Arnold Rothstein was born in 1882 to a Jewish businessman, Abraham Rothstein, in Manhattan, New York. Arnold’s father later describes his son as being someone who wants attention. There was an incident involving Arnold as child and him crying in a closet. His older brother a rabbi and his father nicknamed “Abe the Just”, Arnold grows up to become the leader of a crime syndicate during the birth of organized crime in America. Gambler, crime-lord, mathematical genius, CEO of Crime Incorporated. Think of Arnold Rothstein as a mix between Al Capone and Steve Jobs.
Arnold Rothstein of Mahattan. Wikipedia Commons
Portrayed as himself in the HBO series, Boardwalk Empire, Arnold Rothstein is a calculating businessman who is quick to take part in a game of cards. He also devises a punishment making a man forcibly swallow a pool ball to prove a point, killing the man in the process. As television mimics real history sometimes, Arnold’s demise on the show is the same as the real man’s death. Rothstein is shot to death after refusing to pay a debt he owes after a game that he considers to be fixed.
Rothstein is more than a representation of gangsters of his era however, being referenced in such Hollywood blockbusters as the Godfather II. Hyman Roth’s last name being an homage to the 19th century Rothstein.
Looking beyond Hollywood the 1925 novel, the Great Gatsby is once again a tribute to Rothstein’s reputation as the one who fixed the 1919 World Series game. The 29 year old Scott Fitzgerald pens Arnold’s legacy into literary eternity. A character in the work named Meyer Wolfsheim, a friend of Jay Gatsby’s, is coincidentally known as the man who fixed the World Series game. Fitzgerald was 23 at the time of the 1919 World Series game fixing.
Prohibition Era America
How could the same country that produced beer juggernauts Budweiser and Miller allow the sale of alcohol to become illegal? Thanks to the grass-roots efforts of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the lobbying by the Anti-Saloon League on congress, alcohol becomes illegal in the United States. In January 16, 1919 the ratification of the 18th amendment made the sale, transport, and production of alcohol illegal in the United States. With the passing of the Volstead Act, the sale of alcohol now a federal crime. Ironically the act allowed for the use of wine for religious purposes.
Arnold comes from a history of gambling at this point in time. He is a businessman with a record of owning and operating a casino in Manhattan. With the advent of Prohibition Arnold is noticing opportunity where there is now federal regulation. Arnold understands what others may not, early century American capitalism.
Americans exist within a country-sized socioeconomic experiment, the product of a grand design based on a carefully plotted state of order by scholarly men. The founding fathers being history scholars knew that human society is driven by self-interest. Adam Smith coined the very notion as the “invisible hand”. In a nutshell what drives the butcher to cut and produce slices of meat to be served at the markets is based on the butcher’s need to earn money for himself.
Detroit police destroy bootlegging equipment. Wikipedia Commons
The idea can further be simplified as when describing the motivational factors of what drives commerce, people are logically driven by the need to satisfy their own needs. Out of these efforts to reach satisfaction, these people offer goods and services to others. These are created and offered not out of charity, but born out of self-interest.
While the American Temperance Union cited such virtues as anti-violence as motivation for prohibiting the use of alcohol, Arnold is more interested in profiting on the people’s desire for inebriation. Rothstein’s bootlegging exploits lend him the designation as one of the largest bootleggers in the United States by 1925. George Remus ultimately being the one to steal the title away. In today’s money Arnold had a net worth slightly more than JJ Abrahms, who has a current net worth of 99 Million.
Arnold is credited as being worth 125 million at his peak, considering today’s dollar rate conversion of 10 million in 1925’s American dollars. Besides great wealth, Arnold is credited by some to be the founding father of organized crime. This is disputed by others who cite Charles “Lucky” Luciano as being the legitimate original Godfather of America.
The Black Sox Scandal
The fallout of the 1919 World Series fixing would have lasting effects. The event would ultimately change Baseball forever. As a result of the fixing, 8 players of the Chicago White Sox were banned from the sport forever. There is also the creation of the first-ever Commissioner of Baseball, appointing Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis to the position.
Baseball’s First Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Wikipedia Commons
Kenesaw accepted the new role only after being promised sole authority as commissioner as opposed to being appointed to a leadership role in an authoritative commission body. The accusation against these men is that they intentionally lost the 1919 World Series game to the Cincinnati Reds in order to get a large payout from the famous New York gambler Arnold Rothstein. The two events are linked, as the players are actually acquitted of all charges in a public trial in 1921. Despite being acquitted of the charges, the men are banned from baseball for life.
8 Chicago White Sox Banned. Wikipedia Commons
Rothstein is ordered to appear before a grand jury to testify on the scandal. There are several versions of accounts presented of how Arnold allegedly arranged for the Chicago White Sox to lose on purpose to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 World Series, however Rothstein is never indicted on any charges.
A Gambler’s Demise
Despite his best efforts, Rothstein is dealt a most ironic fate, pun intended. On November 4 of 1928 Arnold is shot and killed over a gambling debt. He died days later in the same city in which he established an empire. After a 3 day long poker game Arnold learns that there are some fixed games that end in death, his own. He believed the game to have been fixed and therefore refused to pay what he owed in losses.
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