96:. In 1930, Harry Davis and Charles "Charlie" Feigenbaum, another Romanian Jewish immigrant, teamed up with Pincus Brecher, their New York connection, to smuggle European heroin and cocaine into Canada and the United States. The smuggled drugs were hidden amongst rolls of imported silk and other commodities, and were delivered to Davis and Feigenbaum from ships leaving from Europe for Montreal. The two men would pick up the narcotics from the port and send them south across the border. After almost three years of smuggling drugs, their operation ended on April 9, 1933, when the three men, along with six others, were arrested and charged with drug trafficking. Davisâ trial began on October 1, 1933. He was charged and found guilty of five separate counts of importing drugs and corrupting law enforcement officers. Davis received ten lashes for his crimes and a fourteen-year prison sentence at Montreal's
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had previously met up with Davis on another occasion to ask for his approval as the âedgeâ to open up a betting saloon but Davis denied
Bercovitch's request. Davis had heard rumours that Bercovitch would come after him with a vengeance therefore he had put a hit out on him. The details of the shooting are unclear; however in the aftermath that followed Louis Bercovitch would claim that he shot Davis in self-defence. Almost immediately after the shooting, Bercovitch called Ted McCormick (who at the time was the managing editor of the
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bookmaking operations were run by Jewish syndicates during the 1930s and 1940s. It was the
Eastern European Jewish immigrants who arrived in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as their offspring, who were the city's major bookmakers, loan sharks, illegal gambling house operators and, to a lesser degree, drug dealers. Although Jews played a prominent role in the city's gambling and bookmaking institutions, it's important to keep in mind that gambling was by no means accepted throughout the Jewish Community.
41:. Although Montreal was the gambling capital of Canada and known as a âwide open cityâ across North America, Davisâ death shocked the public. It acted as a wake up call for the masses of society in that it showed them, for the first time in almost a decade, that vice and organized crime in Montreal was real. Public opinion and an increasingly involved press put pressure on the police to begin taking real action against vice within the city.
84:(a dice game unique to Quebec), roulette, baccarat, and continental wide horse betting to its visitors. To increase profits, Davis and his colleagues would front gamblers large sums of money with ridiculously high interest rates. Davis soon became the âedge manâ in the late 1920s. At the time gambling was illegal, however the edge paid off the police force so that gambling institutions would be able to continue to prosper in Montreal.
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in
Montreal. Public opinion and an increasingly involved press coerced the police to begin taking real action against vice within the city. The city's vice industry slowed down and became less flamboyant for a short period after Bercovitch's trial. Major barbotte games were moved to the edges of the city, where theyâd be able to operate just outside city limits. However, no real change would occur within the city until 1950 with the
59:.Plante worked in conjunction with GĂ©rard Pelletier writing daily articles for Le Devoir with the intent to inform and mobilize the public against organized crime. Consequently, his articles drew massive public support and resulted in an increase in public demands to end vice within the city. By 1950 it had become clear that the public were willing to back Plante in his crusade against corruption. In 1950 he teamed up with
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when Davis was released. Just out of prison, Davis assumed the title of the city's next edge man. Right after he was released, Davis immediately re-opened his book-making and gambling parlour at 1224 Stanley Street. As the edge man Davis had the final say in all matters concerning gambling and other illegal endeavours. Before anyone could open up a gambling or
55:, a not very well known lawyer, to lead the Morality Squad. Plante would lead a crusade against organized crime and institutionalized vice in Montreal. Even after he was fired from his position as head of the Morality Squad in 1948, he continued to target vice and organized crime through his newspaper column, "Sous le rĂšgne de la pĂšgre" in
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Like other ethnic groups within the city, notably the
Italians and later on the Irish, Eastern European Jews were prominent members of Montreal's underworld. Prior to the takeover of Montreal's vice rackets by members of the Italian-American mafia in the early 1950s, many of the city's gambling and
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Following
