View source for Bugs and Meyer Mob

{{Short description|Jewish-American street gang on Manhattan's Lower East Side}}
{{Infobox Criminal organization
| founded by          =Ben Siegel and Meyer Lansky
| founded             =1920s
| founding location   =[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|NY]]<br>[[United States|USA]]
| years active        = 1920s — 1930s
| territory           = [[Manhattan]]
|ethnic makeup = [[Jewish Americans]] mainly from the [[Lower East Side]]
| criminal activities = [[Murder]], [[gambling]], [[rum running|bootlegging]], [[theft]], [[racketeering]], [[extortion]]
| allies              = [[Charles "Lucky" Luciano]], [[Frank Costello]], [[Joe Adonis]]
| rivals = [[Waxey Gordon]], [[Joe Masseria]], [[Salvatore Maranzano]]
}}

The '''Bugs (Bugsy) and Meyer Mob''' was a [[Jewish-American]] street gang in [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]]'s [[Lower East Side]]. It was formed and headed by mobsters [[Bugsy Siegel]] and [[Meyer Lansky]] during their teenage years shortly after the start of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]. The Bugs and Meyer mob acted as a predecessor to [[Murder, Inc.]]

==Origins==

Lansky and his friends organized a protective society in order to defend against the [[Italian people|Italian]] and [[Irish people|Irish]] gangs. Lansky and his younger brother Jacob, were joined by Meyer "Mike" Wassell, [[Red Levine|Samuel "Red" Levine]], Irving "Tabbo" Sandler, [[Doc Stacher|Joseph "Doc" Stacher]], and several others.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob"/>

Some accounts are varied about Lansky meeting Siegel: one account claims that Lansky met Siegel and [[Lucky Luciano|Charles Luciano]] the same day when Lansky intervened in an altercation between Siegel and Luciano over a [[prostitute]] that Luciano was [[procuring (prostitution)|pandering]].<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob"/> However, this story has not been corroborated in Lansky's authorized biographies.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob"/>

According to Lansky, Siegel and Lansky met on the street corner in the poverty-stricken Lower East Side of [[Manhattan]] when they were both teenagers.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob">{{cite web|last=Gribben |first=Mark |title=Meyer Lansky: Mastermind of the Mob |url=http://proutnewsnetwork.org/NWO/files/books/lansky.pdf |format=PDF |work=[[TruTv]] |publisher=[[Crime Library]] |access-date=24 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705125613/http://proutnewsnetwork.org/NWO/files/books/lansky.pdf |archive-date=July 5, 2007 }}</ref> Returning home from school one day, Lansky witnessed a street [[craps]] game break out into a fight when police whistles were heard. As the law drew near, Lansky forced Siegel to drop a gun that Siegel was trying to brandish. Siegel was angered with Lansky about losing the gun. Despite the confrontation, Siegel and Lansky became close friends.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Klinger|first=Jerry|title=In Search of Lansky|url=http://www.jewishmag.com/130mag/meyer_lansky/meyer_lansky.htm|access-date=24 December 2012|newspaper=Jewish Magazine|date=February 2009}}</ref>

In the outfit, Lansky was considered the "brains", while Siegel was the "brawn".{{sfn|Rockaway|2000|p=21}} Siegel, the youngest of the gang, was known around his neighborhood as [[Wikt:חיה|''chaye'']]; a [[Yiddish]] word meaning "untamed" or "animal". He had a reputation for having a short temper and people described him as being "crazier than a bedbug,"{{sfn|Rockaway|2000|p=21}} which gave him the nickname "Bugsy" that he came to hate.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob"/>

==Formation==
The two soon formed a gang called the Bugs and Meyer mob. In the early 1920s, the Bugs and Meyer mob was in operation, working with [[Charles "Lucky" Luciano]] and Luciano's right-hand man [[Frank Costello]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|title=Bugsy Siegel - A Rising Star|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/siegel/star_4.html|work=TruTv|publisher=[[Crime Library]]|access-date=24 December 2012}}</ref> Lansky and Siegel recruited expert gunmen;{{sfn|Rockaway|2000|p=21}} they supplied [[rum-running|bootleggers]] with stolen trucks and drivers. Lansky was experienced with automobiles and mechanics and soon the Bugs and Meyer mob was active in car theft.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob" /> At this time they were joined by [[Abner Zwillman|Abner "Longie" Zwillman]] and his brother, Irving, [[Moe Sedway]], and [[Lepke Buchalter|Louis "Lepke" Buchalter]].{{sfn|Montague|2005|p=29}} The gang handled protection, [[truck hijacking]], murder, and illegal gambling.{{sfn|Rockaway|2000|p=21}} They were also enforcers of Costello in both New York and [[Louisiana]]. They were ultimately responsible for helping to destroy or subordinate by assassination and political bribery most of the [[Italian-American]] gangs.<ref>{{cite news |last=Davidson|first=Bill|title=The Mafia: Shadow of Evil on an Island in the Sun|newspaper=Grand Bahama|date=February 25, 1967|volume=204|issue=4|pages=27–37|url=http://www.jabezcorner.com/Grand_Bahama/sep3.htm|access-date=2013-01-17}}</ref>

