I doubt that this particular rumor originated in law enforcement, but who knows just how these things get started. The New York Kehillah was a council set up in 1908 by the leaders of New York's Jewish community. Their goal was to combat Jewish crime and anti-semitism. To deal with the first, they hired a young investigator named Abraham Shoenfeld. From 1913 to 1915, Shoenfeld and his assistant detectives probed every aspect of Jewish crime and vice in the city, passing much of their information on to the police. Shoenfeld's reports are now held by the National Library of Israel, which was kind enough to send copies to me. Thanks to these, it is possible to follow the careers of Waxey and the rest of Benny Fein's gang almost from week to week for over two years. A book about Shoenfeld and the Kehillah has recently been published, "The Incorruptibles" by Dan Slater. I am sorry to say, though, that the book is not quite worthy of its subject.