21
MONEY, CLASS, AND POWER
* Note: Positions of power and ownership are always in flux. Companies are bought and sold these days with extraordinary frequency and career rungs change quickly. The facts noted in the next chapters for those of current power should be regarded as an overall pattern and not an absolute freeze point for any individual and his/her controlling interests. Such facts are also merely a general sampling, and may be regarded -- in overview -- as the proverbial "tip of an iceberg."
In the following chapters, too, many people are identified as being of Jewish heritage as part of this investigation of Jewish power in America. Often Jewish journals and scholars identify them. Sometimes too, when the subject is portrayed in a good, or at least neutral, light, they are identified as such in the popular mass media. When Jews make the news for being in trouble with the law, they are more often freely identified as Jews in the British press than in the United States. In America, they are more likely noted neutrally, as "white," "Russian," "Iranian," or other ethnicities under which Jewish identities may be subsumed.
Sometimes the Jewish heritage of the powerful or newsworthy is difficult to ascertain, but their ethnicity can often be decided via articles about relatives, relationships to Israel, synagogues, religious holidays, cultural indicators, or Jewish-configured political organizations and other tangential leads. Many surnames (Cohen, Katz, Kaplan, Levy, Levine, Levin, etc.) are instantly recognizable to the informed as Jewish and, even if a small minority of individuals with such names are only "half-Jewish" or, rarely, converts to some other religion, the familial link to the Jewish community (especially in homage to the Holocaust and often modern Israel) may fairly be presumed to be no small thing. For purposes here, that allegiance, and all it entails, is the crucial determinant in determining who is Jewish. The ambiguous "community of fate" is, after all, one of the major self-defined measures of Jewish identity. This is particularly true of those who hold power of some sort in popular culture: most of these people are in significant degree part of a Jewish network, especially an economic and political one.
In these senses, this work follows the lead of the Jewish community (and the Jewish ethnic media) itself. (Many individuals, however, who may well be Jewish, had to be left out of this assemblage because public information was too weak and names were too ambiguous to presume that they had a Jewish background). This entire methodology (ironically ascribed by Jews as a manifestation of anti-Semitism if it represents anything less than an intention to flatter Jewry) is popular in the Jewish world itself, often noted as "nose-counting" or "bean-counting": usually a celebratory emphasis of who exactly is Jewish and/or its attendant search for allegiances. As Jewish scholar Nathan Glazer has noted about this phenomena, and its tinge of paranoia:
"A leading figure in the Jewish community affairs relates that a
Jew eagerly asks, in any situation, 'How many are Jews?' And
when he gets an answer, he asks suspiciously, 'How do you
know?'" [NEUSNER, J., 1972, p. 3]
Efforts here to determine specifically who is Jewish are, in some ways, more extensive than most Jewish organizations' demographic studies themselves. In a 1999 investigation of the Jews of the Miami area by the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, for example, the way to ascertain who was Jewish was simple. Ten percent of common Jewish names were merely tallied, and compared to other years, from phone books. From this base, estimates were made. This method of determining Jewish population numbers "has been used by Jewish demographers across the country for 40 years." [BELKIN, D., 5-6-99, p. B1] An American Jewish Committee examination of voter patterns in the Philadelphia was in large part "based on surnames gathered from voter-registration records." [FELDMAN, S., 3-2-2000, p. 1] Jewish author George Gilbert, like many, notes in his introduction to his volume about "Jewish photographers," that "for the purposes of this study, individuals are deemed Jewish even if they do not meet the halakhic structure responsible for traditional Jewish religious criteria: being born of a Jewish mother." [GILBERT, G., 1996, p. ix] Stanley Rothman's and S. Robert Lichter's definition of Jewry to qualify for inclusion in a book about Jewish political radicalism goes like this: "We classified students as Jewish if the ethnic background of both parents was Jewish, or if only one parent was of Jewish background but had raised the child as a Jew or without religious training." [ROTHMAN/LICHTER, 1982, p. 213] In 1973 Harry Golden noted United Jewish Appeal methodologies to find the Jewish nouveau riche to pester for philanthropic donations: "[UJA] researchers go over every prospectus issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission, attentively study advertised stock offerings in every city, and plow through hundreds of year-end reports to the stockholders issued by major industries, always on the lookout for that Jewish name that they have never read before." Another UJA division scans obituaries, looking for affluent Jews by surname, intent upon contacting survivors. [GOLDEN, H., 1973, p. 119] No apologies are thereby made for such popular Jewish research methodologies that are in large part followed here.
"Having money is a good thing, having power over money is
even better."
-- Old Yiddish folk saying [KUMOVE, S., 1985, p. 16]
"Money goes to money."
-- Old Yiddish folk saying, [KUMOVE, S., 1985, p. 179]
"The rich breed more rich."
-- Old Yiddish folk saying, [KUMOVE, S., 1985, p. 251]
"The rich man's way is without fair play."
-- Old Yiddish folk saying, [KUMOVE, S., 1985, p. 251]
"Villains fare well in this world, saints in the next world."
-- Old Yiddish folk saying, [KUMOVE, S., 1985, p. 84]
"Behind every fortune lies a crime."
-- Balzac
-- Balzac
"Jewish money," noted Gerald Krefetz, "-- its purported influence and power-- is one of the oldest canards of anti-Semitism. Therefore, the topic is usually dealt with in the softest of voices by Jews for fear of raising the specter of anti-Semitism; and by non-Jews for fear of being tarred by the brush, of being called anti-Semites for even ventilating the subject. The omission is startling since money -- its use and abuse, its acquisition and disposition -- was and is a central element in the Jewish experience." [KREFETZ, p. 3]
As an Eastern European Jewish fable notes about the subject of anti-Jewish hostility, traditional tension between Jewish haves and Gentile have-nots, and the wisdom of keeping relative Jewish affluence hidden:
"Once the good-hearted rabbi of Chelm was interrupted in his devotions
by the sudden appearance of one of his townspeople, Yankele, bleeding
and howling in pain. The shabbes-goy [non-Jewish Saturday servant for
Jews] had gratuitously punched Yankele in the mouth. The rabbi asked
solicitously if he could inspect the damage. But when Yankele opened
his mouth, the rabbi was horriifed. How does a Jew come to have such
a healthy set of teeth? Are these the very teeth that Yankele had exposed
to the shabbes-goy? Well, then, no wonder he had been brutalized.
For a Jew to show such strong tetth is in itself a provocation. The
rabbi counseled Yankele never to show his teeth to any Gentile again.
In susequent weeks, although Yankele keeps his mouth dutifully shut, the
shabbes-goy beats him up repeatedly. Each time the rabbi, after due
analysis of the situation, discovers a provocation: once Yankele had carried
a loaf of bread home from the marketplace, obviously attracting the shabbes-goy's
envy; a second time he had strayed too far out of town, obviously transgressing
what the shabbes-goy considered to be the Jew's legitimate bounds. Finally,
after still another beating, the rabbi realizes the gravity of the situation and
calls a public meeting of the local Jewish elders to resolve the matter. The
meeting unanimously concludes that Yankele is too dangerous to keep in town.
At the rabbi's suggestion he if forced to leave, and the shabbes-goy's wages
are modestly raised to placate him and 'move him to pity.'" [SHORRIS, E.,
1982, p. 98-99; written by WISSE, RUTH]
As an Eastern European Jewish fable notes about the subject of anti-Jewish hostility, traditional tension between Jewish haves and Gentile have-nots, and the wisdom of keeping relative Jewish affluence hidden:
"Once the good-hearted rabbi of Chelm was interrupted in his devotions
by the sudden appearance of one of his townspeople, Yankele, bleeding
and howling in pain. The shabbes-goy [non-Jewish Saturday servant for
Jews] had gratuitously punched Yankele in the mouth. The rabbi asked
solicitously if he could inspect the damage. But when Yankele opened
his mouth, the rabbi was horriifed. How does a Jew come to have such
a healthy set of teeth? Are these the very teeth that Yankele had exposed
to the shabbes-goy? Well, then, no wonder he had been brutalized.
For a Jew to show such strong tetth is in itself a provocation. The
rabbi counseled Yankele never to show his teeth to any Gentile again.
In susequent weeks, although Yankele keeps his mouth dutifully shut, the
shabbes-goy beats him up repeatedly. Each time the rabbi, after due
analysis of the situation, discovers a provocation: once Yankele had carried
a loaf of bread home from the marketplace, obviously attracting the shabbes-goy's
envy; a second time he had strayed too far out of town, obviously transgressing
what the shabbes-goy considered to be the Jew's legitimate bounds. Finally,
after still another beating, the rabbi realizes the gravity of the situation and
calls a public meeting of the local Jewish elders to resolve the matter. The
meeting unanimously concludes that Yankele is too dangerous to keep in town.
At the rabbi's suggestion he if forced to leave, and the shabbes-goy's wages
are modestly raised to placate him and 'move him to pity.'" [SHORRIS, E.,
1982, p. 98-99; written by WISSE, RUTH]
"Jewish success in America," says Henry Feingold, "appears to rest partly on the pre-existing Jewish culture (which gives it behavioral cues, a unique entrepreneurial vision, plus connections and capital); and American culture (which gives it a success ethos, economic opportunity, and open society)." [FEINGOLD, p. 41] "Jews," noted Israeli scholar Boas Evron in 1995, "are among the most powerful, best integrated and wealthy groups in the United States, Britain, and France." [EVRON, p. 48] "Jews," adds Joseph Heckelman, "are disproportionately visible in every area of human endeavor. In other words, Jews are disproportionately successful." [HECKELMAN, J., p. 68] "Success is a basic fact of Jewish American life," observed Roger Kahn in 1968, "... Success surrounds and infuses their lives. Success in business; success in educating children; success in entering the most hotly-sought endeavors. Jews are business owners, business managers, professionals, writers and artists. Few are laborers. Virtually none is a farmhand." [KAHN, R., p. 4] "We didn't progress because we were Jewish," a Jewish factory owner in Brooklyn told researcher Jonathan Rider in 1985, "but because we are a driving, pushing people." [REIDER, J., 1985, p. 45]
Karl Marx's mid-19th century comment that America had already become "Judaized" (i.e., commercialized and rendered excessively materialistic) through Jewish influence upon America's own stringent brand of Protestantism, was echoed in 1911 by the Jewish anthropologist, Maurice Fishberg:
"Fifty years ago the criminology of the Jews was a good indication of
what modern society is coming to under commercial and financial
activity. In this respect, as was the case with many other peculiarities,
such as the excessive number of psychopathics and neuropathics, the
Jews have only been the advance agents. Many publicists of Europe
have, in fact, often designated conditions in the United States as
'Jewish.'" [FISHBERG, p. 549]
"The power of commercialism in the United States was hardly to be denied," says Albert Lindemann, "The English themselves were often taken aback by the commercial scramble in the United States in the nineteenth century, by the 'Jewish souls of the Yankee.'" [LINDEMANN, p. 206] "It has been the Jews," says Edward Shapiro, "who taught Americans how to dance (Arthur Murray), what to wear (Ralph Lauren), how to behave (Dear Abby and Ann Landers), and where to complain (David Horowitz). [SHAPIRO, Anti-Sem, p. 1] Jews even gave the world the idealized images of the Barbie doll and Superman. "If you live in New York or any other major city," said comedian Lenny Bruce, "you are Jewish." [RUBIN, p. 89]
As Chaim Bermant notes:
"
the world today than at any other time since the rise of Christianity. Auschwitz is,
of course, one reason; another is the decline in religious fanaticism and, indeed, in
religious belief in general, and while rampant secularism may be a threat to Judaism
it has made life easier for the Jew. A third reason, which is connected to the second,
is that the western world has become more Jewish. The commerical drive which
was said to characterize the Jew and which was regarded with such disdain by the
European (if not the American) bourgeoisie, has become, if not respectable, then at
least more widespread and acceptable ..." [BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 37]
As Chaim Bermant notes:
"
the world today than at any other time since the rise of Christianity. Auschwitz is,
of course, one reason; another is the decline in religious fanaticism and, indeed, in
religious belief in general, and while rampant secularism may be a threat to Judaism
it has made life easier for the Jew. A third reason, which is connected to the second,
is that the western world has become more Jewish. The commerical drive which
was said to characterize the Jew and which was regarded with such disdain by the
European (if not the American) bourgeoisie, has become, if not respectable, then at
least more widespread and acceptable ..." [BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 37]
"If the religious traditions of the shtetl had accustomed Jews to think of luxuries as a type of instrument for dignifying the holy days," says Andrew Heinze, "the secular American environment refocused this awareness." [HEINZE, p. 5] ... By exploiting the Jewish concept of honoring a holiday, merchants and consumers turned the religious occasion into a pretext for shopping ... [HEINZE, p. 66] ... As a pretext for shopping, Jewish holidays merged subtly with the fashion cycle." [HEINZE, p. 67] "The turn of the century New York Yiddish press," writes Paula Hyman and Deborah Moore, "abounded with references to the enthusiasm of Jewish women, even the newly arrived, for the latest style of dress and interior decoration. Furthermore, there were certain clear contrasts between Jews and other groups in respect to the consumption of goods ... [Jewish] attraction to new kinds of products and pleasures also contributed to the rapid development of a resort culture among Jews, which set them apart not only from other immigrants, but from virtually all Americans of similar modest means." [HYMAN, p. 24] Among the best known of these resorts in the Catskill Mountains was Grossinger's.
"In the 1860s and 1870s," notes William Leach, "luxury was seen by many Americans as morally corrupting ... By the 1920s, luxury seems to have lost for many people much of its negative meaning." [LEACH, p. 295] "The modern definition of luxury," decided an influential Columbia University economist, Edwin R. Seligman, in 1927, "is neutral so far as ethical connotation is concerned." [LEACH, p. 295] "Nourished by American conditions and values," says Andrew Heinze, "Jewish merchants were able to make a profound impact in the era before World War I. In the areas of street marketing and film marketing, they would completely change the prevalent mode of operations, thereby demonstrating that Jewish adaptation in America entailed the creation as well as the reception of new forms of consumption." [HEINZE, p. 181-182] "The contemporary historian John Higham," notes Edward Shapiro, "has concluded that the Jewish emphasis on the materialistic and competitive values of business is also 'deeply ingrained in American life.'" [SHAPIRO, p. 11]
Even modern advertising and the selling of "brand names" can be traced to Jewish origins, particularly rooted in the Jewish Rothschild banking monolith in Germany in the 1800s. The House of Rothschild, notes Sam Lehman-Wilzig, "developed ... institutionalized advertising. Advertising today is taken for granted as a central cog in the capitalist system, especially in regard to fueling demand. This was not always the case; for as [German economist Werner] Sombart points out, a pretty display in a window was considered unethical business practice a mere three hundred years ago. Noteworthy is that this institution was elevated by HR [the House of Rothschild] to new heights, advertising not any specific product but a corporate name." [LEHMAN-WILZIG, p. 256]
In a more recent expression of the "brand name" archetype, Christopher Byron traces the Israeli Nakash brothers (of Jordache jeans) road to success in America in the 1980s:
"Steeped in the Middle Eastern arts of obliqueness and guile, the
brothers seemed manipulative by nature. And as the youngest of the
three, Avi's guile certainly showed through when he came up with a
gimmick that would make them all rich. Catching on quickly to the
American way of doing things, he suggested that they forget about
the product and invest in the image instead. In other words, spend
the money on an ad campaign ... And what more mesmerized the
masses than sex, wealth, and social power ... If a four-dollar swatch
of denim could be turned into a symbol of success, there was just
no telling how much people would be willing to pay for it ... [The
first TV commercial they personally created] the three networks
all rejected ... as lewd, but New York area independents agreed to
carry it, and within weeks Jordache was the rage of every high
school in the Greater New York area." [BYRON, p. 34-35]
Another example of the artificial construct of economic value is the entire world of diamonds, largely controlled internationally by Jews. The idea of an "engagement ring" (and specifically a diamond one, as an expression of eternal love) is a recent phenomena, created by advertising agencies to sell more diamonds. David Koskoff notes that:
"Harry Oppenheimer [the head of the South African-based De Beers
diamond syndicate] is usually credited with augmenting demand [for
diamonds] through advertising, which De Beers undertook in 1939 ...
Most diamantaries [those in the diamond trade] appreciate that the value
of their product is illusory and dependent on the props maintained by
De Beers." [KOSKOFF, The Diamonds, p. 272
In 1993 the Israeli author Amos Oz paraphrased a Jewish critic's referral to the special Jewish entrepreneurial vision:
"We Israelis hear now and then that the very state of Israel might
have been a mistake ... George Steiner goes even further by adding
that a national state per se is vain, childish, anachronistic, and a
dangerous concept. We should aspire to 'Judaifying' the entire world
by turning it into the arena of one hundred different civilizations,
rather than a single nation state." [OZ, p. 117]
"Western civilization," says Albert Lindemann, "is undeniably a 'jewified' civilization, however offensive the word may be to our ears because of the ugly use made of it by anti-Semites ... Anti-Semites believed that Jews were everywhere, and in a sense they were almost everywhere that counted in modern society." [LINDEMANN, Esau's, p. 20]
WASP economic and social dominance in America was well along in the process of being dismantled when Jewish commentator Peter Schrag wrote in 1971 that
"In the last twenty-five years, dissecting the establishment has become a
highly popular academic endeavor. C. Wright Mills (among others)
took it on in The Power Elite, E. Digby Baltzell in The Protestant
Establishment, G. William Domhoff in The Higher Circles and Who
Rules America? One might suspect that the very existence of these
studies indicates that the subject bears more resemblance to a carcass
than to a living body." [SCHRAG, p. 161]
******************************************
The first immigration group of Jews to America came in the colonial era; they were largely Sephardic and established themselves as a merchant elite. "They were "among the founders of such Establishment institutions as the New York Stock Exchange, Columbia University, New York University, the American Medical Association, and the Boston Atheneum." [ZWEIGANHAFT, p. 9] Hayman Levy was the largest fur trader in colonial America; even Daniel Boone was hired by a Jew, "Jacob Cohen, and other Jewish merchants to survey the land, mark out roads and locate land claims in Kentucky." [DAVIS, D., 129] A second immigrant group arrived in the middle of the 19th century; some of these "made their way into investment banking, where they were joined by an equally successful group of Jews stemming from the banking houses established by the Jews in Germany." [FEINGOLD, p. 39]
By the 1870s, "proportionally speaking, in no other immigrant group have so many ever risen so rapidly from rags to riches." [ZWEIGENHAFT, p. 11] "The first generation of [Jewish] millionaires included the manufacturer Philip Heidelbach, the bankers Josephs Seligman, Lewis Seasongood, and Solomon Loeb, the railroad magnates Emanuel and Mayer Lehman, and a good many more. The generall body of American Jews participated in the same upward thrust; a survey of 10,000 Jewish families in 1890 showed that 7,000 of them had servants." [HIGHAM, J., 1957, p. 8] "Many Jews," noted Richard Zweigenhaft and G. William Domhoff, "were influential in founding the very clubs that helped set the upper class apart from the rest of society ... Like the Sephardim who preceded them, the wealthiest German Jews were accepted in the most prestigious social clubs, and many interacted with and were entertained socially by 'the best' of gentile society." [ZWEIGENHAFT, p. 10] In 1889 62% of American Jews in the occupational world were either bankers, brokers, wholesalers, retailers, collectors, or agents. 17% more were professionals. [LIPSET/RAAB, p. 82]
The third wave of Jewish immigrants, the largest, came from Eastern Europe at the turn of the twentieth century and mostly settled in New York City; occupationally, these Jews gravitated to the clothing industry. Between 1881 and 1924 over two and a half million Jews from Russia alone came to America aggravating -- with their allegedly rude and "uncivilized" mode of living -- not only non-Jewish Americans but indigenous Jewish -Americans as well, who worried that their Eastern European brethren's "customs and manners ... imperil[ed] their ascent." [ZWEIGENHAFT, p. 12-13]
(A more recent - -1980s -- Jewish immigration, with the fall of the Shah, was that from Iran. "This," says the Los Angeles Times, "was one of the richest waves of immigrants ever to come to the United States. Their first toehold in their new land was no squalid, crowded 'Little Tehran,' but rather the gracious hillsides of Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills, and other nearby neighborhoods of the Westside and San Fernando Valley." [MITCHELL, p. J1] By the late 1980s, one of five students in the posh Beverly Hills (which is, as noted earlier, mostly Jewish anyway) school system were "Iranians"; most of these Iranians were Jews. [MITCHELL, p. J1] Hundreds of thousands of Jews from Israel have also emigrated to America in recent years. "I would ... venture a guess," says Israeli sociologist B.Z. Sobel, "and suggest that at least in the case of the United States, the Israelis currently arriving represent the most gilded of immigrant groups to reach American shores in this century." [SOBEL, B., p. 149] Jews from Israel in America have been rated with an economic "productivity index of 6.8," the highest of any ethnic group. "Those Jewish immigrants from Israel," notes Steven Silbiger, "were seven times more likely to have the highest concentration of higher incomes and the lowest rate of dependency on public assistance than any other group studied." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 4]
Then there are the recent Russian Jewish immigrants to America since the 1970s -- approximately 400,000 in the metropolitan New York area alone. As the Jerusalem Post noted in 2000 about the results of an American Jewish Committee survey: "The Russians are the most educated immigrant group in America's immigrant history and are more highly educated than American Jews as a whole ... after six years in the U. S. most of the employed Russians are similar to American Jews in terms of annual income and attitude." [HENRY, M., 1-13-00, p. 3])
Then there are the recent Russian Jewish immigrants to America since the 1970s -- approximately 400,000 in the metropolitan New York area alone. As the Jerusalem Post noted in 2000 about the results of an American Jewish Committee survey: "The Russians are the most educated immigrant group in America's immigrant history and are more highly educated than American Jews as a whole ... after six years in the U. S. most of the employed Russians are similar to American Jews in terms of annual income and attitude." [HENRY, M., 1-13-00, p. 3])
"As early as 1885," notes Joel Kotkin, "... Jews, mostly from Germany, owned 97% of all the garment factories. By the early twentieth century Jewish domination of the 'rag trade' [in America] was virtually complete, with Jews accounting for between 50 and 80 per cent of all haymakers, furriers, seamstresses, and tailors in the country." [KOTKIN, p. 48-49] By 1915 the "clothing trade" was America's third largest industry, behind only steel and oil. [LEACH, p. 93] "Jews largely created the American clothing production industry, replacing homemade clothes and tailor-made clothing." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 46] "Jews," says Milton Plesur, "were the chief source of operatives for the ready-made clothing industry, but by the 1920s, they constituted less than half of the operatives and by mid-century less than 28 percent. In the meantime, Jews have risen to management and ownership, thus achieving almost exclusive control of the entire wearing apparel industry." [PLESUR, M., 1982, p. 161] The modern bra, for instance, was a Jewish marketing invention, promoted by the Maiden Form Brassiere company owned by William and Ida Rosenthal with Enid Bissett, founded in 1923. Likewise, the suits of "Hattie Carnegie [born Herietta Kanengeiser] led a fashion empire that set the pace of American fashion for nearly three decades." [HYMAN, p. 207]
In more recent history, Jews have congregated in, and dominated, the "fashion" aspects of the clothing industry -- founding everything from Guess, Gitano, Jordache, Calvin Klein, and Levi-Strauss jeans to Ralph [Lifshitz] Laurencosmetics. (The Jordache and Guess companies -- both founded by recent Jewish immigrants to the United States -- were involved in particularly nasty lawsuits and underhand unscrupulous maneuvers against each other. The companies' manipulations are documented in a 1992 volume entitled: Glamour, Greed, and Dirty Tricks in the Fashion Industry: The Bizarre Story of Guess v. Jordache. In 1985, one of the brothers who owns Jordache, Joe Nakash, was elected in Israel to be the president of the Boys' Town Jerusalem Society. "This is the message I want to convey to those who care about Israel's future," Nakash said, "That in addition to providing its students with a superb education, Boys' Town builds and develops their character, their conviction and their commitment to their homeland." [JEWISH WEEK, 5-3-85, p. 22]
At Levis-Strauss, in 1982 Robert Haas "became the fifth generation family member to run the company (his father, Walter A. Haas Jr. was CEO from 1958 to 1976." [MUNK, p. 36] Warren Hirsch, president of Murjani Internationalinitiated the blue jean craze in recent years with the designer label "Gloria Vanderbilt." Alfred Slaner headed Kayser-Roth into the 1980s, "the largest clothing manufacturing establishment in the world." [GREENBERG, M., p. 73]
French-born Maurice Bidermann (born Maurice Zylberberg) "was the mastermind of one of the largest [clothes] manufacturing networks in the world, with thirteen thousand workers in thirty-four factories. Producer of Pierre Cardin andYves Saint Laurent suits, his plants in France, the United States and Hong Kong churned out nearly $200 million in designer duds each year ... He was the older brother of Regine, the jet-set nightclub owner of New Jimmy's and Regine's, in Paris and New York." [GAINES/CHURCHER, p. 196] The president of Bidermann's companies in the U.S.? Also Jewish. Michael Zelnick.
"Of all the monarchs in the garment industry," note Steven Gaines and Sharon Churcher, "... Carl Rosen [of Puritan Fashions; Chief Financial Officer: Sam Rubenstein] was the biggest and richest ... Rosen owned two Rolls-Royces, both painted gold, and the one he kept at his Palm Springs estate once belonged to the queen mother of England ... Reportedly ... Carl supplied hookers and dirty weekends to Las Vegas for the buyers." [GAINES/CHURCHER, p. 216] "The [Dan]Millstein name [of coats and suits] had become familiar to every American household ... [Seymour] Fox was in a league of his own in the fashion business, a mogul even wealthier than Millstein. Fox was known not only for his exquisite, high-priced fashions but for his grand lifestyle, replete with stretch limousines and a beautiful mistress, the Women's Wear Daily columnist Carol Bjorkman." [GAINES/CHURCHER, p. 49, 56]
In the 1960s and 1970s, Hartmarx "became the largest manufacturer and retailer of men's tailored clothing." The company, originally called Hart, Schaffner and Marx, was founded in the late 1800s by Harry and Marcus Marx. Relative Joseph Schaffner joined as a co-partner later. [SONNENFELD, J., 1988, p. 167] In Canada, Steven Shein owns E&J Manufacturing Ltd., "one of Canada's largest wool coat makers." [KUITENBROWER, P., 4-1-2000, p. D1] Sigi Rabinowicz, an Orthodox Jew, is the CEO of Israel-based Tefron, "a major force in lingerie." [MCLEAN, B., 9-18-2000, p. 60] "Israel Myers -- son of a tailor -- originated the London Fog raincost." [KRISCHNER, S., 9-14-00, p. 11]
In 1995 another Jewish garment mogul, Calvin Klein, who had a serious problem with cocaine and Quaaludes over the years [GAINES/CHURCHER, p. 208], was condemned by a range of parent and social welfare groups for an advertising campaign featuring images by Jewish photographer Stephen Meisel. Adolescent models, notes Henry Giroux, were photographed
"in various stages of undress, poised to offer both sexual pleasures and
the fantasy of sexual availability ... Angry critics ... called the images
suggestive and exploitive, and condemned Calvin Klein for using
children as sexual commodities. Other critics likened the ads to child
pornography." [GIROUX, p. 16-17]
This was an old theme for Klein. Earlier suggestive commercials with and adolescent Brooke Shields had garnered condemnation from a variety of groups, including a feminist group called Women Against Pornography.
The Guess company (founded by the Jewish Marciano brothers, who share control of the firm with the Nakash family, who are also Jewish) has also followed the same advertising strategy to sell jeans. "Media Watch," noted the Los Angeles Times in 1990, "a feminist group in Santa Cruz, has called for a boycott of Guess, charging that its ads demean women, integrating sex with violence." [SCHACTER, J., 1990, p. D1]
Elsewhere, Estelle Sommers founded the Capezio dancewear brand, Ann Klein [originally Hannah Golofski] has become a widely recognized "designer" brand, as has Donna Karan and her DKNY label. Isaac Mizrahi and Tommy Hilfiger are other famous Jewish fashion brands, as is that of the Iranian-Jewish mogul of perfume and self-promotion, Bijan (Pakzad), also known as the "designer of what's probably the world's most expensive menswear." [DORFMAN] Rudi Gernreich and John Weitz are other Jews who have been prominent fashion designers. Designer Arnold Scassi's last name is Isaacs (his original surname) spelled backwards. Kenneth Cole (originally: Kenneth Cohen) developed popular lines of shoes, belts, and leather jackets. Judith Lieber manufacturers luxury handbags. Liz Claiborne founded her company with her Jewish husband Arthur Ortenberg and Leonard Boxer. She retired in 1989 whereupon Jerome Chazen became chairman of the firm. Other prominent executives in the company are Harvey Falk and Jay Margolis.
In 1988, Nicholas Coleridge listed the American "power buyers" (those who buy for stores) of the fashion world. Most of the people listed are Jewish, and a huge percentage of the stores are Jewish-owned:
"Daria Retain, fashion director of Neiman Marcus; Ellin Saltzman,
director of fashion and product development at Saks Fifth Avenue;
James Fowler and Mary Talbot, vice-president and design buyer
of Jacobsons Stores, Michigan; Kaye von Bergen, designer buyer
of Bendel's; Lois Ziegler and Sue Bicksler, fashion directors of
J.C. Penney; Bernie Ozer, vice-president of the Associated
Merchandising Corporation; Barbara Weiser of Charivari; Barbara
Warner, formerly of Barneys, who virtually single-handedly turned
the store into an upbeat designer terminus; Lynne Manulis, president
of Marthas; Joan Weinstein, president of Ultimo; James Sullivan,
fashion director of Jordan Marsh; Missy Lomonaco, fashion
director of Bonwit Teller; Betty Hahn, designer buyer of Garfinkels,
Washington; Jean Navin, vice-president and fashion director of
Lord & Taylor; Kal Ruttenstein, vice-president and fashion director
of Bloomingdales; Terry Melville, fashion director of Macy's; and
Sal Ruggerio of Marshall Field, Chicago." [COLERIDGE, p. 259]
In 2000, the National Post noted the heart of the garment district in Montreal, Canada -- the Jewish center of Chabenel Street. The article addressed the bribery of store buyers by clothing makers and its long tradition in the Jewish community. (In Yiddish: "Az men shmert nit, fort men nit." -- If you don't bribe, you don't ride). Kickbacks, noted Doug Robinson, a Canadian fraud squad officer is "a dirty secret of the industry." [KUITENBROWER, P., 4-1-2000, p. D1]
Elsewhere, Israeli-born Elia "Tahari is among the most respected names in department and specialty stores." [HOOD, p. 1E] In California Severin Wunderman's company, the Severin Group ($500 million a year in sales), remains "the sole manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of Gucci timepieces and Fila sports watches." These products' retail cost run between $225 and $14,000 apiece. "The word 'demanding' is repeatedly used to describe [Severin]. In addition to shouting and breaking things, he has tossed more than one cellular phone out the window of his chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce." [HOWLETT, p. E1] The head of the French luxury jewelry firm, Cartier, is also Jewish: Alain Dominique Perrin. In 1996, during a visit to Israel, he announced "plans to donate an unspecified percentage of the revenue from the sale of $10 million worth of jewelry to WIZO [the World International Zionist Organization]." [CASHMAN, 1996, p. 14] Kenneth Jay Lane, "the fake jewelry king," [HORYN, C., 12-12-99, sec. 9, p. 1] is also Jewish. Nudie Cohen, head of Nudie's, was the "costume designer who pasted Nashville in rhinestones in the 1940s and '50s." [LONGINO, M., 9-8-2000] He supplied the Hollywood/Las Vegas cowboy image to people like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. Others fitting such stars were "Nathan Turk and his East coast counterpart Rodeo Ben (Bernard Lichtenstein), both Eastern European immigrants" whose "clothes brought western wear into its heyday." [MOORE, B., 2001, p. E3] Adrian's was the logo of Adrian Goldberg, a famous dress designer for Hollywood in the 1930s and '40s. Sidney Toledano is today's president and CEO of Christian Dior.
The Chanel company, which makes "the most expensive perfume in the world," was founded by non-Jew Co Co Chanel, but built to power by the Jewish Wertheimer brothers. As the London Independent notes:
"In 1924 [Chanel] sold 90 per cent of the rights to Chanel No. 5
to Pierre Wertheimer, who, with his brother Paul, owned Bourjois,
the largest cosmetics company in France ... They bought out Chanel
-- couture house, perfume and all -- in 1954." [JOBEY, L., 11-27-90,
p. 12]
Feeling that "she was being cheated" by the Wertheimers, Chanel had sued them in 1934. [MOUBRAY, J., 2-10-98, p. 18]
Elsewhere in France, in 1995 Jean-Pierre Meyer became Deputy Chairman of the L'Oreal cosmetics giant, suceeding Andre Bettencourt (whose father founded the firm). Meyer, who is Jewish, is married to Bettencourt's daughter. [ http://www.klarsfeld.org/press/95/us_urged/us_urged.htm ]
Elsewhere in France, in 1995 Jean-Pierre Meyer became Deputy Chairman of the L'Oreal cosmetics giant, suceeding Andre Bettencourt (whose father founded the firm). Meyer, who is Jewish, is married to Bettencourt's daughter. [ http://www.klarsfeld.org/press/95/us_urged/us_urged.htm ]
Diane von Furstenberg (original name: Diane Simone Michelle Halfin) founded a "fragrance and fashion empire." Stanley Kohlenberg, head of Revlon's domestic Group III, was "recognized as one of the premiere marketing men in the fragrance industry." [GAINES/CHURCH, p. 182] Samuel Rubin founded the Faberge perfume company. Max Factor built a cosmetics empire, including waterproof mascara and long-lasting lipstick. Helena Rubenstein sold "beauty and royalty." "The names [of Jewish entrepreneurs] Helena Rubenstein and Estee Lauder [born Josephine Esther Menzer] became virtual synonyms for cosmetics in the twentieth century." [HYMAN, p. 27] Adrien Arpel opened 500 skin care salons across America. "A legend in the cosmetics industry.... although Arpel is not a formally observant woman, she is very conscious of her Jewish identity." [HYMAN, p. 67-68] Vidal Sassoon built an business empire based on hair care. (Sassoon, funder of a research unit on anti-Semitism at an Israeli university, was the recipient of the first American Jewish Congress "Beauty Hall of Fame" award). Non-Jew Grace Mirabella, for 17 years the editor of Vogue magazine, notes that "all the models, actresses, and photographers of London" hung out a Sassoon's hair studios. [MOIRABELLA, G., 1995, p. 127]
Jack Rosen is chairman of the Hazel Bishop cosmetics company (as well as being the CEO and chairman of Continental Health Affiliates and the CEO of Infu-Tech, two major health care corporations). [PR NEWSWIRE, 3-13-98] Shirley Polykoff at Clairol introduced to America her advertising catchphrases: "'Does she or doesn't she?,' 'If I have only one life to lead, let me live it as a blonde,' and 'Hate that gray, wash it away.'" [BAER, p. 158]
Jack Rosen is chairman of the Hazel Bishop cosmetics company (as well as being the CEO and chairman of Continental Health Affiliates and the CEO of Infu-Tech, two major health care corporations). [PR NEWSWIRE, 3-13-98] Shirley Polykoff at Clairol introduced to America her advertising catchphrases: "'Does she or doesn't she?,' 'If I have only one life to lead, let me live it as a blonde,' and 'Hate that gray, wash it away.'" [BAER, p. 158]
The Gottleib family founded the Gottex swimmear line. Marvin Winkler (philanthropist of an Orthodox Chabad "Immigrant Camp" in Hollywood) and Jay Schottenstein bought the Gotcha surf wear company in 1996 (also including theMCD and GirlStar brands. Adam Tihany is one of America's best known upscale "restaurant designers," his work includes Manhattan's Le Cirque 2000. Maurice Stein owns Burbank, "one of the world's largest suppliers of cosmetics, skin, and hair products to the entertainment industry." [WILGOREN, p. A1] Israeli-born Gil Gamlieli is co-owner of "Manhattan's celebrated Gil Gamlieli Beauty Group." [EPSTEIN, M., p. T6] Even a Satmar hasidic Jew, Victor Jacobs, is CEO and Chairman of Allou Health and Beauty Care.
Chicago's Irving Harris became a millionaire with his ToniHome Permanent. Mr. Blackwell -- creator of the world's "worst" and "best" dressed lists, is a Jewish fashion designer who changed his name from Richard Selzer to Dick Ellis to, lastly, Blackwell. Britain's Trevor Spero founded the Flame model agency and Scene magazine, which covers the fashion industry. New York's Fashion Institute of Technology "grew from the dream of a small group of successful Eastern European Jewish immigrant manufacturers ... [who ultimately created] a thriving college of art and design, business and technology. [NEWSDAY, p. A39] FIT's chairman of the board was still in Jewish hands in 1998, in the person of Edwin Goodman. "By the late 1930s," notes Henry Feingold, "Jews could be also found in the creative departments of the full-service advertising agencies as the experts in marketing surveys, motivation research, and the psychology of consumption." [FEINGOLD, p. 104]
Brett Goldberg sells Dead Sea mud as a skin lotion. His business (Ahava's hand cream) took off when he met and married Eve Berenblum, head of Sak's cosmetics department. The American-born Goldberg has dual American-Israeli citizenship and volunteered for the Israeli army. [BERMAN/SANDERS, 1-11-99] Sydell Miller and her husband Arnold started Matrix Essential, a hair care and skin products company. Sidney Kimmel heads the Jones Apparel Group; its clothing lines include Jones New York, Evan-Picone, Saville, NineWest shoe stores, and movie production interests. The CEO of the Jo Ann Stores chain (1065 stores nationwide; also sometimes called Cloth World and Jo Ann Fabrics) is Alan Rosskamm. Co-founded by his father, the firm's 1997 sales alone were $975 million. Bob Sockolow is the president and CEO of San-Francisco based Rochester Big and Tall Clothing. The founders of the Banana Republic clothing retail chain were Bill Rosenszweig, and Mel and Patricia Ziegler. The Eddie Bauer outdoor clothing empire is headed of course by Eddie Bauer; he is also Jewish. Jeffrey Swartz is the president and CEO of the Timberland shoe and boot firm. The 2002 CEO of the Cherokee clothing chain is Bobby Margolis.
