Benjamin Levinsky (1893 – December 5, 1922) was an American gang leader, labor racketeer and organized crime figure. Spending almost twenty years in and out of

reformatories A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult corrections, correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western world, Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they ...

and

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

, Levinsky had a lengthy criminal record prior to the start of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

. He was first arrested in 1902 for incorrigibility and sent to a reformatory asylum. He was caught pickpocketing five years later and was imprisoned on a variety of charges over the next decade including petty theft, grand larceny, felonious assault and

vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

. He became involved in labor racketeering in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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. Traditionally an im ...

and, prior to the third " Labor Slugger War", Levinsky reportedly became ''"a thorn in the side of clothing contractors"''. Due to his unionizing activities, he apparently became the target of assassination by certain business interests.Gangster Is Slain, Newsboy Accused; Benjamin Levinsky Shot and Killed as He Enters Building on Broadway. Pal Held As A Witness; Police Believe Murder is Result of Grievance--Victim of LaborWar, Says Lawyer.
New York Times. 06 December 1922 Other sources claim he headed a gang of gunmen and thieves which began muscling in on the territory of other "labor sluggers", particularly that of newsboy and labor racketeer William Lipshitz.Carey, Arthur A. and McLellan, Howard. ''Memoirs of a Murder Man''. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1930. (pg. 146) On the morning of December 5, 1922, Levinsky was shot and killed by Lipshitz while entering a Broadway loft building where he was employed as a cutter for the Levinson Brothers. He had driven to work in a

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

with Benjamin Massauer, an ex-convict who had spent the night at his home, and who had told the driver to stop the cab when two shots were heard shortly after Levinsky entered the building. As a crowd gathered in front of the building, Lipshitz ran out from the doorway and into a patrolman who had arrived at the scene. When questioned, he denied any knowledge of the shooting and claimed to have been buying a suit when the murder took place. Both Lipshitz and Massauer were taken to the Mercer Street police station where they were further questioned by police. Lipshitz maintained he had no involvement in Levinsky's murder but was caught lying when he claimed to have no

criminal record A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...

. He had been using the alias William Levine but admitted to being William Lipshitz when confronted with his photo in the precinct's ''

Rogue's Gallery A rogues' gallery (or rogues gallery) is a police collection of mug shots or other images of criminal suspects kept for identification purposes. History In 1855, Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, established a ...

''. A witness also claimed to have seen he and Levinsky fighting in the doorway when the shooting occurred. Lipshitz was eventually charged with Levinsky's death while Massauer was held as a material witness until

paroled Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

in the custody of lawyer Hyman Bushel who had been hired by Levinsky's family. Although police suspected his murder had been committed by a personal enemy, Bushel later issued a statement from the family claiming that Levinsky had been murdered as the result of a murder contract by businessmen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levinsky 1893 births 1922 deaths American Jews Criminals from New York City