Harry "Nig" Rosen was a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

mobster who was a major organized crime figure on the east coast with influence as far as

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and

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Biography

Born Harry Stromberg, Rosen emerged as a prominent racketeer in southwest Philadelphia and, as head of the 69th Street Gang, became involved in prostitution, extortion, labor racketeering and later in narcotics with

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 ...

during the mid-1920s. Succeeding Max "Boo Hoo" Hoff as the city's chief bootlegger during Prohibition, he was a member of the " Big Seven" aligned with the Philadelphia faction along with

Waxey Gordon Waxey Gordon (born Irving Wexler; January 19, 1888 – June 24, 1952) was an American gangster who specialized in bootlegging and illegal gambling. An associate of Arnold Rothstein during prohibition, he was caught up in a power struggle follo ...

and Irving Blitz, later attending the

Atlantic City Conference The Atlantic City Conference held between 13–16 May 1929 was a historic summit of leaders of organized crime in the United States. It is considered by most crime historians to be the earliest organized crime summit held in the US. The conferenc ...

. During the 1930s, he and

Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...

worked on expanding drug trafficking operations in Mexico as an alternative to older routes such as Japan now closed with United States entry into World War II. By 1939, a lucrative heroin network had been established from drug traffickers based in Mexico City to major cities across the United States including New York, Philadelphia, Miami and Los Angeles as well as

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

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. He and his lieutenant, driver and bodyguard Willie Weisberg, were named as dominant racketeers involved in the numbers racket under testimony from police superintendent George F. Richardson during the

Kefauver Committee The United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce was a special committee of the United States Senate which existed from 1950 to 1951 and which investigated organized crime which crossed state borders in the U ...

in 1951. During the early 1950s, Rosen became partners with Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese after buying the Sweet Valley Improvement Company which was used by the

Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as ...

to ship clothing out of New York's garment district.Lower Luzerne County - History of Sweet Valley
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Biography

References

Further reading