Frank Erickson (1896 – March 2, 1968) was an American mobster and
bookmaker
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
History
The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795.
Range of events
Bookma ...
, known for his association with businessman, gambler and
racketeer
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and of ...
,
Arnold Rothstein
Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 4, 1928), nicknamed "The Brain", was an American racketeer, crime boss, businessman, and gambler in New York City. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athleti ...
.
Biography
He was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to parents of
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
and
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
descent. After the death of his father, he grew up in an orphanage.
Frank Erickson was
Arnold Rothstein
Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 4, 1928), nicknamed "The Brain", was an American racketeer, crime boss, businessman, and gambler in New York City. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athleti ...
's right-hand man and New York's largest bookmaker during the 1930s and 40s. Eventually, Erickson became very well known among bookmakers nationwide for handling "
lay-off
A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...
" bets. With Chicago's
Moses Annenberg
Moses Louis Annenberg (February 11, 1877 – July 20, 1942) was an American newspaper publisher, who purchased ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the United States in 1936. ''The Inquirer'' has the sixte ...
, Erickson developed a country wide wire service, making possible for the first time nationwide synchronized betting. Erickson never saw any of these profits because soon after, bookmaking became illegal and the government took over. In Robert Lacey's book on Meyer Lanksy, Erickson was named "the largest book maker on the East Coast, if not in all America." Additionally, it is a little-known fact that many of Erickson's profits went to charity. Along with many other ventures, he was a major contributor to the construction of a children's hospital in NYC. He allegedly had connections with the
mob
Mob or MOB may refer to:
Behavioral phenomena
* Crowd
* Smart mob, a temporary self-structuring social organization, coordinated through telecommunication
Crime and law enforcement
* American Mafia, also known as the Mob
* Irish Mob, a US crimin ...
.
He died on March 2, 1968, from cardiac arrest while undergoing surgery on a bleeding ulcer.
Brushes with the Law
Between the years of 1919 to 1926 Erickson was arrested five times for gambling only to have the charges dismissed each time. He was arrested again in 1939 for vagrancy and was so insulted by the charge, he arrived to court in an armoured car, escorted by Brink's guards. He showed the presiding body securities worth $125,000 to prove he wasn't a vagrant. That case, too, was dismissed. Erickson served 10 months on Riker's Island after eventually being convicted by District Attorney
Frank Hogan
Frank Smithwick Hogan (January 17, 1902 – April 2, 1974) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He served as New York County District Attorney for more than 30 years, during which he achieved a reputation for professionalism and ...
.
[Katz, L. (1973). "Uncle Frank." Drake Publishers, New York, NY. ]
References
Eisenberg, D., Dan, U., and Landau, E. (1979). "Meyer Lansky: Mogul of the Mob." New York: Paddington Press. ,
Katz, L. (1973). "Uncle Frank." New York, NY: Drake Publishers.
Kefauver Committee Interim Report #1 Aug. 18, 1950
http://www.onewal.com/kef/kef1.html
Lacey, R. (1991). ''Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life.'' Canada: Little, Brown and Company.
1896 births
1968 deaths
American people of Swedish descent
American people of Irish descent
Criminals from New York City
American gangsters of Irish descent
American gangsters
{{US-crime-bio-stub