In 1997 The Limited Inc. (Leslie Wexner, CEO) was accused by the AFL-CIO of subcontracting garment work in the Dominican Republic that paid workers $21 for an 80-hour work week. The Limited's 3,000 outlets and brands includeAbercrombie and Fitch, Structure, Express, Lane Bryant, Henri Bendel, Bath & Body Works, and Victoria's Secret, among others. [FORWARD, 5-30-97, p. 1] (Abercrombie and Fitch's 2001 summer catalogue attracted a coalition of groups as diverse as the National Organization for Women and Concerned Christian Americans in protest. The catalogue was condemned as "soft porn." An earlier A&F catalogue -- Naughty or Nice -- was "denounced" by the Michigan attorney general's office.") [CRARY, D., 6-22-01] In 1986, Linda Wachner, also Jewish, president of Max Factor, U.S. Division, maneuvered a hostile takeover of the Warnaco Group, effectively seizing control of much of the women's underwear market (including the brand names Warners, Olga, Valentino, Scaagi, Ungaro, Bob Mackie, and Fruit of the Loom). Wachner was henceforth the CEO of Wanaco, "one of the highest paid and most powerful businesswomen in America in the 1990s." [HYMAN, p. 27] Elsewhere, Howard Gross is the CEO of Miller's Outpost's chain of 220 stores; Robert Siegel became the CEO of the Stride Rite store chain in 1993. Donald Fisher is founder and CEO of the giant clothes retailerThe Gap. He too is Jewish, [ALTMAN-OHR, A., 4-14-2000, p. 64A] as is Millard Drexler, another top executive at the company.
By 1984 41% of Jewish households had an income of $50,000 or more, four times the proportion of non-Hispanic whites. [SILBERMAN, p. 118; SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 4] And while Jews constitute just 2.5 per cent of the American population, by 1990 more than twice as many Jews as non-Jewish whites had household incomes over $50,000 a year; the average Jewish American's income was also two to three times higher than the average of all other Americans. Two-thirds of all adult American Jews between the ages of 25 and 64 had graduated from colleges or universities, worked as professionals or managers, and lived in households with incomes over $50,000 per year. [ZUCKERMAN, A. p. 22] As 2.5% of America's population, by the late 1980s Jews "accounted for 13% of executives under the age of 40." [ROIPHE/CHANES, p. 451] By 1990, almost 90% of American Jews were in white-collar occupations. The rest tended to work as jewelers, watchmakers, waiters, hairdressers, cosmetologists, electronic repair technicians, or in security careers. [HARTMAN, p. 118] "The pace of socio-economic change," says Calvin Goldschieder and Alan Zuckerman, "and the levels attained are exceptional features of Jews compared to non-Jews." [LIPSET, Unique, p. 3]
In a study of Boston Jews in 1975, 60% of Jewish males in the work force were categorized as professionals. One quarter of them were physicians. Less than 3% of Boston's male Jewish workforce (ages 30-39) could be classified as "workers." [GOLDSCHIEDER, JOBS, p 5] By 1996, Jews were "two to three times more likely to work as professionals or managers than other Americans ... For several decades now, Jews have been distinguished by their extraordinary socioeconomic achievements." [WILDER, E., 6-96]
For Jews of Eastern European heritage, their dramatic trajectory of wealth building in America has occurred in the last century or so. "The Jewish explanation for their common affluence," says Liebman and Cohen, "is 'the myth of the lower East Side,' according to which Jews arrived in the United States as an impoverished group and by dint of hard work, sacrifice, and determination rose to prosperity ... It is not too far-fetched to suggest that this myth also alleviates the guilt that Jews may feel over their present prosperity and material comfort." [LIEBMAN/COHEN, p. 17]
"Even when compared to others of similar social characteristics," says Stephen Whitfield, "such as years of education, Jewish families still earn more. Even in families with no one working, Jewish families earn more." [WHITFIELD,American, p. 7] "Jewish academics," noted Marshall Sklare in 1974, "... are also considerably more prosperous on the average than their Gentile counterparts." [SKLARE, 1974, p. 20] "Earnings from investments of one sort or another are apparently greater among Jews," notes economist Thomas Sowell, "as are other advantages based on the past." [KREFETZ, p. 8]
Asserting fears of anti-Semitism, Jews try to keep their collective economic power from being widely known by non-Jews. "Some Jews," writes Edward Shapiro, "are embarrassed by references to Jewish affluence for fear that any discussion will encourage the anti-Semitic stereotype of vast Jewish wealth and economic power ... Marxists, true to the teachings of the founder of their cult, have continued to identify Jews and Judaism (and now Israel) with commercial exploitation and capitalism. Little wonder, then, that Jews and their friends, despite evidence to the contrary, and even though they themselves know better, prefer to deny, ignore, or explain away Jewish wealth. ... Jews would prefer to believe, and have others believe, that they are like everyone else, only more so. This stance has the advantage of not attracting attention." [SHAPIRO, p. 9] "Given that the myth of the 'all-powerful Jew' is identified with Nazi propaganda," says Lenni Brenner, "it should not surprise us that there are still many people who are squeamish about bringing attention to the sociological changes that have converted a community once unique in America for its mass radicalism into a pillar of capitalism." [BRENNER, p. 61] "Even today," noted Steven Silbiger in 2000, "many Jewish people would rather reserve the subject of their success for private conversations rather than fuel the fires of anti-Semitism. Older Jewish-Americans, in particular, have downplayed their success and their Judaism in an effort to avoid unwanted attention and possible trouble." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 3]
Harry Golden notes Jewish economic standing in a religion-based report in the 1957 Bureau of Census survey and Jewish organization attempts to hide this information:
"This report, intended to furnish data on the economic and social
characteristics of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, was almost
immediately suppressed at the insistence of religious organizations
and groups. Notable among these groups and organizations were
the Jewish social-action agencies, who feared the news about
Jewish incomes, education levels, and mobility would feed
anti-Semitism." [GOLDEN, H., 1973, p. 6]
"From Buenos Aires to Baghdad," says Joshua Halberstam, "from the days of Rome to the present, the world talks about Jews and their special relationship to wealth ... The really peculiar part of these slogans about Jews and money ... is the equivocation with which Jews react to the charges ... Proud of their financial achievements, American Jews often congratulate themselves and their success, but when a non-Jew points to the same Jewish affluence, American Jews become extremely nervous and suspect lurking anti-Semitism." [HALBERSTAM, p. 10] "Writing about money and Jews is inflammatory no matter how cautious it is handled," wrote Gerald Krefetz in an apologetic introduction to his book, Jews and Money, (1982), "As I examined the available literature on the subject it became clear to me that in recent years no one had scrutinized the scope of contemporary Jewish economic activity in America. The reason for this neglect was not hard to find: ... the subject of Jews and money was best not discussed for fear of raising the anti-Semitic ghost again." [KREFETZ, p. ix, x] When Jewish economic power is (rarely) openly addressed, Jewish dissimulation strategy is usually to emphasize the risky, precarious nature of their business dealings and their supposed relative marginality to the American social, economic, and political system. [SHAPIRO, p. 9]
"Those who do not want to confront the reality of the wealth of the richest portions of modern Jewry," notes Brenner, "tend to overemphasize the poverty of the poorest section." [BRENNER, p. 61] In 1983, for instance, some Jewish organizations were claiming that 13-15% of American Jewry was "economically disadvantaged and vulnerable." Such a figure, however, notes Lenny Brenner, is afforded by an American Jewish Committee study which defines "poverty among Jews at 150 per cent of the Federally defined poverty level ... Two-thirds of the poor are elderly. A large proportion of these are widows." As early as 1955, researchers were noting that Jews were "underrepresented in the population below or close to the poverty line." [WEYL, 1968, p. 173] As early as 1902, Isaac Max Rubinow, a Jewish medical inspector for the New York Board of Health wrote:
"I must express my conviction (which will evoke protest among the intelligentsia
of New York) that the Jewish masses are better off economically than the other
immigrants [to America], and extreme poverty is not prevalent in the Jewish section.
I think that Iam familar with the horrors of dire poverty. As a medical inspector for the
New York Board of Health I had to spend several months in the poorer sections of
Brooklyn. When I beheld the privations of the Irish, the Italians, the Negroes and
others, I had to admit that the condtion of the Russian-Jewish mases is more or less
satisfactory." [RUBINOW, I., 1959, p. 96]
"The percentage of Jewish households with income less than $20,000 is half that of non-Jews." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 4] The Jewish working class appears to be vanishing from all but the largest communities," wrote Jewish sociologist Marshall Sklare in 1955, "-- the phenomenon of an American Jewish working class may turn out to be characteristic only of the immigrant era." [SKLARE, M., 1955, p. 215]
"I must express my conviction (which will evoke protest among the intelligentsia
of New York) that the Jewish masses are better off economically than the other
immigrants [to America], and extreme poverty is not prevalent in the Jewish section.
I think that Iam familar with the horrors of dire poverty. As a medical inspector for the
New York Board of Health I had to spend several months in the poorer sections of
Brooklyn. When I beheld the privations of the Irish, the Italians, the Negroes and
others, I had to admit that the condtion of the Russian-Jewish mases is more or less
satisfactory." [RUBINOW, I., 1959, p. 96]
"The percentage of Jewish households with income less than $20,000 is half that of non-Jews." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 4] The Jewish working class appears to be vanishing from all but the largest communities," wrote Jewish sociologist Marshall Sklare in 1955, "-- the phenomenon of an American Jewish working class may turn out to be characteristic only of the immigrant era." [SKLARE, M., 1955, p. 215]
"It is disingenuous to pretend," says W. D. Rubenstein,
"that since the end of the war there has not been a fundamental
change in the status of Western Jewry ... Understandable reluctance
to discuss Jewish socio-economic advantage in an explicit fashion has
led to the neglect of an important trend: the steady rise of Western
Jewry into the upper-middle class, together with the broadening of
Jewish membership in the institutional elites of most Western countries
... The rise of Western Jewry to unparalleled affluence and high status
has led to the near-disappearance of a Jewish proletariat of any size:
indeed, the Jews may become the first ethnic group in history without
a working class of any size." [RUBENSTEIN, p. 51]
This increasingly elite caste status for Jews throughout the world is not true in Israel, of course, because that country's population is largely Jewish. Any elite caste depends upon-- and is supported by -- a large sub-caste beneath it. Although there is an institutionally enforced Arab underclass in Israel, the assumption of wealth, power, and status for all Jews as a class in that nation is impossible because it necessitates the economic exploitation of the local population, which is largely other Jews too. This, notes Israeli sociologist Sammy Smooha, poses a paradoxical problem for the Judeocentric Israeli state: "In contrast to Jews in western societies where they constitute a negligible minority (for instance, Jews in the U.S. number only 2.5 percent of the population) and where therefore most of them can reach the highest strata, most Jews in Israel cannot be in top positions as long as Jews make up 85% or more of the population." [SMOOHA, S., p. 176] Or as Jay Gonen, another Israeli commentator, put it:
"Everywhere in the world the Jews are the most successful businessmen, but not
in Israel, everywhere else they are financial wizards, but not in Israel. You know
why? Because here in Israel they can only deal with other Jews." [GONEN, J.,
1975, p. 274]
What is not explicitly stated here by such Jewish commentators (although it is certainly inferred) is that the Jewish diaspora's economic, political, and social self-advancement in capitalist society -- as a collectivity -- is contingent upon the exploitation of Gentiles below it. In Israel, by the demographic dictates of Israeli policy that insist upon a strong Jewish population dominance, (even with the import of cheap Arab labor from Gaza and the West Bank) there are not enough exploitable non-Jews to go around. (One might argue, however, that the $3 billion a year the United States government provides for the Jewish state, and similar funds from other nations, thanks to international Jewish lobbying, is a collective kind of exploitation of non-Jewish lands).Per Israel, Israeli scholar Simha Flapan notes that "the 1.25 million Palestinians who came under Israeli rule provide cheap labor for the Israeli economy, supplying nearly 100,000 workers for agriculture, public works, construction, light industries, and private services. The Palestinians became Israel's 'water carriers and hewers of wood.' Jewish workers moved up the social ladder to positions of management, the professions, trade, and public service." [FLAPAN, S., 1987, p. 239]
"Everywhere in the world the Jews are the most successful businessmen, but not
in Israel, everywhere else they are financial wizards, but not in Israel. You know
why? Because here in Israel they can only deal with other Jews." [GONEN, J.,
1975, p. 274]
What is not explicitly stated here by such Jewish commentators (although it is certainly inferred) is that the Jewish diaspora's economic, political, and social self-advancement in capitalist society -- as a collectivity -- is contingent upon the exploitation of Gentiles below it. In Israel, by the demographic dictates of Israeli policy that insist upon a strong Jewish population dominance, (even with the import of cheap Arab labor from Gaza and the West Bank) there are not enough exploitable non-Jews to go around. (One might argue, however, that the $3 billion a year the United States government provides for the Jewish state, and similar funds from other nations, thanks to international Jewish lobbying, is a collective kind of exploitation of non-Jewish lands).
All this, of course, has profound implications. Harry Triandis, while not addressing the Jewish dimensions to the issue, notes the broader context in America for the growing elite as a significant part of the American upper classes:
"The gulf between the rich and the poor is becoming larger. In
the 18th century the gross national product per capita ... of the
rich was twice that of the poor; in 1950 this ratio had become
50 to 1; in 1990 it was 70 to 1." [TRIANDIS, p. 15]
Today's Jewish high status and attendant world view represent the material opposite of much of immigrant American Jewry's sense of itself at the turn of the twentieth century. As Hania Diner notes:
"Both left-wing radicalism and Zionism shaped the political and
ideological lives of many Jews who emigrated to the United States
beginning in the 1880s ... [DINER, p. 7] ... Socialism proved such an
attractive political philosophy to these immigrant Jews because
of the brutal sweatshop conditions under which so many worked,
usually in factories owned by other Jews ... [DINER, p. 9] ... [In 1925]
such predominantly Jewish unions as the ILGWU, the United
Cloth Hat and Cap Makers, and the Furrier's Union all sent
[communist] May Day greetings to ... the black socialist magazine,
the Messenger." [DINER, p. 202]
This radically universalist expression, or whatever else it was (transitory strategy to deconstruct the existing Christian-oriented culture?), has proven over the years to have been remarkably illusory and shallow-- merely a means to a self-promotive end -- as Jewry has quickly ascended the American economic ladder. As Arthur Hertzberg notes about America's early twentieth century Russian Jewish population, supposedly rooted so deeply in socialist ethics, "Jews were uniquely visible in this stampede toward wealth because they were moving more rapidly upward from the poverty of their youth than any other group in America. This intense passion for success was noted by others, and not always with approval." [HERTZBERG, A., 1989, p. 331]
(In Latin America too, notes Judith Elkin, immigrant Jews were quick to dismiss their European-based socialist political radicalism in their new environments: "Jews had never developed linkages with non-Jewish campesinos; ... Contact with the proletariat was broken. This is a startling fact, considering that so large and so vocal a portion of Jewish immigrants arrived with leftist and universalist ideals.") [ELKIN, 1998, p. 148]
As Nathan Glazer noted about the American social and political world in 1971:
"All the roles that Jews play are roles that the New Left disapproves of,
and wishes to reduce ... [The Left is critical] of all private business,
and of its whole associated institutional complex -- lawyers,
stockbrokers, accountants, etc. -- in which Jews are prominent.
The kinds of society it admires have no place for occupations in which
Jews have tended to cluster in recent history." [SHAPIRO, E., 1999,
p. 199]
As early as the mid-twentieth century, American Jewry was already largely stratified out of the traditional "working class." In a survey of 14 American cities between 1948-53, proportions of Jews in "non-manual positions (i.e., proprietors, managers, administrators, officials, clerks, salespeople, etc.) ranged from 75 to 96% of the Jewish working population." [SKLARE, p. 138] "The distinction between manual and non-manual work," wrote Nathan Glazer in 1958, in reviewing the survey,
"is today considered a crucial one for determining the social status of
individuals and groups ... [GLAZER, MIDDLE, p. 139] ... The rise
in the proportion of professionals has been accompanied by a fall
in the number of Jews engaged in the lower-levels of white-collar
work -- as clerks and salesmen ... The rapid decline in the numbers
of Jewish secretaries and salesmen in recent years is a phenomenon
apparent to the naked eye; the available figures support this
impression ... [GLAZER, p. 139] ... What has happened ... is
that the Jewish economic advantages, already perfectly obvious
in the thirties ... has borne fruit in the fifteen years of prosperity
since 1940." [SKLARE, p. 139] (By 1970, one-third of one percent of
American Jews were involved in manual labor occupations.
[HALBERSTAM, p. 27])
Glazer found the 1953 research intriguing for other reasons too. No matter what field of economic endeavor Jews chose, and no matter where they chose it in America, Jews earned more money than non-Jews, even those in the same locale, with the same education, and the same occupation. To explain this endemic disparity, Glazer notes that
"Ultimately, social explanations must resort to history, and explain a
present peculiarity by discovering any earlier one. We think the
explanation for the Jewish success in America is that the Jews, far
more than any other immigrant group, were engaged for generations in
the middle-class occupations, the professions, and buying and selling."
[SKLARE, p. 142]
"Whereas many [immigrant] Poles," says Andrew Heinze, "looked for unskilled jobs in the steel industry and thus settled in industrial towns like those of Pennsylvania, Jews from the same part of the Old World concentrated in major cities where they could work in skilled and semi-skilled trades and in retailing, the occupations for which they were prepared ... Digging coal, forging steel, laying railroad track, and building bridges did not bring newcomers into contact with the trends and nuances of American fashion. The manufacture and sale of ladies' underwear, children’s' dresses, and men’s' suits did." [HEINZE, p. 99]
University of Michigan professor Arthur Evans Wood noted in 1955 some interesting information in his sociological study of the Polish enclave of Hamtramck in Detroit. 70% of the 43,000 residents of Hamtramck were (non-Jewish) Poles or of Polish (also peasant) heritage, attracted there to work in local automobile factories. The City Attorney for the city was Jewish, however, William Cohen. Although there were few, if any, Jews living in Hamtramck, he also was co-owner of one of the city's two main newspapers, the Hamtramck Citizen. "A fascinating additional reminder of an old world situation," wrote Wood,
"is to be found in the dependence of the Poles in Hamtramak upon
the Jewish attorney, Bill Cohen, for frequent legal services. The
relationship is somewhat like that between the village folk and the
Jewish tavern keeper [in the Old Country] ... The serviceableness
of Cohen to various and opposed Polish [political] factions over
the years is reminiscent of an old Polish proverb, 'Jak bida, to
do zyda.' (when in need go to the Jew)." [WOOD, A.E., p. 80, 233, 84]
Edward Kantowicz, in his study of Polish Americans in Chicago, notes
"Throughout much of partitioned Poland, Polish-Jewish relations consisted
of Polish peasants bargaining for goods or money with Jewish shopkeepers
and moneylenders. Such an economic relation led often to ill feelings and
a pervasive sentiment among peasants that they were being exploited by
the Jews. In America, Poles and Jews often ended up in a similar economic
relationship. Whereas the peasant Poles generally took up industrial work
in the New World, the Jews frequently continued in occupations similar
to those they had practiced in the Pale. Thus the business streets of
[Chicago's] Polonia were lined with many shops and stores owned by
immigrant Jews, and the Poles again found themselves dealing day by
day with Jewish shopkeepers and moneylenders. Very early this caused
resentment. In 1895 one Polish newspaper called for an increased Polish
effort to establish and patronize their own businesses since 'the Jews, the
leeches of Polish society, have monopolized business in this section of
town." [KANTOWICZ, E., 1975, p. 118]
A 1950s-era study of the Jews of Detroit, Michigan, found:
"There are extremely large differences in the occupational structures of Jewish,
Catholic, and Protestant families. A large majority of the heads of Jewish families
hold white-collar jobs (73 percent); the heads of non-Jewish families, especially
Catholics and Negro Protestants, are heavily concentrated in the blue-collar
occupations. Jewish family heads are particularly clustered in the 'proprieter,
manager, and official' classification. The proportion of Jews in these 'tradesmen'
jobs (42 percent) is between three and four times greater than that for Catholics
or white Protestants ... The contrast in occupational distribution of the fathers
of Jewish and non-Jewish family headds is enormous. Approximately 75 percent
of the non-Jewish fathers were in farming or held blue-collar jobs, whereas almost
the same proportion of Jewish fathers were in white-collar occupations. Many of
the Jewish fathers who held white-collar jobs were probably hucksters, peddlers,
or small trades, and merchants; but the fact remains that their background was
typically urban ... One of the most striking features of the economic status of
Jewish families in Detroit is that almost one-half of the family heads are self-employed,
although only 10 per cent or less of the heads of non-Jewish Detroit area families
work for themselves ... The median annual income of the heads of Jewish families
during the 1951 to 1954 period ws $6,200. This figure is considerably larger than
the median incomes of non-Jewish family heads. The high Jewish income, of course,
is related to the upper occupational status of the group. The large number of Jewish
family heads who made $10,000 or more annually is striking. One-third of the heads
of Jewish families earned this much money, as compared with less than one-tenth
of the heads of non-Jewish groups. [GOLDBERG/SHARP, 1960, p. 113, 114]
Edward Kantowicz, in his study of Polish Americans in Chicago, notes
"Throughout much of partitioned Poland, Polish-Jewish relations consisted
of Polish peasants bargaining for goods or money with Jewish shopkeepers
and moneylenders. Such an economic relation led often to ill feelings and
a pervasive sentiment among peasants that they were being exploited by
the Jews. In America, Poles and Jews often ended up in a similar economic
relationship. Whereas the peasant Poles generally took up industrial work
in the New World, the Jews frequently continued in occupations similar
to those they had practiced in the Pale. Thus the business streets of
[Chicago's] Polonia were lined with many shops and stores owned by
immigrant Jews, and the Poles again found themselves dealing day by
day with Jewish shopkeepers and moneylenders. Very early this caused
resentment. In 1895 one Polish newspaper called for an increased Polish
effort to establish and patronize their own businesses since 'the Jews, the
leeches of Polish society, have monopolized business in this section of
town." [KANTOWICZ, E., 1975, p. 118]
A 1950s-era study of the Jews of Detroit, Michigan, found:
"There are extremely large differences in the occupational structures of Jewish,
Catholic, and Protestant families. A large majority of the heads of Jewish families
hold white-collar jobs (73 percent); the heads of non-Jewish families, especially
Catholics and Negro Protestants, are heavily concentrated in the blue-collar
occupations. Jewish family heads are particularly clustered in the 'proprieter,
manager, and official' classification. The proportion of Jews in these 'tradesmen'
jobs (42 percent) is between three and four times greater than that for Catholics
or white Protestants ... The contrast in occupational distribution of the fathers
of Jewish and non-Jewish family headds is enormous. Approximately 75 percent
of the non-Jewish fathers were in farming or held blue-collar jobs, whereas almost
the same proportion of Jewish fathers were in white-collar occupations. Many of
the Jewish fathers who held white-collar jobs were probably hucksters, peddlers,
or small trades, and merchants; but the fact remains that their background was
typically urban ... One of the most striking features of the economic status of
Jewish families in Detroit is that almost one-half of the family heads are self-employed,
although only 10 per cent or less of the heads of non-Jewish Detroit area families
work for themselves ... The median annual income of the heads of Jewish families
during the 1951 to 1954 period ws $6,200. This figure is considerably larger than
the median incomes of non-Jewish family heads. The high Jewish income, of course,
is related to the upper occupational status of the group. The large number of Jewish
family heads who made $10,000 or more annually is striking. One-third of the heads
of Jewish families earned this much money, as compared with less than one-tenth
of the heads of non-Jewish groups. [GOLDBERG/SHARP, 1960, p. 113, 114]
More recently, in addressing the claim by many Jews that their community is "a light unto nations" with higher moral standards than others, Lenny Brenner, a Jewish critic, notes that "modern Judaism is a light unto no one ... American Judaism is the paradigm of hollow worldly success." [BRENNER, p 357] Concerning the possible movement by some Jews from the Jewish tradition of self-employment into salaried professions and the effect it could have on donations to Jewish causes, Steven Cohen remarks that
"One need not be overly cynical to realize that self-employed
entrepreneurs have a greater ability to hide their income from the Internal
Revenue Service than do most salaried professionals." [BRENNER, p.
79]
In recent years, according to one Jewish count, of the top fourteen American billionaires, at least four were Jewish. [SHAPIRO, p. 8] Of the 40 wealthiest Americans, sixteen (40%) were Jewish, as were 23% of the four hundred richest Americans. "Or," says Joshua Halberstam, "to put this another way, there are more Jewish billionaires in the United States than the total number of billionaires of France and England combined." [HALBERSTAM, p. 12] Every year the Forbes"rich list" as an extraordinarly disproportionate number of Jews. Jewish author Steven Silbiger examined the 1999 Forbes "richest 400 people" list and announced that
"Jewish individuals accounted for 23 percent of the entire group, 36 percent of
the top fifty and 24 percent of the billionaires -- eleven, eighteen, and twelve times
times their relative percentage in the U.S. population at large. And these percentages
in the Forbes 400 have been consistent over time, although the players change
from year to year; studies of the lists from 1982, 1983, and 1984 conducted by
others reveal similar figures." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 86]
Silbiger, investigating who exactly of this list was Jewish, explored public information sources and knowledgeable Jewish organizations. As Silbiger discovered, 15 of these moguls do not wish to be known publicly, at least in this wealth context, as Jewish; the rest of Silbiger's 1999 list is rendered here. An earlier (1980) list of America's wealthiest Jews may be found here.
As early as 1955 a researcher suggested that 20% of America's millionaires were Jewish, and Jewry at-large accounted for 10% of America's total personal income, [WEYL, 1968, p. 173] about four times their percentage of the population. By 1973, Harry Golden noted that "New York [the heart of the American business and communications empire] is the one city Jews transformed into a Jewish city. They are the warp and woof of its fabric ... Jews own roughly 80 percent of New York City's businesses." [GOLDEN, H., 1973, p. 8-9]
And the other American economic and mass media nerve center: Los Angeles? As Joel Kotkin noted in 2001,
"In the neighborhoods and marketplaces that comprise 21st-century Los Angeles,
two ethnic groups predominate: Jews and Latinos. Although others, including
Asians, Africian Americans and Anglo Gentiles, play important roles, these two
groups shape the social, economic and cultural contours of the city ... Jews reign
over many of the most dynamic parts of the city's economy, from Hollywood to
real estate, from cyberspace to the garment business. They are well-represented at
both the elite and grass-roots levels of L.A. business. Jews, whether from Eastern
Europe or the Middle East, boast among the highest entrepreneurship rates of any
group in the city's ethnic mosaic, according to Cal State Northridge demographer
James Allen; nearly half the Los Angeles Business Journal's list of richest Angelenos
are Jews ... Unlike Jews and Gentiles, or African Americans, Jews and Latinos share
little history or mythology. For the most part, their contacts have been opportunistic.
Jews have employed Latinos in garment factories, as maids and gardeners and
serviced them as customers in a host of enterprises from Whittier Boulevard to
Santee Alley and Pico-Union." [KOTKIN, J., 3-25-01, pt. M, p. 1]
"Jewish individuals accounted for 23 percent of the entire group, 36 percent of
the top fifty and 24 percent of the billionaires -- eleven, eighteen, and twelve times
times their relative percentage in the U.S. population at large. And these percentages
in the Forbes 400 have been consistent over time, although the players change
from year to year; studies of the lists from 1982, 1983, and 1984 conducted by
others reveal similar figures." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 86]
Silbiger, investigating who exactly of this list was Jewish, explored public information sources and knowledgeable Jewish organizations. As Silbiger discovered, 15 of these moguls do not wish to be known publicly, at least in this wealth context, as Jewish; the rest of Silbiger's 1999 list is rendered here. An earlier (1980) list of America's wealthiest Jews may be found here.
As early as 1955 a researcher suggested that 20% of America's millionaires were Jewish, and Jewry at-large accounted for 10% of America's total personal income, [WEYL, 1968, p. 173] about four times their percentage of the population. By 1973, Harry Golden noted that "New York [the heart of the American business and communications empire] is the one city Jews transformed into a Jewish city. They are the warp and woof of its fabric ... Jews own roughly 80 percent of New York City's businesses." [GOLDEN, H., 1973, p. 8-9]
And the other American economic and mass media nerve center: Los Angeles? As Joel Kotkin noted in 2001,
"In the neighborhoods and marketplaces that comprise 21st-century Los Angeles,
two ethnic groups predominate: Jews and Latinos. Although others, including
Asians, Africian Americans and Anglo Gentiles, play important roles, these two
groups shape the social, economic and cultural contours of the city ... Jews reign
over many of the most dynamic parts of the city's economy, from Hollywood to
real estate, from cyberspace to the garment business. They are well-represented at
both the elite and grass-roots levels of L.A. business. Jews, whether from Eastern
Europe or the Middle East, boast among the highest entrepreneurship rates of any
group in the city's ethnic mosaic, according to Cal State Northridge demographer
James Allen; nearly half the Los Angeles Business Journal's list of richest Angelenos
are Jews ... Unlike Jews and Gentiles, or African Americans, Jews and Latinos share
little history or mythology. For the most part, their contacts have been opportunistic.
Jews have employed Latinos in garment factories, as maids and gardeners and
serviced them as customers in a host of enterprises from Whittier Boulevard to
Santee Alley and Pico-Union." [KOTKIN, J., 3-25-01, pt. M, p. 1]
In 1999, Jewish Canadian billionaires included Barry Sherman ($1.83 billion), Leslie Dan ($1.56 billion), and Saul Feldberg ($1 billion). Sherman is chairman and CEO of the Apotex pharmaceutical firm, and Dan heads rival Novopharm Ltd. "[These] two Toronto-based companies control about 90 percent of Canada's market for generic, low-cost drugs." [CANADIAN PRESS NEWSWIRE, 2-6-97] Sherman "donates heavily to Jewish causes and the state of Israel." [THOMPSON, A. 2-11-92, p. C1] Dan funded a CD-Rom produced by Israel's Yad Vashem "to help teach the Holocaust." [CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS, 12-5-96] (From America,
Also in Canada, "the proportion of Jews earning over $75,000 [per year] in 1991 was close to four times that in the Canadian population as a whole." [SINGER/SELDIN, 1995, p. 235] In Spain, by 1991 the Koplowitz family's construction empire was worth $1.2 billion.
In France, when Marcel Dassault [born Marcel Bloch] died in 1987 he was "the richest man in France." [FONG, p. 148] He was a member of the French Parliament and had founded the aviation company that manufactured the Mirage fighter jet. Dassault was born a Jew, but formally converted to Christianity. Another French mogul of Jewish descent, Marcel Blaustein-Blanchet died in 1996. He was the founder and chairman of Publicis, "the giant advertising company he founded as a teenager." Blaustein-Blanchet "gave France its first advertising agency, its first radio news program, and its first opinion polls." [THOMAS, R., 1996, p. 50] Publicis has offices today in 19 countries (top two executives in 1996: Elizabeth Badinter and Michael Levy). Also, "the Citroen, one of France's most popular cars, is named for a Jew [Andre-Gustave Citroen] who was a pioneer in France's automotive industry ... During World War I he produced munitions for the French government, but at the war's end he turned to the mass production of automobiles." [GOLDBERG, M. H., 1976, p. 108-109] [Today's richest person in France in 2002?]
According to Forbes magazine, by 1998 Michael Dell was the seventh richest person on the planet, worth $16.5 billion, and also the youngest to have ever been listed on the Forbes 500 "rich list." He is the head of the Dell computer company, a direct-sales firm. Dell is an active philanthropist in the Austin, Texas, Jewish community. In 2001, Dell Ventues, a division of Dell Computers, announced plans to invest in hi-tech development in Israel. [GORDON, B., 1-21-01]
In 1999, the richest man in Los Angeles was also Jewish, Gary Winnick (worth over $6 billion). "Winnick is the fastest among today's top entrepreneurs to make his first billion dollars. He did it in a breathtaking 18 months." [TUGEND, 10-1-99] Syndicated columnist Richard Reeves calls the first time he ever saw Winnick "one of the most disgusting events I've endured in many years of watching the way the world works." Because Winnick had paid a sizeable sum for a Democratic Party fundraiser, he was afforded time to speak to the crowd. "This egomaniac," wrote Reeves, "who could afford the tab got up and rambled on about how rich and daring he was and how great his kids were." Then he put a cap with his telecommunications company's logo (Global Crossing) on the head of Secreatry of State Madeline Albright. "It made you cringe to be a citizen of the world's greatest democracy," wrote Reeves. "But that's the way it works these days." Winnick's company expected to lay 100,000 miles of fiber-optic cable to 27 countries and 200 cities by mid-2001. He has pleged $40 million to start an institute named after himself in Israel. "He also funds other pro-Israel programs."[MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01]
In Great Britain, the (London) Daily Mail noted a 1999 study by a credit research organization, Experian:
"A survey identifying Britain's wealthiest family names by their postcard
areas has produced a fascinating insight into the national makeup of
the 50 surnames most common among the movers and shakers...
More than 20 are from Jewish families ... There are more Cohens in
the top group than any other family name. Just behind are Levy,
Bloom, and Wolf ... This [trend] is confirmed by other surveys, for
instance the Sunday Times Rich 1999, which featured three Cohens,
Betterware multimillionaire Andrew, Courts furniture chain tycoon
Bruce, and DIY store boss Frank. Hugely wealthy Levys include
59-year old Peter, chairman of the London-based Shaftsbury
property company, while the Wolfs are represented by Sir John, a
legend in Britain's films." [POULTER, p. 19]
Jews are approximately half of one percent of England's population, but, in 2001, 14 of them ranked among Great Britian's 100 richest people. Joe Lewis is the wealthiest, worth 2.2 billion pounds. "Mr. Lewis made his fortune in the restaurant trade and, subsequently, in foreign exchange dealing." Mark Pears (and family) is worth about 600 million pounds, owning about "20,000 flats and houses." Jewish concerns of the Pears clan include Maccabi Union and Jewish Care. Gerald Ronson, based in real estate, is worth 75 million pounds, and David Lewis and family ("fashion, property, travel, and banking") are worth 350 million pounds. [LEVITT/KOHEN, 4-27-01, p. 14]
In 2002, the Jewish Chronicle featured an article on the results of a study of British Jews:
The story in Australia, where Jews represent less than a half of one percent of population, is the same. As that continent's Jewish ethnic magazine Generation. Jewish Life observed in 2000:
"Every year they are out there for all to see. There it is, in full salacious detail: the
BRW Rich List, that quintessence of pennies envy, the vehicle of voyeurism that
sums up the worst and most popular features of modern journalism. Each year, it
parades the names of Australia's wealthiest, and the Jewish ones are always prominent.
In fact, this year, their collective wealth totaled more than $23 billion, close to 40 percent
of New Zealand's GDP. The names themselves are all too familiar. There's shopping
centre king and former delivery truck driver Frank Lowy ($2.6 billion) and the
cardboard magnate Richard Pratt. They are the second and third richest men in
Australia." [Others noted include the Smorgon family, Scheinberg family, Harry
Triguboff, Boris Lieberman, John Gandel, Solly Lew, Marc Besen, Nathan Werdiger,
Joseph Gutnick, Ted Lustig, Max Moar, Eddie Kornhauser, Isador Magid, Barry|
and Norman Bloom, Chaim Liberman, Morry Fraid, Ruben Fried, Nathan Baron,
Henry Krongold, Isi Liebler, Drvin Graf, Peter Joss, Eddie Kornhauser, Henry Roth,
Philip Wolanski, Rodney, Kathy, and Roxanne Adler, Ruth Simon and David Herrman] ...
"The Jews on the BRW list represent a group that accounts for a ridiculously small
proportion of the general population -- only 0.4 percent in fact, according to the 1996
Census. So why the prominence?" [GETTLER, L., 2000, p. 23]
Jewish observer Leon Gettler suggests possible reasons for Jewish prominence in Australian wealth-building, including an immigrant ethic, Talmudic principles, Jewish networking ("Maybe its just the tribal nature of the Jews"), chutzpah (pushiness), peer pressure ("keeping up with the Cohens"), a this-world materialist focus, and a survivalist mentality. ("Many of the Jews who graced the BRW Rich Lists emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust.") [GETTLER, L., p. 23-27]
Jews are approximately half of one percent of England's population, but, in 2001, 14 of them ranked among Great Britian's 100 richest people. Joe Lewis is the wealthiest, worth 2.2 billion pounds. "Mr. Lewis made his fortune in the restaurant trade and, subsequently, in foreign exchange dealing." Mark Pears (and family) is worth about 600 million pounds, owning about "20,000 flats and houses." Jewish concerns of the Pears clan include Maccabi Union and Jewish Care. Gerald Ronson, based in real estate, is worth 75 million pounds, and David Lewis and family ("fashion, property, travel, and banking") are worth 350 million pounds. [LEVITT/KOHEN, 4-27-01, p. 14]
In 2002, the Jewish Chronicle featured an article on the results of a study of British Jews:
The story in Australia, where Jews represent less than a half of one percent of population, is the same. As that continent's Jewish ethnic magazine Generation. Jewish Life observed in 2000:
"
BRW Rich List, that quintessence of pennies envy, the vehicle of voyeurism that
sums up the worst and most popular features of modern journalism. Each year, it
parades the names of Australia's wealthiest, and the Jewish ones are always prominent.
