Button Man by Andrew Gross I thought that this book was a bait and switch. A button man is of course an older term for mobster, or specifically a hitman/enforcer/bodyguard. As the fictional Willie Cicci told us "The boss says to push a button on a guy, I push a button". Later, as the term button man fell out of use, someone who had his "button" was someone who was a full and formal member of an Italian-American organized crime family. This book's title and intro made me think this book would be about early organized crime.
Well it was and wasn't. What this book really is a fictionalized hagiography to the author's deceased grandfather, a Jewish garment district business owner and later tycoon. This story follows the life choices of Morris Rabishevsky (Raab) and his brothers. The Rabishevksy brothers grow up in horrible poverty on New York's Lower East Side at the turn of the century. Their father dies early; another brother dies in an accident.
The brothers must provide for their family. The youngest, most driven and toughest, Morris, apprentices in the garment business. Morris soon becomes a major player, eventually opening up his own firm. The oldest, Sol, becomes an accountant and bookkeeper. Sol's nowhere near as aggressive or as tough as his youngest brother but he does have a way with numbers. Harry feels responsible for the childhood death of their brother Shemuel. As a result Harry becomes a ne'er do well. He associates with criminals and rarely keeps honest jobs. Morris rises in the garment trade and crosses paths with the unions. The gangster Lepke Buchalter has become a labor racketeer and the power behind the various garment district unions and business organizations. You either play ball with Lepke or you don't play at all. I would have enjoyed the story more if it hadn't been so thoroughly centered on Morris. We see everyone from Morris' point of view. Harry is hapless. I did enjoy a lot of the Yiddish, including some phrases that my high school chemistry teacher for some reason never shared with us.
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives." Winter is Coming Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
