Tough Jews: Father, Sons and Gangster Dreams - Tapa dura

Once upon a time, back in the twenties and thirties, in Brooklyn, there lived a breed of men who exist now only in legand and in the memories of a few old men. Their names were Louis Lepke, Abe Reles, Bugsy Siegel, Dutch Schultz, Meyer Lansky and they were Jewish gangsters: Jews with guns; tough, fealess Jews who roamed the streets in a time when a Jewish boy could fashion a future that was murderous and daring and wide open. Rich Cohen's father grew up in that world; his family owned the diner where the gangsters known as Murder Incorporated hung out. In Tough Jews he tells their stories and brilliantly evokes their world - a world of street corners and bars and nightclubs; a world where murder was better than cowardice; where killings were planned and executed with precision and finesse; a world of feuds, wars, schemes, where living into middle age was a kind of victory; a world in which, for a brief moment, Jews were among the most important criminals in America.

Rich Cohen has written for the New Yorker, the New York Observer, and many other magazines. He is currently a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. He lives in New York City.