
HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs (nicknamed "The Scrubs") is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's local prison, located in the White City, London, White City area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West ...
for petty larceny. While in London, Silver was recorded as marrying three times: Hannah Opticer, Hannah Vygenbaum, a.k.a. Annie Alford, and Rachel Laskin a.k.a. Lizzie Silver, all of them fellow Polish Jews from Opatów, his mother's ancestral home, whom he had forced into prostitution beforehand. Silver was known to mistreat his wives, as well as the prostitutes and sex slaves that labored in his brothels, regularly subjecting them to sexual assaults. Contemporary accounts, as well as three of the four known photographs that exist of Silver which showed that his face was riddled with deep pockmarks, indicated that he contracted
syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...
in the 1890s. In 1898, Silver, along with his third wife Rachel Laskin, appeared in the
South African Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...
. In
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
, he operated a network of cafes, cigar shops and police-protected brothels, with the sex workers at the latter being primarily composed of
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
women that were trafficked from parts of
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
, steadily expanding his criminal reach within the country, including to the cities of
Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...
,
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, and
Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...
. He based his activities out of an establishment called the American Club, located on Sauer Street, which was described as housing "a trade union of pimps in coded, telegraphic and postal communication". During his time in South Africa, Silver frequently engaged in
litigation A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...
and wrote vehement letters to newspapers who reported on his
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. ...
. The majority of his aliases appear to date from his period in South Africa. Silver's brutality was noted to escalate, with him once punishing a disobedient prostitute by subduing her with
chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organochloride with the formula and a common solvent. It is a volatile, colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and po ...
and threatening to pour irritating
blue vitriol Copper(II) sulfate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It forms hydrates , where ''n'' can range from 1 to 7. The pentahydrate (''n'' = 5), a bright blue crystal, is the most commonly encountered hydrate of copper(II) sulfate, whi ...
into her vagina and in 1898, he intimidated Lillie Bloom, a prostitute who had threatened to expose Silver's abuse to the authorities, by telling her in front of police that he would "slit erbelly open" in Yiddish, which the officers did not understand. Silver continued to cooperate with police to maintain his connections and get rid of competitors, often providing anonymous testimony for criminal trials regarding burglary or theft. Nevertheless, Silver was briefly imprisoned in Old Fort Prison, where he raped a Zulu inmate, an act which, according to van Onselen, led to the coinage of the derorgatory term "impimpi" as a police informer in South African English slang, and "AmaSilva" as a prison term for a procurer, specifically one who provides young white males as sex partners, to imprisoned members of the
Ninevites Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...
. In 1905, Silver left for
German South West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...
, setting up illegal brothels in
Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...
and
Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...
, for which he was convicted in 1906 and sentenced to three years imprisonment, of which he served two. Afterwards, he left the continent for Europe again, leaving behind his wife, who was subsequently admitted to a mental asylum in
Potchefstroom Potchefstroom ( ; ), colloquially known as Potch, is an college town, academic city in the North West (South African province), North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstro ...
, where she died in 1945. After arriving in
Neumünster Neumünster () is a city in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein (behind Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg). The ''Holstenhallen'' and ...
, Silver headed for
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, where his
mugshot A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a Portrait photography, photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is placed under arrest. The primary purpose ...
was taken by French authorities police in 1909. For a year, he ran prostitution rings in
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
,
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
,
Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
, and
Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...
. Silver moved to
Balvanera Balvanera is a Barrios of Buenos Aires, barrio or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Origin of name and alternative names The official name, Balvanera, is the name of the ''parroquia'' (parish) centered around the church of ''Nuestra Seño ...
,
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
in 1910 and conducted human trafficking operations for his brothels in Europe within neighboring
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, largely in the area between
Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
and
Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...
, in addition to
gun-running Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms, explosives, and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal tra ...
, while working as a police officer. Silver's last official residence was in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
, where he lived between 1914 and 1916, although he was known to occasional stay in New York City and London. In 1917, during the late stage of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, while Silver was in Europe, he was recruited by the newly formed Russian government to act as a spy in
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. Silver was caught in
Austrian Galicia The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia in Eastern Europe. The crown land was established ...
and held in a prison in
Jarosław Jarosław (; , ; ; ) is a town in southeastern Poland, situated on the San (river), San River. The town had 35,475 inhabitants in 2023. It is the capital of Jarosław County in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. History Jarosław is located in the ...
, where he was executed for
espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...
in the spring of 1918.


Jack the Ripper suspect

In 2007, Charles van Onselen claimed in the book ''The Fox and The Flies: The World of Joseph Silver, Racketeer and Psychopath'' that Silver was the infamous
Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...
serial killer in the
Whitechapel murders The Whitechapel murders were committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel District (Metropolis), Whitechapel district in the East End of London between 3 April 1888 and 13 February 1891. At various points some or all of these eleven unso ...
in 1888, citing their shared "pathological misogyny" and apparent desire "to exploit and humiliate" prostitutes inspired by Ezekiel 23:25, also alleging that Silver was motivated by a twisted interpretation of
Tevilah In Judaism, ritual washing, or ablution, takes two main forms. ''Tevilah'' () is a full body immersion in a mikveh, and ''netilat yadayim'' is the washing of the hands with a cup (see Handwashing in Judaism). References to ritual washing are ...
instead involving the bathing in the blood of prostitutes, a claim that has been characterized as
antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...
."Historian Claims To ID Jack The Ripper"
/ref> Building on the assertion, crime authors connected him to Lewis Lis, a shopkeeper who owned a business in Plumber's Row near
Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...
, and Joseph Isaacs, a potential suspect in the murder of
Mary Jane Kelly Mary Jane Kelly ( – 9 November 1888), also known as Marie Jeanette Kelly, Fair Emma, Ginger, Dark Mary and Black Mary, is widely believed by scholars to have been the final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper, w ...
, claiming that Isaacs was another one of Silver's aliases, both based largely around their shared names. Critics note, among other things, that van Onselen provides no evidence that Silver was even in London during the months the murders took place and that the accusation is based entirely upon speculation. Van Onselen has responded that the number of circumstances involved should make Silver a suspect. He would have been 20 at the time, much younger than contemporary suspect descriptions of Jack the Ripper.


See also

* List of Jack the Ripper suspects


References


External links


"Historian claims to ID Jack the Ripper"
Associated Press article {{DEFAULTSORT:Silver Joseph 1868 births 1918 deaths People from Kielce People from Kielce Governorate Jews from the Russian Empire 19th-century Polish criminals 20th-century Polish criminals South African pimps Executed people from Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship People executed by Austria-Hungary Polish rapists Jack the Ripper suspects Emigrants from Congress Poland Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom Immigrants to the South African Republic Polish emigrants to Belgium Polish emigrants to Argentina