In fact, this year, their collective wealth totaled more than $23 billion, close to 40 percent
of New Zealand's GDP. The names themselves are all too familiar. There's shopping
centre king and former delivery truck driver Frank Lowy ($2.6 billion) and the
cardboard magnate Richard Pratt. They are the second and third richest men in
Australia." [Others noted include the Smorgon family, Scheinberg family, Harry
Triguboff, Boris Lieberman, John Gandel, Solly Lew, Marc Besen, Nathan Werdiger,
Joseph Gutnick, Ted Lustig, Max Moar, Eddie Kornhauser, Isador Magid, Barry|
and Norman Bloom, Chaim Liberman, Morry Fraid, Ruben Fried, Nathan Baron,
Henry Krongold, Isi Liebler, Drvin Graf, Peter Joss, Eddie Kornhauser, Henry Roth,
Philip Wolanski, Rodney, Kathy, and Roxanne Adler, Ruth Simon and David Herrman] ...
"The Jews on the BRW list represent a group that accounts for a ridiculously small
proportion of the general population -- only 0.4 percent in fact, according to the 1996
Census. So why the prominence?" [GETTLER, L., 2000, p. 23]
Jewish observer Leon Gettler suggests possible reasons for Jewish prominence in Australian wealth-building, including an immigrant ethic, Talmudic principles, Jewish networking ("Maybe its just the tribal nature of the Jews"), chutzpah (pushiness), peer pressure ("keeping up with the Cohens"), a this-world materialist focus, and a survivalist mentality. ("Many of the Jews who graced the BRW Rich Lists emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust.") [GETTLER, L., p. 23-27]
In America, in comparison to other minority communities, there are no Hispanics and one Black in the Forbes "richest 400 people" list, minority populations that are larger in America than their Jewish counterparts. [LIPSET, p. 4] "When I read through the [1996] Newsweek story of the 'Overclass 100,'" wrote Jewish journalist Philip Weiss, "I began counting the Jews, something I've done since childhood, but soon gave up, overwhelmed by my tribe's prevalence among the powerful, troubled by what this means in the new American class paradigm of haves and have-nots." [WEISS, p. 27] "The Jewish economic and social profile diverges dramatically from that of Gentile Americans," notes Edward Shapiro, "Jews are wealthier, more likely to be found in the professions, academia, and the upper ranks of business, and attend universities in greater numbers ... Jews in Canada, Central and South America, and Europe exhibit the same characteristics." [SHAPIRO, E., 1998]
From a total American Jewish population of about six million, by 1992 Matti Golan (an Israeli government official) noted that over 300,000 Jewish households (of a total population of about six million people) in America had incomes over a million dollars a year. [GOLAN p. 60] "Will there be as many Jews receiving Nobel Prizes in the 21st century as in the 20th?" wonders Emanuel Rackman in the Jewish Week, "There is cause for pessimism in Jewish circles, and I cannot dispel it. The likelihood is that more Jews will be in Forbes' listing of multi-millionaires but not on lists of those making giant contributions to the advancement of science ... Supreme value is now placed on the acquisition of wealth rather than intellectual and moral excellence." [RACKMAN, 1-8-88, p. 24]
By 1993 the two most highly paid corporate executives in the U.S. were Jewish -- one at a Hollywood studio, and the other at a Wall Street investment bank. [CANTOR, p. 404] Most of Jewish wealth is self-made in the last century or so (as opposed to Gentile-inherited opulence), [WHITFIELD, American, p. 7] a trajectory that has no reason to plateau. About half of the Jewish super-rich built their fortunes in real estate and construction, most notably in the New York City area, but also all across the country, including Detroit, San Francisco, Miami, Washington DC, Indianapolis, and Oklahoma City. [LIPSET, p. 15] Edward S. Shapiro specifically cites Jewish "real estate barons" Alfred Taubman in Detroit, Melvin Simon in Indianapolis, Stephen Muss in Miami, Monte and Alfe Goldman in Oklahoma City and Walter Shorenstein in San Francisco. [SHAPIRO, 1987, p. 14]
"In real estate and construction," adds Abraham Korman, "there have been major Jewish builders in San Francisco (Walter Shorenstein), Detroit (Philip and Max Stollman), New York (Samuel Lefrak), and Washington [DC] (Charles Smith) ... Melvin Simon of Indianapolis is one of the major shopping center developers in this country." [KORMAN, p. 24]The Simon Property Group is indeed "the nation's largest mall owner in the United States, " including the Mall of America in Minneapolis. [MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01] "In the construction and real estsate fields," notes Milton Presur, "there are such giants as Webb and Knapp; the Uris Brothers; Tishman; Levitt; and Rudin and Wolfson Enterprises." [PRESUR, M., 1982, p. 163]
"In real estate and construction," adds Abraham Korman, "there have been major Jewish builders in San Francisco (Walter Shorenstein), Detroit (Philip and Max Stollman), New York (Samuel Lefrak), and Washington [DC] (Charles Smith) ... Melvin Simon of Indianapolis is one of the major shopping center developers in this country." [KORMAN, p. 24]
San Francisco's Walter Shorenstein owns "one of the nation's largest and healthiest real estate empires," [KING, R., p. AS1] worth $405 million. He was noted in 1999 by the San Francisco Examiner as "San Francisco's biggest landlord," owning "about 25 percent of the city's downtown rental property." [BRAZIL, E., 11-5-99, p. A4] Also in San Francisco, Richard Swig -- winner of Israel's Golda Meir award -- founded the posh Fairmount hotel chain; he also served as on positions for the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Community Federation. By the 1880s, Adolph Sutro, a Jewish immigrant from Prussia, alone owned "roughly one-twelfth of the land in San Francisco." He also became the mayor of the city. [NEWITZ, A., 1-13-99]
In a March 2000 letter to an online magazine, famed San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti singled out a Jewish real estate developer who was central in the cultural destruction of that city:
A developer from Michigan, Scott Seligman, who runs Sterling Bank and
Seligman Western Enterprises, wants to gentrify the Mid-Market zone. Not
to make the City a better place but to make his bank account a little fatter.
Hew wants a bretter class of tenant. No more photographers or poets or
translators or editors or painters. Nomore small businesses serving the City."
[FERLINGHETTI, 3-8-01]
In a March 2000 letter to an online magazine, famed San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti singled out a Jewish real estate developer who was central in the cultural destruction of that city:
A developer from Michigan, Scott Seligman, who runs Sterling Bank and
Seligman Western Enterprises, wants to gentrify the Mid-Market zone. Not
to make the City a better place but to make his bank account a little fatter.
Hew wants a bretter class of tenant. No more photographers or poets or
translators or editors or painters. Nomore small businesses serving the City."
[FERLINGHETTI, 3-8-01]
In 1989 the Los Angeles Times called Martin Selig "Seattle's biggest property owner." He had recently sold Seattle's tallest building for $354 million. [DIETRICH, B., 11-20-89, p. D1] A decade earlier in Seattle, Forbes noted that Jack Benaroya (also Jewish), "for 30 years built the Seattle area's largest real estate empire: 8 million commercial square feet, about 90% industrial, including 5 business parks." [FORBES, 10-27-86, p. 290]
Another Jewish real estate developer, William Levitt, is credited -- or blamed - for the creation of "massive tract developments of single family homes ... He shaped the American dream, a house of one's own for a small down payment and an endless mortgage." [KREFETZ, p. 50] Levitt was instrumental in the invention of "suburbia": sprawls of mass-produced uniform tract houses. Between 1947 and 1951 his company constructed 17,447 homes for 75,000 people on Long Island, known today as Levittown. He also created another housing conglomeration -- also called Levittown -- in Pennsylvania. George Ritzer notes that:
"Levitt and Sons thought of their building sites as large factories. Instead
of having the product move, as one the automobile assembly line, the
Levitt's product, the emerging house, was stationary, and it was the
workers who moved around the building site ... Said Alfred Levitt, one
of the sons: 'The same man does the same thing every day, despite the
psychologists. It is boring; it is bad; but the reward of the green stuff
seems to alleviate the boredom of the work." [RITZER, p. 28]
By 1973, Arthur Cohen was chairman of Arlen Realty and Development Corporation, "a corporation that controlled some $1.7 billion of U.S. real estate." [CARRUTH, E., 1973, p. 184] ... Shopping centers are the largest single element of Arlen's business, and the company is one of the nation's largest builders (as well as operators) of them." [CARRUTH, p. 187] Cohen and three associates held 49 percent of the voting shares in the company.
By 1982, another Jewish real estate mogul, Samuel J. Lefrak, alone owned 55,000 apartments in New York City and another 30,000 elsewhere, run by some 350 different companies, each owned by the Lefrak family. [KREFETZ, p. 81] By 1982 too, "the great majority of the New York landlords [were] Jewish" including the prominent family names of Uris, Durst, Tishman, Rudin, Horowitz, Ravitch, Minskoff, Milstein, Sol Goldman, and Frederic Rose, a former President of the Jewish Philanthropies of New York. [BAER, p. 195] Before financial problems in the late 1960s, William Zeckendorf was "master, at one time, of possibly the greatest of all real estate empires." [BLACKWELL, E., 1973, p. 534] In the early 1990s the Rudins owned buildings worth $1.5 billion. Other huge Jewish real estate empires include [d] those of Aaron Gural, Leo and Alexander Bing, the Resnicks, Fishers, Koeppels, Wiens, Cohens, and Silversteins. By 1929 A.E. Lefcourt's 24 buildings (many skyscrapers) placed him "among the largest landlords in the city and squarely in the ranks of its wealthiest men." [SCHACHTMAN, p. 117]
Most New York "real estate barons," confirmed Tom Schactman in 1991, are "white and Jewish." [SCHACTMAN, p. 21] By the 1920s, "a survey found that 80 percent of the speculative builders in [New York] city were Jewish although Jews made up only 40 percent of the 10,000 builders in the metropolitan area. The [Jewish] immigrants' domination of the field worried some; the chairman of the board of the United States Realty and Home Improvement company called the 'foreign element ... a disturbing feature in real estate today.'" [SCHACHTMAN, p. 111] Architecturally, "even the shopping center was a [Jewish] émigré contribution, pioneered by Viennese-born Victor Gruen ... In Chicago, [Ludwig] Mies became the virtual inventor of industrial design." [HEILBUT, p. 143]
The premier real estate trader in the ritzy Hamptons area of Long Island was (until he choked on a piece of steak and died in 1991) Allan Schneider. Schneider was both Jewish and homosexual, although he hid both. He was, says, Steven Gaines, "the most powerful broker in all the Hamptons -- the 'Pasha,' as he was affectionately called by his staff, with offices in Southampton, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, and East Hampton and revenues approaching $100 million ... [He had] domination in the Hamptons real estate market ... He not only substantially changed the face of the landscape, but his own life was in some ways a metaphor for the new Hamptons: a stage upon which nouvelle society could invent itself." [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 4, 45, 48] How about "the largest private landowner in all of East Hampton?" That would be Evan Frankel, who "held the deed to more than 1,000 acres of developable land ... at one point he owned so much land that it was estimated he paid 50 percent of all the real estate taxes in East Hampton. Not coincidentally, at various times, he held seats on the town planning board, the board of directors of Southampton Hospital, and the advisory board of the East Hampton Free Library." [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 170]
The premier real estate trader in the ritzy Hamptons area of Long Island was (until he choked on a piece of steak and died in 1991) Allan Schneider. Schneider was both Jewish and homosexual, although he hid both. He was, says, Steven Gaines, "the most powerful broker in all the Hamptons -- the 'Pasha,' as he was affectionately called by his staff, with offices in Southampton, Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, and East Hampton and revenues approaching $100 million ... [He had] domination in the Hamptons real estate market ... He not only substantially changed the face of the landscape, but his own life was in some ways a metaphor for the new Hamptons: a stage upon which nouvelle society could invent itself." [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 4, 45, 48] How about "the largest private landowner in all of East Hampton?" That would be Evan Frankel, who "held the deed to more than 1,000 acres of developable land ... at one point he owned so much land that it was estimated he paid 50 percent of all the real estate taxes in East Hampton. Not coincidentally, at various times, he held seats on the town planning board, the board of directors of Southampton Hospital, and the advisory board of the East Hampton Free Library." [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 170]
Another Jewish real estate mogul, Ben Tobin, once a part owner of the Empire State Building, was, like most, "a major benefactor to Jewish charities." [NITKIN, p. 6B] Down the street, Jack Weiler's nationwide holdings equaled 5 million square feet in New York alone; 1.5 million more were owned in California. "A new community of more than 2,000 homes and 5,000 residents on the southern ridge of Jerusalem was named Kiryat Jack Weiler because of his support for Israel and his ability to coax others to help as well." [VAN GELDEN, p. 26] Frederic and Earle Mack's Mack Company, based in New York and New Jersey commercial and industrial development, merged with another firm in 1997 to form the Mack-Cali Realty Corporation "which boasted a combined market capitalizaiton of $3.4 billion ... Like his brother Earle, Frederic Mack has long shown an abiding interest in U. S. relations with Israel ... Mack is currently on the national board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the nation's largest and most infoluential pro-Israel lobby." [MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01]
In July 2001, a private company took over control of the ill-fated World Trade Center. Silverstein Properties (president: Larry Silverstein) signed a 99-year lease to run the landmark business complex for $3.2 billion from New York City's Port Authority (chairman: Lewis Eisenberg). [SCT NEWSWIRE, 7-25-01] The retail section was also controlled by a Jewish entrepreneur. As the Jerusalem Post noted after the 2001 terrorist attack:
"Australian businessman Frank Lowy, who emigrated to Australia from
Israel in 1952, owns the 99-year lease for the 425,000 square foot retail portion
of the destroyed World Trade Center. Lowy is the chairman and founder of
Westfield Holdings, the manager of Westfield America Trust, which has a 57
percent stake in Westfield America Inc ... Westfield said today that it has insurance
cover against terrorist attacks and its earnings will not be materially affected. In
a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange the retail chain said that 'investment
in the retail component of the World Trade Center is fully insured for both capital
and loss of income,' adding 'the insurance cover includes acts of terrorism' ...
Today [Lowy] is the second wealthiest man in Australia and was recently ranked
as the 209th wealthiest man in the world by Forbes magazine. Westfield is the
fourth-largest shopping mall owner, with operations in Australia, the US, the
United Kingdom and New Zealand. Lowy is philanthropically involved in the
Jewish community in Sydney as well as Israel, including sponsoring the Overseas
Students School of Tel Aviv University which is endowed in his name and being
associate international chairman of the Israel Democracy Institute." [BERGER, S.,
9-12-01]
In the New York city government sphere,
"for more than four decades, without ever holding public office, Robert Moses
ruled in New York like a potentate. He spent an estimated $27 billion on public
works: highways, bridges, parks, tunnels, beaches, playgrounds, dams, public
buildings, and public housing. He was in large part responsible for the construction
of the Lincoln Center, the United Nations, Co-op City, and the Coliseum. His
most impregnable power base was the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority,
where he reigned as chief executive from 1933 to 1968. He had helped draft the
legislation that created the authority and that at the same time ensured its existence
in perpetuity by empowering it to issue new bonds. The never-ending stream
of bridge and tunnel tolls gave Moses control over a bond-issuing agency with
exiguous accountability; during his tenure the authority, although a public
agency, was as autonomous as the privately governed Metropolitan Museum.."
[MEYER, K., 1979, p. 93]
In July 2001, a private company took over control of the ill-fated World Trade Center. Silverstein Properties (president: Larry Silverstein) signed a 99-year lease to run the landmark business complex for $3.2 billion from New York City's Port Authority (chairman: Lewis Eisenberg). [SCT NEWSWIRE, 7-25-01] The retail section was also controlled by a Jewish entrepreneur. As the Jerusalem Post noted after the 2001 terrorist attack:
"Australian businessman Frank Lowy, who emigrated to Australia from
Israel in 1952, owns the 99-year lease for the 425,000 square foot retail portion
of the destroyed World Trade Center. Lowy is the chairman and founder of
Westfield Holdings, the manager of Westfield America Trust, which has a 57
percent stake in Westfield America Inc ... Westfield said today that it has insurance
cover against terrorist attacks and its earnings will not be materially affected. In
a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange the retail chain said that 'investment
in the retail component of the World Trade Center is fully insured for both capital
and loss of income,' adding 'the insurance cover includes acts of terrorism' ...
Today [Lowy] is the second wealthiest man in Australia and was recently ranked
as the 209th wealthiest man in the world by Forbes magazine. Westfield is the
fourth-largest shopping mall owner, with operations in Australia, the US, the
United Kingdom and New Zealand. Lowy is philanthropically involved in the
Jewish community in Sydney as well as Israel, including sponsoring the Overseas
Students School of Tel Aviv University which is endowed in his name and being
associate international chairman of the Israel Democracy Institute." [BERGER, S.,
9-12-01]
In the New York city government sphere,
"for more than four decades, without ever holding public office, Robert Moses
ruled in New York like a potentate. He spent an estimated $27 billion on public
works: highways, bridges, parks, tunnels, beaches, playgrounds, dams, public
buildings, and public housing. He was in large part responsible for the construction
of the Lincoln Center, the United Nations, Co-op City, and the Coliseum. His
most impregnable power base was the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority,
where he reigned as chief executive from 1933 to 1968. He had helped draft the
legislation that created the authority and that at the same time ensured its existence
in perpetuity by empowering it to issue new bonds. The never-ending stream
of bridge and tunnel tolls gave Moses control over a bond-issuing agency with
exiguous accountability; during his tenure the authority, although a public
agency, was as autonomous as the privately governed Metropolitan Museum.."
[MEYER, K., 1979, p. 93]
Another Jewish mogul, Aaron Ziegelman, is in "the controversial business of buying low-rent buildings in New York City, renovating them and selling the apartments as condominiums. The New York Times called him 'one of New York's biggest co-op converters.'" [KLEIN, A., p. 10] One of Ziegelman's pet projects is to reconstruct an Eastern European village in Israel; he has also donated a million dollars to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia and a million and a half to the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.
Yet another Jewish real estate mogul is Jerry Speyer. He married into the Tishman family, also Jewish; the family's firm "Tishman Realty" became the largest "builder-owner" in the United States. [TRAUB, p. 68] Fellow Jewish real estate developer Bernard Mendik told the New York Times Magazine in 1998 that "right now, Jerry [Speyer] is the Number 1 real-estate developer in the world." [TRAUB, p. 62] Today Speyer's Tishman-Speyer Properties owns 36 million square feet of building space, valued at $10.5 billion. Among other sites Speyer's firm owns include Manhattan's Chrysler Building and the Messerturm in Frankfurt, Germany (Europe's second tallest building). He has served on the boards of both Columbia University and the Museum of Modern Art. Speyer, says journalist James Traub, "operates in that elite sphere in which wealth, public-spiritedness, and proper table manners converge to form a colossal nexus of power, but one almost invisible to the outside world." [TRAUB, p. 64]
In 1995, Business Week highlighted another Jewish real estate mogul, Steve Green:
"Most people have never head of the 49 year-old real estate maven. But
Steven J. Green's empire is growing fast. His personal holdings include
120 retail properties across the United States, which he estimated is
worth $500 million. Through partnerships, he has a stake in a real estate
company in Britain that owns 22 office properties in European business
centers, an industrial project in Eastern Europe, and a retail development
in Moscow's Red Square. And he's the chief executive of Astrum
International Corporation, a $1 billion company that owns
Samsonite, American Tourister, and Culligan brands."
[WOOLLEY, p. 116]
By 1940, Albert M. Greenfield's real estate business in Philadelphia was the largest in the city. By age 35 he had "accumulated" 27 building and loan associations and was known as 'one of the most influential men in the city." [SKLARE, p. 284] In early Los Angeles, Kaspare Cohn "was one of Southern California's largest landowners." [GOLDEN, H., 1973, p. 233] By the 1970s, noted one Jewish observer, the (Jewish) Hellman family's Farmers and Merchant Bank, "excepting the state, is the largest property owner in California." [GOLDEN, H., 1973, p. 233]
In Chicago, Sam Zell is "one of the biggest property owners in the country." [ALLEN, J. p. C1] Zell built his fortune on slum lording or, as the Chicago Tribune puts its, the "buying of distressed properties and resurrecting them ... Zell acquired troubled apartment buildings in Florida, Reno, and Las Vegas." [ELSNER, p. C1] "If you viewed us as a group," said partner Burton Kanter, "we were the biggest landlords in Reno." [ELSNER, p. C1] In 1976 Zell and three associates were indicted in a tax shelter scheme over a Reno hotel transaction. Zell cut a deal with the government, but his brother-in-law went to prison. [ALLEN, J. p. C1]
Chicago-based Neil Bluhm, president of JMB Realty, and partner Judd Malkin, noted Forbes in 1990:
"are among the few 1980s property owners to remain high on the Forbes
Hundred [richest Americans list]. Each is estimated at over $770 million,
although they tell people they are each worth just under $1 billion."
[BERSS, p. 352]
JMB's reach is far, owning even the prestigious Century City office complex -- home to many in the Hollywood entertainment world -- in West Los Angeles. Nearby, in Beverly Hills, Guilford Glazer oversees his own $474 million real estate empire, including the Del Amo Fashion Mall, "the largest shopping mall in the world." [BLUMAY, C., 1992, p. 415] Glazer, notes Forbes magazine, is "active in Jewish American causes. [He] built [an] Israeli community center with buddy Armand Hammer." [FORBES, 10-12-98] A Beverly Hills neighbor is Eli Broad, co-founder of Kaufman & Broad, the Los Angeles area's "largest home builder." [GOLDBERG, JJ, 10-22-99] In 1977, Jewish mogul A. Albert Taubman "purchased 77,000 acres of some of the best land in southern California between Los Angeles and San Diego." Taubman, based in Detroit, "by the mid-1960s ... was building shopping centers in California, the nation's ongoing Mecca of real estate development ... It was Taubman who continualy upped the stakes in mall development, again raising eyebrows by building them bigger than anyone else, placing more stringent demands on tenants and charging higher rents for retailers who set up store under his roof." [HIGGINS/HOOVER, 5-3-01, p. 4a] A Holocaust survivor, Frank Lowy, owns Westfield America, the largest shopping mall company on the West Coast, including eight properties in Los Angeles, eight in San Diego, and four in Northern California. In St. Louis, Missouri, "Lowry has five malls and is the city's biggest landlord." In Australia, Lowy's home base, his "mall empire ... has blanketed the continent." The global asset value of his company's holdings is $13.2 billion. [COOLIDGE, 10-19-98]
Also in Chicago, "Philip Klutznik and his American Community Builders, and his later Urban Investment and Development Co. went on to build much of the face of Chicago over the last half century." [OLIVER, p. A16] He is largely responsible for the planned Chicago suburb of Park Forest and he owned the downtown landmark Water Tower Place.
In Washington DC, yet another Jewish real estate king, Charles Smith, controlled "Washington's greatest real estate fortune." [HAGGERTY, M. p. F10] His son Robert, and son-in-law Robert Kogod today run an empire of 2,000 employees, 14,000 apartment units (20,000 counting the ones they also manage), and interests in 54 office buildings. Their total worth was estimated by the late 1980s to be $3-5 billion. Other area Washington area Jewish real estate moguls include the Hafts, Mort Zuckerman, Albert Abramson, Ted Lerner, Bernard and Carol Gewirz, Robert Rosenthal, Estelle Gelman, Hermen Greenberg, Abe Pollin, Myer and Adrienne Arsht Feldman, Joel Meisel and Barry Cohen, among others. [REGARDIE'S, p. 64-] As Barbara Matusow notes about an earlier Jewish generation in the nation's capitol:
"Morris Pollin eventually became a leading builder and developer in
the area -- the path to wealth for so many other Jews of humble
origins ... Abraham Kay parlayed his earnings from a grocery store
on Capitol Hill into vast landholdings in the suburbs. Morris
Cafritz, the city's richest developer, used to hawk newspapers...
Nearly all the other first generation success stories -- car dealer
Joe Cherner, Giant Food's patriarch Nehemiah Cohen, Macke
Vending's Hyman Goldberg, lumber merchant Isadore Turover --
also had major holdings in real estate." [MATUSOW, B., MAY 2000,
p. 79]
In Houston, Jewish real estate mogul Jerry Moore is worth over $400 million, owning over 140 shopping centers. Forbes noted that he bought
"shabby, low-profit but promising strip centers and turn[ed] them
into born-again cash machines ... Moore lives with his wife in an
authentic 18th-century, 40-room French chateau (transported from
France and reassembled in Houston's ritzy Memorial section). He
owns 22 Ferraris, 14 Rolls Royces, and over 200 well-restored antique
Dusenbergs, Packards, and other vehicles." [FIELD, p. 32]
Elsewhere in Houston, David Mincberg owns "one of the largest apartment firms in the city." [HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1998] He is also chairman of the Harris County Democratic Party and president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.
Also in Texas, based in Dallas, the Centex real estate company "is one of the nation's largest home builders, with operations in 53 markets in 19 states." [NEW YORK TIMES, 9-3-98] Its CEO is also Jewish, Laurence Hirsch.
In Boston, "the young professionals who began favoring Boston as a place to live around the time of the Vietnam War are ensconced in their lairs, many of them either built or financed by [Mark] Goldweitz." [ROBINSON, p. 61] In 2000, Jerome Rappaport sold his massive Charles River Park development -- apartments and condos -- for $300 million. [Van Voorhis, S., 2-14-00] Other Jewish real estate moguls in Boston include "the Krupp brothers, Philip and William, who made a killing in real estate," as well as Stephen Karp, Julian Cohen, Bruce Beal, Steve Fishman, Ron Drucker, Dick Friedman, Alan Leventhal, and Edwin Sidman, among others. [BOSTON MAGAZINE]
Owner of properties throughout New England, Holocaust survivor Simon Konover -- owner of over 11 million square feet of real estate -- "is a staunch supporter of Jewish charities." [CHAINSTORE, p. 92] Richard Penzer has a "real estate empire" in Pittsburgh; in Chicago, by 1988 William Adler had developed over 100 suburban and industrial properties and thousands of homes.
Owner of properties throughout New England, Holocaust survivor Simon Konover -- owner of over 11 million square feet of real estate -- "is a staunch supporter of Jewish charities." [CHAINSTORE, p. 92] Richard Penzer has a "real estate empire" in Pittsburgh; in Chicago, by 1988 William Adler had developed over 100 suburban and industrial properties and thousands of homes.
In Los Angeles, by 1992 Jona Goldrich and Abraham Lurie alone controlled 25% (worth $250 million) of the luxurious Marina Del Rey beach area. "For years," notes the Los Angeles Times, "Goldrich has been active in Jewish affairs." [RABIN, J., p. B1] Goldrich has been "a major builder of residential and commercial projects throughout California" and a "major player" in the $400 million Channel Gateway project near Marina Del Rey. In 1991 he was awarded a controversial contract by the Los Angeles County to control over 18 acres of prime Marina Del Rey waterfront for the next 70 years. "Mark Nathanson [also Jewish], a Beverly Hills real estate broker and a member of the California Coastal Commission," noted the Los Angeles Times, "was a leading supporter of the lease extension [to Goldrich] when the five-member Small Craft Harbor Commission met last week." "Nathanson," observed the Times, "is the target of a federal political corruption investigation in Sacramento." [RABIN, J., 12-23-91, p. B1] For Abraham Lurie's part, he was once even a business partner with the brother-in-law of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd. In 1992, before economic problems, Lurie was described as Marina Del Rey's "biggest developer." [RABIN, J., 7-29-92, p. B1]
In Miami, Jewish real estate moguls include Craig Robins. As one journalist notes:
"[Robins] is Miami's most celebrated purchaser and rehabber of
dilapidated buildings ... A few in Miami Beach gripe that Robins'
rep and political clout have made him and [his company called]
Dacra inordinately influential in the city, greasing the skids for any
proposed project that has his name on it."
Robins' partners include his brother Scott and New York-based developer Tony Goldman. [KISSELL, T., 6-15-99]
Even in Mormon-dominated Utah, John Price is the (Jewish) chairman and CEO of JP Realty, "among the top commercial real estate developers in the Intermountain West, owning and managing properties in Utah and nine surrounding states." These holdings include 12 enclosed shopping malls, other shopping centers and various commercial and industry buildings. [KNUDSON, M., 3-23, 97] In Denver, Sally Barry made local news when she fought prominent real estate developer Jordan Perlmutter's plans that would obscure beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains from popular Robert Clement Park. [GREEN, C., 2-22-95, p., B7] Also in Denver, Israeli-raised Shaul Baruch, son of a rabbi, was noted in 1995 as a "wealthy land developer" who had recently purchased "443 acres of prime dirt near Denver International Airport." [REBCHOOK, J., 12-5-95, p. A47]
In Omaha, Nebraska, as an addenda to the real estate world, Phil and Harley Schrager own the Pacesetter Corporation, the "largest independent, direct-seller and manufacturer of residential building and improvement products in the United States." [JEWISH PRESS, 3-31-2000, p. 1]
In Canada, the Reichmann family has an international real estate empire and, by the 1980s, before financial troubles, were reputed to be "one of the wealthiest families in the world." [BUCHINSKY, p. 4] The Reichmanns owned the largest real estate empire on earth, as well as the world's largest newsprint producer (Albitibi-Price), plus various other holdings. The former Deputy Minister of Finance for Canada, Marshall Cohen, directed the large Olympia and York division of the Reichmann sprawl. "The Reichmann's main business vehicle, Olympia and York Development," notes Anthony Bianco, "was the greatest property development company in Western history." [BIANCO, p. xv] "At the peak of their success ... the Reichmann's donated $60 million annually to [Jewish] Orthodox institutions worldwide." [ATLAS, p. 264] The Jewish Reichmann and Bronfman families were instrumental in building New York's tallest landmark, the World Trade Center, and in the late 1970s the Reichmanns had major downtown development projects in ten American cities. [BIANCO, p. 368] "In Florida, Olympia and York generally invested along with the Shapiro family." [BIANCO, p. 399]
"Seagrams [owned by the Montreal-based Bronfman family] are not only the largest liquor empire in the world, but the largest private land-owners in Canada." [BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 68] Also from Montreal, Maxwell Cummings' real estate company has owned land and buildings across North America. In 1948 he built an apartment complex "which was the largest privately owned housing development in Canada ... Throughout his life, Cummings has played an important role in the Jewish community." [BEAUDIN, p. A4] Cummings, who died in 2001, was "a leading developer of low-cost housing in Canada." [EISENTHAL, B., 5-24-01] An Orthodox Jew from Toronto, real estate baron Stephen Mernick, even bought (for $139 million) the 500-acre PTL Christian theme park in North Carolina (after the sex scandal that swept Jim and Tammy Bakker into ruins). [DOLPHIN, p 38]
Also in Canada, Jewish mogul Peter Munk, while heading "one of the world's most valuable gold mining companies, Barrick Gold," also controls "Toronto's landmark CN Tower, lots of office space in New York, and what is described rather coyly as effective ownership of the Sears Tower in Chicago." [FINANCIAL TIMES, 6-30-98, p. 21] In 2000, Jacob Ghermezian died. A Jew from Iran, he "built a real estate empire in Canada." [KIRSCHNER, S., 9-14-2000, p. 11]
Even in a place like Sacramento, California, Mort Friedman "is prominent in two of the most public arenas in town, law and development." [DELSOHN, p. A1] Both a lawyer and a real estate developer (including Sacramento's Market Square mall), his personal fortune is estimated to be about $100 million. Friedman has worked "for improved U.S.-Israeli relations," says the Sacramento Bee, "He lobbied Congress and met with Israeli leaders as an officer of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee." [DELSOHN, p. A1]
In 1989, a roomful of such Jewish real estate barons and assorted slum lords gathered to hear the Jewish New York State Attorney General, Robert Abrams, speak at the "Greater New York Real Estate and Construction Division of the State of Israel Bonds." Real estate mogul Sheldon Solow received the "Israel Peace Medal." Abrams, noted a news wire dispatch, "as a public official and even before that, ... has been a strong voice on behalf of Jewish causes ... [and an] ardent champion of the state of Israel ... While he was borough president, he successfully persuaded the New York City Board of Education to incorporate Jewish Heritage Week into the curriculum of public schools." [PR NEWSWIRE, 11-3-89] The chair of the Real Estate Board of New York at the time (1988) was also Jewish: Larry Silverstein. Such men no doubt included David Steiner, head of Steiner Equities Group, "a real estate concern which oversees millions of square feet of commercial and industrial property from its New Jersey headquarters." Steiner is a former president of AIPAC, the foremost lobbying agency for Israel in America. [MOTHER JONES, 3-5-01]
In Europe, in 1997, the Deutche Presse Agence wire service noted that "Berlin's Jewish community is currently in turmoil, its standing in the city tarnished by reports of dubious real estate dealing and political in-fighting among some of its members." [FREEMAN, C.] Jewish entrepreneurs were noted to have even swindled Holocaust survivors. "Our image is tarnished in the public eye by all the talk of corruption and scandal," the wire service was told at the Jewish Community Center of Berlin." "Recently," noted the Agentur, "a [Jewish Community Center leader's] husband was investigated by the police, reputedly for forcing a woman from Riga into prostitution. There have also been media reports of a [Jewish] Community member ruthlessly driving up property rents in east Berlin." [FREEMAN, C.]
Of the 21 members of Berlin's Jewish Community organization, 17 were noted to be "involved in real estate or property management." [FREEMAN] The chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Berlin, Ignatz Bubis, also owned 40% of the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv til his death in 1999. The London Guardian noted that "All his adult life Bubis insisted that he would live in Germany but did not want to be buried there ["he wanted to be buried in Israel"] and "although Bubis came to reflect the secularization and worldliness of modern German Jewry, he once said he would be 'very upset' if his daughter married a Gentile." [TRAYNOR, p. 10]
Another German Jewish mogul, Moritz Gertler, was recently described by one London newspaper as "one of Germany's wealthiest private property owners." [NISSE, p. 1, 2] In 1998, a French wire service noted the Jewish Fiszman family, rooted in German real estate, as "one of Germany's wealthiest families." [AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, 10-1-98] (Other wealthy post-war Jews in Germany include Emil Januscek (in clothing), the "banker Feuchtwanger, in Munich, and Rosenthal, the manufacturer whose porcelain has a worldwide reputation.") [KATCHER, L., 1968, p. 176]
In Vienna, Austria, Ariel Muzicant heads the "largest association of Austrian Jews." (Today's Austrian Jewish population is about 15,000). He was also born in Israel. "I am the biggest broker in town," Muzicant told the New York Times in 2001, "So, yes, I know the mayor and deputy mayor. I am bigger than the second- and third-largest brokers combined. I build, broker, lease, and sell commercial real estate." A rival Jewish leader condemned Muzicant as a "man who advertises real estate on the Web page of the Jewish community he is supposed to represent."
In Vienna, Austria, Ariel Muzicant heads the "largest association of Austrian Jews." (Today's Austrian Jewish population is about 15,000). He was also born in Israel. "I am the biggest broker in town," Muzicant told the New York Times in 2001, "So, yes, I know the mayor and deputy mayor. I am bigger than the second- and third-largest brokers combined. I build, broker, lease, and sell commercial real estate." A rival Jewish leader condemned Muzicant as a "man who advertises real estate on the Web page of the Jewish community he is supposed to represent."
