I was really excited to read this book just from the summary alone and found that the subject matter was very intriguing. I was not aware that gangsters took a part in opposing Nazism. It was definitely a lesson in history for me as I was not aware of the youth camps in the US and how gangsters interrupted rallies all over America. Overall, it was an interesting read for me, but I felt like I wanted more from it.

Took me a while to get into this book, but I made it through. I do recommend to friends and family. I just think that this book was not my type of read, but I did enjoy reading it and will hopefully read another book in the future by the author.

""Gangsters vs Nazis" is a class in how to translate an interesting topic into an unreadable sludge, all through the magic of overwrought prose.

The book is about how Jewish gangsters were used to break up Nazi-sympathizer rallies across the country in the late 1930s, a topic covered by various other books. That's not the issue, however. Benson made a choice to write in what I assumed was supposed to be the vernacular of the period, which means readers get treated to such gems as someone being given "a deli-style knuckle sandwich;" Longie Zwillman and Jean Harlow "scorching sheets across the Third Ward," and Irving Thalberg's "perforated pump" (his heart). Somewhere, Walter Winchell grimaces.

In honor of one-half of the subjects of the book, if it were only strained metaphors, dayenu. It isn't. We're also treated to what I assume is fictional dialogue between Judge Perlman and Meyer Lansky, "these fucking Nazis are becoming bolder with their shenanigans," and so many other examples. It reads like a play written on deadline by two eighth graders. To quote "Urinetown," "you're too young to understand this, but too much exposition can ruin a story.."

The author also conveniently ignores the fact that, at the same time that they were engaging Lansky, et al to do their dirty work, they were denouncing them from the bimah. I'll chalk that up to authorial prerogative.

This is a topic that has been better covered elsewhere - "Tough Jews" and "Hitler in Los Angeles,"'to name two.

I really enjoyed this story. It's well written and researched. I wasn't aware of how big this really was in the US. I have heard about some of it but it was interesting and entertaining to read and learn about the things I wasn't aware of! It's an easy read. Which some might be surprised especially with the topic.

There are few things as repugnant as the Mob. Except maybe Nazis. It kind of makes sense that Jewish mobsters once took an opportunity to improve their image by punching Nazis.

“Gangsters vs Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America,” by Michael Benson relates the story of one of the strangest campaigns of the 1930s and 40s. It shows how the Jewish community in the United States organized to fight the German-American Bund and other fascist groups in the United States in the years prior to American entry into World War II. They did it by enlisting the assistance of Jewish Gangsters.

As Benson points out, in mid-century America organized crime was big, especially in immigrant communities. They formed in every community with a large, poor immigrant population. The most famous was the Italian Mafia, but there were Irish, Polish, Hispanic, and Jewish mobs, too. They were a product of poverty and desperation.

The respectable members of each community despised these gangsters. Yet in the mid-1930s Jewish leaders, including rabbis, judges, and journalists found something they despised more: the Jew-hating Nazis. When the pro-Nazi Bund began gathering strength in the US, these leaders wanted to stop their rallies. They turned to Jewish gangsters; men like Meyer Lansky, Longie Zwillman, and Buggsy Goldstein, asking them to fight the Nazis. To rough them up and break up their rallies. The law promised to turn a blind eye, if it stopped at beatings. No killing.

Benson shows how these mobsters responded to that call, recruiting boxers, street toughs, and young Jewish men to join their cause. He traces the confrontations that occurred throughout the country: New York City, Chicago, and Newark chief among them, but there were also battles throughout the Midwest and on the West Coast.

It is a colorful tale. It reads in many like a mid-20th century Jimmy Cagney movie or Mickey Spillane novel come to life. It occurs in the same settings and the author uses the Runyonesque language of the genre. The mobsters deal out knuckle sandwiches and whack foes on the noggin. At one point Benson urges readers to think of one team as “The Dirty Dozen with some Yiddish thrown in.”

Despite Benson’s claims, the mobsters are not “good guys” protecting the American way. They were thugs who found a socially acceptable outlet for violence. Despite that, “Gangsters vs Nazis” is a fascinating and entertaining story.

“Gangsters vs Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America,” by Michael Benson, Citadel Press, 2022, 304 pages, $27.00 (Hardcover), $22.95 (ebook)
This review was written by Mark Lardas who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.

Princess Fuzzypants here: This is a story that was not told much until the last few years but it is a saga of not-so-good against evil. Tales were coming out of Germany about the persecution of Jews that was horrifying to Jews around the world. Anti-Semitism was nothing new in either the Old or the New World. What was new was the systematic and efficient annihilation of Jewish rights and lives under the Nazis. They brought it to a whole new level. And even before the invasion of Poland and the beginning of WWII, world domination was the goal and the best way to win it was through subversive manipulation of biases that were already there.

This, rightly so, alarmed American Jews. It did not matter where they went, Jews were an easy target for bullies and for the most part, they were passive. But this passivity was not going to work if they held any hope of safe haven in the US. One judge in NYC decided it was time to fight back as the American Bund and other Nazi appendages were seeking to gain acceptance and control. He reached out to Jews who had no compunction about fighting back. In fact, fighting was their business. By reaching out first to Meyer Lansky, the mastermind behind organized crime, he started a movement that went from city to city, state to state and undermined the Nazi influence until the FBI finally acknowledged the dangers and started to deal with the leaders of the Nazi groups.

