Louis Cohen (Born Louis Kushner alias “Louis Kerzner” January 1, 1904 – January 28, 1939) was a New York mobster who murdered labor racketeer "Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan and was an associate of labor racketeer Louis "Lepke" Buchalter.[1] He was killed along with Isadore Friedman, another Buchalter associate, who was believed to be an informant. It is not known whether Cohen was murdered for being a potential informant or whether he was accidentally killed during the shooting that was supposed to target Friedman.
Louis Cohen | |
|---|---|
 Cohen, shortly after being taken into custody for the murder of Nathan Kaplan. | |
| Born | January 1, 1904 |
| Died | January 28, 1939 (aged 35) |
| Cause of death | Murder |
| Resting place | Mount Hebron Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | New York mobster associated with labor racketeer Louis "Lepke" Buchalter who murdered rival "Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan in 1923. |
Biography
editBorn Louis Kushner aka Kerzner, Cohen was a minor criminal in the employ of racketeer Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen when he was hired by lieutenants Louis Buchalter, Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro and Jack "Legs" Diamond to murder rival mobster Nathan Kaplan. He later killed him while under police escort outside the Essex Market Court House in lower Manhattan on August 28, 1923. Immediately arrested by police, he was subsequently convicted of Dropper's murder and sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment at Sing Sing Prison.[2] Released on parole in 1937, he was gunned down on January 28, 1939.[3]
Footnotes
edit- ^ "New Gang Methods Replace Those Of Eastman's Days. Gunman Type Rules". The New York Times. September 9, 1923. p. 164. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
Louis Cohen shot down Kid Dropper as he was leaving the Essex Market Court with police guards on all sides. Louis Cohen is a romanticist—he wanted to be a gangster and the Little Augie gangsters played on his ambition until he did the dirty work they were afraid to tackle.... when the Dead Rabbits and the Plug Ugly gang held sway there were 30,000 vagrant youths .... Webber and Harry Vallon brought the necessary pressure....
(subscription required) - ^ "Droper's Slayer Gets Twenty Years – Judge Talley Declares Jury Should Have Sent Gangster to Electric Chair – Sees Incentive to Crime – Court Contrasts 14,640 Homicides in America in 1922 Against 17 in London". The New York Times. December 16, 1923. p. 1. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
- ^ "'Dropper's' Slayer Killed in Gunfight – Shot to Death With Another on Lower East Side in Running Street Battle – His Empty Pistol Near – Gang Figure Made Notorious by 1923 Murder – Police Lack Clues and Witnesses". The New York Times. January 29, 1939. p. 20. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
References
edit- Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. ISBN 1-56025-275-8
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
Further reading
edit- Chiocca, Olindo Romeo. Mobsters and Thugs: Quotes from the Underworld. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2000. ISBN 1-55071-104-0