In England, the firm owned by Jewish moguls Michael and Peter Freeman was picked by Estates Times to be "one of the top 10, and possibly top five, quoted property companies in the UK" by the year 2000. [ESTATES TIMES] Michael Price, also Jewish and active in British real estate (and who owns 6% of the powerful Chase Manhattan bank), was noted by the Times of London to have "recently emerged as one of America's most aggressive investors. It is the nightmare of every American executive to wake up in the morning and find that Mr. Price has just bought a stake in his company." In 1993, Sighismund Berger (who father was a leading figure in Britain's Jewish Orthodox Satmar sect), facing economic woes, was still described by the London Observer as "arguably UK's largest private landlord." [PARKER-JERVIS, ONLINE]
"Mention any high-profile development," noted the London Guardian in 1991,
"and Godfrey Bradman's been there too; in particular, he favours mega
schemes: Finsbury Avenue (half a million square feet); Broadgate (3.5
million feet); Chafford Hundred in Essex, the biggest residential project
in Britain. And of course the 125-acre King's Cross development, the
largest single inner-city scheme in Europe." [COLES, GUARDIAN]
Bradman is also, noted an observer in the Guardian, "part of that north London set of Jewish businessmen who go to each other's charity dos." [COLES, GUARDIAN] Yet another Jewish British real estate force is Gerald Ronson, "one of the country's most celebrated property tycoons" who in 1990 "was fined pounds 5 million and did six months in jail for his part in the Guinness share-dealing scandal." [BARNETT, A., p. 3] Other British Jewish real estate tycoons include Mark Pears (whose family owns an estimated 20,000 flats and houses), and "London property brothers Eddie and Sol Zaky, whose Topland Group's portfolio is worth 1 billion pounds." The Zakys are from Israel. "I would forecast that unless peace comes soon," says Philip Beresford, compiler of a newspaper "rich list," it would be a logical step for Israelis to settle in Britain." [LEVITT/KOHEN, 4-27-01, p. 14]
Even in Hungary, in 1995, "Israeli-owned real estate development companies have started or prepared projects in Budapest worth $350 million that range from family apartments to renovations of abandoned hotels to massive shopping malls. The total development market size is estimated to be $1.6 billion." [O'LEARY, p. 28] And, as the Jerusalem Post noted in 2000, "over the past few years, many Israeli companies have invested in real estate in Eastern Europe, and in Poland and Romania in particular." These Israeli companies include Olimpia Real Estate Holdings, Kardan Real Estate, and Elscint Limited. In 2000, Elscint also bought a 49% ownership of a Polish hotel chain. [SHAVIV, M., 10-6-2000] In the Czech Republic, about 1,600 Jews live in Prague, the beautiful capital of that country. "The new chairman [of the Prague Jewish Community]," noted the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2001, "intends to ensure that the community makes the most of its assets, which include prime real estate in Prague and elsewhere in the country." [BENNETT, M., 7-2-01] In 2001, the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, noted that "Israeli real estate companies are the largest and most active in some Eastern European countries ... Companies like Europe Israel have invested hundreds of millions of shekels in buying and developing East European commercial centers. Kardan Investments has been operating several years in Poland and has set up thousands of square meters of office space." The article, however, focused upon increased Israeli real estate movement in Great Britain. Israeli companies there include Giron Development and Building and Dorot. But the "most prominent Israeli company in the British real estate scene is Alony-Hertz." [LINDMAN, C., 6-27-01]
Turning from real estate to other economic activities in America, in Los Angeles, the Hellman family "virtually invented banking in Los Angeles during the 1860s," and controlled the Farmer's Bank, the Merchant's Bank, and Wells Fargoin San Francisco. Achille Levy also founded the Bank of A. Levy and Kaspare Cohn the Union Bank (for decades Los Angeles' premier "middle-market" bank.) [KOTKIN, p. 58-59] In 1988, Sidney Brody was the director of the largest bank in Los Angeles. [KORMAN, p. 58]
By 1927 Jews "became conspicuous in the thriving used car market." The founder of the Yellow Cab Company in 1915 was Jewish. By 1924 90% of the American scrap metal business was Jewish-owned. [FEINGOLD, p. 91] In Canada, scrap metal millionaire Morris Lax was the victim of an unsolved murder in 1993. Guy Crittenden notes "the closed-shop nature of the scrap business" and that, during a lawsuit, Jewish scrap metal millionaire [Morris] Lax supporters [didn't] deny he was crooked (though perhaps not more so than some others in the business)." [CRITTENDEN, G., 2001] Chester and Morris Waxman, business associates of Lax, built to power "one of the top three scrap-recycling enterprises in Canada." Chester, the Jewish community's Man of the Year in 1979, eventually was involved in a 14-year lawsuit with his brother (who initiated charges) which provided "a veritable parade of witnesses who have leveled accusations of fraud, conspiracy, diversion of funds, racehorse-breeding schemes, evidence tampering and bertrayals of deathbed promises." [CRITTENDON, G., 2000]
"By the 1920s, Jews owned most of Detroit's dry-cleaning establishments." [ROCKAWAY, R., 1993, p. 77] By 1937, as a quarter of New York City's population, Jews already represented 55-65% of the area's lawyers, dentists, and physicians. [MARCUS, J, p. 316]In 1902, Jewish author Isaac Rubinow, a medical examiner for the New York State Health Board, observed that "Many of the best known legal firms are in Jewish hands and any meeting of the medical society will testify to the large percentage of Jewish physicians." [RUBINOW, I., 1959, p. 96]
"By the 1920s, Jews owned most of Detroit's dry-cleaning establishments." [ROCKAWAY, R., 1993, p. 77] By 1937, as a quarter of New York City's population, Jews already represented 55-65% of the area's lawyers, dentists, and physicians. [MARCUS, J, p. 316]
By the 1970s, one of five lawyers in America at-large were Jews. [ISAACS, p. 23] In Israel, by 2000, there was a lawyer for about every 300 inhabitants of the country; "no other country in the world has as large a number of lawyers in proportion to populations as does Israel." [ALPERT, C., 6-2-2000, p. 4]
In law, says Arthur Goldberg of the New York City law firm Goldfarb and Goldberg, "the field of personal injury really expanded in the forties and fifties. A dozen or so developed this area of law, and most of them were Jewish. Emile Zola Berman, Aaron Broder, Jacob Fuchberg, Harry Gair, Herman Glaser, Alfred Julien, Joseph Keller, Charles Kramer, Moe Levine, Harry Lipsig." [KREFETZ, p. 193] Prominent Jewish lawyer Alan Dershowitz has claimed that 40% of the "pre-eminent lawyers" in New York and Washington D.C. are Jewish. [JEJRLLA, p. 6] Stan Chesley, a lawyer who worked on the Agent Orange class action suit in 1984, alone donated $2 million to the United Jewish Appeal in 1992. Morris Shenker was known for decades as the "lawyer for the mob." Federal investigators who searched through his affairs for more than 40 years finally indicted him six months before he died in 1989. [LHOTKA, p. 1A] In 2000, the Cuban immigrant family that tried to keep child refugee Eilan Gonzalez from returning to Cuba with his father was represented by Roger Bernstein, who sometimes acted as their public spokesman.
Probably the most famous, flashy, and controversial divorce lawyer in recent history (and best known lawyer in America) was Marvin Mitchelson. His "private life," notes the (American Lawyer) Recorder,
"was the part of the show and as glitzy as his public one. He had all the
trappings of a star: a Rolls-Royce, the $5 million Hollywood mansion,
nights at the opera, and constant travel to Europe. He enlivened his
marriage to an Italian starlet, Marcella Ferri, with sexual liaisons,
champagne and cocaine ... The California Bar, despite its reluctance to
discipline a very successful attorney, was already investigating
allegations of neglect, fraud, and malpractice from his former clients."
[STANFORD, p. 6]
Among Mitchelson's many sensational cases was that of Vicky Morgan, a high-paid prostitute who sued one of her clients, Alfred Bloomingdale, the Jewish head of a large chain store. Lurid details of his sado-masochistic needs made headlines, particularly noteworthy because Bloomingdale was known to be close to then-president Ronald Reagan. [JENKINS, p. 147-150] Mitchelson has also been a heavy drug user, especially cocaine. Suppliers have included fellow lawyers Bruce Pearlman and Martin Klass. [JENKINS, p. 89-92] Two women eventually publicly stepped forward to claim that Mitchelson had raped them, followed by another five former female clients who "claimed they were victims of Mitchelson's improper sexual advances or physical assaults." [JENKINS, 1992, p. 229] Mitchelson's own defense lawyer against such charges was also Jewish, Howard Weitzman, "one of the best criminal lawyers in the country," soaring to media fame when he successfully defended car maker John DeLorean. The case against DeLorean, charged with seeking to sell and distribute $60 million worth of cocaine, was widely deemed to be extremely strong. [JENKINS, p. 6] Another Los Angeles lawyer "hustling publicity” in "that pack" was Robert Steinberg. [JENKINS, p. 85]
By the late 1980s, yet another Jewish lawyer, Raoul Lionel Felder (at a fee of $450 per hour) had seized the crown for many as the king of divorce lawyers, representing Robin Givens against her boxer husband Mike Tyson, Mrs. Carl Sagan, Mrs. Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, and other Hollywood celebrities. In 1978, one author listed Felder, Irving Erdheim, Morris Halpern, and Mitchell Salem Fisher as four of the top six divorce lawyers in New York; collectively they were known as the "bombers." [GOULDEN, J., 1978] In Washington DC, by 1993 Marna Tucker, also Jewish, was a "$275 an-hour queen bee among Washington divorce lawyers." She was also the first woman to head the D.C. Bar (with a membership of 60,000). [HARRINGTON, W, 1-24-93, p. W8]
Looking for a lawyer to defend you against charges of drug dealing? Gerald Goldstein of San Antonio, Texas, is one of the best in the business, "a man who has made his reputation championing civil rights and his fortune defending dopers, two activities that frequently and fortuitously overlap." [SWARTZ, p. 114] In 1985 Goldstein managed to get the government to return $10 million to a drug smuggler; he also figured out how to get the biggest marijuana dealer in San Antonio freed. He also has represented prominent Mexican drug lord Juan Garcia Abrego.
Another prominent Jewish lawyer, Barry Slotnick, has defended the president of Panama's General Mills, Eleta Almaran, on charges that he conspired to import 1,300 pounds of cocaine every month to Georgia for a total value of $300 million. In 1998 Slotnick could be found as the lawyer for Felix Komarov, an immigrant from Russia with known ties to the Russian mafia. Steven Lerman was the first lawyer for Rodney King, the African-American who awarded $3.8 million after he was videotaped being beaten by Los Angeles police. [ROHRLICH, T., 8-16-2000]
O.J. Simpson's famous trial "dream team" of defenders included, of course, a Jewish lead lawyer Robert Shapiro (who took over from Howard Weitzman) as well as Alan Dershowitz and Barry Scheck, among others. A staff writer at the New York Times, Jeffrey Toobin, describes an early meeting Shapiro had with other lawyers about the case:
"One after another, the Jaguars, the BMWs, and the odd Porsche
pulled off the Avenue of the Stars and slipped into the nearly deserted
underground parking garage. The owners of these cars, about two
dozen of the top lawyers in West Los Angeles, greeted each other
with slightly embarrassed smiles ... They came because everyone
wanted a piece of the case -- the defense of Orienthal James Simpson
against the charges that he had murdered his ex-wife Nicole and her
friend Ronald Goldman [also Jewish] ... This was, as they sometimes
joked, the West L.A. Jewish mafia. ([Skip] Taft and [Robert]
Kardashian were among the very few non-Jews in the room). In fact,
as the group settled in, Alvin Michaelson whispered to his neighbor,
'This is what it must have been like at Apalachin' -- the infamous
gathering of mob chieftains in upstate New York in 1957. It was a
famously inbred group, and their connections to each other often
stretched back decades." [TOOBIN, J., p. 3, 6]
Other lawyers present included Larry Feldman, Roger Cossack, Michael Nasitir, Skip Miller, Jay Jaffee, Dick Sherman, Richard Hirsch, and Patricia Glasier. [SCHILLER/WILLWERTH, p. 128]
Toobin, who spent two years reporting the Simpson case, notes that both Shapiro and his lead African-American lawyer, Johnny Cochran, had privately conceded that O.J. Simpson was the murderer. "Their dilemma, then," says Toobin, "was the oldest, as well as the most common, quandary of the criminal defense attorney: what to do about a guilty client. The answer they decided, was race. Because of the overwhelming evidence of Simpson's guilt, his lawyers could not undertake a defense aimed at proving his innocence ... Instead, in an astonishing act of legal bravado, they sought to create for the client -- a man they believed to be the killer -- the mantle of victimhood." [TOOBIN, J., p. 11]
On the other side of the case, prosecuting Simpson, was Marcia Clark, who also gained media celebrity from the trial. She is also Jewish (originally Marcia Kleks) and speaks fluent Hebrew. Her father, Abraham, was an Israeli who settled in America in 1953. Marcia's first husband, Gaby Horowitz, was also Israeli. [TOOBIN, J. p. 302] Clark notes that she was a "rising star" under Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner [also Jewish] and that "to this day Harvey Giss remains the only prosecutor in L.A. County who has ever gotten a death-penalty conviction against a client of Leslie Abramson [another well-known Jewish criminal defense attorney -- among her newsworthy cases was the Mendenez brothers' murder trial]." [CLARK, M., 1997, p. 7] Another key member of the O.J. Simpson prosecution team was Hank Goldberg, the Deputy District Attorney for the County of Los Angeles. The young man, Ron Goldman, murdered with Nicole Simpson was Jewish. Even Nicole Simpson's friend, Faye Resnick, who made the media rounds with a "tell-all" book about Simpson and his wife, was a convert to Judaism. Her third husband, Paul Resnick, was Jewish. [RESNICK, F., 1994, p. 17, 42]
Alan Dershowitz, famed criminal defense lawyer and successful defender of O.J., once wrote this about the ethics of his chosen field:
"Some criminal lawyers claim to represent only innocent clients. Don't
believe them! No full time criminal lawyer represents a significant
number of innocent clients ... The criminal lawyer's job, for the most
part, is to represent the guilty, and -- if possible -- to get them off...
Defense lawyers are an egotistical lot -- and the challenge of 'getting
off' an obvious guilty defendant is a great ego trip. It is also a great
source of clients; and clients mean money; and money means the good
life that so many defense lawyers crave." [DERSHOWITZ, 1987, p. 117-
118]
Awash in ego-delight at beating the system and an increasing cash flow, Dershowitz damns himself and his colleagues. Casting ethics aside, all become partners in the extension of criminal actions, bonded in spirit with the freed criminal's illegal act, the lawyer an accessory in the cheap thrill of "getting away" with it.
In 1999, Dershowitz even agreed to take the case of white supremacist Matt Hale (a law school graduate who was refused the possibility of applying for a law license). Hale is founder of the controversial World Church of the Creator. Dershowitz publicly announced that he would be willing to represent Hale on the condition that their lawyer-client confidentiality premise was officially breached, and Dershowitz could have a free hand in continuously attacking Hale's racist views. Hale declined this offer, and chose another Jewish lawyer, Robert Herman, instead. "Its unfortunate really," explained Hale, "but the sad fact is that most of the First Amendment lawyers are Jews." [ASSOCIATED PRESS STATE AND LOCAL WIRE, 3-26-99]
Among those physicians who have "expert" reputations in murder trials is Israel-raised Owen Spitz, today a resident of Michigan. He is, noted the Detroit News in 2000, "at the top of the list of for-hire forensic experts ... With 46 years of experience, he's the dean of them all." Spitz has been involved in many major murder cases, from the Kennedy assassination to the O.J. Simpson trial. [SINCLAIR, N., 3-19-2000, p. 1]
Leading up to World War II, Mendel Silberberg was "the most important entertainment attorney in the country." [GABLER, N., 1988, p. 297] Much more recently in Hollywood, the names of Jake Bloom, Kenneth Ziffren, Barry Hirsch, Bruce Ramer (also president of the American Jewish Committee), and Eric Weissman are also among the many prominent Jewish movie star lawyers. Bloom is "probably the most powerful show business attorney in Hollywood." [CARTER, B., 1994, p. 71] Tom Pollock also started out as a lawyer for superstars and became the head of Universal Pictures, and later MCA. By 1999, Richard Volpert was "reportedly among the city's highest paid lawyers and exerts considerable political influence." His wife has headed the Los Angeles County School Board. [TUGEND, 10-22-99] Lawyer Sidney Sheinberg also became the chief of MCA; lawyer Alan Levine became the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Another Ziffren lawyer, Paul, became chairman of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee that hosted the Olympics in 1984. Ziffren's "political mentor" was Jake Arvey (also Jewish), "the mob-connected head of Chicago's Democratic Party." Ziffren was "also a close friend and associate of Chicago Mafia boss Frank Nitti." In the 1960s Reader's Digest published an article "chronicling Ziffren's long-standing ties to major organized crime figures." [MOLDEA, D., p. 136-137] Another such lawyer, Eugene Bernstein, was the "Mob's tax lawyer." [MCDOUGAL, p. 142]
Another Ziffren friend was lawyer Sidney Korshak, omnipresent in Hollywood, and for decades "the Mafia's top lawyer. He was also a man who symbolized that curious American social phenomenon of the evolution of organized crime into increasingly legitimate business." [WALKER, M., 1-23-96, p. 14] Sidney's brother Marshall was a prominent politician in Chicago's Democratic political machine; Marshall, also linked to organized crime, was also once the State of Israel Bonds "man of the year" and was that organization's campaign chairman in 1981. Marshall's daughter, Margie, is today "Chicago's best known publicist." [CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 1-20-96, p. 41]
In 2000, Los Angeles magazine featured an article entitled Raging Bulls, about "attack dog" attorneys for the rich and famous. Jewish lawyers overwhelmingly dominated the story. ("These are the guys you call when you might have to get into the gutter," noted reporter Ross Johnson. Martin "Mad Dog" Singer (who charges $400 an hour) represents Arnold Schwartzenegger, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy, Celine Dion, Roseanne, Jim Carrey, Jean Claude Van Damme, Priscilla Presley, Dennis Rodman, and other Hollywood stars. Marshall Grossman (of whom "six of the top eight students" in his graduating law class were Jewish), and who has Steven Spielberg as a client, "has twice been named among the nation's best litigators by the National Law Journal. "If I couldn't sue my friends in this business," music lawyer Don Engel told the magazine, "I wouldn't have a business. "Engel has litigated so many cases that only the nastiest ones stand out in the clutter." Clients have included 'N Sync, Donna Summer, Don Henley, Boston, and Meat Loaf. Stanton (Larry) Stein's clients include Robert Redford, Sean Connery, Jane Fonda, and Madonna. "He apprenticed under Frank Rothman, the emininence grise of L.A. litigators." [JOHNSON, R., MAY 2000]
In 2000, Los Angeles magazine featured an article entitled Raging Bulls, about "attack dog" attorneys for the rich and famous. Jewish lawyers overwhelmingly dominated the story. ("These are the guys you call when you might have to get into the gutter," noted reporter Ross Johnson. Martin "Mad Dog" Singer (who charges $400 an hour) represents Arnold Schwartzenegger, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy, Celine Dion, Roseanne, Jim Carrey, Jean Claude Van Damme, Priscilla Presley, Dennis Rodman, and other Hollywood stars. Marshall Grossman (of whom "six of the top eight students" in his graduating law class were Jewish), and who has Steven Spielberg as a client, "has twice been named among the nation's best litigators by the National Law Journal. "If I couldn't sue my friends in this business," music lawyer Don Engel told the magazine, "I wouldn't have a business. "Engel has litigated so many cases that only the nastiest ones stand out in the clutter." Clients have included 'N Sync, Donna Summer, Don Henley, Boston, and Meat Loaf. Stanton (Larry) Stein's clients include Robert Redford, Sean Connery, Jane Fonda, and Madonna. "He apprenticed under Frank Rothman, the emininence grise of L.A. litigators." [JOHNSON, R., MAY 2000]
In Australia, noted the American Jewish Yearbook in 1995, "Lillian Lieder was appointed to the Queen's Council (senior members of the [lawyers'] bar); one of only six women, four of them Jewish, ever to be appointed in Victoria." [SINGER/SELDIN, 1995, p. 359] The first chairman of the Victoria Bar Association was Jewish, as was the 1966 chairman, William Kaye, who had "forthright dedication with every important Jewish and Zionist cause." [SACHAR, H., 1985, p. 176] In 1999, American Lawyer magazine heralded corporate lawyer Joe Flom, who "was instrumental in [the] reinvention of American business, helping to engineer many of the biggest proxy fights of the sixties and the hostile tender offers of the seventies and eighties." [MORRIS, 12-6-99] In New England, another lawyer, Lew Weinstein, head of a local Zionist Association, "played a significant role in the restructuring of the skylines of Boston." [LEVINE/HARMON, p. 50, 53]
The extraordinarily absurd Jewish propensities to "sue," and the elaborate manipulations Jewish lobbying pressures can accomplish, may be measured in the case of the (lawyer) father of Alisa Flatow. This young American Jewish woman was killed in a 1995 suicide bomb attack by a Palestinian in Israel. Her father's response was to sue the entire nation of Iran, as responsible for promoting terrorism: "Islamic Holy War." Incredibly, in a Washington court, he won a settlement for $247.5 million, a case completely ignored of course by Iran. The double standard here is staggering. While a Jewish lawyer can successfully sue Iran in America for a quarter of a billion dollars because his daughter was killed by Palestinian suicide bomber who probably had eight cents to his name across the world, the Palestinian people themselves remain completely legally paralyzed in fighting an avalanche of oppression (including murder) against them by the Jewish state of Israel. [See chapter about Israel, and the institutionalized "terrorism" against the Palestinian people]
In 2000, the Ira Wasserstein family also embarked upon a lawsuit against the country of Syria, demanding $330 million "under a law that allows American victims to sue states responsible for terrorist acts." Ira Wasserstein had been killed in the bombing of a bus. The lawsuit charges that Syria supported the Islamic group Hamas, which champions violent rebellion against the oppression of Palestinians by the Jewish state. Also in 2000, the Eisenfeld and Duker families, each which had lost family members to violence in Israel, won a $327 million judgment against the country of Iran for its support of anti-Israel movements. [SAMBER, S., 8-3-2000, p. 6] These three American Jews, the Jewish-lobbied courts have deemed, are collectively worth about $1 billion. The hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinians who have died in recent years as victims of Israeli state terrorism are, correspondingly, worth nothing.
In April 2001, an Israeli, Esh Kodesh Gilmore, filed a lawsuit in America, against Yassar Arafat, the Palestinian Authority (the acting government of the Palestinian people) and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Her husband had been killed by an Arab in Israel and she decided Arafat and the collective Palestinians were responsible. For her American Jewish lawyer, David Strachman, "it is the third such case he has pursued against the PLO under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1991, which allows Americans who have been harmed in terrorist attacks abroad to take action against the perpetrators in American court. 'If the PLO and terrorists knew that every time they killed an American they would pay $100m or $200m, at some point they are going to wake up,' Strachman said." [MAHNAIMI, U., 4-29-01] This lawsuit was filed even as Jewish Israelis had slain over 400 Arab Palestinians (including numerous children) and wounded thousands during their most recent "Intifada" against Israeli rule.
At the same time, the family of Michael Norzhich, an Israeli soldier murdered by a Palestinian mob when he took a wrong turn in the West Bank, sued the Palestinian government for over $20 million. [HAAS, D., 1-26-01]
In 2001, two Jewish parents, Eleanor and Charles Kadish, even filed suit against the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles. Why? Because of a failure "to provide the necessary security" against the likes of white supremacist fanatic Buford Furrow, who shot over 70 bullets at the Jewish center and injured their son. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 5-1-01]
In 2001, two German-Jews -- Kurt Julius Goldstein and Peter Gingold -- filed the most absurd lawsuit of them all (seeking $40 billion), a guaranteed incitement to anti-Semitism. "In a bizarre addition to the Holocaust-related suits now winding their way through the courts," noted the [Jewish] Forward,
"two German-Jewish survivors of the Auschwitz death camp are suing the
American government for its failure to bomb the camp ... The suit was filed
with the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia on January 2 ... In
the past few years, Jewish survivors have filed numerous lawsuits against
Swiss banks, German companies and other European entities and
governments, leading to several multi-billion-dollar settlements. Recently,
however, the focus has been shifting toward America's role in the Nazi
atrocities and their aftermath. A lawsuit, since dropped, was filed against
IBM alleging that its German subsidiary colluded with the Nazi regime."
[FORWARD, 4-6-01]
The lawsuit against the U. S. government, notes Gabriel Schoenfeld,
"follows in the wake of lawsuits that have been initiated against more than
a few American corporations, including giants like General Motors and
Chase Manhattan Bank, for allegedly contributing to, or benefitting
financially from, the Holocaust. Is justice finally being done, or is
something far less admirable going on?"
Among the prominent legal "ambulance-chasers" is Michael Hausfeld whose
"firm has made a specialty of filing class-action suits, mostly on 'behalf'
of shareholders of such corporations as Amazon and MCI for alleged
violations of the law. When successful, these actions bring pennies to
shareholders and princely fees to Mr. Hausfeld and his associates. Another
lucrative line of business -- with a similar division beteween 'clients' and
lawyers -- is Holocaust litigation. Though he cloaks himself in the rhetoric
of a noble cause, Mr. Hausfeld's preferred methods include subjecting target
companies to a blitz of adverse publicity in an effort to compel cash settlements."
[SCHOENFELD, G., 4-11-01]
By 2001, lawyer Hausfeld and partner Edward Fagan had moved towards cashing in on African legal claims for slavery restitutions from First World countries:
"In the first significant sequel to the legal and moral process of Holocaust
restitution, a South African coalition advocating Third World debt relief
has reached out to Jewish groups and activists to share expertise in several
key aspects of the campaign. Two lawyers who were active in securing
restitution for Holocaust victims, Michael Hausfeld and Edward Fagan,
said they have been consulting with the South African group, Jubilee
South Africa. Both men said they would be filing class-action lawsuits
against companies that they say profited from and helped to prop up
the racist apartheid regime." [CATTAN, N., 11-30-01]
In April 2001, an Israeli, Esh Kodesh Gilmore, filed a lawsuit in America, against Yassar Arafat, the Palestinian Authority (the acting government of the Palestinian people) and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Her husband had been killed by an Arab in Israel and she decided Arafat and the collective Palestinians were responsible. For her American Jewish lawyer, David Strachman, "it is the third such case he has pursued against the PLO under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1991, which allows Americans who have been harmed in terrorist attacks abroad to take action against the perpetrators in American court. 'If the PLO and terrorists knew that every time they killed an American they would pay $100m or $200m, at some point they are going to wake up,' Strachman said." [MAHNAIMI, U., 4-29-01] This lawsuit was filed even as Jewish Israelis had slain over 400 Arab Palestinians (including numerous children) and wounded thousands during their most recent "Intifada" against Israeli rule.
At the same time, the family of Michael Norzhich, an Israeli soldier murdered by a Palestinian mob when he took a wrong turn in the West Bank, sued the Palestinian government for over $20 million. [HAAS, D., 1-26-01]
In 2001, two Jewish parents, Eleanor and Charles Kadish, even filed suit against the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles. Why? Because of a failure "to provide the necessary security" against the likes of white supremacist fanatic Buford Furrow, who shot over 70 bullets at the Jewish center and injured their son. [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 5-1-01]
In 2001, two German-Jews -- Kurt Julius Goldstein and Peter Gingold -- filed the most absurd lawsuit of them all (seeking $40 billion), a guaranteed incitement to anti-Semitism. "In a bizarre addition to the Holocaust-related suits now winding their way through the courts," noted the [Jewish] Forward,
"two German-Jewish survivors of the Auschwitz death camp are suing the
American government for its failure to bomb the camp ... The suit was filed
with the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia on January 2 ... In
the past few years, Jewish survivors have filed numerous lawsuits against
Swiss banks, German companies and other European entities and
governments, leading to several multi-billion-dollar settlements. Recently,
however, the focus has been shifting toward America's role in the Nazi
atrocities and their aftermath. A lawsuit, since dropped, was filed against
IBM alleging that its German subsidiary colluded with the Nazi regime."
[FORWARD, 4-6-01]
The lawsuit against the U. S. government, notes Gabriel Schoenfeld,
"follows in the wake of lawsuits that have been initiated against more than
a few American corporations, including giants like General Motors and
Chase Manhattan Bank, for allegedly contributing to, or benefitting
financially from, the Holocaust. Is justice finally being done, or is
something far less admirable going on?"
Among the prominent legal "ambulance-chasers" is Michael Hausfeld whose
"firm has made a specialty of filing class-action suits, mostly on 'behalf'
of shareholders of such corporations as Amazon and MCI for alleged
violations of the law. When successful, these actions bring pennies to
shareholders and princely fees to Mr. Hausfeld and his associates. Another
lucrative line of business -- with a similar division beteween 'clients' and
lawyers -- is Holocaust litigation. Though he cloaks himself in the rhetoric
of a noble cause, Mr. Hausfeld's preferred methods include subjecting target
companies to a blitz of adverse publicity in an effort to compel cash settlements."
[SCHOENFELD, G., 4-11-01]
By 2001, lawyer Hausfeld and partner Edward Fagan had moved towards cashing in on African legal claims for slavery restitutions from First World countries:
"In the first significant sequel to the legal and moral process of Holocaust
restitution, a South African coalition advocating Third World debt relief
has reached out to Jewish groups and activists to share expertise in several
key aspects of the campaign. Two lawyers who were active in securing
restitution for Holocaust victims, Michael Hausfeld and Edward Fagan,
said they have been consulting with the South African group, Jubilee
South Africa. Both men said they would be filing class-action lawsuits
against companies that they say profited from and helped to prop up
the racist apartheid regime." [CATTAN, N., 11-30-01]
Moving along into other realms, by the 1950s, Jews owned three of the top four cigar-manufacturing firms, almost half of North America's alcohol distilling companies (including the Bronfman family's Seagram and Lewis Rosentiel'sSchenley -- the two largest) and at least 90% of apparel chain stores. [SACHAR, p. 409; BERMANT, C., 1987, p. 66] (Both Seagram and Schenley had mob links in the creation of their dynasties. In Schenley's case, "Rosentiel's lifelong involvement with the Mafia came to light only in 1970, when the New York State Legislative Committee on Crime established that he and mob characters had formed a consortium to smuggle liquor during Prohibition." [SUMMERS, A., 1993, p. 248] "When [Seagram founder] Sam [Bronfman] died in 1971, the company owned thirty-nine distilleries and eighteeen wineries, scattered throughout the world and the United Sates, and producing about 114 different brands of beverages including America's most popular brands -- Chivas Regal, Seven Crowns and Seagram's V.O." (Bronfman was for decades the President of the Canadian Jewish Congress). [BERMANT, C., 1987, p. 68-69] At his death in 1987, another Jewish alcohol mogul, Paul Kalmanovitz, was worth $500 million. His personal mausoleum cost $6.5 million. He had built an empire of second-rate beer brands in different regions of the country, including Pabst, Hamms, Olympia, Falstaff,Lucky Lager, Pearl, Regal Pale, and Grace Brothers. [COTHRAN, G., 1995] Maurice Kanbar founded the Skyy Vodka firm. As Chaim Bermant notes about the heavy presence of Jewish ownership in the alcohol world, now and over the centuries:
"If there is anything as Jewish as the garment trade it is perhaps the drink trade,
which may seem surprising in a people as sober and as abstemious as the Jews.
Both their abstemiousness (from drink at least -- if a Jew becomes intoxicated
it is usually on food) was no doubt one of the reasons for their prominence in
the trade; they never felt tempted to consume their own stock." [BERMANT, C.
1977, p. 66]
"If there is anything as Jewish as the garment trade it is perhaps the drink trade,
which may seem surprising in a people as sober and as abstemious as the Jews.
Both their abstemiousness (from drink at least -- if a Jew becomes intoxicated
it is usually on food) was no doubt one of the reasons for their prominence in
the trade; they never felt tempted to consume their own stock." [BERMANT, C.
1977, p. 66]
By the mid-to late-1800s preeminent Jewish regional specialty and department stores included Filene's in Boston, Macy's in New York, and those of the Kaufman's in Pittsburgh, the Lazaruses in Columbia, Ohio, the Goldsmiths in Memphis, the Sangers in Dallas, the Spiegelbergs in New Mexico, the Goldwaters in Arizona, and the Meiers in Portland. Mervyn Morris, an activist at the Anti-Defamation League, founded the California-based department store chain calledMervyn's. By the 1960s, the largest store in New York's African-American ghetto of Harlem was Jewish (Blumstein's), as was the largest department store in Atlanta (Rich's). [KAUFMAN, J., 1988, p. 39, 111] And, "even if you'd never been there," notes the Atlanta Jewish Times, "you'd still recognize Cohen's Department Store in Alma, Georgia. You know, the Jewish-owned emporium on the main street of a hundred rural southern towns, the place where locals, and their children, and their children's children, have shopped for generations." [LEOPOLD, T., 12-24-99]
"By the time the War of Rebellion [Civil War] became a stark reality," says Louis Swichkow,
"[Jews] were considered a vital element in the economic and financial fabric
of the rapidly expanding city [of Milwaukee]. A quick glance at the more
prominent busines establishments that flourished during that period reveals
that of the fourteen leading firms of merchant tailors and clothiers in
Milwaukee in 1862, five were owned and operated by Jews." [SWICHKOW,
L., 1957, p. 37]
"By the time the War of Rebellion [Civil War] became a stark reality," says Louis Swichkow,
"[Jews] were considered a vital element in the economic and financial fabric
of the rapidly expanding city [of Milwaukee]. A quick glance at the more
prominent busines establishments that flourished during that period reveals
that of the fourteen leading firms of merchant tailors and clothiers in
Milwaukee in 1862, five were owned and operated by Jews." [SWICHKOW,
L., 1957, p. 37]
Even in the remote and tiny desert tourist town of Tombstone, Arizona, the local Long Horn restaurant and Branding Iron souvenir shop is owned by Jews. A Jewish visitor asked one these merchants about anti-Semitism in the area. "One or two try to agitate," came the reply,
"But that makes us angry, and the more angry we get, the more
determined we are to stick it out. The thing is' -- and he whispers
this so that even Richard, who is standing next to me, shouldn't hear
it -- 'to beat them economically.'
'And is that what you're doing?'
Some play of light in his eyes, some infinitesimal movement of his
body which I infinitesimally duplicate with mine, expresses the
freemasonry of Hebraic exclusion which exists between us, 'What
do you think?' he says." [JACOBSON, H., 1995, p. 269-270]
Jews also dominated merchantry in the California Gold Rush areas in the mid-19th century, and many became wealthy from their sales:
"Historians of this [Gold Rush] period, both scholarly and popular, overlooked the
dominance by Jewish businessmen of the retail economy in practically every
mining camp and town in the Mother Lode and Northern mines of California
and in every other mineral discovery in the American and Canadian West. Those
writers who noted the presence of Jews but criticized them because they were not
miners also criticized them because they were merchants. The romantic writers
of this period wrote in favor of the miner, and any class of people, such as
merchants, who took money from miners were regarded as exploitive ... The
merchants became some of the richest men in the gold rush region ...
[In 1860] in Calveras County, Jewish taxpayers constituted only 3.1 percent
of all taxpayers in the county and 0.34 of the total population. Yet these fifty-
five taxpayers declared themselves to be owners of 7.8 percent of all the real and
personal property in the county and accounted for 7.2 percent of the total
tax assessment that year. In adjacent Tuolumne County, eighty-three Jewish
taxpayers made up 3.6 percent of the taxpayers, and 9.51 percent of the total
population, but owned 6.67 percent of the real and personal property and
were assessed for 8.43 percent of the total tax ... Jewish merchants in the
cities and towns of the Mother Lode were among the wealthiest residents ..
All of the Jews who came to California at this time were born in Europe."
[LEVINSON, R., 1978, p. 26, 38, 61, 62]
In Nevada City, for instance, in 1861, 14 of 17 drygoods stores were Jewish-owned, as were all six tobacco sellers. In Placerville, in 1862, 23 of 26 clothing merchants were Jewish and two of four tobacco sellers. [LEVINSON, R., 1978, p. 30]
Jews also dominated merchantry in the California Gold Rush areas in the mid-19th century, and many became wealthy from their sales:
"Historians of this [Gold Rush] period, both scholarly and popular, overlooked the
dominance by Jewish businessmen of the retail economy in practically every
mining camp and town in the Mother Lode and Northern mines of California
and in every other mineral discovery in the American and Canadian West. Those
writers who noted the presence of Jews but criticized them because they were not
miners also criticized them because they were merchants. The romantic writers
of this period wrote in favor of the miner, and any class of people, such as
merchants, who took money from miners were regarded as exploitive ... The
merchants became some of the richest men in the gold rush region ...
[In 1860] in Calveras County, Jewish taxpayers constituted only 3.1 percent
of all taxpayers in the county and 0.34 of the total population. Yet these fifty-
five taxpayers declared themselves to be owners of 7.8 percent of all the real and
personal property in the county and accounted for 7.2 percent of the total
tax assessment that year. In adjacent Tuolumne County, eighty-three Jewish
taxpayers made up 3.6 percent of the taxpayers, and 9.51 percent of the total
population, but owned 6.67 percent of the real and personal property and
were assessed for 8.43 percent of the total tax ... Jewish merchants in the
cities and towns of the Mother Lode were among the wealthiest residents ..
All of the Jews who came to California at this time were born in Europe."
[LEVINSON, R., 1978, p. 26, 38, 61, 62]
In Nevada City, for instance, in 1861, 14 of 17 drygoods stores were Jewish-owned, as were all six tobacco sellers. In Placerville, in 1862, 23 of 26 clothing merchants were Jewish and two of four tobacco sellers. [LEVINSON, R., 1978, p. 30]
As Henry Feingold notes about the history of Jewish merchantry in America:
"The breadth of Jewish embourgeoisement, especially through
merchandizing, surpassed other groups. Jewish department store
ownership, for example, was merely the tip of the iceberg, the
visible part of a merchandizing interest which reached into
virtually every town in America. In many cases the Jewish merchant
preceded the development of the town or hamlet, which was
organized around him." [FEINGOLD, H., 1988, p. 535]
"By the end of the nineteenth century," notes Chaim Bermant,
"of the five major German groups [i.e., department store firms], three, Schocken,
Tietz, and Wertheim, were in Jewish hands. In America, too, the biggest,
and certainly the best known of the groups, tended to be Jewish owned."
[BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 59]
"By the end of the nineteenth century," notes Chaim Bermant,
"of the five major German groups [i.e., department store firms], three, Schocken,
Tietz, and Wertheim, were in Jewish hands. In America, too, the biggest,
and certainly the best known of the groups, tended to be Jewish owned."
[BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 59]
But "if one were to look for the one industry that Jews do have a lock on," wrote Gerald Krefetz in 1982, "it would be ... the toy industry," with a "strong Jewish presence" in many of the major firms, including Mattel (CEO, Jill Barad), Hasbro(an abbreviation of Hassenfeld Brothers), Ideal, Mego, Gabriel, and Marx. Ruth Handler at Mattel created the Barbie Doll as an American cultural institution. "The Handlers left the company and the toy business in 1975 because of legal problems connected with alleged financial malfeance by Ruth." [HYMAN, p. 29] Sylvia Hassenfeld was the Hasbro CEO in 1990. She was also chairman of the Jewish Agency's Rural Settlement Division for Israel, president of the Joint Distribution Committee, and was the holder of other prominent Jewish and Israel-oriented posts. [STARR, J., 1990, p. 140] Beatrice Alexander, an earlier proprietor of a successful doll company -- Madame Alexander's Doll Factory -- "was a devoted Zionist." [HYMAN, p. 34, 35] The Cabbage Patch doll-fad came from the COLECO company, founded by the Greenberg family. [ETKES/STADTMAUER, 1995, p. 172] The Lionel Train company was founded by Joshua Lionel.