Bercovitch's arrest, a large number of subpoenas were issued in the underworld as a result of an increased demand from the public to hold an inquiry on police corruption. Davisâ death served as a wakeup call within society in that it exposed the reality and the scale of corruption and vice
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Chaos followed the night of Davis's death. Al Palmer, a journalist for the Herald wrote that "the town was bristling with guns. Every available policeman had been called to duty and every mobster in town was on the march." The next day
Bercovitch was arrested for Harry Davisâ death after he had told
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parlour, they would first need his approval. All gambling and book-making parlours also had to give a share of their profits (usually around twenty percent) to the "edge" for protection since he would act the negotiator between institutions of vice, politicians and the police. Davisâ quick return to
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After serving twelve years of his originally fourteen-year sentence at St-Vincent-de-Paul
Penitentiary, Harry Davis was released from prison in 1945. During Davisâ incarceration, the city's former edge man, Eddy âKidâ Baker, had died of natural causes in July 1945, therefore the city had no edge man
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Harry Davis, a
Romanian immigrant, arrived in Montreal in the 1920s. Davis, like most immigrants, was poor and he spent his early years working long hours doing various jobs for cash. By the age of twenty-eight he had saved up enough money to begin investing in cafés and nightclubs. Davis first made
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Louis
Bercovitch (alias Joe Miller) shot and killed Harry Davis in front of his gambling parlour at 1224 Stanley the afternoon of July 25, 1946. After hearing that Davis had put a contract out on his life, Bercovitch asked Davis if they could meet in private to discuss gambling matters. Bercovitch
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against his colleagues during the trial, Feigenbaum was granted a shorter sentence and served only six months in jail. Less than a year after the trial, Feigenbaum was shot dead in broad daylight on August 21, 1934. Feigenbaum and his son were leaving his brother and sister-in-law's house at 4510
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Penitentiary. Davisâ sentence lasted only twelve years, he was released in 1945. Brecher never served his complete sentence since he jumped head first over the prison balcony and plummeted to his death in
September 1934. Feigenbaum cut a deal with the police, in exchange for acting as the
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bullets to his head and chest and died almost instantaneously. Even though there were many witnesses to his assassination, Feigenbaum's killers were never caught. It was never confirmed, but it is suspected that Davis ordered the hit.
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and the city's last "edge man" (a strictly Montreal term used to signify the go-between for gamblers, politicians and police, the âedgeâ was the undisputed boss of all vice in the city) back when the âJewish Mafiaâ ran the city.
51:(the police division which was in charge of dealing with institutionalized vice within the city), in order to avoid a judicial inquiry into the matter. Shortly after Taché was fired, Dufresne hired
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the underworld, and the sense of entitlement he brought with him annoyed members of the Italian and Jewish communities who had taken over the gambling brackets in his absence.
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L.W. Conroy, "Gambler is Slain in Uptown âBookâ: Ex-Convict Falls in Own Stanley Street Establishment in Early Evening," The Montreal Gazette, July 26, 1946.
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OâConnor, DâArcy. Montreal's Irish Mafia : the true story of the infamous West End Gang. Etobicoke,: John Wiley & Sons Canada, 2011.
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William Weintraub, "City Unique,: Montreal days and nights in the 1940s and â50s" (Toronto: Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1996), 59-87.
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William Weintraub, "City Unique,: Montreal days and nights in the 1940s and â50s" (Toronto: Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1996), 72,73.
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Beginning in the early 1930s, several of Montreal's most prominent professional gamblers were believed to be involved in the international
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William Weintraub, "City Unique,: Montreal days and nights in the 1940s and â50s" (Toronto: Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1996), 72.
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DâArcy OâConnor, "Montrealâs Irish Mafia: the True Story of the Infamous West End Gang" (Mississauga: John Wiley and Sons ,2011),36.
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DâArcy OâConnor, "Montrealâs Irish Mafia: the True Story of the Infamous West End Gang"(Mississauga: John Wiley and Sons ,2011),35.
