Sam Paul (1874 – January 10, 1927) was an American gambler and underworld figure 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 the start of the 20th century. Founder of the Sam Paul Association, he was also a major political organizer for
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
.
The Rosenthal case and before
By 1903, the "Sam Paul Association" was already being mentioned in the news as a center of criminal activity in New York. By 1910, Paul was running a
pool hall
A billiard, pool or snooker hall (or parlour, room or club; sometimes compounded as poolhall, poolroom, etc.) is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve ...
at the corner of
Third Avenue
Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...
and
13th Street in partnership with Louis Kaufman.
Paul was initially sought by police as a witness in the killing of gambler
Herman Rosenthal
Herman Rosenthal (October 6, 1843 – 1917) was an American author, editor, and librarian.
Biography
Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava), Courland. He was educated at Bauske (Bauska) and Jakobstadt (Jēkabpils), graduating in 18 ...
, as they had received information that the crime had been planned at the Sam Paul Association clubhouse at
Sea Gate, Brooklyn
Sea Gate is a private gated community at the far western end of Coney Island at the southwestern tip of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Located on the portion of the Coney Island peninsula west of West 37th Street, it contains mostly ...
on July 14, 1912, by
Jack Rose,
Bridgie Webber, and a man known only as "Dollar John."
However, on July 21, Paul was arrested as a suspect.
He maintained his innocence, claiming he had been home in bed at the night of the murder and that, rather than having been involved with Rosenthal's death, he had paid for Rosenthal's funeral.
The charges were dropped after Paul provided the police with an
alibi
An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...
.
Paul's arrest prompted ''New York Times'' reporters to interview members of the Sam Paul Association at 37 E. 7th Street about the membership and purpose of the organization. A member, who did not give his name, stated that:
The papers have given the impression that the Sam Paul Association has been the headquarters for a lot of plotters and lawbreakers. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of respectable business men, lawyers, doctors, and others in our membership. I myself am a tailor. That man on your right is a government official. Of course, some of the members are in sporting lines, but the proportion is about half and half ... For some reason or other, Sam Paul and the Sam Paul association have to take the knocks for everything that goes wrong. Every time a gaming joint is raided, the papers say it is supposed to have been one of Sam Paul's, and lately every time a crime has been committed they say it was planned here at the clubrooms, and every man the police arrest is said to be a member of the Sam Paul Association. And all this, when as a matter of fact this is only a social club and dining room, and Sam Paul is one of the nicest fellows, and one of the most charitable men in New York. He wouldn't hurt a fly.
Paul and Webber, who together ran the popular ''Sans Souci Music Hall'' on Third Avenue at 13th Street, had previously been involved in a violent dispute with Rosenthal after Rosenthal arranged a
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
raid on that club and subsequently took over the nearby ''Hesper Club'' on
Second Avenue. Their rivalry eventually resulted in Webber being attacked and severely beaten by two members of
Jack Zelig
"Big" Jack Zelig (May 13, 1888 – October 5, 1912) was an American gangster and one of the last leaders of the Eastman Gang.
Biography
Born Selig Harry Lefkowitz in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, Zelig was a well ...
's
criminal organization
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 ...
. Zelig was called "the right hand man of Sam Paul" by the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
.
When
Harry Horowitz
Harry Horowitz ( – April 13, 1914), also known as "Gyp the Blood", was an American underworld figure and a leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City.
Early life and career
Harry Horowitz was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan ...
and
Lefty Louis Rosenberg
Lefty is a nickname for a person who is left-handed. Lefty may refer to:
*Lefty Bates (1920–2007), American Chicago blues guitarist
*Lefty Bertrand (1909–2002), Major League Baseball pitcher for one game
*Steve Carlton (born 1944), American ...
were arrested in September 1912 and charged with killing Rosenthal, rumors circulated to the effect that Paul had paid for their attorney, former magistrate Charles Wahle. Horowitz, Rosenberg, Wahle, and Paul denied that this was the case. Paul was held as a material witness and was one of several gangland figures who testified at the trial of
Charles Becker
Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...
later that year. Partly as a result of his testimony, Becker was convicted of Rosenthal's murder and was executed in 1915.