In Chicago, Walter Mander was "one of the nation's leading entrepreneurs in the cattle industry." His Lincoln Meat Company (which he heading from 1952 to his retirement in 1990) was one of Chicago's most prominent slaughterhouses. [CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 12-23-97, p. 79] In South Carolina, Arnold Tenenbaum is the CEO of Chatham Steel. Arnold's cousin, Sam, retired as the company's vice president in 2000. [GRESOCK, S., 8-3-2000] In Washington DC, Israel Cohen built the regional powerhouse Giant Food supermarket chain. "He controls a veritable monopoly," wrote reporter Frank O'Donnell, "and can pretty much set the prices of one commodity that nobody can live without: food." [O'DONNELL, p. 130] Giant also has pharmacies in 94 of its food stores, where drug profit margin can be 40 percent. Melvyn Estrin is another economic powerhouse in the Washington DC area. Starting out in the wholesale drug supply business, "he secured financing for another early undertaking, University Research Group, a social-science consulting firm formed by academic refugees from the Kennedy administration. He ended up owning the company, which today generates some $30 million a year. Around the same time, Estrin acquired American Health Services, a chain of 17 psychiatric hospitals and nursing homes that later sold for $36 million." [GREENBERG, R., p. 78]
Jewish entrepreneurs also were -- and are -- prominent in various other kinds of companies, from department stores to computer companies, founding, and/or later owning or controlling: Sears-Roebuck, ("Julius Rosenwald's accomplishments at Sears showed him to be a true pioneer of modern business -- Henry Ford is said to have borrowed the assembly-line technique from the great retailer") [DALIN, D., 4-98] Petrie Stores, Toys R Us (current chairman: Michael Goldberg; founder Charles Lazarus), Revlon (founder: Charles Revson), Family Dollar Stores (founder: Leon Levine); Gimbels, I. Magnin (founder: Mary Ann Cohen), Nieman-Marcus, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Abraham and Strauss,Hearn, May Company, Simplicity dress patterns (James Shapiro), Xerox, (CEO: Sol Linowitz; founded by Max Palevsky), Automated Data Processing, (founded by Henry Taub and Frank Lautenberg, the latter both a U.S. Senator from New Jersey and president and chairman of the United Jewish Appeal), Federated Department Stores (Fred Lazarus), Allied, Interstate, Adray's, Ohrbach's, Joseph Magnin, Colonial Penn Insurance, Crate and Barrel (Gordon Seagel),Zody's, Loehmann's, Spartan Industries, Levitz Furniture, E.J. Korvette, (founder: Eugene Ferkauf), Cost-Co (Jeffrey Brotman), Cost-Plus (Andrew Kattan), Waldbaum's, Stop-and-Shop, B. Altmans, Richs, Sterns, ShopRite,Bergdorf's, Falstaff and Pabst beers, David Oreck vacuum cleaners, Slim-Fast (founder: S. Daniel Abraham, who "has spent most of his political and charitable energies in the last decade supporting Israel and the troubled Middle East peace process. He helped fund Birthright Israel, a program which sponsors tours of Israel for young American Jews" and he "also helped fund a tunnel alongside Jerusalem's Western Wall, which became a flash point between Palestinians and Israelis in 1996"), [MOTHER JONES, 3- 5-20] the Great American Cookie Company (400 stores; founder Michael Coles) and many, many others.
Ben and Jerry (Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield) ice cream was Jewish-founded, and Reuben Matheus (a major contributor to Jewish fascist Meir Kahane) founded Haagen-Daz. Baskin-Robbins was also founded by Jews: Burton Baskin and Irving Robbins. Michael Illitch owns Little Caesar's Pizza. Steve Adler founded the Big and Tall chain stores. Israeli Ike Starkman founded the Jerry's Famous Deli shops. He is active in the American Israel Political Affairs Committee and "leans to the right in Israeli politics." [TUGEND, 10-22-99] Jean Nidetech founded Weight Watchers. [ETKES/STADTMAUER, 1995, p. 173] Florine Mark is also president and CEO of the W. W. Group, "the largest franchise ofWeight Watchers International." She is also a board member of the Weight Watchers Foundation, as well the Executive Committee for the United Jewish Appeal National Campaign. [ROBINSON, M., 5-4-2000, p. 17] Len Feinstein is co-CEO of Bed, Bath and Beyond. Ray Schoenbaum is the CEO of the Shoney's chain of 1,200 restaurants in 28 states, including Shoney's, Captain D's Seafood, Pargo's, and Fifth Quarter. Schoenbaum's father founded the company. [ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES, 4-9-99]
The Jewish Pritzker family controls the Marmon Group, which over the years has "bought the Hyatt hotel chain, Royal Caribbean cruise line, Braniff Airlines, Continental Airlines, McCall's magazine, Montgomery Securities andTicketmaster, among many others." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 33]
From Miami, William Singer, "the Hamburger King," founded the Royal Castle hamburger chain, which by 1965 had 144 restaurants in Florida, Louisiana and Georgia. [BIANCO, A., 1991, p. 41] "Royal Castle's rigid policy of racial segregation (blacks could order through a window but not come inside)," notes Anthony Bianco, "made the chain a favorite target for demonstrations by civil rights groups ... These were times when a man could own a company that was overtly racist and sexist yet still be named Miami's Outstanding Citizen, as Singer was in 1959 ... He began his rise to social prominence by supporting specifically Jewish causes ..." [BIANCO, A., 1991, p. 41]
In the late 1960s, the Fifth Avenue Coach Line in New York City, notes infamous lawyer Roy Cohn, "was the largest private transit system in the world, with over two thousand buses in Manhattan and the Bronx and revenues exceeding $60 million a year ... By 1960, [Harry] Weinberg ['a colorful millionaire from Baltimore who had made his bundle on transit systems from Scranton to Honolulu'] had become the largest sharehold in Fifth Avenue, and he hired me to wrest control from the establishment crowd." [COHN, R., 1988, p. 182]
The Jewish Pritzker family controls the Marmon Group, which over the years has "bought the Hyatt hotel chain, Royal Caribbean cruise line, Braniff Airlines, Continental Airlines, McCall's magazine, Montgomery Securities andTicketmaster, among many others." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 33]
From Miami, William Singer, "the Hamburger King," founded the Royal Castle hamburger chain, which by 1965 had 144 restaurants in Florida, Louisiana and Georgia. [BIANCO, A., 1991, p. 41] "Royal Castle's rigid policy of racial segregation (blacks could order through a window but not come inside)," notes Anthony Bianco, "made the chain a favorite target for demonstrations by civil rights groups ... These were times when a man could own a company that was overtly racist and sexist yet still be named Miami's Outstanding Citizen, as Singer was in 1959 ... He began his rise to social prominence by supporting specifically Jewish causes ..." [BIANCO, A., 1991, p. 41]
In the late 1960s, the Fifth Avenue Coach Line in New York City, notes infamous lawyer Roy Cohn, "was the largest private transit system in the world, with over two thousand buses in Manhattan and the Bronx and revenues exceeding $60 million a year ... By 1960, [Harry] Weinberg ['a colorful millionaire from Baltimore who had made his bundle on transit systems from Scranton to Honolulu'] had become the largest sharehold in Fifth Avenue, and he hired me to wrest control from the establishment crowd." [COHN, R., 1988, p. 182]
Macys' department store is of course a seminal Jewish institution. By the 1930s, notes William Leach, "Macys [department store] was so big and so successful that it was beginning to function not only as a mythical symbol of American mass consumption but also the epitome of economic force." [LEACH, p. 281] It had attained the biggest volume of any department store in the world. At one time Macys, and Abraham and Strauss, were "the two biggest stores in New York [and] owned ... by the same Jewish family." [SIEGEL, p. 107]
Henry Bloch founded the best known American tax-consulting firm, H&R Block. Samuel Liedesdorf was "founder of one of the largest accounting firms in the nation." [ETKES/STADTMAUER, 1995, p. 173] Nathan and Gordon Sherman founded Midas Muffler (Midas International), America's leading muffler company with 1415 stores. The Pep Boys ("Manny, Moe, and Jack") automobile supply chain was founded by Emmanuel Rosenfeld (Manny), Maurice Strauss (Moe), and non-Jew W. Graham Jackson (Jack). Jackson left the business in the 1920s and Strauss' brother I.M. became "Jack." The first Pep Boys CEO (also Jewish) to be outside the founding families was Mitchell Leibowitz in 1990. [CUFF, D., 4-2-90] Ray Firestone, also Jewish, became chairman of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, his family's business, in 1966. [ETKES/STADTMAUER, 1995, p. 165]
Eli Jacobs headed a group of companies including Memorex, the Telex corporation, and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. In 1993 alone Sam Zell bought the Schwinn bicycle company, 91% of 16 radio stations, and the Sealy bed company (originally founded by Saul Ostrow). He also controls Revco D.S. (a chain of 1150 drug stores) and the Carter Hawley Hale department store chain. "Zell is among the wealthiest men in the country," noted the Seattle Times, "with a reported net worth topping $880 million." [LANE, p. E1] By 1996, Lou Weisbach's Chicago-based Ha-Lo promotional products company (coffee cups with corporate logos, etc.) was worth $400 million. [REKHA, B., 12-16-96, p.. 13]
By the 1980s, Kohlberg Kravis (Jerome Kohlberg; Henry Kravis], corporate takeover specialists, controlled everything "from Duracell batteries to Safeway supermarkets." [BURROUGH/HELYAR, p. 130] There's also big money in education. Kindercare is owned by an affiliate of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Twice Kindercare's size (and company #150 on the Forbes private 400) in the education market is Knowledge Universe, founded by jailed junk bonder Michael Milken, his brother Lowell, and fellow Jewish mogul Larry Ellison. KU, noted The Nation in 1999,
"has bought or purchased stock in everything from Children's Discovery Centers (CDC, also known as Knowledge Beginnings), the nation's sixth-largest preschool
company, with 25,000 toddlers in nearly 300 locations across the United States; to
Spring, Britain's largest vocational training firm. KU owns or has invested in more
than a dozen companies involved in computer training, proficiency testing, educational
toys, strategic counseling and CEO training, as well as private, for -profit schools
(nearly 400 at last count, ranging from preschool to secondary) ... Companies like
Milken's are not just competitors with public schools; they are poised to supplement
the traditional classroom, viewing public and nonprofit educational institutions -- as
well as for-profit firms -- as both potential customers and avenues to a vast consumer
base ... Milken has talked of dominating legal training and college prep courses, according
to former insiders ... Educators worry that if curriculum and the tools of teaching (let
alone schools themselves) are controlled by conglommertes like Milken's, many of the
virtues of public education will be lost ... The dirty little not-very-secret is that educational
establishments, which still shape our society more than any other institutions, are being
turned over to those who see life as one giant Risk board ... The future may belong not
to teachers and students but to the new proprietors of knowledge -- corporate executives
and investors." [BAKER, R., 5-3-99]
Joe Neubeuer (built to power a) is CEO of Aramark Corporation, mostly a food services and building maintenance company across 22 states. Its accounts include everything from washing McDonalds' laundry and prisoners' clothes to distributing magazines. "It does over $6 billion with just $2.7 billion is assets," notes Forbes magazine, "... Aramark employs 150,000 people, most of them earning just above minimum wage. Managing them efficiently is the responsibility of Neubauer's top 4,500 employees." [BERMAN, P., 12-1-97] Aramark
"for years ... has committed and admitted to unfair and illegal trading practices,
including violating federal anti-trust laws. Also, Aramark has been suspected of
having massive organized crime connections in its transportation and vending-
machine divisions ... A mental retardation center owned by Aramark was
decertified in Texas, and the company has paid large fines for failing to meet
nursing home standards in Texas and California. In Colorado, ARA nursing
home abuses were described by an assistant state attorney as 'the most
severe disregard of patient care in any case to my knowledge' ... According to
the Wall Stret Journal, Aramark also has links to organized crime. Reportedly,
Aramark paid an ex-FBI agent -- and former ARA employee -- $167,000 plus
lawyers' fees out of court not to discuss his deposition, which highlights the
dining service corporation's organized crime connections." [BURKART/
DONOHO/ODEKIRK]
Elsewhere, Sam Fox, chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, founded and heads the Harbour Group which has "acquired more than 120 manufacturers that produce everything from funnels and industrial springs to pressure washers and do-it-yourself repair kits." He is an activist in pro-Israel issues [MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01] Ira Lipman owns Guardsmark, "ones of the nation's largest security firms," with offices in more than 400 cities in the U. S. and Canada. [MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01]
"has bought or purchased stock in everything from Children's Discovery Centers (CDC, also known as Knowledge Beginnings), the nation's sixth-largest preschool
company, with 25,000 toddlers in nearly 300 locations across the United States; to
Spring, Britain's largest vocational training firm. KU owns or has invested in more
than a dozen companies involved in computer training, proficiency testing, educational
toys, strategic counseling and CEO training, as well as private, for -profit schools
(nearly 400 at last count, ranging from preschool to secondary) ... Companies like
Milken's are not just competitors with public schools; they are poised to supplement
the traditional classroom, viewing public and nonprofit educational institutions -- as
well as for-profit firms -- as both potential customers and avenues to a vast consumer
base ... Milken has talked of dominating legal training and college prep courses, according
to former insiders ... Educators worry that if curriculum and the tools of teaching (let
alone schools themselves) are controlled by conglommertes like Milken's, many of the
virtues of public education will be lost ... The dirty little not-very-secret is that educational
establishments, which still shape our society more than any other institutions, are being
turned over to those who see life as one giant Risk board ... The future may belong not
to teachers and students but to the new proprietors of knowledge -- corporate executives
and investors." [BAKER, R., 5-3-99]
Joe Neubeuer (built to power a) is CEO of Aramark Corporation, mostly a food services and building maintenance company across 22 states. Its accounts include everything from washing McDonalds' laundry and prisoners' clothes to distributing magazines. "It does over $6 billion with just $2.7 billion is assets," notes Forbes magazine, "... Aramark employs 150,000 people, most of them earning just above minimum wage. Managing them efficiently is the responsibility of Neubauer's top 4,500 employees." [BERMAN, P., 12-1-97]
"for years ... has committed and admitted to unfair and illegal trading practices,
including violating federal anti-trust laws. Also, Aramark has been suspected of
having massive organized crime connections in its transportation and vending-
machine divisions ... A mental retardation center owned by Aramark was
decertified in Texas, and the company has paid large fines for failing to meet
nursing home standards in Texas and California. In Colorado, ARA nursing
home abuses were described by an assistant state attorney as 'the most
severe disregard of patient care in any case to my knowledge' ... According to
the Wall Stret Journal, Aramark also has links to organized crime. Reportedly,
Aramark paid an ex-FBI agent -- and former ARA employee -- $167,000 plus
lawyers' fees out of court not to discuss his deposition, which highlights the
dining service corporation's organized crime connections." [BURKART/
DONOHO/ODEKIRK]
Elsewhere, Sam Fox, chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, founded and heads the Harbour Group which has "acquired more than 120 manufacturers that produce everything from funnels and industrial springs to pressure washers and do-it-yourself repair kits." He is an activist in pro-Israel issues [MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01] Ira Lipman owns Guardsmark, "ones of the nation's largest security firms," with offices in more than 400 cities in the U. S. and Canada. [MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01]
Lillian Vernon (originally: Lillian Menasche Katz) "is founder and chairman of the Lillian Vernon Catalogue, one of America's largest direct-mail businesses." "According to a National Opinion Research Poll," writes Ms. Vernon, "over forty-three million Americans recognize my name, and one in four American households receives the Lillian Vernon Catalogue." [VERNON, p. 9] Spiegel's is another Jewish-founded mail order company, founded in the nineteenth century. The Trianc company (run by Nelson Peltz and Peter May) bought the Snapple beverage company in 1998. The CEO of Dunkin Donuts (the country's largest donut chain) is Robert Rosenberg. His father, Bill, founded the firm. Another Jewish CEO, Howard Schultz, bought and built the Starbuck's coffee shop chain into a 1300-site empire across America. Dennis Eder is president and CEO of CareAmerica. Russ Solomon is the CEO of Tower Records. Leonard Weinglass founded and chairs the 1435-store Merry-Go-Round chain. Larry Hochberg founded and owns the Sportmart chain. In 1993 he was honored at a Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces dinner in Chicago. "I feel the American Jew can feel more secure," said Hochberg, "because of the [Israeli army] efforts." [JACOBS, J., p. 12]
In 1973 Irving Shapiro became the chairman of one of America's most "blue-chip" WASP corporations, E. I. du Dupont, and later also chairman of the Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs from America's most prominent 200 corporations. By 1986 a Jewish family, the Bronfmans, held almost a quarter of du Pont stock. [CHRISTOPHER, p. 115] (Shapiro also served on the board of directors for IBM, Citicorp, and Continental Insurance). By 1980 five of 16 board members of America's largest munitions maker, General Dynamics, were Jewish, including Lester Crown whose family had the greatest ownership in the company, and who was also on the board of Esmark and TWA. [ZWEIGENHAFT, p. 28] Ralph Lazarus, Chairman of Federated Department Stores, also sat on the boards of Chase Manhattan Bank, General Electric, and Scott Paper. [ZWEIGENHAFT, p. 30] By 1965 two Jews -- Sidney Weinberg and Frederick Cullman III (the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Philip Morris), even sat on the board of the Ford Motor Company, [ZWEIGENHAFT, p. 32-33] the company whose founder, Henry Ford, is generally considered in the Jewish community to be the most powerful and influential anti-Semite in America's history. Weinberg also sat on the boards of Knight-Ridder newspapers and Seagram's. ("After Henry Ford's death," notes Stephen Birmingham, "it was a Jewish bank -- Goldman, Sachs, and Co. -- which first brought out Ford stock, and under the guise of Sidney Weinberg, devised the intricate construction of the Ford Foundation. Today Weinberg is the chief financial advisor to Henry Ford II.... The ironies of high finance never cease. When great money is to be made, much can be forgiven." [BIRMINGHAM, OUR, p. 350]
For years, another Jewish entrepreneur, Victor Potamkin, sold more Cadillac automobiles than anyone else in the world. He and his sons owned 54 automobile franchises of all kinds, stretching from New York to Florida. Another Jewish mogul, Victor Markowicz, is co-founder and co-chairman of Gtech, a giant firm that "runs 29 state lotteries and 50 in foreign countries ... In 1993 alone Gtech paid $11 million to its consultants and lobbyists around the country." [RATCLIFFE, p. 1]
Marcus Bearsted founded the firm that became the Shell Oil Company. His son "became chairman of the Shell Oil Company after his father." [GREENBERG, M., p. 68] Baltimore's Jacob Blaustein founded Amoco (American Oil Company.) By 1957 the Blaustein's were the eleventh richest family in the United States. "One of the family's favorites philanthropies is the American Jewish Committee, and for many years Jacob was its honorary chairman." [KREFETZ, p. 83] Blaustein, said World Zionist Organization president Nahum Goldmann, was "a big oilman and notorious anti-Zionist who later became a friend of mine and a great friend of Israel." [GOLDMANN, N., 1978, p. 36] In Detroit, by the 1980s Max Fisher was "one of the richest and most influential men in the country." [FLAX, p. 64] His millions began with the Marathon Oil company and spread to other investments, including United Brands and real estate ventures. "His prodigious funding for Jewish causes has put Fisher on a first name basis with every prime minister of Israel ... Fisher's annual gifts to Jewish causes alone have amounted to more than $500,000 [a year]." [FLAX, p. 64]
By August 2000, three Israeli-based companies, the African-Israel Group (at 21%), Rosebud (at 19%), and the Alon Israel Oil Company (at 60%) owned the American operations of the Total Fina oil company. Fina includes 1,700 gas stations, refineries, pipelines, terminals and other holdings, and even partial control of 7-11 markets at 170 gas stations. [BERGER, S., 10-3-2000] In France, Henri Deutsch, also of Jewish heritage, "owned one of the two or three largest French petroleum companies and pioneered the development of aviation fuel." [GREENBERG, M., p. 69]
Jews also founded or later controlled the company that makes Ex-Lax (founder Isaac Matz), the Hudson Pulp and Paper Company, and Olivetti-Underwood (famous for typewriters). James Zellerbach's Crown Zellerbach "was one of the dominating firms in the world paper market." Howard Gilman, in Georgia, headed Gilman Paper, the largest privately-owned paper company in the United States" and "one of Georgia's top industrial polluters." With Gilman's death, Bernard Bergreen executes the Gilman estate. [MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01] Joe Katz founded Papercraft: "It's Kaycraft line was the biggest-selling gift-wrap brand in the coutnry." [BIANCO, A., 1991, p. 33] "The Block family (Joseph, Philip, etc.) founded and managed the Inland Steel Company." [PLESUR, M., 1982, p. 162-163]
Samuel Zemurray "controlled a majority of the stock in the United Fruit Company, which dominated the economies of a number of Central American countries." [GREENBERG, M., p. 72-74] Jacob Kaplan headed the Welch's Grape Juice companyas well as controlling "half the export of blackstrap molasses in Cuba ... [He was also] as it turned out, a major backer of Fidel Castro's munitions factories. It caused no less than a national scandal when in 1964, a congressional investigative panel claimed that the CIA was using Kaplan's J. M. Kaplan Fund as a pipeline for $1.25 million in funding for a Costa Rican CIA training center." [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 200-201]
Samuel Zemurray "controlled a majority of the stock in the United Fruit Company, which dominated the economies of a number of Central American countries." [GREENBERG, M., p. 72-74] Jacob Kaplan headed the Welch's Grape Juice company
In 1992, David E. R. Dangoor was appointed to be the executive vice president for the Philip Morris International tobacco company. He noted the strong Jewish influence in the marketing of his company's carcinogenic products:
"Do you know the story? I'm surprised that business magazines don't
look at the genius of the origins of Philip Morris. The reason we're the
powerhouse we are is because of a couple of guys in the 1950s and
1960s. They rolled the dice four times and always came up sixes. The
Cullmans. With the Cullman family coming in, the Jewish mind entered
the tobacco industry, which had been traditionally clinically free of
Jewish executives and Jewish interests. I should tell you that I'm Jewish
myself -- a Jewish Swede. The industry, til then, was run by southern
Protestants. What happened was that Jewish executives took over. I
don't want to name all the executives because, you know, some Jews
don't like to be remembered as Jews and others do. So I'm not going to
get in trouble here. But there were five extremely senior executives....
So they decided to look at their broad portfolios and reposition their
brands and stock. And the brand they started with was Marlboro. And
you know the rest. They made a macho campaign for men out of a
woman's cigarette. The point is, the whole attitude changed."
[ROSENBLATT, p. 22]
Head of Philip Morris in the 1990s? Joseph Cullman. [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 170]
Head of Philip Morris in the 1990s? Joseph Cullman. [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 170]
Jewish historian Cecil Roth notes the first man ever documented to have smoked tobacco was Jewish: Mestre Bernal, a doctor in the Christopher Columbus expedition to the New World. Roth further notes early Jewish entrepreneurial efforts in the recreational habit of smoking tobacco:
"Jews have been closely associated with the tobacco industry ... Jews
were engaged at an early date in the tobacco monopolies in Italy; it was
a Jew who first introduced the use of snuff to Venice; and in Spain, in
the seventeenth century, persons engaged in the tobacco trade figure
with significant frequency among the Marranos punished by the
Inquisition. In Holland, tobacco was unknown until 1611. In that very
year, a Jew named David Abendana sold a barrel of tobacco to a
merchant in Hoorn, and from that date, tobacco-importing and
tobacco-working played a very important part in the economic
structure of the Amsterdam community. In the seventeenth century,
a good part of the tobacco consumed in Germany was imported
through the [Jewish] Spanish and Portuguese communities of Hamburg.
The Jewish interest in the tobacco industry, therefore, is not a recent
development: Jews have interested in it from the first." [ROTH, C., 1940,
p. 258-259]
(In Pittsburgh, by the late 1800s, "the only major industry in Pittsburgh that employed Jews was stogie making, which itself was largely Jewish-owned. Stogies, which were made by rolling a fiber filler in tobacco leaves, were cheaper than fine cigars and exploded quite nicely in dozens of early silent-film comedies.") [BIANCO, A., 1991, p. 27]
(In Pittsburgh, by the late 1800s, "the only major industry in Pittsburgh that employed Jews was stogie making, which itself was largely Jewish-owned. Stogies, which were made by rolling a fiber filler in tobacco leaves, were cheaper than fine cigars and exploded quite nicely in dozens of early silent-film comedies.") [BIANCO, A., 1991, p. 27]
Another Jewish mogul, John Schiff, "served through the 1970s as a director of such well-known firms as Getty Oil, Uniroyal, Kennecott Copper, Westinghouse, CIT Financial, and A&P." [ZWEIGENHAFT, p 35] Alan Greenspan, later to become Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, by 1977 was a member of the board for Morgan Guaranty Trust, Mobil, and General Foods. [ZWEIGENHAFT, p. 40] By 1980, Bernard Rappoport, founder of American Income Life Insurance, was one of the twenty "most powerful men in Texas." [WALDMAN, p. 339] Les Melamed (originally: Leybl Melamdowitch; described in 1995 by the Jewish Forward as "one of the most powerful people in the world of finance") became the CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Richard Bogomolny the CEO and president of New England's First National supermarket company. Eric Pfeffer became the president of Howard Johnson International; Stanley Fischer became the first Jewish deputy manager of the International Monetary Fund in 1994. Harvey Golub became the CEO of American Express in 1993. The Tisch family owns the Loews Corporation; its holdings include Loews Hotels, Lorillard Tobacco, insurance giant CNA Financial, and the Diamond Offshore Drilling Company. [MOTHER JONES, 5-3-01]
The two largest "biotech" companies of the 1990s also have Jews at the helm: Genentech's CEO and chairman is Arthur Levinson. The chairman and CEO of Amgen is Gordon Binder. From Australia, Chabad Rabbi Joseph Gutnik, by the 1990s one of the richest men in that country, owned 20% of the biotechnology company Autogen, considered today his "flagship company."[HANDWERKER, H., 5-15-01]
In 1990, Richard Rosenberg became the CEO for the BankAmerica Corporation. Rosenberg, described by the New York Times as "on his way to becoming, quite possibly, the most powerful banker in the nation," is active in the Jewish Community Federation. [POLLACK, A., p. D1] In 1999, billionaire Maurice Greenberg still headed American International Group, "the largest United States underwriter of commercial and industrial insurance." [BROWN/DONOVAN, 6-5-99] He also controls SunAmerica.
By 1998, Alexandra Lebenthal was the "youngest woman president of a Wall Street firm." [HENLEY, 1998] The same year, Heidi Miller, formerly the Chief Financial Officer of fellow Jew Sandy Weill's Travelers Corporation, took the same position at the world's largest financial organization, Citigroup, running the combined $700 billion assets of Citicorp and Travelers. Forbes magazine headlined Miller as "one of the most powerful women executives in the United States." [MCCORMACK, p. 88] Curiously, Miller's PhD dissertation was "the role of Argentinean labor unions before the ascent of dictator Juan Peron." [MCCORMACK/LENZER, 8-10-98] Her counterpart in England may be Carol Calley (her mother was an Austrian Jewish refugee). "Today," noted the London Daily Mail, "Carol Galley is said to be the second most powerful woman in Britain, after the Queen. This is probably wrong. The Queen may have influence, but it is Galley who is responsible for around 70 billion [pounds] of our pension fund savings. As a result, she has the kind of power about which modern heads of state can only dream. That such power should be concentrated in the hands of one woman is astonishing enough." [DAILY MAIL, p. 24]
The Republic Bank in New York is worth $52 billion, but it is only a part of Edmond Safra's global financial empire. Safra, a Jew born in Lebanon, lived (til his death in 1999) mostly in Geneva, but held Brazilian citizenship. His "worldwide banking empire" made "Safra the envy of global finance ... No other banker since the era of Morgan or Rockefeller has been so successful an entrepreneur." [WEISS, G., p. 98] In 1990, Safra purchased Israel's fifth largest bank, theFirst International. He and his brothers also owned Sao Paolo's Banca Safra in Brazil and the Trade Development Bank (the sixth largest bank in Switzerland). Safra was originally from a Jewish community in Aleppo in the Middle East. "There is no Jewish community in the diaspora that resembles Aleppo in the closeness of its members," says Safra's representative in Israel, Yigal Aron, "It's like one big clan. To this day, they are closely connected." [WEISS, G. p. 98]
In 1989, Ed Artzt, also Jewish, became the CEO of Procter and Gamble. Journalist Alicia Swasy's 1993 book about the company has an entire chapter about Artzt, entitled "the Prince of Darkness," his nickname among employees. Known for his temper and ruthlessness, "many of those who have left the company," notes Swasy, "are glad they got out before the Artzt years." [SWASY, A., 1993, p. 65]
Other top Jewish executives in America of the mid-1990s include Leonard Abramson (CEO of the US Health Care Corporation), Harry Kamen (chairman, CEO, and president of MetLife), Gerald Greenwalt, the CEO of United Airlines, and Jeffrey Katz (who became the CEO of SwissAir in 1998).
Further in the airlines world: "A string of miscommunications Sept. 11 led to a jarring incident over Alaska that convinced controllers the military might shoot down a Korean Air jet. Pilots on Korean Air Flight 85 mistakenly issued a hijack alert ... as they neared Alaska ... Korean Air operations chief, David Greenberg, said in an interview that the message was innocent ..." [LEVIN, A., 8-13-02, p. 5A]
Here's another airline business story in 2002:
"Mesa Air Group stands to lose up to $1.7 million on an investment in US Airways' stock, but Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein may sink more money into US Airways' bankruptcy reorganization. Why such courage? Ornstein, a former stockbroker, has profited from investing in troubled airlines before. The Texas Pacific Group -- led by his friend David Bonderman, with whom he worked to rescue American West a decade ago -- has offered $200 million for a 38% stake in an overhauled US Airways ... Phoenix-based Mesa, the second-largest independent regional airline, operates short flights under contract to US Airways, America West, and Frontier." DE LOLLIS, B., 8-16-02, p. 6B]
Other Jewish CEOS included Paul Fribourg (CEO of Continental Grain), Charles Hurwitz (CEO of the Maxxam Corporation), David Komansky (of Jewish-Irish parentage, CEO of Merrill Lynch), Robert Shapiro (CEO of Monsanto), Reuben Mark (CEO of Colgate-Palmolive), Steven Goldstone (CEO of RJR Nabisco), Alfred Lerner (Forbes' 51st richest American and CEO of the credit card-lending giant MBNA), Bram Goldsmith (chairman and CEO of City National Corporation, and a former president of the Jewish Federation in Los Angeles), Morry Weiss (CEO of American Greetings, America's largest greeting card company. It was founded by Weiss' father-in-law, Irving Stone, who has been a trustee for the Jewish Community Federation, Yeshiva University, and Young Israel). Josh Weston is the CEO of Automated Processing, and chairman of the Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America), Alan Greenberg is the CEO of Bear, Stearns, and Co., Jonathan Kraft (CEO of Rand-Whitney Containerboard and director of the Rand-Whitney Group's International Forest Products -- he's also on the board of directors of the New England-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Herbert Siegel remains the CEO of ChrisCraft Industries -- he took over the company in 1968. This firm originally built boats but is increasing involved in mass media ventures. Diversified in it products, "it was the largest producer of DDT by 1972 when the government banned this deadly chemicals." [HOOVER, p. 225]
Further in the airlines world: "A string of miscommunications Sept. 11 led to a jarring incident over Alaska that convinced controllers the military might shoot down a Korean Air jet. Pilots on Korean Air Flight 85 mistakenly issued a hijack alert ... as they neared Alaska ... Korean Air operations chief, David Greenberg, said in an interview that the message was innocent ..." [LEVIN, A., 8-13-02, p. 5A]
Here's another airline business story in 2002:
"Mesa Air Group stands to lose up to $1.7 million on an investment in US Airways' stock, but Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein may sink more money into US Airways' bankruptcy reorganization. Why such courage? Ornstein, a former stockbroker, has profited from investing in troubled airlines before. The Texas Pacific Group -- led by his friend David Bonderman, with whom he worked to rescue American West a decade ago -- has offered $200 million for a 38% stake in an overhauled US Airways ... Phoenix-based Mesa, the second-largest independent regional airline, operates short flights under contract to US Airways, America West, and Frontier." DE LOLLIS, B., 8-16-02, p. 6B]
Other Jewish CEOS included Paul Fribourg (CEO of Continental Grain), Charles Hurwitz (CEO of the Maxxam Corporation), David Komansky (of Jewish-Irish parentage, CEO of Merrill Lynch), Robert Shapiro (CEO of Monsanto), Reuben Mark (CEO of Colgate-Palmolive), Steven Goldstone (CEO of RJR Nabisco), Alfred Lerner (Forbes' 51st richest American and CEO of the credit card-lending giant MBNA), Bram Goldsmith (chairman and CEO of City National Corporation, and a former president of the Jewish Federation in Los Angeles), Morry Weiss (CEO of American Greetings, America's largest greeting card company. It was founded by Weiss' father-in-law, Irving Stone, who has been a trustee for the Jewish Community Federation, Yeshiva University, and Young Israel). Josh Weston is the CEO of Automated Processing, and chairman of the Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America), Alan Greenberg is the CEO of Bear, Stearns, and Co., Jonathan Kraft (CEO of Rand-Whitney Containerboard and director of the Rand-Whitney Group's International Forest Products -- he's also on the board of directors of the New England-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Herbert Siegel remains the CEO of ChrisCraft Industries -- he took over the company in 1968. This firm originally built boats but is increasing involved in mass media ventures. Diversified in it products, "it was the largest producer of DDT by 1972 when the government banned this deadly chemicals." [HOOVER, p. 225]
In 1999, the CEO of City National Bank was Russell Goldsmith; of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Jeffrey Bleustein; of Staples office supply store chain, Thomas Stemberg; and Office Max, Michael Feuer. Bernie Marcus is the CEO ofHome Depot and Arthur Blank is the company's chairman. Both are Jewish and in 1996 they donated a combined $20 million to the Atlanta Jewish Federation campaign. Even the president and CEO of today's Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus is Jewish, Kenneth Feld. (Irvin Feld, his brother Israel, and another investor bought the circus in 1967). [BLACKWELL, E., 1973, p. 164] Feld Entertainment, which also includes Disney on Ice, is the largest "live entertainment company" in the world. In 2001 the company faced scandal when it was revealed it had hired a former CIA official to harass a journalist who sought to write an expose about the firm, including its abuse of animals and the homosexual escapades of founder Irwin Feld. [STEIN, J., 8-30-01] Sidney Feltenstein is Chairman, President, and CEO of A & W Restaurants (famed in the 1950s for its root beer), with over 800 sites. [CRAIN'S, 6-97, p. E10]
In 1998 Jack Greenberg became the McDonalds fast food corporation's new CEO and president. Shortly thereafter, Greenberg named Alan Feldman (formerly of Pizza Hut) as president of the McDonalds USA Division. In 1992 George Cohan retired as chairman, president, and CEO of McDonalds Restaurants of Canada LTD., but remained chairman of the corporation's executive committee. (The chairman of the Board of Directors of the philanthropic Ronald McDonald House is also Jewish, Jerome Turk, the CEO of Las Vegas-based Fizgerald's).
Also in Canada, in 1998 Gerry Schwartz (CEO of the 14th largest Canadian company, the ONEX Corporation) and Heather Reisman (CEO of Indigo Books and Music) donated $6 million to the United Jewish Appeal, one of the largest such donations ever in Canada. Schwartz's estimated worth is about $500 million. The Toronto Glove and Mail noted in an editorial Reisiman's decision to ban Hitler's Mein Kamp from her giant bookstore chain:
"It is entirely wthin Heather Reisman's province to order her Chapters and
Indigo bookstores to stop selling Mein Kampf, just as she could order
them to stop selling Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. She runs
the merged chain, and is ultimately in charge of what books they do or
don't stock and will or won't order for customers. Was she right to do it?
Not in our opinion ... Hitler's textbook for what became the Holocaust may
appeal to a few warped neo-Nazis, but it is also essential reading for students
of the Third Reich, of the Holocaust and of the climate and reasoning that
can produce such horrors ... Ms. Reisman's edict has another effect. It
reminds Canadians of how important it is to have competition for a
monolith such as Chapters/Indigo ... Given the dominance of the Reisman
empire, the federal government should also look at easing the its
Canadian cultural laws to allow foreign companies such as Amazon.com
to set up warehouse in this country, to increase competition and choice.
As Ms. Reisman made evident this week, choice is not something we can
count on her for." [TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL, 11-30-01]
Onex subsidiaries include Sky Chefs, Celestica, ClientLogic, Lantic Sugar, Dura Automotive Systems, J. L. French, American Buildings, Phoenix Pictures, and Vencap Inc. "The couple's interests outside of work and children," noted MacLeans magazine, "include Liberal politics, buying and renovating houses, Israel, art, books, and, as corny as it sounds, each other." Onex even owns a 15% stake in actor Robert Redford's Sundance Resort in Utah. [NOBLE, K., 10-11-99]
"It is entirely wthin Heather Reisman's province to order her Chapters and
Indigo bookstores to stop selling Mein Kampf, just as she could order
them to stop selling Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. She runs
the merged chain, and is ultimately in charge of what books they do or
don't stock and will or won't order for customers. Was she right to do it?
Not in our opinion ... Hitler's textbook for what became the Holocaust may
appeal to a few warped neo-Nazis, but it is also essential reading for students
of the Third Reich, of the Holocaust and of the climate and reasoning that
can produce such horrors ... Ms. Reisman's edict has another effect. It
reminds Canadians of how important it is to have competition for a
monolith such as Chapters/Indigo ... Given the dominance of the Reisman
empire, the federal government should also look at easing the its
Canadian cultural laws to allow foreign companies such as Amazon.com
to set up warehouse in this country, to increase competition and choice.
