Here's the answer to my Jewish hoodlum Quiz!

Does anyone on the forum know who was widely considered by the NYCPD to have been the most prolific and accomplished "burglar" in The Big Apple during the late 1940s, through 1970s, era?

Here's a hint for you. He was a Jewish hood who became notorious for his criminal exploits. He mostly worked with the Jewish mob, but was also connected to the Italians. He was a devout hoodlum, thief, and fence of stolen goods.

I am working on him as I write this, and couldn't resist posing this question to you guys. Anyone interested in the Jewish underworld is gonna love this piece.

Not a clue.

Alan Golder

Golder was born in 1955, he is too young to fit the description.

Hyman Roth, no doubt

I'll give you another solid hint, ok team.

There were tons of top "fences" who operated in NYC back in the day. But among the top half dozen or so were all Jews. They operated on a massive level and were well known throughout the NY underworld, and all along the northeast sector.

He was one of those half dozen!...who is this guy??

It's no secret that I know next to nothing about Big City anything LCN. However Pittsburgh LCN is another story.
Their Fence was a Jew named Mel. His "store" was on the third floor of a his building in Squirrel Hill, a high line suburb of Pittsburgh.
Mel's store had a landing with a camera on every level. A Gorilla at the front door and a Gorilla floating around the store at all times ;-)

Harold (Kayo) Koenigsberg.

No. This fella was a NYC based guy. Kayo was a NJ based guy

Issac Ackermann, Max Eder, and Harry Stromberg are the only ones I can think of. Saul Bremen, Arnold Feldman and Frank Rosen were nationwide, but spent half the year in New York City.

Jack Mace ?

This is the very first name who really hits close to the mark....its not a bullseye because Jacob (Jack Mace) Maislich isn't who I'm speaking of. But he and Mace knew one another and were in the same lofty category as far as Jewish-mobbed up fences went. Mace was definitely one of the half-dozen top fences around the city I spoke of (who were all Jewish I might add). Excellent pick though! Kudos

Burt Kaplan? He was a huge fence with international connections.

I'll provide you one more solid hint to help you figure out who this guy was. Ok?

Although closely connected to the "Jewish element" of the underworld, he was also closely associated to Genovese soldiers Salvatore (Sally Burns) Granello and James (Jimmy Bates) Battaglia. In fact, all evidence points to him in fact having been an associate of the Genovese crime family.

He also associated with key members of Brooklyn's Colombo family

Ok. So it seems that the forum is all guessed out and totally stumped as to the name of this guy. I get it...admittedly he was a very hard one. Notorious on the street, yet little known to the public and even mob aficionados alike

His name was Seymour Siskind, aka "Big Seymour" and "Sy the Jew".... an unlikely nerdy name for a guy who was anything but!

He was one of the most prolific high-end burglars and tricksters in the Big Apple, down in Miami Beach, Upstate NY, and just about any other city you mention on the northern East Coast. He was also a major "fence," bookmaker, and an all-around hoodlum and criminal.

As I delved into his life I also discovered something else about him. And that was that he had been a MAJOR undercover Rat for both the NYCPD and the FBI for decades!

...Your gonna love this story I promise you!

Seymour Butts. How tantalizing. Yawn! Can't wait

And it anyone wants an in depth copy/paste job of NY Mafia's breaking article on Seymour Siskind just sign up for a free trial on Newspapers.com, type the name in quotation marks like this "Seymour Siskind" and Voila! You will automatically know everything NY Mafia knows about the subject without having to pay anything. Just cancel within 7 days

Behave gentlemen

We plan to add Seymour Siskind as another additional to our Jewish racketeer "Kosher Nostra" page. As promised, we're trying to increase the content on the jewish mob. Next we will be focusing on NY's Irish mob named "The Arsenal Mob" from the 1930s-1960s era.

Once I have it up and completed, Lisa and I will post a few here as a courtesy to any forum members who are interested