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DâArcy OâConnor, "Montrealâs Irish Mafia: the True Story of the Infamous West End Gang"(Mississauga: John Wiley and Sons ,2011),34.
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Davis, a Jewish mobster, ran Montreal's underworld for a year before he was shot to death in one of his betting emporiums at 1224
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Weintraub, William."City Unique:Montreal days and nights in the 1940s and '50s". Toronto: Toronto: McClelland & Stewart,1996.
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J.E. Thomson, " Immigrant Boyâs Night Life Career Lead to Narcotics, Prison, Racketeering." The Montreal Gazette, July 26, 1946.
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Nancy Marrelli, "Stepping out : the golden age of Montreal night clubs, 1925-1955" (Montreal: VĂ©hicule Press, 2004), 30.
137:) he believed that he'd get a better deal with the law if he went to McCormick first and told his story before surrendering.
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Plante, Pacifique «EnquĂȘte sur la moralitĂ©.» Interview by Judith Jasmin. Les Archives de Radio-Canada,October 25, 1954.
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Suzanne Morton, "At odds : gambling and Canadians, 1919-1969" (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 159.
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Suzanne Morton, "At odds : gambling and Canadians, 1919-1969" (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 145.
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Suzanne Morton, "At odds : gambling and Canadians, 1919-1969" (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 158.
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Magaly Brodeur, Vice et corruption Ă Montreal: 1892-1970 (Quebec : Presses de lâUniversitĂ© du QuĂ©bec, 2011),48.
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Magaly Brodeur, Vice et corruption Ă Montreal: 1892-1970 (Quebec : Presses de lâUniversitĂ© du QuĂ©bec, 2011),30.
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Magaly Brodeur, Vice et corruption Ă Montreal: 1892-1970 (Quebec : Presses de lâUniversitĂ© du QuĂ©bec, 2011),2.
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Brodeur, Magaly. "Vice et corruption Ă Montreal: 1892-1971". Quebec : Presses de lâUniversitĂ© du QuĂ©bec, 2011.
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Pierre de Champlain, "Le crime organisĂ© Ă MontrĂ©al, 1940-1980" (Hull: Ăditions Asticou, 1986),49, 50,80.
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Morton, Suzanne. At odds: gambling and Canadians, 1919-1969. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.
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Al Palmer, "Montreal Confidential: The Low down on the Big Town" (Montreal: VĂ©hicule Press, 2009), 24.
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his mark in Montreal's underworld when he opened a betting emporium in the heart of the city, at 1224
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Pierre de Champlain, "Le crime organisĂ© Ă MontrĂ©al, 1940-1980" (Hull: Ăditions Asticou, 1986),37.
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Al Palmer, "Confidential: The Low down on the Big Town!" (Montreal: VĂ©hicule Press, 2009), 25-26.
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Stephen Scneider, "Iced: the story of organized crime in Canada" (Mississauga: Wiley, 2009), 240.
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Pierre de Champlain, "Le crime organisĂ© Ă MontrĂ©al, 1940-1980" (Hull: Ăditions Asticou, 1986),42.
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Palmer, Al. "Montreal Confidential: The Low down on the Big Town!" Montreal: VĂ©hicule Press,2009.
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Al Palmer, "Confidential: The Low down on the Big Town!" (Montreal: VĂ©hicule Press, 2009), 29.
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Al Palmer, "Confidential: The Low down on the Big Town!" (Montreal: VĂ©hicule Press, 2009), 28.
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Al Palmer, "Confidential: The Low down on the Big Town!" (Montreal: VĂ©hicule Press, 2009), 26.
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De Champlain, Pierre. Le crime organisĂ© Ă MontrĂ©al, 1940-1980. Hull: Ăditions Asticou, 1986.
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Schneider, Stephen. Iced: the story of organized crime in Canada. Mississauga: Wiley, 2009.
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Montrealâs Irish Mafia: the True Story of the Infamous West End Gang
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