As Ms. Reisman made evident this week, choice is not something we can
count on her for." [TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL, 11-30-01]
Onex subsidiaries include Sky Chefs, Celestica, ClientLogic, Lantic Sugar, Dura Automotive Systems, J. L. French, American Buildings, Phoenix Pictures, and Vencap Inc. "The couple's interests outside of work and children," noted MacLeans magazine, "include Liberal politics, buying and renovating houses, Israel, art, books, and, as corny as it sounds, each other." Onex even owns a 15% stake in actor Robert Redford's Sundance Resort in Utah. [NOBLE, K., 10-11-99]
Peter Godsoe is the chairman and CEO of Canada's Scotiabank. Murray Keffler's Shoppers Drug Mart chain entails 670 stores throughout Canada; Mel Lastman (by the 1990s the mayor of Toronto) founded the Bad Boy appliance chain and Sam Sniderman Sam the Record Man stores in the same country. Sam Steinberg "developed his mother's grocery store into Quebec's leading supermarket." [SINGER/SELDIN, 1997, p. 254]
In England, Lord Arnold Weinstock built the GEC company into Britain's largest industrial company, including the manufacture of radios, TVs, and washing machines. Bernhard Baron controlled the Carreras tobacco company. Anita Roddick, "one of Britain's most recognizable businesswomen" is joint chairman of the Body Shop, a chain of 1600 stores. She is also "now one of the richest women in Britain." [HAYES, D., p. 5-12-98] (Lord) Swaythling (David Montagu) is "one of Britain's richest men," a member of the Samuel Montagu "banking dynasty" and chairman of the Rothman International tobacco group. [DUN, p. 4, 5] Stanley Kalms, chairman of Dixon's (the UK's largest appliance retailer) also headsFreeserve, that country's largest Internet server. Ken Foreman, also Jewish, heads the giant garbage collector company, Attwoods. [BEVAN, J., 10-2-94, p. 24] The What Everyone Wants discount chain made Gerald and Vera Weisfeld millionaires. Britain-based Steve Rubin owned the Reebok shoe company (he bought a 51% share of the American firm in 1981). The CEO of Reebok International is Paul Fireman, also Jewish. (Robert Louis Dreyfus, also Jewish, heads theAdidas-Solomon company). (Lord) Michael Marks is "scion of the Marks and Spencer [chain store] dynasty" with an estimated fortune at over $50 million. Josef Sieff, "whose family founded the Marks and Spencer chain ... was a prominent backer of Israel." [LEE, J., 12-12-97] (Lord) Alain Sainsbury "revolutionized the retail food industry in Britain -- sales at his stores reached $20 billion a year. Harry Solomon is Chairman and founder of Hillsdown Holdings, "one of the world's largest food manufacturing companies." [SINGER/SELDIN, 1994, p. 246] "The Sears, Roebuck of Britain in Great Universal Stores, headed by a Scottish Jew, Sir Isaac Wolfson." [BERMANT, C.,1977, p. 63]
Chaim Bermant also notes the case of British chemical mogul Ludwig Mond:
"In 1872 he bought the right to develop the process [of extracting sulfur from alkali
waste] and acquired a site at Winnington, Cheshire, not far from the Liverpool
docks and with a good rail link to the limestone deposits of Derbyshire.
However his plans were greeted with hostility in the neighbourhood, which
feared, not without justice, that the establishment of a large chemical works
would destroy the character of the surrounding countryside. Local labourers
refused to work for him and he imported Irishmen. Hills were flattened and
woodlands felled and towers and chimneys rose in their place. He was on site
daily to supervise the building operations and spurred the labourers on with
threats and curses, 'Don't call me Sir,' he would roar, 'I am not a gentleman.'"
[BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 74]
Chaim Bermant also notes the case of British chemical mogul Ludwig Mond:
"In 1872 he bought the right to develop the process [of extracting sulfur from alkali
waste] and acquired a site at Winnington, Cheshire, not far from the Liverpool
docks and with a good rail link to the limestone deposits of Derbyshire.
However his plans were greeted with hostility in the neighbourhood, which
feared, not without justice, that the establishment of a large chemical works
would destroy the character of the surrounding countryside. Local labourers
refused to work for him and he imported Irishmen. Hills were flattened and
woodlands felled and towers and chimneys rose in their place. He was on site
daily to supervise the building operations and spurred the labourers on with
threats and curses, 'Don't call me Sir,' he would roar, 'I am not a gentleman.'"
[BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 74]
From Italy, in 1997, Antoine Bernheim, was "the man behind one of the largest and boldest takeovers in French business history -- the [$10 billion] hostile bid by Italian insurer Generali for its French rival AGF." Bernheim was both the Chairman of Generali and a senior partner in Paris-based investment bank Lazard Fre'res. [FINANCIAL TIMES, 10-18-97, p. 7]
In Mexico's Baja California, the largest department store chain -- 24 stores -- is Dorian's, founded by Miguel Goldstein and Salomon Cohen. [FOX, p. 23] Focusing on New York's Puerto Rican community, Salomon Levis filed to set up an American mortgage firm in New York in 1998. Levis also owns the San Juan-based Doral Financial Corporation, the number one mortgage marketing firm in Puerto Rico. By the 1990s, Jewish entrepreneur Michael Smolens' textile factory was the largest employer in Haiti (he has also has been involved in businesses in Mexico, Hungary, Jordan and Azerbaijan). [GREEN, D., May 31, 2001]
This is what Steel Profiles magazine said about Brazil's Benjamin Steinbruch in 1997:
"It is just over a year since Benjamin Steinbruch was crowned the new
king of Brazilian industry. The 44-year-old entrepreneur had just put
together the consortium that bought a controlling stake in Companhia Vale
do Rio Doce (CVRD), the world's biggest iron ore company, in what was
Latin America's largest privatisation. In a dramatic auction at the Rio de
Janeiro stock exchange, he snatched the company from the clutches of the
strong favourite, a consortium led by Antonio Ermirio de Moraes of the
Votorantim group, the grand old man of Brazilian capitalism. It was the
most audacious in a series of acquisitions of companies being privatised,
that have catapulted Mr Steinbruch from being the unknown heir of a
family textiles group to one of the most important businessmen in Latin
America in the space of just four years ... In 1993 he persuaded Vicunha,
the family business, to take a 9.3 per cent stake in CSN, Brazil's largest
steel company. He later got Bamerindus, the retail bank, to sell him its 5
per cent stake and he became chairman ... In 1996 he talked the CSN board
into taking a 7.25 per cent stake in Light, the Rio de Janeiro electricity
distributor, with Mr Steinbruch collecting the chairmanship. His formidable
powers of quiet persuasion were at work again last year when he pulled
together an unlikely group of investors, including NationsBank of the US,
to buy the controlling stake in CVRD for R$3.34bn ($2.9bn). The deal gave
Mr Steinbruch control of a company that is the cornerstone of the Brazilian
economy. His ambitions did not stop there. This year, through Vicunha, he
has been in the winning consortium for two of the nine new cellular phone
licenses the government has sold ... The huge concentration of power in his
hands is another habit he shares with more traditional Brazilian business leaders.
He has so far resisted the appointment of a chief executive at CVRD, describing
the idea as 'premature'".
[Steel Profiles http://steelprofiles.com/ceo/profiles/Steinbruch/steinbr.htm]
In 1999 French-born Philipe Reichstul (also Jewish) became president of Brazil's largest company -- Petrobas (an oil company).
This is what Steel Profiles magazine said about Brazil's Benjamin Steinbruch in 1997:
"It is just over a year since Benjamin Steinbruch was crowned the new
king of Brazilian industry. The 44-year-old entrepreneur had just put
together the consortium that bought a controlling stake in Companhia Vale
do Rio Doce (CVRD), the world's biggest iron ore company, in what was
Latin America's largest privatisation. In a dramatic auction at the Rio de
Janeiro stock exchange, he snatched the company from the clutches of the
strong favourite, a consortium led by Antonio Ermirio de Moraes of the
Votorantim group, the grand old man of Brazilian capitalism. It was the
most audacious in a series of acquisitions of companies being privatised,
that have catapulted Mr Steinbruch from being the unknown heir of a
family textiles group to one of the most important businessmen in Latin
America in the space of just four years ... In 1993 he persuaded Vicunha,
the family business, to take a 9.3 per cent stake in CSN, Brazil's largest
steel company. He later got Bamerindus, the retail bank, to sell him its 5
per cent stake and he became chairman ... In 1996 he talked the CSN board
into taking a 7.25 per cent stake in Light, the Rio de Janeiro electricity
distributor, with Mr Steinbruch collecting the chairmanship. His formidable
powers of quiet persuasion were at work again last year when he pulled
together an unlikely group of investors, including NationsBank of the US,
to buy the controlling stake in CVRD for R$3.34bn ($2.9bn). The deal gave
Mr Steinbruch control of a company that is the cornerstone of the Brazilian
economy. His ambitions did not stop there. This year, through Vicunha, he
has been in the winning consortium for two of the nine new cellular phone
licenses the government has sold ... The huge concentration of power in his
hands is another habit he shares with more traditional Brazilian business leaders.
He has so far resisted the appointment of a chief executive at CVRD, describing
the idea as 'premature'".
[Steel Profiles http://steelprofiles.com/ceo/profiles/Steinbruch/steinbr.htm]
In 1999 French-born Philipe Reichstul (also Jewish) became president of Brazil's largest company -- Petrobas (an oil company).
In Australia, where Jews are .5 percent (i.e., half of one percent) of the total population, "Jewish roots permeate every segment of the economic life of the society which has developed in South Africa since European development began in 1652." [KAPLAN, M., p. 9] Joseph Gutnick, an "ultra-Orthodox" Jew, has mining interests that by 1998 made him "one of the richest men in Australia ... [His] support of Benyamin Netanyahu in the 1996 Israeli election won him many friends -- and enemies -- in Israel." [FRIED, E.]
(Russia, after the collapse of communism? Jewish dominance in the capitalist entrepreneurial elite endures.) [See the mass media, part 2, chapter]
(Russia, after the collapse of communism? Jewish dominance in the capitalist entrepreneurial elite endures.) [See the mass media, part 2, chapter]
George Herscu, a Jewish immigrant to Australia from Romania after World War II, "nearly four decades later ... was the boss of one of that country's largest development companies, the Hooker Corp ... In December 1990, he was convicted of bribing a Queensland state cabinet minister and packed off to jail for five years. Before his demise, however, Herscu collected an odd assortment of American name-brand retailers that included Bonwit-Teller, the specialty store company; B. Altman & Co., the carriage trade Fifth Avenue department store chain; 80 percent of the Merisamer Jewelry chain based in Sacramento, California; a majority joint-venture interest in Parisian, a highly-regarded specialty store business based in Birmingham, Alabama; and 80 percent of the troubled Sakowitz women's specialty store in Houston." [TRACTENBERG, J., 1996, p. 118]
Donald Gordon founded Liberty Life, "the South African financial services giant," valued at over $5 billion. He also "achieved the ability to participate in the takeover of the largest industrial company in South Africa." [KAPLAN, p. 10] Tony Bloom was chairman of the "largest food processor" in the country, the Premier Group. "South African Breweries, under the leadership of Dick Goss, had built up over the previous two years [1970s] the largest industrial empire in South Africa ... South African Breweries controls AFCOL, the largest furniture manufacture group, and AMREL, the largest furniture retailing group -- both of which originated from the businesses of the Lubner family." [KAPLAN, p. 21, 23] Meyer Kahn headed the large chain store OK Bazaars.
A particular Jewish international specialty has long been jewelry and rare gems. The South African De Beers mining company (variously described today as a cartel, a monopoly, or a syndicate) has for decades monopolized the diamond trade, controlling 85% of the world's uncut diamonds. Although De Beers was founded by a British [non-Jewish] entrepreneur, Cecil Rhodes, "the syndicate in London to which Rhodes contracted to sell De Beers' entire production of diamonds in 1893," notes Edward Epstein, "was made up of ten firms ... All of these firms were interconnected by marriage and family ties, and all were owned by Jewish merchants ... [EPSTEIN, p. 76] ... According to the records of the British East India company, Jewish traders controlled virtually the entire diamond traffic at the end of the eighteenth century." [EPSTEIN, p. 78]
Among those prominent in the race to diamond riches against Rhodes was Jewish entrepreneur Barney Barnato (Barnett Isaacs).
In 1929, a wealthy South African Jew, Ernest Oppenheimer and his Anglo-American company became the controlling shareholder of De Beers; he became the chairman of the board. His younger brother was appointed to direct the De Beers' distribution arm in London, the Diamond Corporation. When Ernest eventually retired, his son Harry succeeded his father for decades as chairman of the board.
Today, notes Jewish author Edward Epstein, the international "diamond pipeline" is a "critical component of the diamond invention -- made up of a network of brokers, diamond cutters, bankers, distributors, jewelry manufacturers, wholesalers, and diamond buyers for retail establishments. Most of the people in this pipeline are Jewish, and virtually all are closely connected through family ties or long-standing business relationships." [EPSTEIN, p. 171] The American core of this web is located in New York City, a $1 billion dollar business, largely populated by Orthodox Hassidic Jews. Among the best known American jewelry retail stores is the Jewish-founded Zales, which alone holds an empire of 1700 stores across the country. "Eastern European Jews clearly control Antwerp, New York and Tel Aviv -- the important centers of the diamond trade," notes David Koskoff, "... Because so much of the [diamond] trade is in cash and unrecorded currency, the 'diamantaires,' the businessmen involved in one or more aspects of the diamond trade, are in the happy position of being able to create whatever books they wish, to file pretty much whatever tax returns they want to file ... Tax evasion became part of the warp and woof of the diamantaires' culture." [KOSKOFF, p. 5]
In 1982 Epstein authored an investigation into the completely artificial value of diamonds, especially as created and enforced by the De Beers monopoly. The reason he began his research, says Epstein, was that "the possibility that the value of diamonds was artificially sustained by a conspiracy intrigued me." [EPSTEIN, p. 269] This, as Epstein found, included the marketing invention of the diamond engagement ring as a lover's expensive -- albeit useless -- symbol of eternal love. And when it's time to sell a ring back to a jeweler? "Selling diamonds," notes Epstein, "... can be an extraordinarily frustrating experience for a private individual." [EPSTEIN, p. 235] This is of course because the supply and demand for diamonds is completely artificial, and any seller outside the Jewish-dominated in-group can only get a poor fraction of whatever was paid for a gem.
"The heart of the diamond trade," noted Newsweek in 1977, "is a nine-story building in London known popularly as 'the Syndicate' and officially as the Control Selling Organization ... The CSO virtually [completely has] control over the price of the uncut gems, whatever the condition of the world economy." [ATLAS, p. 95]
The Jewish state of Israel has today an important stake in the diamond market. In the early twentieth century, the mayor of a town in Israel (then Palestine) "had determined that most of the world's diamond business, including the De Beerscartel, was, as he put it, 'in Jewish hands,' and he persuaded himself that most of these Jews would be sympathetic to the idea of creating a diamond industry in Palestine [Israel]." [EPSTEIN, p. 174] After consultations with Harry Abrams, the managing director of De Beers' distribution firm in London, by 1940-41 De Beers was providing the future state of Israel with a limited supply of diamonds, which became the foundation of its large diamond industry. By 1997, Israel exported $2.96 billion worth of polished diamonds to the United States, 42.3% of the market share in this country. [BENSON, p. 126]
In Germany, Hanns-Peter Cohn is the current CEO of the famous German camera and optic firm, Leica Camera AG. With the 1999 takeover of Promodes, the 16th largest retailing firm on earth, the French-based Carrefour became number 2 (CEO: David Bernard; his family owns 38.5 percent of the voting rights in the company). "Carrefour is "strong in Asia and Latin America and Promodes in Europe ... Carrefour has the top spot in the key market of Brazil ... Promodes has recently opened stores in Indonesia, South Korea, and China." [BARRETT/CARREYBOU, p. 1]
By 1997, American Sean Shayan, a 21-year old of Jewish-Iranian heritage, had founded and headed the Global World Media Corporation, worth $350 million. Shayan's focus was the youth drug culture and his "Herbal Ecstacy" (a largely legal competitor of the illegal drug Ecstasy) was the center piece of his economic dynasty. Banned in Britain, Florida and New York, Herbal Ecstacy was elsewhere legal. Shayan's product is described by critics as high in caffeine, with an impact similar to amphetamines. [TAYLOR, S., 4-13-97, p. 7]
Ira Rennert's Renco Corporation was listed by Forbes in 1997 as the 51st largest private company in America. It controls everything from the Magnesium Corporation of American in Utah to the manufacturer of Humvee military vehicles. Rennert's personal fortune is estimated at over $500 million. Since 1995, his companies (a number of them mining concerns) have been cited by the Environmental Protection Agency for 29 violations of law. In 1998, the EPA declared the magnesium firm to be America's "top dumper of toxic chemicals." [ASSOCIATED PRESS STATE AND LOCAL WIRE, 4-19-2000] Another famous Jewish mining family are the Guggenheims:
"In 1848 Meir Guggenheim, then twenty, came to America from Switzerland
and ... acquired an interst in the Leadville mine, Colorado ... He had seven sons,
most of whom went into different branches of mining, and he acquired mines
and smelters in the American South West, Mexico and South America. In 1901
he merged his interests with that of the American Smelting and Refining
Company. His second son, Daniel, by now head of the company, opend up
new mines in Bolivia, Chile and West Africa, while the eldest, Isaac, headed
the Guggenheim Exploration Company which developed new areas in
different parts of the globe. The Guggenheims were involved in every stage
of production of non-ferrous metals as well as chemicals and even diamonds."
[BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 73-74]
"In 1848 Meir Guggenheim, then twenty, came to America from Switzerland
and ... acquired an interst in the Leadville mine, Colorado ... He had seven sons,
most of whom went into different branches of mining, and he acquired mines
and smelters in the American South West, Mexico and South America. In 1901
he merged his interests with that of the American Smelting and Refining
Company. His second son, Daniel, by now head of the company, opend up
new mines in Bolivia, Chile and West Africa, while the eldest, Isaac, headed
the Guggenheim Exploration Company which developed new areas in
different parts of the globe. The Guggenheims were involved in every stage
of production of non-ferrous metals as well as chemicals and even diamonds."
[BERMANT, C., 1977, p. 73-74]
From Israel, Ted Arison owns a controlling 47% of the Carnival Cruise company, "a fleet of 37 cruise ships that is the largest of its kind in the world." [LIPSON] Its total estimated value is $21 billion. Arison moved from Israel to America in the 1950s, made his personal fortune (estimated at $4-5 billion), and then returned to Israel to live in the 1990s. "Arison," notes the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, "is considered the biggest philanthropist in Israel. His contributions are channeled through the Arison Foundation ... He is known to be close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and contributes to his campaign." [PERETZ, S.]
Haaretz also noted the complexion of the international cruise ship business in 1998:
"The meteoric rise in Carnival Cruise's worth has been matched by
similar growth for the company's major competitor, Royal Caribbean,
whose market value is currently $6 billion. What the two companies have
in common, besides their arena of business, is Israeli ownership ... Last
summer, the two companies waged a fierce bidding war to purchase
another cruise firm, Celebrity. The winner was Royal, which paid the
far from piddling sum of $1.3 billion. Remarkably enough, Celebrity
also belongs to the 'Israeli Club,' as 50 per cent of its shares were held
by a shipping firm controlled by the Recanati family ... As of last
September ... the three companies have become even more closely
involved with one another. The three families not only own hefty sizes
of giant shipping lines, they also control large portions of three Israeli
banks." [LIPSON]
In 1999 Carnival Cruise lines gained unwanted attention when news reports noted that "its crew members were accused of sexually assaulting passengers and fellow workers aboard its ships 62 times in a five-year period that ended last August, a rate of nearly one a month." [FRANTZ, p. 2] In the vacation business, Susan Shapiro is also president of GIANTS, an association of about 2,000 American travel agencies.
In 1999, Craig Koch became CEO of the Hertz rent-a-car company (shifting from the company's presidency). "The Number 2" car rental company, Avis, (along with the Ramada and Days Inn, and Century 21 real estate franchises) is part of the Cendant company. The CEO of Cendant is Henry Silverman. The Avis CEO is Martin Endelman. (In 1999, Cendant agreed to pay stockholders $2.8 billion "to settle widespread accounting fraud.") The Budget rent-a-car firm was also founded by yet another Jewish entrepreneur, Jules Lederer.
By 1987, a Jew (Michael Blumenthal) headed Burlington Industries, another was vice-president of General Foods. By 1988, worth $1.6 billion, Marvin Davis controlled Davis Oil Company, Denver's Metro Bank, and 20th CenturyFox. From 1922-1940 Gerald Swope was the President of General Electric, but he hid the fact of his Jewish background. From 1947-1961 Philip Sporn, also Jewish, was the head of America's largest utility company -- American Electric Power. Harry Gray, "the dominant figure in the U.S. Technologies Corporation" -- one of the major industrial corporations in America -- was, says bloodhound Jewish scholar Abraham Korman, also Jewish. "There is ... considerable evidence that Mr. Gray, despite his denial, was born and raised Jewish and lived as a Jew until he was past thirty, when he changed his name, his life, and apparently his background. According to the accounts of relatives and other records, Harry Gray is actually Harry Jack Grusin, the son of Jacob Grusin, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia." [KORMAN, p. 67-68]
The son of a Russian Jewish concert manager and an Italian mother, Harold Geneen built ITT to power. The London Daily Telegraph noted that Geneen was
"the mastermind of ITT, one of America's most powerful -- and to some
observers, sinister -- multinational corporations. Geneen's
conglomerate acquired the reputation of being, in the words of
historian Anthony Sampson, 'accountable to no nation, anywhere: and
held together ... by one man, against whom no one cared to argue'...
ITT became the subject of investigations by the Securities and Exchange
Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the Watergate Special
Prosecutor, a Federal Grand Jury, and the specially formed sub-
committee on multinational corporations which threw new light on
Geneen's ruthless use of lobbyists and spies to further ITT interests."
[DAILY TELEGRAPH, 123-97]
In 1998, Steve Ballmer became president of monopolistic computer software giant Microsoft. In 1999, he also became that company's CEO. He is the fourth richest man in America, worth $20.1 billion. Ballmer, whose mother is Jewish, has contributed a "generous" donation to the Jewish National Fund. [BERMAN, S., 4-21-2000, p. 1] And, as the Jewish Exponent observed in 1999, "Jewish employees [at Seattle-based Microsoft] estimate their number at 10 to 15 percent of the company." [MONO, B., 12-30-99, p. 1] Nate Kantor, became the president of MCI International in 1982, helping it to become a telecommunications giant. David Colburn, also Jewish, is the President of Business Affairs at the America Onlineinternet server. Jan Brandt, also Jewish, is president of marketing for the same firm. [JEWHOO, 2000] Steven Kirsch founded Infoseek, one of the major Internet navigation services. [MOTHER JONES 3-5-01] After the merger of Internet access providers Netzero and Juno in 2001, the resulting company (United Online, Inc.) became the second largest Internet access provider, only behind AOL. The chairman and CEO of Netzero, and now United, is Mark Goldston. [REUTERS, 6-7-01]
In April 2001, Jewish movie mogul Terry Semel became the CEO of Yahoo. (He was, that same year, a co-chairman of the Israeli Film Festival). JEWISH POST, 2001]
In April 2001, Jewish movie mogul Terry Semel became the CEO of Yahoo. (He was, that same year, a co-chairman of the Israeli Film Festival). JEWISH POST, 2001]
In 1997, Andrew Grove, a Holocaust survivor worth $300 million today, was named Time magazine's "man of the year." Grove drew attention as chairman and CEO of Intel, a company that manufactures over 90% of the world's microprocessors. [EPHROSS, p. 22] Intel's popular Pentium II computer chip was developed at Intel's plant in Haifa, Israel. Israel's Digital Signal Processing company is also the world's largest manufacturer of customized computer chips." [FRANKEL, p. 274]) "After the Silicon Valley [the high-tech center in northern California] and Boston," notes Yaacov Yisraeli of the Israel America Chamber of Commerce, "Israel is the most important high tech area in the world." [ALBUM, 1999] IBM has one of its four world research centers there, as does Microsoft. In the Silcon Valley itself, notes the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, it is "full of Israelis and Israeli high tech companies." [JEWISH BULLETIN OF NORTHERN
Among such entrepreneurs is
ICQ ("I seek you") was a firm founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, "the brainchild of four Israeli computer programmers ... [Within six months] it claimed the title of world's largest online communication network." [NIESE, A., 11-15-01] Another Israeli computer company, StarBand, "is America's first consumer two-way, always-on, high-speed satellite Internet service provider." [CEO: Zur Feldman; President: David Trachtenberg]
[http://www.starband.com/whoweare/index.htm] Starband is part of the Israeli company Gilat Satellite Networks, Ltd.
Even Jewish-American Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus "is also working to link the Israeli economy to his home state. The country has the second-highest density of startups after Silicon Valley, and the hardware mogul has helped persuade state officials to offer the Israeli firms incentives to relocate in Georgia." [MOTHER JONES, 3-5-01]
Isabel Maxwell, daughter of corrupt British Jewish mogul Robert Maxwell, is "president of the Silicon Valley's hottest internet investment company" -- CommTouch ... The company was founded in 1991 by a group of technology-savvy former [Israeli] army officers led by Gideon Mantel, a bomb disposal expert ... [Ms. Maxwell] has a deep affinity for Israel ... CommTouch employs 400 staff. Its head office is in Silicon Valley. R&D sales are run from Tel Aviv." [CASSY, J., 6-22-00, p. 26]
Then there is Lawrence Perlman, co-chairman of Seagate, "the world's largest disc-drive maker." [WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3-30-2000] John Roth is the CEO of prominent computer systems giant Nortel Networks. Benjamin Rosen, long time CEO of the company that sells the most computers, Compaq Computer, is "a pioneering figure in the personal computer industry and a founding investor in both Compaq Computer and Lotus Development." The CEO, President, and Chairman of rival Packard Bell NEC, the second-largest computer maker, was Beny Alagem, until he stepped down in 2000. He too is Jewish.
Among such entrepreneurs is
ICQ ("I seek you") was a firm founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, "the brainchild of four Israeli computer programmers ... [Within six months] it claimed the title of world's largest online communication network." [NIESE, A., 11-15-01] Another Israeli computer company, StarBand, "is America's first consumer two-way, always-on, high-speed satellite Internet service provider." [CEO: Zur Feldman; President: David Trachtenberg]
[http://www.starband.com/whoweare/index.htm] Starband is part of the Israeli company Gilat Satellite Networks, Ltd.
Even Jewish-American Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus "is also working to link the Israeli economy to his home state. The country has the second-highest density of startups after Silicon Valley, and the hardware mogul has helped persuade state officials to offer the Israeli firms incentives to relocate in Georgia." [MOTHER JONES, 3-5-01]
Isabel Maxwell, daughter of corrupt British Jewish mogul Robert Maxwell, is "president of the Silicon Valley's hottest internet investment company" -- CommTouch ... The company was founded in 1991 by a group of technology-savvy former [Israeli] army officers led by Gideon Mantel, a bomb disposal expert ... [Ms. Maxwell] has a deep affinity for Israel ... CommTouch employs 400 staff. Its head office is in Silicon Valley. R&D sales are run from Tel Aviv." [CASSY, J., 6-22-00, p. 26]
Then there is Lawrence Perlman, co-chairman of Seagate, "the world's largest disc-drive maker." [WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3-30-2000] John Roth is the CEO of prominent computer systems giant Nortel Networks. Benjamin Rosen, long time CEO of the company that sells the most computers, Compaq Computer, is "a pioneering figure in the personal computer industry and a founding investor in both Compaq Computer and Lotus Development." The CEO, President, and Chairman of rival Packard Bell NEC, the second-largest computer maker, was Beny Alagem, until he stepped down in 2000. He too is Jewish.
Lawrence Ellison is the CEO of Oracle Systems, Inc., the foremost producer of computer software for corporate databases. (Ellison has built a $150 million home in Woodside, California, featuring "a ten-building compound modeled after a Japanese imperial villa"). [LI, D., 4-1-01, p. 7] (Ellison resigned form Apple Computer Inc.'s board of directors in 2002]. The aforementioned Michael Dell, head of Dell Computers, is one of the richest people on the planet. Sandy Lerner is the "founder of network software giant Cisco Systems." [WALSH, M., 12-23-96, p. 17] Irwin Jacobs founded and heads Qualcomm, Inc., "the telecommunications company [that] has grown to $3.3 billion in annual revenues by providing wireless telephone service, mobile satellite communications, and Internret software." [MOTHER JONES , 5-3-01] Stanley Kalms, also Jewish, heads Great Britain's largest Internet provider: Freeserve.
In Russia, Anatoly Karachinsky, Jewish like all the others noted here, is head of Information Business Systems and is "regarded in Russia as the country's answer to Bill Gates. [He] is about to become the country's first high-technology dollar millionaire." [FINANCIAL IMES, 10-2-01] Karachinsky "set up NewspaperDirect, a system that allows newspapers from anywhere in the world to be printed on a desktop." [FINANCIAL TIMES, 10-2-00]
Among the above, Lewin was killed in the 2001 terrorist attack upon the World Trade Center. "In July," noted CNN, "Lewin was named one of the Top 10 people of the Enterprise Systems Power 100, a list of industry leaders chosen for their effect on the IT (information technology) landscape and for their ability to influence the industry's direction ... Born in Denver, Colorado, and raised in Jerusalem, Lewin is an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, having served in the country's military for more than four years." [SIEBERG, D., 9-11-01]
In 1998 Fortune magazine ran an article about five of the twenty multimillionaire Holocaust survivors who donated at least a million dollars to the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. These included Fred Kort, chairman of the Imperial Toy Company; Nathan Shapell, chairman of Shapell Industries, builders of 64,000 houses in the Los Angeles area; William Konar, creator of the "Yankee-sounding name" Clinton Merchandising company; Jack Tramiel, founder of the Commodore International computer company; and Sigi Ziering, chairman of the Diagnostic Products Corporation (his Jaguar license plates read "K9HORA," a phonetic approximation of a Yiddish phrase meaning "ward off the evil eye." ) [LOOMIS, p. 64]
Under Albert Lasker's [1880-1952] "creative direction and eventual ownership, the Chicago [ad agency Lord & Thomas] ranked first in the world in stature and size." [ETKES/STADTMAUER, 1995, p. 178] In 1986, Allen Rosenshine, chairman of the BBDO advertising agency, announced a merger with the sixth, twelfth, and sixteenth largest agencies to create the largest advertising firm on earth, now called, Omnicom. By 1987, however, with the acquisition of the Ted Bates Worldwide firm (headed by Bob Jacoby), the British-based Saatchi & Saatchi firm became the largest advertising conglomerate. Nearly 40 other companies had been devoured by Saatchi & Saatchi in the previous decade.
Founded by Maurice and Charles Saatchi -- Jews of Iraqi heritage -- their company was "the largest marketing and communications company in the world ... By mounting the ad industry's most aggressive acquisitions charge over the past decade, Saatchi & Saatchi had bought ad agencies, public relations firms, corporate communications companies, market research groups, and consulting firms." [MILLMAN, p. 22] Some credited British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher'sSaatchi & Saatchi ad campaign to be responsible for her rise to power by "slick advertising and promotion" for the Conservative Party. [FALLON, p. 4]
Likewise, another of the three largest ad conglomerates on earth -- the WPP Group -- is headed by a Jew, Martin Sorrell, formerly the financial director of Saatchi & Saatchi. In a hostile takeover, WPP absorbed JWT, another major ad firm that owned J. Walter Thompson. WPP later also bought out the prominent Oglivy Group and its Oglivy Mather Agency [1990s CEO: Shelley Lazarus] for $864 million. [STABINER, p. 26]
Among the best known Jewish advertising executives is Bill Bernbach, described by one newspaper as "the innovator and legend of the trade." [MCCANN, p. M6] By the 1990s, Bernbach's son, John, was the president of the prominent ad firm DDB Needham in New York. A British Jew, Tony Kaye, has been described as "probably the world's most successful director of television commercials" and he is "fiercely proud of being Jewish."[ELLISON, p. 14] His car license plates read "JEW ISH." In 1987, Robert Goldstein, the vice-president for Procter and Gamble, was killed in a rafting accident. The New York Times noted him as "one of the most powerful figures in advertising, supervising a national advertising budget of more than $1 billion, the world's largest." [CREEK, p. B4]
One of the largest public relations firms in the world is Edelman Worldwide (29 offices and 60 affiliates), founded by Daniel Edelman who remained Chairman and co-CEO through the 1990s (the President and co-CEO is Daniel's son, Richard). [HOOVER, p. 245] A Jewish entrepreneur, Edward Bernays, was an early king of the public relations world. [ETKES/STADTMAUER, 1995, p. 177] A nephew of Sigmund Freud, Bernays "started out as a theatrical press agent and was widely regarded as 'the father of public relations.'" [EPSTEIN, H., 1994, p. 155]
In England, the Daily Telegraph noted in 1993 that Lynn Franks, daughter of a Jewish butcher, was
In England, the Daily Telegraph noted in 1993 that Lynn Franks, daughter of a Jewish butcher, was
"the most successful, the most abrasive, the most respected and,
sometimes, the most loathed public relations person in London...
Franks is famous for being probably the only PR in London who is
better known than many of her clients. She is also the inspiration
and model for the television comedy Absolutely Famous. The
monstrous Edna -- self-centered, neurotic, frequently inebriated,
armed with portable telephones and crystals ... That was Lynn
Franks. Franks sold Brylcream and Swatch watches as if they
were part of a New World religion." [BROWN, M., 1993]
Jewish entrepreneur Bob Walker sold his American Program Bureau (APB) in 1980, billed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's largest lecture agency." He bought it back in 1993. The agency books 2,000 appearances by speakers (many celebrities) per year. [ROSENBERG, S., 4-6-2000, p. 17] Mark Pollick founded and heads the Giving Back Fund, a company that runs charity foundations for rich people. Clients include everyone from Magic Jonhson to Britney Spears. "For the first 17 years of his career, Pollick tried Holocaust studies ... He directed the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard, opened a Holocaust museum in Miami, [and] ran a foundation for renowned Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel." [WEISS, J., 1-1-02]
Another Jewish entrepreneur, Edwin Land, founded and headed the Polaroid photographic corporation. In California, Alfred Fromm "was one of the pioneers of the modern California wine industry," originally marketing wine produced by the Brothers of Christian Schools monastery. [NOLTE, p. A20] Other noteworthy Jewish heads of companies include Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum; Leon Hess of Amerada, of Hess Petroleum; Ben Heineman of Northwest Industries; Nathan Cummings of Consolidated Food (Sara Lee frozen foods, et al), Charles Bludhorn of Gulf + Western; Harry Weinberg, the "richest man in Hawaii" [BRENNER, p. 77]; and Michael Blumenthal of Burroughs, andBendix.
Jewish entrepreneurs could also be found in heading a floor covering business (GAF), computer hardware (TRW), and even temporary personnel agencies (Manpower -- the founder, Elmer Winter, is also a former president of the American Jewish Committee and chairman of the Committee for the Economic Growth of Israel). The founders of both the Rite Aid (CEO: Martin Grass) and Block drug store chains were also Jewish; Rite Aid was once the largest drugstore chain in America. The Associated Press noted the following in 2002:
"In 1999, [third-largest drug store chain] Rite Aid Corp.'s stock soared past the $50 mark, from less than $13 four years earlier ... The 'portrayal of Rite Aid as a profitable company was a ruse and a mirage,' says a 37-count criminal indictment against four former and present senior executives. 'The deception was accomplished through massive accounting fraud, the deliberate falsification of its financial statements and intentionally false (Securities and Exchange Commission) filings.' Facing the most serious charges, including conspiracy to defraud and maing false statements to the SEC, are Martin L. Grass, 47, former chairman and chief executive officer; Franklin Brown, 74, former chief counsel and vice chairman; and Franklyn Bergonzi, 57, former executive vice president and chief financial officer ... The fourth person named in the indictment, Eric Sorkin, 53, executive vice president for pharmacy services, was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements." [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6-24-02]
The oil fortune of Leon Hess made him by 1969 the 21st richest man in America and eventual owner of the New York Jets football team from 1977 into the late 1990s. Sonny Werblin, the president of MCA Television and president and CEO of the Madison Square Garden company had bought the Jets in 1964, in partnership with Phil Iselin and Hess. [BRINSTER, D., 5-8-99, p. B7]
"In 1999, [third-largest drug store chain] Rite Aid Corp.'s stock soared past the $50 mark, from less than $13 four years earlier ... The 'portrayal of Rite Aid as a profitable company was a ruse and a mirage,' says a 37-count criminal indictment against four former and present senior executives. 'The deception was accomplished through massive accounting fraud, the deliberate falsification of its financial statements and intentionally false (Securities and Exchange Commission) filings.' Facing the most serious charges, including conspiracy to defraud and maing false statements to the SEC, are Martin L. Grass, 47, former chairman and chief executive officer; Franklin Brown, 74, former chief counsel and vice chairman; and Franklyn Bergonzi, 57, former executive vice president and chief financial officer ... The fourth person named in the indictment, Eric Sorkin, 53, executive vice president for pharmacy services, was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements." [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6-24-02]
The oil fortune of Leon Hess made him by 1969 the 21st richest man in America and eventual owner of the New York Jets football team from 1977 into the late 1990s. Sonny Werblin, the president of MCA Television and president and CEO of the Madison Square Garden company had bought the Jets in 1964, in partnership with Phil Iselin and Hess. [BRINSTER, D., 5-8-99, p. B7]
In the professional basketball world, by the 1940s and 1950s, says Peter Levine, "[Jews] continued their association with the game as coaches, scouts, and general managers of NBA teams. By the 1960s, Jews were more likely to be found in NBA boardrooms than on the hardwood floor. Following an entrepreneurial tradition established by the likes of Abe Saperstein, Frank Basloe, and Eddie Gottleib, men like Maurice Podoloff, Ben Kerner, and, more recently, Harry Glickman, William Davidson, and David Stern have played critical roles as club presidents and league commissioners in establishing the NBA as a capitalist enterprise." [LEVINE, P., p. 70]
Jewish influence in the power corridors of professional basketball was noticeable as early as 1953:
"Track and football-star-turned-sports-announcer Marty Glickman had been
telecasting NBA games until 1953, when the National Broadcasting Corporation
took over NBA telecasts. Glickman was a famed and excellent basketball
announcer but he was replaced because Tom Gallery (NBC sports head) and
Maurice Podoloff (NBA commissioner) felt that with Podoloff as commisssioner,
Haskell Cohen as NBC public relations chief, and Glickman as sports announcer
the NBA was identified with too many Jews. Perry Smith, executive producer
of NBC telecasts of the games, later told Glickman: 'It came down to the fact
that Galley and Podoloff didn't want three Jewish names at the top of the NBA.'"
