Otto Biederman, known as Otto "Abbadabba" Berman (August 10, 1891 – October 24, 1935) was an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

for

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

. He is known for having coined the phrase "Nothing personal, it's just business."

Biography

Early life

Berman was born in a Jewish family 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 ...

. At age fifteen, he was arrested and tried for attempted

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

but was found not guilty. He later became an accountant, well known for his ability to figure complex mathematical equations and algebraic expressions in a matter of seconds, without the use of paper or pen. He met and befriended writer

Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To ...

. Runyon based his recurring character Regret on Berman, portrayed by character actor

Lynne Overman Lynne may refer to: *Lynne (surname) *Lynne (given name) *Lynne, Florida, an unincorporated community *Lynne, Wisconsin Lynne is a town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 210 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated comm ...

in the movie version of Runyon's story, ''

Little Miss Marker ''Little Miss Marker'' (also known as ''The Girl in Pawn'') is an American Pre-Code 1934 comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Hall. It was written by William R. Lipman, Sam Hellman, and Gladys Lehman after a 1932 short story of the same name ...

''.

1930s

In the 1930s Berman became the accountant for, and advisor to, gangster

Dutch Schultz Dutch Schultz (born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer; August 6, 1901October 24, 1935) was an American mobster. Based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, he made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the nu ...

. Berman was the handicapper for Cincinnati's Coney Island track in 1935, prior to his death. A Coney Island badge was located in his pocket. Locals identified his with the nickname "Abba Dabba."

Death

On October 23, 1935, Berman was having a meeting at the Palace Chophouse tavern in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Bernard "Lulu" Rosenkrantz when assassins hired by

Lucky Luciano Charles "Lucky" Luciano (, ; born Salvatore Lucania ; November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was an Italian-born gangster who operated mainly in the United States. Luciano started his criminal career in the Five Points gang and was instrumenta ...

burst into the room. Berman was hit by several bullets as well as buckshot from a 12-gauge shotgun, and was the first of the four men to die, at 2:20 the next morning. A photo of his bullet-riddled body appeared alongside a photo of Schultz undergoing surgery in the next morning's newspaper, under the headline, "Schultz, Five Pals Shot"; in fact, only four others were shot: Berman, Landau, Rosenkrantz, and Marty Krompier, one of Schultz's lieutenants. The accompanying article claimed that Berman was a gunman for Schultz; an angry

quickly submitted an editorial to the newspaper, defending Berman. Berman is buried next to his parents in Mount Carmel Cemetery in

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

In popular culture

In the novel ''

Billy Bathgate ''Billy Bathgate'' is a 1989 novel by author E. L. Doctorow that won the 1989 National Book Critics Circle award for fiction for 1990, the 1990 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 1990 William Dean Howells Medal, and was the runner-up for the 1 ...

'', Berman appears as the mentor to the main character. Berman is played by

Allen Garfield Allen Garfield (born Allen Goorwitz; November 22, 1939 – April 7, 2020) was an American film and television actor. Early life Garfield was born in Newark, New Jersey, to a Jewish family, the son of Alice ( née Lavroff) and Philip Goorwitz. He ...

in '' The Cotton Club'' and by

Steven Hill Stephen or Steven is a common English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Ac ...

in ''

.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Otto 1890s births 1935 deaths People from New York City People from Newark, New Jersey People murdered by Murder, Inc. Deaths by firearm in New Jersey People murdered in New Jersey Murdered Jewish American gangsters American accountants