[ He is the only New York City police officer to have been executed.
As a result of the publicity created by the Rosenthal murder, NYC Police Commissioner ]Rhinelander Waldo
Rhinelander Waldo (May 24, 1877 – August 13, 1927) was appointed the seventh New York City Fire Commissioner by Mayor William Jay Gaynor on January 13, 1910. He resigned on May 23, 1911, less than two months after the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist ...
opened an investigation into Sam Paul, the Sam Paul Association, and their connections with government officials at various levels. He supplied New York City mayor William Jay Gaynor
William Jay Gaynor (February 2, 1849 – September 10, 1913) was an American politician from New York City, associated with the Tammany Hall political machine. He served as the 94th mayor of the City of New York from 1910 to 1913, and previously ...
with a list of 62 names of alleged members of the Association. The investigation linked Paul with politicians, including Samuel S. Koenig and his brother Morris. According to the ''New York Times'' report:
Paul is said to be a follower of the political fortunes of Samuel S. Koenig, Chairman of the Republican County Committee, whose home is on the east side. He is also said to be the head of a powerful gang of knife and gun fighters.
Both Koenigs denied these allegations. In separate statements the brothers mentioned Paul's membership in Tammany Hall as probative of their claims that Paul was a member of the Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, and, as such, unlikely to have associated with them.
After the Rosenthal case
Paul married after the trial and had a daughter, Dorothy, who was born in 1918. After his first wife died, Paul married Lena Solomon. Although he had amassed a considerable fortune during his life (earning thousands from poolroom
A billiard room (also billiards room, or more specifically pool room, snooker room) is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table. (The term "billiard room" or "pool room" may also be us ...
s, cafes
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
, cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
, restaurants
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearanc ...
and other establishments), Paul worked as a manager for a cabaret club in his later years and was nearly bankrupt according to a number of his associates in East Side Manhattan. He remarked to Sigmund Schwartz, a personal friend and owner of Schwartz's Undertaking Parlors, ''"You'll get me pretty soon, now. My health is gone and so is my money"''. Indeed, Paul was seriously ill for three weeks before his death from nephritis
Nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys and may involve the glomeruli, tubules, or interstitial tissue surrounding the glomeruli and tubules. It is one of several different types of nephropathy.
Types
* Glomerulonephritis is inflammation of th ...
at his East Eighteenth Street home on January 10, 1927. His funeral was held the following morning at Schwartz's parlor on Fifth Street, near Second Avenue, and buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery.[ According to the New York Times, 2000 people attended Paul's funeral. Illiam Berkowitz, a friend of Paul's, was quoted as saying that Paul was a "square gambler and a philanthropist."]
References
Further reading
* Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 315–320)
*Chafetz, Henry. ''Play the Devil: A History of Gambling in the United States from 1492 to 1955''. New York: Potters Publishers, 1960.
*Cohen, Stanley. ''The Execution of Officer Becker; The Murder of a Gambler, the Trial of a Cop, and the Birth of Organized Crime''. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2006.
*Joselit, Jenna Weissman. ''Our Gang: Jewish Crime and the New York Jewish Community, 1900-1940''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983.
*Katcher, Leo. ''The Big Bankroll: The Life and Times of Arnold Rothstein''. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994.
*Logan, Andy. ''Against The Evidence: The Becker-Rosenthal Affair''. New York: McCall Publishing Company, 1970.
*Pietrusza, David. ''Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series''. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003.
*Root, Jonathan. ''One Night in July: The True Story of the Rosenthal-Becker Murder Case''. New York: Coward-McCann, 1961.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Sam
1874 births
1927 deaths
19th-century American Jews
20th-century American Jews
Criminals from New York City
People from Manhattan
Burials at Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City)
New York (state) Democrats
Deaths from nephritis