[JAHER, F., 10-31-2001, p. 61]
Jewish influence in the power corridors of professional basketball was noticeable as early as 1953:
"Track and football-star-turned-sports-announcer Marty Glickman had been
telecasting NBA games until 1953, when the National Broadcasting Corporation
took over NBA telecasts. Glickman was a famed and excellent basketball
announcer but he was replaced because Tom Gallery (NBC sports head) and
Maurice Podoloff (NBA commissioner) felt that with Podoloff as commisssioner,
Haskell Cohen as NBC public relations chief, and Glickman as sports announcer
the NBA was identified with too many Jews. Perry Smith, executive producer
of NBC telecasts of the games, later told Glickman: 'It came down to the fact
that Galley and Podoloff didn't want three Jewish names at the top of the NBA.'"
[JAHER, F., 10-31-2001, p. 61]
In 1999 the Jewish Week worried about an "ugly racial clash" between striking professional basketball players (85% black) and the team's owners, of which "nearly half of the 29 team's owners were Jewish ... [Also] most top NBA officials are Jews, beginning with Commissioner David Stern ... [Today's Jewish presence in the NBA is that of] landlords and shopkeepers ... Jewish sports executives as a group are unusually devoted to Jewish causes. Most are major UJA donors. David Stern has been honored by both UJA and Israel Bonds, and personally supported a [Jewish] Soviet refugee family. New Jersey Nets owner Henry Taub is a former national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal. Washington Wizardsowner Abe Pollin actually changed his team's name from the Bullets after [Israeli prime minister] Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated." [GOLDBERG, J.J., Going, p. 14]
(The Jewish state of Israel has a professional basketball league, and a number of Americans who can't make the NBA play there. Most of these players are Black. In 2001, Phil Gershon, leaving as coach of the Maccabi Tel Aviv team (both Israeli and European champions), was quoted in an Israeli newspaper as telling a group of military officers that
"even among blacks there are different colors. There is dark black, and there is
mocha. The mocha type are more clever, and the darker color usually comes
from the street.' The report said that the often overly-vivacious Gershon drew
laughter from his listeners. He then continued unfazed: 'I am not joking. You can
see the standing of those with a bit more mixture in their color, such as Andrew
Kennedy. You can see his personality. He will check you out, he is clever. The
other (darker) blacks are stupid. They will do whatever you tell them, like slaves.'")
[ALON, G., 7-4-01]
(The Jewish state of Israel has a professional basketball league, and a number of Americans who can't make the NBA play there. Most of these players are Black. In 2001, Phil Gershon, leaving as coach of the Maccabi Tel Aviv team (both Israeli and European champions), was quoted in an Israeli newspaper as telling a group of military officers that
"even among blacks there are different colors. There is dark black, and there is
mocha. The mocha type are more clever, and the darker color usually comes
from the street.' The report said that the often overly-vivacious Gershon drew
laughter from his listeners. He then continued unfazed: 'I am not joking. You can
see the standing of those with a bit more mixture in their color, such as Andrew
Kennedy. You can see his personality. He will check you out, he is clever. The
other (darker) blacks are stupid. They will do whatever you tell them, like slaves.'")
[ALON, G., 7-4-01]
Over the years Edward Ginsberg held partnership in the New York Yankees and the Thistledown Race Track; he was a former head of the Chicago Bulls as well as the director of Israel's El Al airline and the First Israel Bank and Trust. Max Winter was the president of the Minnesota Vikings and Lakers in their early years. The Crown family has owned interests in the Chicago Bulls, the St. Louis Blues, and the New York Yankees. Marvin Krattner, "a Manhattan real estate investor, was owner of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn [home of the Brooklyn Dodgers]." [KIRSCHNER, S., 9-14-2000, p. 11]
By the early 1980s Jewish individuals owned or controlled a huge number of professional baseball, basketball, football, hockey and other sports teams. A sample includes the San Diego Chargers, Seattle Supersonics, Milwaukee Brewers,San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Black Hawks, Cleveland Browns (Art Modell), Oakland A's, and part of the New York Knicks. [BAER, p. 30] (By the 1990s, both the New York Knicks and New York Rangerswere owned by Viacom, headed by Jewish mogul Sumner Redstone). SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 32] Sidney Shlenker, head of Pace Entertainment, owned the Denver Nuggets from 1985-89. Al Cohen was also one of the three owners of theBoston Celtics (he was also the chairman of the basketball owners' Board of Governors, beginning in 1986). Philip Mack owned the Minnesota Twins. Richard Bloch was president of the Phoenix Suns and also the chairman of the owners’ Board of Governors. A Jewish entrepreneur, Ed Snider, still owns the Philadelphia Flyers pro hockey team (he also a board member of the Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust museum in Los Angeles. He also owns Prism, the largest regional pay-per-view TV network in America, as well as Spectacor, which includes TicketMaster and the Philadelphia Spectrum sports center). Irwin Jacobs controlled the Minnesota Vikings. Jeff Smulyan, the CEO of Emmis Broadcasting, owned the Seattle Mariners ("Smulyan has won civil service awards for his efforts on behalf of Jewish causes ... Reclaimed land in Israel has even been forested in his name." [PRICE, p. C1] Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks coffee stop chain (subject to a boycott by activists agsinst Schultz's support for state of Israel), also owns the Seattle SuperSonics basket ball team.
Bud Adams owns the (football) Tennessee Oilers (formerly in Houston) and Les Alexander owns the (basketball) Houston Rockets. Al Davis also eventually owned the Oakland Raiders, Carroll Rosenbloom the Los Angeles Rams, and Abe Pollin not only the Washington Wizards but also the Washington Capitals. "Pollin," noted the Jerusalem Post in 1997, "the most senior owner in the NBA, [was] a close friend of the late [Israeli] prime minister Yitzhak Rabin." [KUTTLER, p. 20] Pollin, with fellow real estate developer Albert Cohen, also built Washington D.C.'s entertainment and sports complex, the Capital Centre. Jewish entrepreneur Daniel Snyder also owns the other professional team in the nation's capital, the Washington Redskins (football). "The rest of the National Football League," noted the New York Times,
"has taken notice, not only of Snyder's fat wallet, but of his brashness,
and some say, his outright arrogance ... Snyder earned his first million
by the time he was 20, and by 31, he was the youngest chief executive
of a company on the New York Stock Exchange." [FREEMAN, M., 8-6-
2000, p. 1, 24]
There's more. By the 1990s Thomas Werner was the chairman of the San Diego Padres and Jerry Reinsdorf (described by Sports Illustrated as "one of the most powerful, loathed, and loved men in sports" [SWIFT, p. 76] controlled both baseball's Chicago White Sox and basketball's Chicago Bulls (Michael Jordan et al). In 1992 Bob Lurie, also Jewish, sold the San Francisco Giants for $110 million to a group of investors including (Gentile) George Shinn, Walter Shorenstein, Warren Hellman, (Gentile) Charles Schwab, and Richard Goldman (the mayor's chief of protocol). "Shinn," noted the San Francisco Chronicle, "gives motivational speeches and several books, one of which is called 'Good Morning, Lord’.... Before leaving for San Francisco, he asked [Larry] Baer whether he should bring autographed copies of the book for local investors. Baer, knowing that many of the potential San Francisco investors were Jewish, said it would not be a good idea." [CARLSEN, p. A1] Nine of today's 22 part-owners of the San Francisco Giants are Jewish, including Larry Baer, the Giants' CEO. [ALTMAN-OHR, A., 4-14-2000]
In Michigan, William M. Davidson, owner of the fifth largest glass manufacturer in the world, Guardian Industries, owns the Detroit Pistons basketball team (Davidson's glass factory branch in Israel is the "largest single undertaking of private industry in that country.") [MAGINA, p. 42] Davidson also owns a women's professional basketball team, the Detroit Shock. (Davidson's gifts to Israel include a 1999 gift of $20 million to a scientific center, the Weizman Institute). Michael Illitch, also Jewish, owns the Detroit Tigers baseball and Detroit Red Wings hockey teams. Chris Cohan owns the Golden State Warriors. Larry Tanenbaum owns the Toronto Raptors. Charles Bronfman owned the Montreal Expos, later owned by New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria (Loria once commissioned Jewish artist Larry Rivers to "portray four millenia of Jewish history.") [HEBREW UNION COLLEGE, 1999] Malcolm Glazer owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hollywood producer Jeffrey Lurie bought the Philadelphia Eagles in 1994 from another Jewish mogul, Norman Braman. Eli Jacobs sold the Baltimore Orioles in 1992. Norm Green owns pro hockey's Minnesota North Stars(later, the Dallas Stars). Howard Katz sold the Philadelphia 76ers in 1996 to the Comcast Corporation (whose Jewish chairman is Ralph Roberts. Chief Financial Officer for the 76ers? Andy Speiser, also Jewish). [SALISBURY, G., 3-30-99, p. 65] Walter Haas (for years the head of the Levi-Strauss clothing company) was the principal owner of the Oakland Athletics (where he installed his son and son-in-law as executives) til the team was sold to Steven Schott and Kenneth Hofman in 1995. Eugene Klein, described by Sports Illustrated as America's "most successful thoroughbred [horses] owner," owns the San Diego Chargers. By the early 1990s, Robert Tisch was co-owner of the New York Giants and Howard Milstein owns part of the New England Islanders. Fred Wilpon owns the New York Mets. Jeremy Jacobs owns the Boston Bruins hockey team. Lewis Katz is the "principal owner" of the YankeeNets company, which controls theNew York Knicks basketball team (president and CEO: Harey Schiller). Randy Levine is president of the New York Yankees.
Robert Irsay (originally: Robert Israel) died in 1997; at the time he owned pro football's Indianapolis Colts (moving them from Baltimore.) His son Jim took over ownership. The Baltimore Sun noted that Irsay was
"remembered best for his drunken public appearances and unstable
management ... Mr. Irsay became something of a legend for his
public denunciation of players and staff in Baltimore, and calling in
plays from the owner's box." [MORGAN, p. 1A]
Tom Matte, a broadcaster for the Colts in Baltimore noted that Irsay "never created any good will. He only created bad will. And that's why the fans hated him." [MORGAN, p. 1A] His own mother called Irsay "a devil on earth." [MORGAN, p. 1A]
Donald Sterling owns the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team (he also owns over 5,000 apartment complexes in southern California, including 22 in Beverly Hills. [TURNER, p. 8] Herb Kohl owns the Milwaukee Bucks. Mark Cuban, well-known for accumulating fines for emotional outbursts against referees at games, bought the Dallas Mavericks in 2000. Robert Kraft owns (football's) New England Patriots. (Kraft's wife, Myra, is one the board of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee; she travels to Israel "at least four times a year" and "besides the state of Israel and her own Jewish heritage," notes the Boston Globe, "Kraft counts family above virtually everything else." [KAHAN, p. C1] Robert Kraft also owns his team's playing site, Foxboro Stadium. "Some people have said," noted Newsday in 1997, "that Kraft abuses power. After Kraft pursued and bought the tiny Robertson Paper Box Co. in Montville, Conn., in the 1980s, and built a new plant ... [the] move resulted in 300 layoffs." [ZIPAY, p. 79]
Ted Arison (CEO of the Carnival Cruise company, who also lives in Israel) owns the Miami Heat. Mel and Herb Simon (owners of the biggest shopping mall in the United States, among 130 others across America) own the Indiana Pacers basketball team. (Herb's wife, Diane, has served as the Democratic National Convention chairwoman). [APGAR, p. 1A] Phil Granovsky, until his death in 1995, was part-owner of the Toronto Raptors; he was also twice the local chairman of the United Jewish Appeal. Stan Kasten is the president of both the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Braves. Randy Levine is president of the New York Yankees. In 1997 Jon Stoll and Ken Horowitz became owners of Miami's new professional soccer team. Ed Tepper owns the Philadelphia Kixx soccer team. In 1998, Al Lerner bought the new Cleveland expansion football team for $530 million. (It was named the Cleveland Browns and Art Modell's originalCleveland Browns that had moved to Baltimore was christened the Baltimore Ravens). Murray Pezim, "one of Canada's richest citizens" [1991] owns the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian professional football league. [LOONEY, p. 90] Even an ultra-Orethodox rabbi, Joseph Gutnik, by the 1990s one of the richest men in Australia, is president of the Melbourne Football Club. In 1999, Howard Milstein, already co-owner of hockey's New York Islanders, led a group that sought to buy the Washington Redskins.
A few of these sports moguls have questionable pasts, having been linked (though never convicted of anything) with characters in the criminal underworld. Early in his career, Art Modell (owner of the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens) was chums with Ben Marden, "a former bootlegger and casino operator in Havana who was associated with [mobster Meyer] Lansky ... Modell also had ties to several bookmakers and gamblers." Modell was also partner in a horse-racing operation with Morris Wexler, who was described as one of the 'leading hoodlums' in running Empire News Service by a Congressional committee. Wexler was also "linked to [Jewish mobster Moe] Dalitz's Mayfield Road Gang" in Cleveland. [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 106] Modell was also an associate of William Weinberger, the eventual head of Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas. One of Weinberger's business pals, Jerome Zarowitz, was "convicted for trying to fix the 1946 championship game." [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 107]
Jack Molinas was a Jewish basketball player in the early years of the professional sport. In 2002, a book came out about him entitled "The Wizard of Odds. How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball." As a New York Timesbook review notes:
"Molinas, who had had a Jewish middle-class upbringing in the Bronx, was a sort
of double prodigy in his own right. He took up both gambling and basketball in
1944, when he was 12 years old, and by the time he was starring for Sturyvesant
High Scholl and then Columbia University, he was working with a mob-backed
bookmaker -- betting against his own team, at times throwing games outright,
at other times playing hard enough to win but intentionally bungling shots and
dropping passes in order to stay under the point spread. 'To Molinas, playing in
a rigged ball game was more exhilirating than playing it straight,' Charlie Rosen
writes in 'The Wizard of Odds.' 'Was it time to kick a pass out of bounds, or
get called for a three-second violation? Or should he go on a scoring binge
to make his own statistics respectable? ... Molinas loved the idea of playing so
many secret games at the same time' ... Molinas was, briefly, one of the
premier high-scoring forwards in the fledgling N.B.A., before he was suspended
for gambling during his first and only season with the Fort Wayne Pistons."
[KONIGSBERG, E., 3-2-02]
Jack Molinas was a Jewish basketball player in the early years of the professional sport. In 2002, a book came out about him entitled "The Wizard of Odds. How Jack Molinas Almost Destroyed the Game of Basketball." As a New York Timesbook review notes:
"Molinas, who had had a Jewish middle-class upbringing in the Bronx, was a sort
of double prodigy in his own right. He took up both gambling and basketball in
1944, when he was 12 years old, and by the time he was starring for Sturyvesant
High Scholl and then Columbia University, he was working with a mob-backed
bookmaker -- betting against his own team, at times throwing games outright,
at other times playing hard enough to win but intentionally bungling shots and
dropping passes in order to stay under the point spread. 'To Molinas, playing in
a rigged ball game was more exhilirating than playing it straight,' Charlie Rosen
writes in 'The Wizard of Odds.' 'Was it time to kick a pass out of bounds, or
get called for a three-second violation? Or should he go on a scoring binge
to make his own statistics respectable? ... Molinas loved the idea of playing so
many secret games at the same time' ... Molinas was, briefly, one of the
premier high-scoring forwards in the fledgling N.B.A., before he was suspended
for gambling during his first and only season with the Fort Wayne Pistons."
[KONIGSBERG, E., 3-2-02]
Carroll Rosenbloom (owner of the Los Angeles Rams) and mob-linked Morris Schwebel and Lou Chesler were the three largest shareholders in Seven Arts, a firm that once managed to buy the film libraries of Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and MCA/Universal. [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 109] Rosenbloom (well known as "a notorious gambler") [MOLDEA, p. 133] and his associates built the first casino in the Bahamas, the Monte Rio. [MOLDEA, p. 131]
Another Jewish sports mogul, Sonny Werblin (owner of the New York Jets) "maintained close personal and business ties with Chicago mob attorney Sidney Korshak [also Jewish] who represented the underworld's interests in Hollywood." [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 136] Werblin, also a division head at MCA in Hollywood, "was very close" to NBC head Robert Sarnoff (also Jewish) and managed get the television network to extend a five year contract to the fledgling American Football League (rival to the old National Football League), thus ensuring the new league's survival. [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 137]
There are also questions about Eugene Klein (owner of the San Diego Chargers). As Dan Moldea notes
"In March, 1970 San Diego Chargers owner Gene Klein was
registered at the twenty-one-room Acapulco Towers in Mexico
during a meeting of major underworld figures ... Among those
in attendance was [Jewish mobsters] Meyer Lansky and Moe
Dalitz ... Klein was one of twelve stockholders in the hotel, who
also included [Jewish lawyer to the mob] Sidney Korshak and
Moe Morton, a major gambling figure in California." [MOLDEA,
p. 232] (Other co-owners included Phil Levin. "Through his holdings,"
notes Moldea, "Levin exercised considerable control over the New
York Knickerbockers of the NBA, the New York Rangers hockey team,
and Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island." [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 466]
Klein was also once fined $20,000 by the San Diego County District Attorney's Office which accused his team of an "indiscriminate use" of drugs. The current head coach and eight players were also put on probation. The former Chargers head coach, Sid Gillman was also "placed on probation by the NFL for forcing his players to take drugs. Also punished for prescribing excessive amounts of amphetamines was Dr. Arnold J. Mandell, who was fired by the team psychiatrist but not charged with any crime." [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 259] Mandell, also Jewish, was the co-chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California in San Diego.
In 1983, Jewish mogul Steve Belkin backed out of a deal to buy the Boston Celtics basketball team, citing too much negative media publicity and his "guilt by association" with close business associates. Belkin owned a company called Trans National. His vice president, Henry Lewis, had been "convicted, of kidnapping charges in 1969, and again on a bookmaking charge in 1977. He was allegedly under investigation for gambling charges." Lewis' brother, Alan, was president of Trans National and the Lewis' father, Edward, was also "a convicted bookmaker." In later years Belkin's interests bloomed towards common Jewish themes: he became friendly with officials at the Anti Defamation League and the Combined Jewish Philanthropies and "for the last year years," noted the Boston Herald in 1999, "he and wife, Joan, have taken 160 people to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC." [UPI, 7-29-83; RESENDE, P., 2-21-99, p. 35]
Jewish author Robert Friedman wrote a book about the "Russian" mafia in 2000; "Because the Russian mob was [and is] mostly Jewish, it was a political hot potato, especially in the New York area, where the vast majority of refugees were being resettled by Jewish welfare agencies." Friedman's book includes a look at "Russian" mafia influence in the National Hockey League "by threatening players from Eastern Europe and Russia and extorting money from them." [BONNER, R., 11-16-00]
In 2002, in Israeli, the professional Israeli Football Assocation (i.e., soccer), Shalom Ibn-Ezra, was embroiled in scandal when five referees were arrested "for allegedly taking money in exchange for fixing matches." "The police," noted Israeli newspaper Haaretz,
"have a list of suspects who are not referees, but are known to be involved in
running illegal gambling. Some of them have a sporting past ... There is sufficient
evidence floating around to cast a shadow over the viability of Israeli soccer. It
is important that [sports minister Matan] Vilnai and Shalom move quickly, because
after the next criminal fiasco, there will be nothing left of Israeli soccer to save."
[KOFMAN, R., 5-8-02]
Jewish author Robert Friedman wrote a book about the "Russian" mafia in 2000; "Because the Russian mob was [and is] mostly Jewish, it was a political hot potato, especially in the New York area, where the vast majority of refugees were being resettled by Jewish welfare agencies." Friedman's book includes a look at "Russian" mafia influence in the National Hockey League "by threatening players from Eastern Europe and Russia and extorting money from them." [BONNER, R., 11-16-00]
In 2002, in Israeli, the professional Israeli Football Assocation (i.e., soccer), Shalom Ibn-Ezra, was embroiled in scandal when five referees were arrested "for allegedly taking money in exchange for fixing matches." "The police," noted Israeli newspaper Haaretz,
"have a list of suspects who are not referees, but are known to be involved in
running illegal gambling. Some of them have a sporting past ... There is sufficient
evidence floating around to cast a shadow over the viability of Israeli soccer. It
is important that [sports minister Matan] Vilnai and Shalom move quickly, because
after the next criminal fiasco, there will be nothing left of Israeli soccer to save."
[KOFMAN, R., 5-8-02]
In 1984 David Stern became commissioner of the National Basketball Association and, as noted earlier, is still at the heal into 2000 (NBA publicist through the 1970s, Haskell Cohen, was also a columnist for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Deputy NBA Commissioner Russ Granik is also Jewish ). Robert Kraft, also Jewish, president of the National Football League from 1967-1970, bought the New England Patriots in 1993. Sara Levinson is president of NFL Properties, the league's merchandising division. Bud Selig, 35% owner and former CEO of the Milwaukee Brewers, has been the "acting" Major League Baseball commissioner since 1992, formally becoming the official commissioner in 1998. (In 1999 baseball's National and American league president offices were eliminated, thereby centralizing decision making in Selig's office. Fourteen former minority partners of the Montreal Expos sued Selig and former Expos owner Jeffrey Loria in 2002, accusing them of fraud. The suit was filed in Miami, Florida, under the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act.)
Sandy Alderson is one of major league baseball's vice presidents, for "baseball relations." By the 1990s Alan Rothenberg was the president of the professional soccer league, U.S. Soccer. Val Ackerman is president of the Women's National Basketball Association. In 1982 it was noted that Marvin Miller, as Executive Director of the Major League Players Association, "has single-handedly transformed baseball from being merely an American past time to a big business." [WALDMAN] For the baseball owners' part, under the cloud of a 1994 players' strike Jewish lawyer Richard Ravitch worked for them as their chief negotiator with the baseball union. On the other side of the battle, representing the union, was Donald Fehr who asked time off "so he and several members of his staff could prepare for Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday." [FISH, p. D3] Well-known professional sports coaches include Red Auerbach, Larry Brown and Marv Levy. [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 31]
Sandy Alderson is one of major league baseball's vice presidents, for "baseball relations." By the 1990s Alan Rothenberg was the president of the professional soccer league, U.S. Soccer. Val Ackerman is president of the Women's National Basketball Association. In 1982 it was noted that Marvin Miller, as Executive Director of the Major League Players Association, "has single-handedly transformed baseball from being merely an American past time to a big business." [WALDMAN] For the baseball owners' part, under the cloud of a 1994 players' strike Jewish lawyer Richard Ravitch worked for them as their chief negotiator with the baseball union. On the other side of the battle, representing the union, was Donald Fehr who asked time off "so he and several members of his staff could prepare for Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday." [FISH, p. D3]
At only age 28, Charles Harris was the number two executive in public relations at the Los Angeles Dodgers. "People always ask me how I could leave that for Israel," he says [he emigrated to the Jewish state], "But I knew that if it didn't work out here, I was young enough. I could always go back into sports." He eventually contracted to represent Major League Baseball in Israel. [ORBAUM, S., 7-28] And the Jerusalem Post noted the case in 2000 of Jewish baseball player Shawn Green: "When he compelled his former team, the Toronto Blue Jays, to trade him, he stipulated that he go to a team with a large Jewish fan base." [ORBAUM, S., 7-28]
Gil Stein is both a former president and CEO of the National Hockey League. He was also the NHL's vice-president and general counsel for fifteen years. The current National Hockey League Commissioner, Gary Bettman, is also Jewish. (This makes the current -- 2002 -- commissioners of the five major American sports: professional baseball (Bud Selig), basketball (David Stern), hockey (Gary Bettman), football (Paul Tagliabue), and soccer (Don Garber) ALL Jewish). Under criticism during a 1994 strike, New York's Jewish-dominated Village Voice reported that
"Bettman has confided that his discomfort is increased by the
tinge of anti-Semitism that hovers in the strike rhetoric. Toronto
columnists have referred to Bettman as 'nebbish' and complain
the league is now run by 'New York lawyers,' and players have
joked that Bettman's wife would rather 'go shopping' than watch
a hockey game -- all of which can be construed as a code word for
'Jew' ... Some the game's patron saints, such as the Leaf's Conn
Smythe and broadcaster Foster Hewitt, the original 'Voice of Hockey,'
were known by associates to harbor anti-Semitic sentiments." [EXTON/
SKOLNICK/KLEIN, 10-11-94, p. B28]
As the NHL's senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations, Brian Burke, complained:
"In my mind a couple of writers [in Toronto] are clearly influenced in their
coverage by the fact that Gary Bettman and much of the league hierarchy
are American and that Gary Bettman and some of the other league higher-
ups are Jewish." [GORDON, J., 10-23-94, p. B28]
For National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue's part, in 2002 he was awarded the American Jewish Congress' Louis D. Brandeis Award for "excellence in the law and commitment to the public good." "Tagliabue, who pledged to support Israel's war on terror," noted the Jerusalem Post, "until 'terrorism against civilians in Israel is no longer perpetrated and the integrity of the State of Israel is assured.'" [RADLER, M., 4-25-02] On November 13, 2001, the Archive of American Jews in Sports, a division of the American Jewish Historical Society, presented "its inaugural Hank Greenberg Sportsmanship Award to [deceased Jewish baseball baseball player] Hank Greenberg and professional sports commissioners Bud Selig, Paul Tagliabue, Gary Bettman and Don Garber." [http://www.ajhs.org/about/media_press]
For National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue's part, in 2002 he was awarded the American Jewish Congress' Louis D. Brandeis Award for "excellence in the law and commitment to the public good." "Tagliabue, who pledged to support Israel's war on terror," noted the Jerusalem Post, "until 'terrorism against civilians in Israel is no longer perpetrated and the integrity of the State of Israel is assured.'" [RADLER, M., 4-25-02] On November 13, 2001, the Archive of American Jews in Sports, a division of the American Jewish Historical Society, presented "its inaugural Hank Greenberg Sportsmanship Award to [deceased Jewish baseball baseball player] Hank Greenberg and professional sports commissioners Bud Selig, Paul Tagliabue, Gary Bettman and Don Garber." [http://www.ajhs.org/about/media_press]
In the sports media world, Steve Greenberg -- former deputy major league baseball commissioner -- is the president of the Classic Sports Network. Howard Katz is president of ABC Sports (ABC Sports was sued in 2000 by fired reporter Lesley Visser for age discrimination). Harvey Schiller is president of Turner Sports. Steve Bornstein is president of the ESPN sports broadcasting company (where Al Bernstein has been an on-air "boxing analyst” for 18 years). A new [1998]ESPN boxing promoter is Russell Peltz.
"When ESPN became implanted in the national consciousness, Chris Berman emerged as its biggest star" and Ray Firestone is ESPN's "master interviewer." Both Berman and Firestone are also Jewish. [QUINDT, F., 1994, p. D1] In 1990, Robert Irsay, then owner of the Indiana Colts (and also Jewish) made the news for apologizing to another Jewish reporter, ESPN's Fred Edelstein, for saying, "Edelstein's a little Jewish boy and he doesn't know what he's talking about." [SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11-20-92, p. C2] For the roving (female) reporter role on CBS's 2000 NCAA basketball championships, we had Bonnie Bernstein. [This is just the tiniest beginning of a story. See later Mass Media chapter about Jews in prominent positions in the mass media. Also, click here to read one Jewish online web site's listing of Jews in prominent positions in the sports world].
In 2000, Atlanta Braves relief pitcher John Rocker, represented by the Jewish sports agency SFX, found himself in a kind of Jewish web, becoming America's nationally vilified scapegoat for political correctness when (Jewish) Sports Illustrated writer Jeff Pearlman reported Rocker's comments about New York City. He didn't like riding on the Number 7 subway train, Rocker told Pearlman, with
"some kid with purple hair next to some queer with AIDS next to
some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time next to some
20-year old woman with four kids ... The biggest thing I don't like
about New York are the foreigners ... Asians and Koreans and
Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and
everything up there. How the hell do they get in this country?"
These comments, excerpted from Pearlman's story, were splashed across the newspapers of America and Rocker made international news as a mindless bigot. (Jewish) baseball commissioner Bud Selig fined Rocker $20,000, suspended him for a month, and ordered him to undergo psychiatric counseling. Weeks later Rocker passed Pearlman alone in a hallway, and bitterly yelled at the reporter for betraying his confidence. Pearlman reported this incident too, and Rocker was soon disciplined again and sent to the minor leagues.
Nat Hentoff (also Jewish) of the Village Voice was one of the few public voices that addressed the earlier context of Rocker's hostile comments:
"There was more to the Sports Illustrated interview than the parts that
led to [Rocker] becoming a pariah. But the full details of New York
fans' abuse of Rocker has been largely neglected by the media."
Rocker complained in the original article of being spit at by New York Met fans, he had bottles and batteries thrown at him, people screamed that they copulated with his mother, and someone threw beer on his girlfriend. Emotionally reacting to New York hostility with hostility, privately to the reporter, Rocker came close to losing his baseball career. Conversely, when reporter Pearlman was invited to speak publicly about the furor he had instigated, "he ducked interview requests from the Ted Koppels and Larry Kings of the world." [CLIMER, D., 4-23-2000; MORGAN, M., 6-22-2000, p. D2; HENTOFF, N., 2-8-2000, p. 39]
Jews have also long dominated the boxing world, as promoters, managers, agents, and other entrepreneurs. "So many of the fighters, trainers, promoters, and managers were Jewish," notes Allen Brodner about the sport's foundations, "that it would have been difficult for anti-Semites to obtain a foothold." [BODNER, p.4] For decades, Ray Arcel and Whitney Bimstein were the foremost trainers in the sport. Other prominent Jewish trainers included Heinie Blaustein, Freddie Brown, Manny Seaman, Charley Goldman, and Izzy Klein. Rocky Marciano's trainer (Al Weil) was Jewish, as was Rocky Graciano's (Irving Cohen). But, notes Bodner, "probably in no area of boxing were Jews important for so long a period as in the promotion of matches." [BODNER, p. 11]
Mike Jacobs, for instance, was a famed Madison Square Garden promoter -- pioneer Black heavyweight fighter Joe Louis fought for him 25 times. Jacobs, says Peter Levine, "became [in the 1930s and 1940s] boxing's dominant figure. Anyone who fought in a major bout in the United States went through 'Uncle Mike.'" [LEVINE, P., p. 183] As a promoter, notes Jack Newfield, Jacobs had "total control, total monopoly" over Joe Louis. [NEWFIELD, J., 1995] Over objections from many in the Jewish community, Jacobs even promoted the German Nazi's heavyweight contender, Max Schmeling, in 1936 to fight Louis in New York City. Schmeling won, a propaganda boost for Aryan fascism. Incredibly, even Schmeling's manager was Jewish -- another Jacobs, this one Joe. A proposed Schmeling fight for the world heavyweight crown against then-champ Jimmy Braddock never materialized, reportedly due to pressures put upon Braddock's own Jewish manager, Joe Gould. [LEVINE, P., p. 186]
"Max Baer," also notes Steven Silbiger,
"was the heavyweight champion in 1933 and wore a Star of David on his boxing
trunks. Although he is often mentioned as a Jewish sports hero, he was not even
Jewish. By passing as a Jew, though, he developed a loyal following of Jewish
fans who supported his career." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 31]
"Max Baer," also notes Steven Silbiger,
"was the heavyweight champion in 1933 and wore a Star of David on his boxing
trunks. Although he is often mentioned as a Jewish sports hero, he was not even
Jewish. By passing as a Jew, though, he developed a loyal following of Jewish
fans who supported his career." [SILBIGER, S., 2000, p. 31]
Other prominent Jewish promoters have included Harry Markson and Teddy Brenner. Nationally/internationally, Sam Silverman staged fights in Boston, Jack Solomon in London, Herman Taylor in Philadelphia, Harry Glickman in Seattle, and Bernie Feiken in Baltimore. In recent history, controversial promoter Bob Arum, originally a Harvard-trained lawyer, has often been in the public eye. Arum's Top Rank firm has managed many of recent history's most famous boxers, including Muhammed Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran, George Foreman, and Oscar De La Hoya. More recently too, for example, when controversial heavyweight fighter Mike Tyson left Black boxing entrepreneur Don King in 1998, Tyson's new "advisors" were Shelley Finkel, Jeff Wald, and Irving Azoff (the latter two also prominent in the recording industry). [SPRIGER, AN EERIE, p. C1, C4] One of Tyson's early co-managers was Jim Jacobs. Across the world, Rodney Berman, also Jewish, "is not only the leading boxing promoter in South Africa, but his Golden Glove Promotions is one of the top companies in the field worldwide." He promoted Hasim Rahman's victory over Lennox Lewis in the 2001 heavyweight championship. [BELLING, M., 4-27, 2001]
In 1997, the "first female boxing manager," Jackie Kallen, also Jewish, was inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. That same year she was the commissioner of the new "International Female Boxers Association." "That's what men want to see," Kallen says, "Sex sells. Men like to see beautiful women tie their hair back, go in there, and beat the ... out of someone." [SPRINGER, S., p. C10]
The Everlast Company, which for years monopolized most of the boxing equipment market, was also Jewish-owned, as was the sport's periodical bible, Ring Magazine (run by Nat Fleisher). In horse racing, Sam and Dorothy Rubin even owned John Henry, the most profitable race horse of the early 1980s. Hollywood Jews built the Los Angeles Hollywood Park race track (MGM head Louis Mayer was by 1945 the "second leading money winner in America." [GABLER, N., 1988, p. 263, 265] A Jewish entrepreneur in Texas, Jerry Meyer, is the chairman of Pinnacle Brands, which sells over $150 million worth of sports products and souvenirs a year. [FRIEDMAN, p. 32] The Sorin family founded and controls the famous Topps baseball card company. Mike Levy is the CEO of Sportsline, USA, an internet website worth $285 million.
