A Question of Ethics: Bo Weinberg, the Syndicate, & the Art of the Double-Cross
Abraham "Bo" Weinberg, undated. When I set out to write a novel about East Harlem in the 1920s using the history of the Joe Noe-Arthur Flegenheimer criminal organization as a backdrop, one of the questions that I hoped to shed some light on was the chain of events that led Weinberg down a path that ultimately led to his disappearance in September of 1935. For those that aren't familiar with the story or haven't had a chance to dive into the novel yet, a brief bit of history. In 1933, having successfully prosecuted the Capone and Guzik brothers in Chicago and then Irving Wexler, better known as Waxey Gordon, on the theory of income tax evasion, the United States Government set their eyes on a new target: Arthur Flegenheimer, more infamously known as Dutch Schultz. The Dutchman, never one to be intimidated, responded by going underground for the next two years as his army of lawyers and bagmen did their best to square the roughly $100,000 tha...
