True-crime author Michael Benson speaks to CAA about Jewish mobsters and American Nazis
Michael Benson, the true-crime author of the book Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in WW2 Era America, in which he tells the incredible, real-life story of how Jewish gangsters disrupted Nazi gatherings in the United States during the late 1930s, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he spoke about his latest book.
Speaking on his decision to portray the Jewish gangsters in his book as heroes, Mr Benson said: “I feel no qualms whatsoever about the morality of my book. The gangsters are the good guys. The Nazis are the bad guys. There are very few shades of grey…I believe even really, really bad men can do great things.”
The author added that he learned throughout the course of writing his book that in 1930s America, “all racism, all bigotry was mainstream,” and that as long as a member from a particular minority group was not in the room at the time, discussing that group in racist fashion was widely accepted.
With the rise of Nazism and pro-Hitler groups, like the German American Bund and the Silver Legion of America, Jewish Americans began to worry. Antisemitic flyers had begun to pop-up, and antisemites started to feel emboldened, with violent attacks on Jews increasing.
“The story takes place at a time when hate speech laws were not even thought of,” Mr Benson said. “What the Bundists were doing was they were committing cultural slander, and in their pamphlets cultural libel, but there were no laws against that.”
After one particular incident in which members of the Bund marched down the streets of New York carrying antisemitic banners, the Jewish judge, Nathan D. Perlman, decided to take matters into his own hands.
“[Judge Perlman] doesn’t call Mayor La Guardia, he doesn’t call his congressman, he doesn’t call the commissioner or police. He calls the number one Jewish gangster in the world, probably of all time, Meyer Lansky,” the author explained.
Lansky, along with his childhood friend and fellow gangster Bugsy Siegel, embarked on a mission to disrupt Nazi gatherings.
Similar events would transpire across the country in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
“In America, in 1938, the Jewish men win every single time,” said Mr Benson.
This podcast can be listened to here, or watched here.
Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.
Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.