Eventually, Jewish gangsters like Meyer Lansky, Dutch Schultz, Waxey Gordon, Bugsy Siegel, Arnold Rothstein, and Lepke Buchalter helped move the criminal underworld into boxing. "The gamblers who did business in the rear of each fighting club," observes Allen Bodner, "were Jewish, as were many of the managers and promoters. It was a logical step for the Jewish racketeers to move aggressively into boxing." [BODNER, p. 130]
The world of sports betting and gambling has long been largely Jewish as well, influenced in many spheres by the Jewish criminal underworld and the Italian Mafia. Mort Olshan, for example, was "perhaps the most renowned football [betting] handicapper in the United States and publisher of the widely read Gold Sheet." [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 29] From Minneapolis, Billy Hecht's Gorham Press "became the first national odds making institution. Many considered its newsletter to be a bible for gamblers." Leo Hirschfeld became a partner at Gorham Press in 1940, and its name changed to the Weekly Gridiron Review. [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 61] Moses Annenberg created The Daily Racing Form (for the betting on horse races) in 1922, soon to be embraced by the criminal underworld. William Kaplan created Kaplan Sports in the 1930s and the bulletin Handicapped. Kaplan "was also a close associate of Sidney Wyman, a former St. Louis bookmaker and a known front man for mob casino operations in Las Vegas." [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 86] Sam Minkus was "the owner of National Publications of Miami, the largest producer of football betting cards in the United States." [MOLDEA, p. 87]
Brooklyn-born Robert Martin "has been the most influential sports odds makers in the United States since the 1950s." Close associates were Julius Silverman and Meyer Schwartz. All three "were convicted of illegal gambling activities" and sentenced to five years in prison, but the surveillance system used to watch them was declared to be illegal and they were freed. [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 192] "During the 1950s and 1960s, the outlaw [sports betting] line was controlled by the New York Mafia ... The man responsible for managing the outlaw line for the Chicago Mafia was Frank Larry 'Lefty' Rosenthal." [MOLDEA, 1989, p. 239] In Boston, Burton "Chico" Krantz "became a notorious Boston bookmaker who ended up as a key government witness against leaders of the mob in New England to whom he was forced to pay 'rent,' or protection money." [KORSEC, T., 1-27-2000]
In 2000, Jay Cohen, founder of an online sportsbook called World Sports Exchange (wsex.com: "the Internet's most popular and profitable online gambling site"), and partners
"were charged by the US government with taking sports wagers by phone and over
the Internet, in violation of the Wire Act. Cohen returned to the US to stand trial and
was convicted by a New York jury. He was fined $5,0000 and sentenced to 21 months
in prison." [CASINO NEWS, 1-10-01]
(Head of the "International Association of Gaming Attorneys?" Lloyd D. Levenson.) [PR NEWSWIRE, 9-28-99]
In 2000, Jay Cohen, founder of an online sportsbook called World Sports Exchange (wsex.com: "the Internet's most popular and profitable online gambling site"), and partners
"were charged by the US government with taking sports wagers by phone and over
the Internet, in violation of the Wire Act. Cohen returned to the US to stand trial and
was convicted by a New York jury. He was fined $5,0000 and sentenced to 21 months
in prison." [CASINO NEWS, 1-10-01]
(Head of the "International Association of Gaming Attorneys?" Lloyd D. Levenson.) [PR NEWSWIRE, 9-28-99]
"Pick up a player, any player," declared Black Enterprise magazine, "among the ten highest paid black athletes in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), or Major League Baseball, and 29 out of 30 have an agent who is anything but black." [CLAY, p. 48] These agents are overwhelmingly Jewish; those noted by Black Enterprise include Marvin Demhoff, Steve Zucker, Barry Axelrod, and Leigh Steinberg (who had the largest stable ofNFL athletes, about 70, by 1995). Steinberg, noted the New York Times, "does the bidding for nearly every quarterback in the NFL." [HIRSCHBERG, L., 11-17-96] "Leigh Sternberg," adds the (Jewish) Forward, "virtually created the modern sports agent in 1975." [Smith, B., 9-4-98, p. 18] He also "underwrites the Anti-Defamation League's Steinberg Institute." [ALTMAN-OHR, A., 1-7-2000, p. 38]
In 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called another Jewish agent, Tom Reich, "a super agent, a pioneer in his industry and one of the most influential men on the landscape of pro sports in the 21st century." Reich was
"the first agent to win a baseball player a contract worth $1 million a year,
counting deferred payments. Reich with the Pirates' Dave Parker in the last
1970s. [He was also] the first agent to win a hockey player a contract worth
$2 million: Reich with the Penguins' Mario Lemieux in the late 1980s ...[Reich]
long ago set up shop in Los Angeles, Florida and New York, the first and last
because of their market importance, the middle one because, well, doesn't
every Jewish boy of his generation crave a Miami abode?" [FINDER, C., 4-29-01]
In 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called another Jewish agent, Tom Reich, "a super agent, a pioneer in his industry and one of the most influential men on the landscape of pro sports in the 21st century." Reich was
"the first agent to win a baseball player a contract worth $1 million a year,
counting deferred payments. Reich with the Pirates' Dave Parker in the last
1970s. [He was also] the first agent to win a hockey player a contract worth
$2 million: Reich with the Penguins' Mario Lemieux in the late 1980s ...[Reich]
long ago set up shop in Los Angeles, Florida and New York, the first and last
because of their market importance, the middle one because, well, doesn't
every Jewish boy of his generation crave a Miami abode?" [FINDER, C., 4-29-01]
By 1996, another Jewish sports agent, David Falk, had 38 clients in professional basketball, the largest number of any agent. These were in large part a group of elite players like Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, and Allan Iverson. (Falk, marketing whiz, conceived and pushed the "Air Jordan" basketball shoe as well as a Warners movie featuring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny). "We don't want to grow to fast or become too large," he said about his agency calledF.A.M.E., "We want to remain a boutique for star players." [BANKS, L., 1-21-96] "Since Falk controls a large block of top players," noted the New York Times, "he can in many ways dictate the structure and the economics of the entire league. Falk is considered the second most powerful person in the NBA after its commissioner, David Stern [also Jewish]." [HIRSCHBERG, L., 11-17-96, p. 46]
Another prominent sports agent in the basketball world, Arn Tellem, is also Jewish (by 1997 he was the agent for 22 players, including Kobe Bryant and Reggie Miller). Tellem also has a reputation for representing temperamental and controversial players (described by the New York Daily News as "infamous clients"), including Latrell Sprewell, J. R. Rider, and baseball's Albert Belle. Tellem started out in the agent business with partner Steve Greenberg, who has since become the president of Classic Sports Network. [COFFEY, W., 12-7-97, p. 102]
Both Tellem's and Falk's companies were bought out in 1998-1999 by SFX Entertainment, a talent agent conglomerate founded and headed by Jewish entrepreneur Robert F. X. Silberman. [See Mass Media section] David Falk became the chairman of SFX's sports division, SFX Sports Group. [SANDOMIR, R., 1-30-2000, p. 15; NEW YORK TIMES, 10-1-99, p. D6]]
Basketball hero Magic Johnson has been represented by Leo Rosen since 1987. Eric Grossman is the agent of controversial baseball star Daryl Strawberry. Alan Hirchfeld (with a number of past problems with the law) went into business with boxer Mohammed Ali, founding Champion Sports Management. [JENKINS, p. 175] African-American golf star Tiger Woods' agent is Mark Steinberg. (Famous Black golf pro Arthur Ashe's father even "was a driver for a wealthy Jewish man in Richmond, Virginia, named William Thalhimer." [BERKOW, IRA, 12-26-95, p. D12] Superstar Ken Griffey's agent is Brian Goldberg. [msnbc.com, 7-28-01] Mark McGwire's agent as he chased major league baseball's single season home run record was Bob Cohen.
McGwire's home run challenger in recent years has been Sammy Sosa. In 2000, Sosa made the news when his charitable foundation in the Dominican Republic was revealed to be close to bankruptcy. "Chase Kaufman," noted the Associated Press, "a member of the foundation's board, said he once bought Sosa's brother, Jose, a sports car with money from the foundation.... Adam Katz, one of Sosa's agents, told [Fortune magazine], 'I can assure you there's been no impropriety." [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 4-4-2000] Katz also represents other players on Sosa's Chicago Cubs baseball team. Sosa is also a client of Tom Reich. [FINDLER, C., 4-29-01]
Other prominent Jewish sports agents include Lawrence Fleisher who "was not only the [NBA] union's general counsel and strategist but also the biggest agent to NBA players, with a roster of more than 30 clients, most of them stars." [CHADWICK, p. 39] And down South, "no agent in the NFL," said a Florida newspaper in 1995, "has ever had as many players on one team [17] as [Drew] Rosenhaus has with the [Miami] Dolphins, and so in this new era of free agency, no agent has wielded so much potential influence over a single team." [MELL, p. 1C] Rosenhaus' autobiography is called A Shark Never Sleeps. Wheeling and Dealing with the NFL's Most Ruthless Agent. "I was born -- to be an agent," says Rosenhaus. "I was nurtured to dominate in this business from the day my parents brought me home from the hospital." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 13] He was born, too, to a very affluent family: "My first car was a Porsche 944, then I had a Delorean. I had cars like that in high school because my dad would sacrifice the world so that I could be THE MAN. Cars were the thing at that age. They identified you. So my dad, whatever it took, found a way to make me the man." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 25]
Rosenhaus got his start in the business under fellow Jewish agent Mel Levine who was at the time "the hot agent." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 48] (Marvin Demoff was also "one of the top agents in the business.") [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 76] Rosenhaus began scheming to betray Levine as soon as possible, taking over his employer's clients: "[Levine] had let the shark into the fish pond. It was a day Mel would never forget ... By the time I got into the car and started driving, I knew it was just a matter of time before I took over. Within fifteen minutes of getting the job, I wanted to make ME the top guy." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 52] Rosenhaus' road to the top was made easier by the fact that Levine soon went to prison: "Almost over night, Levine was out of business. The claim was Levine stole money from his clients. I was shocked. Levine was charged with certain white collar crimes and ultimately he went to jail on a tax charge. The suspicion that Levine was another one of those agents who stole money from his clients spread like brushfire. He lost his clients. Money got lost -- and when that happens, bad things follow." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 89] Levine had earlier "beaten an NCAA investigation that claimed he had purchased cars for a number of college recruits. This huge scandal in South Florida was called 'Auto Gate.'" [ROSENAHAUS, D., 1997, p. 48]
"Agent," confesses Rosenhaus about his chosen career, "considered a four-letter word, or referred to as the 'A word,' is synonymous with being a sleazeball lawyer. I became the face for this picture. I became the poster boy for greed in sports today. I wanted to be famous; I became infamous." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 112] Sports Illustrated even featured him on its cover (July 15, 1996), calling him "The Most Hated Man in Pro Football."
The firm Magnum Sports and Entertainment (Chairman: Charles Koppelman; President and CEO: Robert Gutkowski; head of the football division: Joel Segal) by 2001 represented over 40 National Football League players. [http://www.wwentertainment.com]
Rosenhaus got his start in the business under fellow Jewish agent Mel Levine who was at the time "the hot agent." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 48] (Marvin Demoff was also "one of the top agents in the business.") [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 76] Rosenhaus began scheming to betray Levine as soon as possible, taking over his employer's clients: "[Levine] had let the shark into the fish pond. It was a day Mel would never forget ... By the time I got into the car and started driving, I knew it was just a matter of time before I took over. Within fifteen minutes of getting the job, I wanted to make ME the top guy." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 52] Rosenhaus' road to the top was made easier by the fact that Levine soon went to prison: "Almost over night, Levine was out of business. The claim was Levine stole money from his clients. I was shocked. Levine was charged with certain white collar crimes and ultimately he went to jail on a tax charge. The suspicion that Levine was another one of those agents who stole money from his clients spread like brushfire. He lost his clients. Money got lost -- and when that happens, bad things follow." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 89] Levine had earlier "beaten an NCAA investigation that claimed he had purchased cars for a number of college recruits. This huge scandal in South Florida was called 'Auto Gate.'" [ROSENAHAUS, D., 1997, p. 48]
"Agent," confesses Rosenhaus about his chosen career, "considered a four-letter word, or referred to as the 'A word,' is synonymous with being a sleazeball lawyer. I became the face for this picture. I became the poster boy for greed in sports today. I wanted to be famous; I became infamous." [ROSENHAUS, D., 1997, p. 112] Sports Illustrated even featured him on its cover (July 15, 1996), calling him "The Most Hated Man in Pro Football."
The firm Magnum Sports and Entertainment (Chairman: Charles Koppelman; President and CEO: Robert Gutkowski; head of the football division: Joel Segal) by 2001 represented over 40 National Football League players. [http://www.wwentertainment.com]
Another prominent Jewish lawyer/agent, Frank Rothman, also represented the National Basketball League itself, as well as National Football League. Still another, Bob Woolf, represented 9 of the 12 Boston Celtics in their most recent championship years, 14 of the members of 1967 Boston Red Sox (a championship year), and 2,000 clients in total. "I'm very Jewish-oriented," said Woolf in 1992, "[and] ... I'm proud of the basketball tournament that's been held in my name in Israel for the past 15 years." [ROTHENBERG, p. 22]
In 1990, sports agents Lloyd Bloom and Norby Walters were convicted by jury trial of "racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy, and two counts of mail fraud." An appeals court overruled the conviction. These agents preyed upon college athletes, breaking NCAA collegiate rules to sign sports stars to contracts before they finished college. In a three year period, 58 athletes were signed from 32 different schools. Walters, also a booking agent (for a short time even the agent of African-American singer Dionne Warwick) and nightclub owner, had ties to organized crime. (Mobster Michael Franzese even testified that he invested in the two agents' business start-up costs). Bloom was initially convicted of fraud and making extortionist threats to former clients. In 1992, Bloom only pleaded guilty to mail fraud. [FIFFER, S., 1989, 4-14-89; FIFFER, S., 1989, 4-23-89; LEGAL INTELLIGENCER, 8-31-92, p. 4]
In Great Britain, Jonathan Barnett and David Mannaseh own Stellar Management, the agency for "nine of Britain's top athletes." They both are members of the same synagogue. Barnett "is a patron of Girl's Town -- Or Chadash, an Israeli-based charity, assisting underprivileged children and adults. The charitable interests of his Israeli wife, Nava, include Jewish Care." [LEVITT, L., 3-201, p. 19]
Going to buy a hot dog at a sports event? Chances are good that you'll be putting money into the hands of Larry Levy, co-founder -- with his brother -- of Levy Restaurants. This firm owns "more than 20 major sports, entertainment and convention foodservice concessions," as well as 21 restaurants in a variety of cities, including New York and Chicago. Contracts include "several new Major League sports venues in Denver, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Miami and Cleveland." A new National Basketball Association store in New York City also features a Levy restaurant. [WALKUP, C., 8-10-98]
In Great Britain, Jonathan Barnett and David Mannaseh own Stellar Management, the agency for "nine of Britain's top athletes." They both are members of the same synagogue. Barnett "is a patron of Girl's Town -- Or Chadash, an Israeli-based charity, assisting underprivileged children and adults. The charitable interests of his Israeli wife, Nava, include Jewish Care." [LEVITT, L., 3-201, p. 19]
Going to buy a hot dog at a sports event? Chances are good that you'll be putting money into the hands of Larry Levy, co-founder -- with his brother -- of Levy Restaurants. This firm owns "more than 20 major sports, entertainment and convention foodservice concessions," as well as 21 restaurants in a variety of cities, including New York and Chicago. Contracts include "several new Major League sports venues in Denver, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Miami and Cleveland." A new National Basketball Association store in New York City also features a Levy restaurant. [WALKUP, C., 8-10-98]
In the bodybuilding world, Joe Gold founded the famed Gold's Gym and, later, World Gym. But another Jewish entrepreneur, Joe Weider, has long dominated the sport as the most aggressive business monopolizer of weight training products and bodybuilding competitions. Weider started the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding contest in the 1960s; he brought Arnold Schwartzenegger to America in 1968. By the late 1990s Weider's empire was worth $400 million and nephew Eric Weider was installed as the CEO of the Weider Health and Fitness company. The Weiders run 12 brands and produce about 1,400 products; in the nutrition category, these include Tiger's Milk, PrimeTime, Fi-Bar, Signature, Great American Nutrition, Excel, Metaform, and Victory. Weider products can be found in 38,000 retail outlets, in every American state. [CHAIN DRUG REVIEW, p. 260] Bob Paris, a former Mr. Universe also under contract to Joe Weider, and whose personal manager was also Jewish, Harry Kessel, notes that
"For good or bad, Joe and his brother Ben control bodybuilding. The
company they both privately own publishes magazines (Muscle and
Fitness, Shape, Flex, and Men's Fitness), makes vitamins and other
supplements, training equipment, and fitness clothing. Joe is publisher
of the magazines and overseas operations of the empire. His brother Ben
keeps a low public profile as far as all the companies are concerned, but
is president of the International Federation of Bodybuilders
(IFBB), an organization with 160 or more member nations that for all
intents and purposes is the only legitimate international bodybuilding
organization ... The Weider brothers claim that the IFBB and the
Weider companies are separate and completely unrelated. Only a naive
fool would believe that." [PARIS, p. 72-73]
In what Paris suggests is a "monopoly" of the Weider firms and the IFBB, the most exceptional bodybuilders are inevitably forced to sign promotional contracts with Weider for his product endorsements and to pursue a career in the field. "They put a clause in the IFBB rule book," says Paris, "that says an athlete can be suspended just for publicly criticizing or questioning any of the policies of the IFBB or its officers." [PARIS, p. 74]
In the field of violent spectacle, Robert Meyrowitz, president and CEO of SEG Sports, is the brainchild (and Executive Producer) behind the regularly scheduled Ultimate Fighting Championships where "almost anything goes -- elbow chops, head butts, knees to the groin (only eye gouging and biting are frowned upon)." [PLUMMER, p. 86] Meyrowitz, noted Forbes, in his earlier years, was "one of the leading radio impresarios in the United States, supplying hundreds of stations with canned programs." [NEWCOMB, p. 328] His new company markets brutal fighting on pay-per-TV, in 1995 reaching 300,000 American homes for $24.95 per showing. By then, however, his bouts were formally banned in three states -- Kansas, Ohio, and South Carolina. Senator John McCain of Arizona joined many protesters, saying that he objected to the UFC on "a moral level ... [It embodies] the decay of American society. And I'm opposed because of risk to the health of the combatants." [PLUMMER, p. 86] By 1998, because of continued angry nation-wide condemnation, Meyrowitz's promotions were formally banned on many pay-per-view networks, including Cablevision Systems, InterMedia Partners, CI, TIme-Warner, Adelphia, Jones Intercable, and Request.
Promoter Don Gold, at a company that distributed UFC bouts on videotape (Vidmark Entertainmment), noted that the action in one of their most recent tapes "was very violent. There was a lot of blood, broken bones, and some fighters were taken away in an ambulance. But people into martial arts will love this." [FITZPATRICK, p. 57] Rich Goffman, a marketing executive at Star Video, who had an advanced screening of the Vidmark tape, observed that "on one hand, it was sick and I was horrified because it was so brutal. On the other hand, it was unique and nothing like anything I've ever seen before." [FITZPATRICK, p. 57]
In the world of scripted theatrical (i.e., "fake") wrestling, Eric Bischoff heads the World Championship Wrestling organization. David Meltzer publishes the Wrestling Observer. [BACHMAN, J., 4-8-2000] One of the major promotions of the WCW is a former professional football player, Bill Goldberg, known simply in all the sensational hype by his clearly Jewish last name. He recalls what image he sought to create in his wrestling character, i.e., what would be his best marketing ploy:
"I was considering calling myself the Beast, or the Annihilator, and I
even went so far as considering the name 'the Mossad,' after the Israeli
secret service." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 50]
He decided on simply his last name, which has become a media icon for Jewish physical (and other?) power. Goldberg's managers are also Jewish, Barry Bloom and Michael Braverman. The man Goldberg fought early in his career for the U.S. title in this world of creation and illusion was also Jewish: Scott Levy, known professionally as "Raven." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 74] (Other Jewish wrestlers in the circuit include Dean Simon [stage name: Dean Malenko] and Barry Horowitz). [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 110] Goldberg, so recognizably Jewish, was introduced into the WCW with over 150 straight (scripted) victories. Although Goldberg's accomplishments are merely orchestrated, theatrical illusion, he notes that
"there is a marketing company in New York that conducts surveys to determine
the popularity and marketability of celebrities and athletes. The result is called the
Q rating. Michael Jordan [the basketball star] had the highest Q rating in the country
for ten years. At one point in 1998, he dropped to number two behind ... yes, as
strange as it may seem, it was Goldberg the wrestler." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 116]
"Thanks to the tremendous media coverage," he notes elsewhere, "my popularity was skyrocketing. It's funny, because people have actually come up to me and asked if Goldberg is my real name." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000 p. 110]
Goldberg was the only wrestler listed in the 1999 Sporting News "Most Powerful People" in sports. "Goldberg," notes Daniel De Vise and Jared Varsallone,
"I was considering calling myself the Beast, or the Annihilator, and I
even went so far as considering the name 'the Mossad,' after the Israeli
secret service." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 50]
He decided on simply his last name, which has become a media icon for Jewish physical (and other?) power. Goldberg's managers are also Jewish, Barry Bloom and Michael Braverman. The man Goldberg fought early in his career for the U.S. title in this world of creation and illusion was also Jewish: Scott Levy, known professionally as "Raven." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 74] (Other Jewish wrestlers in the circuit include Dean Simon [stage name: Dean Malenko] and Barry Horowitz). [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 110] Goldberg, so recognizably Jewish, was introduced into the WCW with over 150 straight (scripted) victories. Although Goldberg's accomplishments are merely orchestrated, theatrical illusion, he notes that
"there is a marketing company in New York that conducts surveys to determine
the popularity and marketability of celebrities and athletes. The result is called the
Q rating. Michael Jordan [the basketball star] had the highest Q rating in the country
for ten years. At one point in 1998, he dropped to number two behind ... yes, as
strange as it may seem, it was Goldberg the wrestler." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 116]
"Thanks to the tremendous media coverage," he notes elsewhere, "my popularity was skyrocketing. It's funny, because people have actually come up to me and asked if Goldberg is my real name." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000 p. 110]
Goldberg was the only wrestler listed in the 1999 Sporting News "Most Powerful People" in sports. "Goldberg," notes Daniel De Vise and Jared Varsallone,
"once appeared on the front page of the newspaper USA Today beside
a headline that read, 'How Bad Is Wrestling for Your Kids? ... The Jewish
National Fund will present him with its prestigious Tree of Life award this
fall in Israel." [DE VISE/VARSALLONE, 8-6-2000]
"I have received various honors and awards from Jewish organizations," he says,
"I've been asked to give out awards at the Maccabee [sport] games in Israel
and to speak at the Young Jewish Men's conference. The Jewish National
Fund wants me to dedicate a water project in Israel, and I was offered a
ride on the Estee Lauder family plane ... One thing's for sure, when I do
decide to give up wrestling, I could have a long and profitable career
on the Bar Mitzvah circuit." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 111]
"I have received various honors and awards from Jewish organizations," he says,
"I've been asked to give out awards at the Maccabee [sport] games in Israel
and to speak at the Young Jewish Men's conference. The Jewish National
Fund wants me to dedicate a water project in Israel, and I was offered a
ride on the Estee Lauder family plane ... One thing's for sure, when I do
decide to give up wrestling, I could have a long and profitable career
on the Bar Mitzvah circuit." [GOLDBERG, B., 2000, p. 111]
In 1996, Jewish entrepreneurs Marvin Winkler and Jay Schottenstein bought into the Gotcha company, an organization that "owned U.S. Surfing, which produces the OP Pro Surfing Championship, a television show and three extreme-sports magazines. A year later, they owned a controlling interest in both companies." [EARNEST/RECKARD, 10-10-99, p. C1] Going hiking? Mark Goldman is Chairman of Eastpak, a Massachusetts-based backpack manufacturer. [GELBWASSER, M., 6-11-98, p. 2] Bowling? In 2000, Rob Glaser became one of three owners of the Professional Bowlers' Association (PBA). [PEZZANO, C., 3-26-2000, p. S19] The head of Brunswick, the billiards and bowling firm founded in the late 1800s, was John Brunswick. He was also Jewish. His son-in-law, Moses Bensinger, took over the company at the founder's death. [JEWHOO, 2000]
Going skiing? By 1973, Mark Fleischman and Robert Millman headed the company (Davos) that ran "the biggest ski area in the world," Mt. Snow, in Vermont. [Berry, I.W., 1973, p. 113] More recently, "two of the country's largest ski operators" are Vail Resorts (its holdings, rooted in Colorado, include Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone) and the American Skiing Company (which includes Steamboat Springs and Sunday River in Maine. In 1997 alone, this firm also bought Heavenly at Lake Tahoe and Wolf Mountain -- now called The Canyons -- in Utah). The CEO of American Skiing is Les Otten, son of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. The CEO of Vail Resorts is Adam Aron. [GONZALEZ, E., 1999, p. 1G] The (Jewish) Crown family also own Colorado's Aspen Skiing resort company. "Aspen [Colorado] is the Crown's playground," notes Chicago magazine, "Lester and at least three of his children own homes there, and family members are on the boards of the Aspen Foundation and Aspen Institute." [LALICH, p. 50]
By 1986, Lester Crown was also a huge shareholder in General Dynamics, owning with a brother about 23% (the largest portion of any owners) of America's biggest military defense contracting firm. His father, Henry, merged his Material Service Corporation with General Dynamics in 1959, and "guided the big company to preeminence in the weapons market." [BIDDLE, Sec. 3, p. 1] "In 1974," notes Lenni Brenner, "Lester, a Chicago Democratic contributor, was named an unindicted conspirator in an attempt to bribe members of the Illinois legislature. He was granted immunity in exchange for testimony. In spring 1985 the Defense Department instituted proceedings to revoke his security clearance because he concealed the Illinois scandal from them for eight years ... In 1986 Lester was named 'Honorary Fellow of Jerusalem' for donating an undisclosed sum for a huge cultural center. Did that government know of Lester's and General Dynamic's legal problems? Of course. Why then did they honor him? Because that is the morality of modern Israel." [BRENNER, p. 68]
General Dynamics was also fined $676,000 for passing gifts to Admiral Hyman G. Rickover (also Jewish), the retired head of the Navy's submarine program. Rickover was formally censured for accepting General Dynamics payoffs over a 16 year period. [BIDDLE, SEC. 3, p. 1] "Henry Crown," noted the New York Times,
"handpicked David Lewis in 1970 to be General Dynamics' chief
executive ... On May of this year [1985], the Pentagon's Inspector
General, Joseph H. Sherick, formally recommended that Mr. Lewis and
two other top General Dynamics executives be banned from military
contracting. He said they 'lack the business integrity and honesty required
of high-level officials in corporations that do business with the
government." [BIDDLE, SEC 3, p. 1]
Lester Crown has also been the chairman of the board of the Overseers of the Jewish Theological Seminary and an officer of the United Jewish Fund. His seats of corporate boards have included the New York Yankees. In 1994 the Crown family still owned 4.2 million shares of General Dynamics, worth $390 million.
Another very recent, very successful, and very profitable military-oriented (and mass-media oriented) company is the Loral Space and Communications Corporation. The core of its business is the manufacture and operation of telecommunications satellites. It owns and operates the Telstar satellite system. By 1992, the company was also billing "the Pentagon about $3 billion a year for such things as anti-missile decoys for ships, a Marine airborne reconnaissance radar, a countermeasures set for the P-3 patrol aircraft, and infrared jammers for Navy and Air Force fighters." [DEFENSE AND AEROSPACE, p. 1] The chairman and CEO of Loral is Bernard Schwartz who was honored in 1989 as the "Man of the Year" by the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry. [AEROSPACE AMERICA, p. 11] In 1998 the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Administration accused Loral of selling missile technology secrets to China. A special nine-member Congressional panel was set up to investigate the allegations. [VELOCCI, p. 40] At the same time, "questions were also raised because Schwartz is a longtime Democratic donor who, in the 1996 election cycle alone, gave more than $600,000 to the party, making him the largest individual giver." [SACRAMENTO BEE, p. A1] [See Government section for further dimensions to this and the Clinton White House]
Ronald Perelman (worth $4-6 billion) is an Orthodox Jew who "claims to talk to his rabbi every day." Perelman owns the Revlon cosmetics company, as well as Max Factor, Germaine de Monteil, and Yves Saint Laurent. He also ownsMarvel Comic Books and the film production center, New World Entertainment. A Revlon foundation donated $2.3 million to Machne Israel, a Lubavitch (Orthodox Jewish) group, as well as $600,000 to other Jewish organizations." A reporter for US News and World Report likened Perelman to his Marvel comic characters as an "egomaniac exploit[ing] naive people in an effort to consolidate power and expand his empire" and "A living monument to junk-bond acumen, Perelman's appetite for acquisitions seems to rival that of planet-eating Galactus." [VEST, p. 52]
Perelman's mansion in the posh Hamptons area of New York, notes Steven Gaines,
"is the most heavily guarded and secure compound in the East End. This is particularly
unusual in a community where year-round residents leave the doors to their homes
unlocked and the summer crowd feel safe enough to park their foreign sports cars
with the tops down on Newtown Lane while they pick up pizza at Sam's. The only
other house known to employ guards is [Jewish movie mogul] Steven Spielberg's
Quelle Barn ... The richer Perelman has become and the greater the notoriety, the
more futile his Orwellian attempts to control his environment. In late August 1995
Perelman's caution backfired when his security chief and a maintenance man tried
to extort $500,000 from him by threatening to blow the whistle on an eavesdropping
device Perelman had planted in the house, which they claimed he was going to use
to listen in on guests attending a fund-raiser for Senator John Kerry. Perelman
contended that the device was only used to monitor the safety of Samantha, his
daughter with [gossip columnist] Claudia Cohen ... Since staff turnover [for
Perelman] is high (mostly because Perelman frequently fires people), each
member of the corps of maids, cooks, handymen, cleaning and grounds
maintenance crews, and landscapers is asked to sign a confidentiality
agreement. It is also said that the household staff is asked to make themselves
scarce if they see Mr. Pereleman in passing. Each Friday at a roll call for
staff, a set of dicta and rules are handed out to every employee. Perelman,
who is an obervant Jew and keeps a kosher household, has standing
orders that no food, not even candy bars, may be carried into the
'kosher buidlings' on the estate ... In the Hamptons, Ron Perleman
is both envied and despised ... The Creeks [his estate] was so rich in
culture and history that even the richest man in New York State has managed
to cheapen it." [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 94-97]
Perelman's mansion in the posh Hamptons area of New York, notes Steven Gaines,
"is the most heavily guarded and secure compound in the East End. This is particularly
unusual in a community where year-round residents leave the doors to their homes
unlocked and the summer crowd feel safe enough to park their foreign sports cars
with the tops down on Newtown Lane while they pick up pizza at Sam's. The only
other house known to employ guards is [Jewish movie mogul] Steven Spielberg's
Quelle Barn ... The richer Perelman has become and the greater the notoriety, the
more futile his Orwellian attempts to control his environment. In late August 1995
Perelman's caution backfired when his security chief and a maintenance man tried
to extort $500,000 from him by threatening to blow the whistle on an eavesdropping
device Perelman had planted in the house, which they claimed he was going to use
to listen in on guests attending a fund-raiser for Senator John Kerry. Perelman
contended that the device was only used to monitor the safety of Samantha, his
daughter with [gossip columnist] Claudia Cohen ... Since staff turnover [for
Perelman] is high (mostly because Perelman frequently fires people), each
member of the corps of maids, cooks, handymen, cleaning and grounds
maintenance crews, and landscapers is asked to sign a confidentiality
agreement. It is also said that the household staff is asked to make themselves
scarce if they see Mr. Pereleman in passing. Each Friday at a roll call for
staff, a set of dicta and rules are handed out to every employee. Perelman,
who is an obervant Jew and keeps a kosher household, has standing
orders that no food, not even candy bars, may be carried into the
'kosher buidlings' on the estate ... In the Hamptons, Ron Perleman
is both envied and despised ... The Creeks [his estate] was so rich in
culture and history that even the richest man in New York State has managed
to cheapen it." [GAINES, S., 1998, p. 94-97]
In the 1960s, notes Joshua Halberstam, "American Jews were once again in the vanguard of a new wave of entrepreneurial banking. They helped introduce the conglomerate, a multipurpose holding company with synergistic disparate profit centers and new investment banking centers: Lehman Brothers, Lazard Freres, Loeb Rhoades, Goldman Sachs, Salomon Brothers, and their associated financial cowboys, including Saul Steinberg, Laurence Tisch, and Meshulam Riklis." [HALBERSTAM, p. 34] "The conglomerate era of the sixties," says Gerald Krefetz, "... was really a none-too-subtle attack on establishment corporations. Though the accounting was devious and the newly issue paper of dubious value, the conglomerate posed as a substantial threat to the corporate status quo ... [KREFETZ, p. 13] ... Jewish conglomerate-builders from the flamboyant to the conservative spearheaded the attack." [KREFETZ, p. 13]
Among the dreams of rich American Jews, an Israeli (Meshulam Riklis) immigrant nurtured one of the most noteworthy. Riklis, "the inventor of leveraged buy-outs, or conglomerating" (and financier for his young wife Pia Zadora's whirl at a film career), described in an interview the disturbing implications of his methodology towards exponential corporate control:
"Here was the greatest possible bonanza: that a minnow could swallow a
whale ... In those days you could control a company with maybe only 25
or 30 per cent of the stock ... If I could get control of a company I could
liquidate it, then buy control of a larger company. I'd start the string
going and at the end buy control of a very large company ... If you have
three marbles, you can buy seven marbles, and seven marbles can
control 100 marbles ... My scheme was that if I could get American Jews
to give me their money instead of turning it over to the UJA (United
Jewish Appeal), their investment would not only work brilliantly, but
subsidiaries could be established in Israel. This is Riklis' brilliant scheme
for peace in the Middle East! ... With every company being an American
subsidiary, then the U.S. will make sure that there is peace and
tranquility." [BRENNER, p. 73]
In Tribes, How Race, Religion, and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy (Random House, 1993), Jewish author Joel Kotkin suggests that "being Jewish" will be a lot more meaningful then "being American" in the new global economy. With the dissolution of modern nation states and their self-concept of some form of universalism (the best example, of course, being the collapse of the Soviet Union into ethnic mini-states) "increased emphasis on religion and ethnic culture," says Kotkin, "often suggests the prospect of humanity breaking into narrow, exclusive and often hostile groups ... [KOTKIN, p. 3] ... Beyond such visions lies the emergence of another kind of tribalism, one forged by globally dispersed groups ... As the conventional barriers of nation-states and regions becomes less meaningful under the weight of global economic forces, it is likely such dispersed peoples -- and their worldwide business and cultural networks -- will increasingly shape the economic destiny of mankind." [KOTKIN, p. 4]
Kotkin singles out five of the "most powerful" transnational tribal groups to argue his thesis -- the Jews, British, Japanese, Chinese, and Indians. He identifies in them three important qualities:
"1) A strong ethnic identity and sense of mutual dependence...
2) A global network based on mutual trust that allows the tribe to
function collectively beyond the confines of nations or regional
borders.
3) A passion for technical and other knowledge from all possible
sources." [KOTKIN, p. 3-5]
"Certainly fate," writes Kotkin, "often the prime genetrix of history, has played a critical part in assigning these groups their roles as global tribes -- and then compelled them to play it. This is clearly evidenced in the case of the Jews, my own people, who in many ways represent the archetype of global tribalism." [KOTKIN, p. 6]
What Kotkin overlooks, of course, is that "British tribalism," as a world economic power, is a thing of the past. A place like Australia has no particular allegiance to England as American Jews have to Israel. Kotkin notes that British "business forms" and the English language remain "preeminent" throughout the world, but, as he totally omits, such things have no residual value to British imperialism.
Likewise, international Japanese tribalism as a physical diaspora is no where near as notable as the Jewish version. Nor do Japanese-Americans, for example, exemplify the profound allegiances to Japan as an intertwined transworld mix of racial, economic, ethnic, and religious people. Japanese economic power, in recent years, is also on the wane.
The Chinese world diaspora is likewise problematic (vast areas of China, for example, are not even ethnically Chinese, the Taiwanese are a hostile subgroup, and so on) and Indian "tribalism" is more rather a conglomerate of mutual hostile sub-tribes including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and others, let alone traditional barriers like castes that militate against unified collectivism.
That leaves Jews, who, it can be argued, are even the very human model of the transnational multinational corporation, with branches and transworld corporate loyalties throughout a myriad of nations. "The ethos of self-help," says Kotkin,
" ... characterizes virtually all the ascendant global tribes ... some of
whom at times express a desire to model their organizations and
communal ethos around the Jewish template.... [KOTKIN, p. 262]
Such negative images of Jews -- penny pinching slumlords, con men,
and financial manipulators -- have within them a certain element of
historical truth, up to an including the involvement of a number of Jews
in both traditional organized crime and some of the more monumental
security scandals of the late 1980s ... [KOTKIN, p. 10-11] ... Jonathan
Seidel -- a professor of Jewish history at Stanford University -- has
criticized Jewish financiers including Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky
of unfairly using Jewish 'networks' to enrich themselves." [KOTKIN,
p. 264]
Some scholars like Walter Russell Mead, a fellow at the World Policy Institute, warn of a worldwide trend away from elected government control of societies towards privatization: "Even core government activities, like the administration of justice and the provision of order, are increasingly moving into private hands." [MEAD, p. M1] However plagued by problems in execution, democratic governments are at least nominally, and theoretically, run by elected representatives. Increasingly, private profit-making organizations and wealthy individuals are attaining unheard of power in making decisions in their own interest -- answerable to no one -- that effect the lives of millions.
Mead cites three 1997 examples of the problem. In Israel, "Miami bingo entrepreneur" Irving Moskowitz is blatant in subverting delicately balanced United States-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Moskowitz has thrown all nations to the winds in funding an extremely controversial, and deliberately expansive, Jewish presence in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City; he has donated millions of dollars to right-wing Jewish causes, including at least $2.5 million to the American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, an organization dedicated to rebuilding the ancient Jewish temple on the spot where the Dome of the Rock (the third holiest shrine in Islam) now stands. [DORF, JUST, p. 42]
Wealthy financier George Soros (originally Schwartz) is also cited by Mead: the prime minister of Indonesia has singled out Soros for the destabilization of his country's stock and currency market. In an interview in 1995, Soros (who has also been especially active as a "philanthropist' in Eastern Europe, helping to change that area's communist economic base to a capitalist one) remarked upon his personal worldview, saying: "I went through a rough patch in 1962, when I was practically [economically] wiped out, and it affected me deeply. I had some psychosomatic symptoms, like vertigo. It made me realize that making money is an essential part of existence." [SOROS, p. 14]
In 1994, the London Guardian also noted that
"the EC [European Community] and representatives of the French and
Belgium governments have accused [Soros] of orchestrating 'an Anglo-
Saxon plot' to undermine the French currency, the British government
blames him for driving sterling from the European Monetary System. The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission leaked allegations that Soros
was near the centre of an attempt to corner the U.S. government bond
markets." [LEWIS, M., p. 14]
Soros also appears in other contexts as a powerful individual -- by virtual of economic power -- seeking to influence public policy. In 1999 the National Rifle Association "named Mr. Soros and another private foundation as part of a 'vast conspiracy to bankrupt gun manufacturers with lawsuits' and change 'the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms." [OTTAWAY, p. 10] Soros, a man concerned with the social ills of society? "I am basically [in business] to make money," he said to CBS News in 1998, "I cannot and do not look at the social consequences of what I do." [FREEDLAND, p. 18]
The third Mead example is Ted Turner (of CNN fame) who has personally pledged $100 million, broken down in yearly installments, to the United Nations, an act that -- beyond any government policy -- affords him international power and the ability to effect millions of people. Two of Mead's three examples of private influence -- the two most clearly negative, Moskowitz and Soros -- are Jews.
"Capitalism is inegalitarian but pluralistic," notes W. D. Rubinstein, "It is the structured inequality (and pluralism) of the western world ... which for Jews is its most redeeming feature, for it presents them with the opportunity to magnify the importance of their small numbers ... [RUBENSTEIN, p]. ... The ability of Jews to function as a well-organized interest group within the larger elite is ... enhanced ... by their geographical residence in important urban centers, and their common viewpoints, especially on the maintenance of security of the state of Israel ... [RUBENSTEIN, p. 60] ... Israel is the rallying point and focus for Jewishness amongst the Jews of the diaspora and its existence makes it imperative that Jews everywhere should preserve their places in the [world's] elite." [RUBENSTEIN, p. 38]
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