Leonard "Lenny" Patrick (October 6, 1913 – March 1, 2006) was

Jewish-American organized crime Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been referred to variously in media and popular culture as the Jewish Mob, Jewish Mafia, Kosher Mob, K ...

figure affiliated with the

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

Chicago Outfit The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, tha ...

. Patrick was involved in

bookmaking 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 Bookm ...

and extortion and later a government informant. Emigrating with his family from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Patrick grew up in the Jewish neighborhood of

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

, in Chicago's Near North Side and during

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 ...

, eventually becoming an associate and later partner of

Greek-American Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest es ...

loanshark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

ist, and political fixer

Gus Alex Gus Alex (April 1, 1916 – July 24, 1998) was a Greek-American mobster affiliated with the Chicago Outfit, who succeeded Jake Guzik and Murray Humphreys as the Outfit's main political briber and " fixer". Early life Alex's family came from the ...

. Patrick was imprisoned on June 28, 1933 for robbing a bank in

Culver, Indiana Culver is a town in Marshall County, Indiana, United States. Culver is part of Union Township, which also includes the communities of Burr Oak, Hibbard, Maxinkuckee and Rutland. The population of Culver was 1,129 at the 2020 United States Censu ...

, and was suspected of participation in six gangland slayings. Patrick was paroled on March 11, 1940, and he continued working for the Chicago Outfit and, by the 1950s, his Westside restaurant hosted one of the biggest illegal sport betting operations in the city. He also expanded into legitimate front businesses, primarily laundry companies, for illegal gambling, loansharking and extortion activities. In 1992, Patrick agreed to become a government witness following his indictment for racketeering charges. His testimony would result in the conviction of Gus Alex and several other key figures involved in the city's extortion rackets.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Patrick, Leonard 1913 births 2006 deaths Chicago Outfit mobsters Federal Bureau of Investigation informants Jewish American gangsters People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews British emigrants to the United States

Further reading

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