===Organization===
The gang grew a violent reputation as they would [[extort]] money from Jewish moneylenders and storekeepers, as well as Irish and Italian shop owners and gamblers.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob" /> The Bugs and Meyer mob fronted illegal operations by owning a car and truck rental garage that served as a warehouse for stolen goods.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob" />{{sfn|Rockaway|2000|p=22}} Lansky and Siegel, being longtime associates of Luciano, would frequently employ the gang to work with [[Joe Adonis|Joe Adonis's]] [[Broadway Mob]] throughout the 1920s.{{sfn|Sifakis|2005|p=68}}

During this period, the [[New York City Police Department]] recalled the gang being "vicious".{{sfn|Rockaway|2000|p=22}} One veteran New York detective described Siegel as "seem[ing] to like to do the job himself. [...] He got his kicks out of seeing his victims suffering, groaning, and dying".{{sfn|Rockaway|2000|p=22}}

During the [[Castellammarese War]], Lansky and Siegel helped Luciano eliminate the "[[Mustache Petes]]" and organize the modern [[American Mafia]].<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob" /><ref name="Turning crime into an industry">{{cite news|last=Boyles|first=Denis|title=Meyer Lansky: Turning crime into an industry|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1992/01/05/meyer-lansky-turning-crime-into-an-industry/|access-date=24 December 2012|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=January 5, 1992}}</ref> Bugsy Siegel (along with Joe Adonis, [[Albert Anastasia]], and [[Vito Genovese]]) was reputedly one of the hitmen that shot and killed [[Joe Masseria]] on April 15, 1931.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pollak|first=Michael|title=Coney Island's Big Hit|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/nyregion/answer-to-a-question-about-a-mobsters-death-in-coney-island.html?_r=0|access-date=24 December 2012|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 29, 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|Sifakis|2005|p=304}} Lansky also assisted Luciano with the murder of [[Salvatore Maranzano]] by recruiting Jewish hitmen that included Siegel, [[Red Levine]], and [[Bo Weinberg|Abraham "Bo" Weinberg]]. On September 10, 1931, Maranzano was shot and stabbed to death in his Manhattan office.<ref name="Mastermind of the Mob" />{{sfn|Sifakis|2005|p=300}}

When Lansky and Luciano formed the [[National Crime Syndicate]] in the early 1930s, Lansky, along with Siegel,<ref name="Turning crime into an industry" /> pushed for a special outfit to handle "enforcement," or murders for the entire syndicate. This outfit was later named Murder, Inc. by the [[news media|press]].{{sfn|Sifakis|2005|p=68}}{{sfn|Sifakis|2005|pp=319–321}} Several members of the Bugs and Meyer mob served as advisers or hitmen for Murder, Inc. when it was later headed by Lepke Buchalter and Albert Anastasia.{{sfn|Sifakis|2005|p=68}}

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*{{citation|last=Rockaway|first=Robert A.|title=But He Was Good to His Mother: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters|year=2000|publisher=Gefen Publishing House|isbn=978-9652292490|url=https://archive.org/details/buthewasgoodtohi00robe}}
*{{citation|last=Sifakis|first=Carl|title=The Mafia Encyclopedia|year=2005|publisher=Checkmark Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0816056958|url=https://archive.org/details/mafiaencyclopedi00sifa_0}}
*{{citation|last=Montague|first=Art|title=Meyer Lansky: The Shadowy Exploits Of New York's Master Manipulator|year=2005|publisher=Heritage House Publishing Co|isbn=978-1-55265-100-1}}

===Further reading===
*{{cite book|last=MacCabee|first=Paul|title=John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks' Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920–1936|year=1995|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|isbn=978-0-87351-316-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Pryor|first=Alton|title=Outlaws and Gunslingers|location=Roseville, California|publisher=Stagecoach Publishing|year=2001|isbn=0-9660053-6-8}}

==External links==
*{{cite web |url= http://proutnewsnetwork.org/NWO/files/books/lansky.pdf |title= Meyer Lansky: Mastermind of the Mob - The Bugs and Meyer Mob |url-status= bot: unknown |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070705125613/http://proutnewsnetwork.org/NWO/files/books/lansky.pdf |archive-date= 2007-07-05 }}&nbsp;{{small|(590&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]])}} by Mark Gribben

{{Bugs and Meyer Mob}}
{{Chicago Outfit}}
{{Genovese crime family}}
{{American Mafia}}
{{Organized crime groups in the United States}}
{{Organized crime groups in Atlantic City}}
{{Organized crime groups in New York City}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bugs and Meyer Mob}}
[[Category:Prohibition gangs]]
[[Category:Former gangs in New York City]]
[[Category:Jewish-American organized crime groups]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Lower East Side]]
[[Category:Meyer Lansky]]
[[Category:Jewish organizations based in New York City]]