These were not nice men but they were heroes nonetheless and their efforts were reinforced by many law abiding Jews and patriots. There was one proviso, and considering the people involved a much needed one: no killing. Anything up to that was okay but the gangsters did not cross the line. It is a thrilling story that will amaze you. Prepare to be shocked by the depth and degree of hatred that the Nazis were able to churn up. It is chilling how close it came. But thanks to an unlikely alliance, they never got a toehold and once Pearl Harbour occurred, it became a moot point.

Well researched and written, it tells the stories of the moments of glory for many men who ended up in prison or worse. We owe them. Five purrs and two paws up.

This book was just phenomenal. I knew that there were Americans who supported Hitler, but I did not know the extent to which this went. There were moments that chilled me and angered me that this was allowed to happen. Benson does such a great job writing about this little-known piece of American history.

WW2, 1930s, 1940s, gangsters, the-mob, espionage, fascists, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture*****

This is the way that nonfiction history OUGHT to be presented!
Certainly, there is some salty language, violence, attitudes no longer acceptable (some never should have been but were), and some VERY unpleasant truths. But all in all, it is a terrific read!
The intro ties it all with some attitudes of today by telling us that in Captain America Comics #1 which hit the newsstands a full year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor when so much of the US was still in denial about the vile things happening in Europe, and The Captain showed what needed to be done and threw the first punch (but not the last).
From there on, the lesser-known history of the happenings in the US is presented clearly and bluntly but with wit and attitude. The publisher's blurb does a good job of getting readers interested, but you have to read the book to really appreciate it all. Great read!
I requested and received a free e-book copy from Kensington Books/Citadel via NetGalley. Thank you!

The book was not only informative, it was entertaining, which was a hard thing to accomplish when one considers the subject matter. Still, the author did just that. For me, the book was particularly engaging because I am Jewish, my dad was a contemporary of many of the gangsters and an immigrant from Russia like so many of them. While we did not associate with them, we knew of them. We lived in Brooklyn, and I was familiar with the areas mentioned in the book. My uncles fought in the Golden Gloves. My aunt had Bugsy Siegel’s picture in her photo album. Abe Reles’ family lived within walking distance from my house, albeit with a change of last name. After reading this book, I learned that the lives of my family and the lives of the gangsters had many different dimensions. I didn’t know about the German organizations that had tried to spread Hitler’s Aryan supremacy in the United States. I had not heard of the German Bund in America or of the Silver Shirts, before reading this book. I didn’t realize the breadth of my father’s fear of the taint of Communism. until after I read it. Also, at one time, I lived in Minnesota, near St. Louis Park. I learned that it was once a haven for Gentiles who didn’t want Jews in their neighborhood. Ironically, when I lived there, it was a haven for religious Jews and was called St. Jewish Park behind closed doors.
I have read extensively on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust and still never knew about this part of America’s history with mobsters fighting Nazis. I did not know that there were German-American organizations actively recruiting people to support Hitler’s National Socialism. I knew that Minnesota had a large pro- German, Nazi contingent, and anti-Semitism was alive and well there when I lived there too, but I did not know about the Nazi camps in the Catskills that taught children to hate. They inserted themselves in The Borscht Belt, the Jewish Haven, to recruit and convert them to Hitler’s demented plan.
The book gave me a whole different viewpoint about the idea of Jews going to the slaughter like lambs, during the Holocaust. These Jews fought back, albeit in America. In Germany, it was almost impossible to resist the mounting hate and anti-Semitic policies, but there was a strong Underground effort to stop Hitler. The mood of America, politically however, was anti-war, and the powers that be were also not always for the cause of Jews. In some ways, the current war in Ukraine is suffering from the same malaise in world opinion.
I grew up being ashamed of Murder Inc., not wanting to be associated with hoods in any way. After reading this book, I wish that most of them had not ended up so badly, because when they were called upon to defend against antisemitism, they did not shrink from the responsibility. As the reader gets to glimpse into their lives, they will discover that wherever they lived and “worked”, they were not cowardly thugs, but sometimes brave men willing to fight for their Jewish brethren when others would not or could not. In fact, no one is all bad or all good.
In America, incongruously, a judge, a rabbi, and a gangster made strange bedfellows, but they indeed slept together to fight hate. How they did it is the subject of this book, and it is a wild story that takes place, largely, over a short period of time. The author tells it with a sense of humor. He traces the history of these gangsters and he softens their edges, as he explains how they fought the influence of the Nazis in America, even when FDR did not. These were men who had been guilty of some pretty heinous crimes, but they rose to the occasion and performed heroically when called upon. Many of the names will be new to the reader, but some like Mickey Cohen, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Abe Reles, et al, will be on the tip of everyone’s tongues. Suffice it to say, these hoodlums and gang members knew how to be heroes as well as villains, and they worked well with their counterparts, who worked for law and order, in order to humiliate and stop the anti-Semitic effort of some wrongheaded Germans in the United States, Germans who were trying to awaken Hitler’s Aryan dream in America.
Judge Nathan Perlman, Rabbi Steven Wise and a gangster, Meyer Lansky, engineered a plan and worked together to fight Nazis. They worked tirelessly to organize the only people who could get away with the effort to defeat the pro-Hitler American-Germans who strutted in their uniforms and displayed their swastikas while shouting Heil Hitler. It is sad to think that there was so much support for Hitler in my own America, but happily, there was a group that could work under the radar to show them that Jews were not to be trifled with, by anyone, ever.

This book describes the rise in racist, anti-semitic fascist movements in the US before this country entered World War II. If you are familiar with the history of the period, you already know that there were many such movements, with one of the biggest and loudest being the German-American Bund. But there were plenty of other Hitler fans in the US, including such well-known figures as Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh and the popular—but poisonous—radio personality Father Coughlin.

Less well-known is that members of the Jewish mob, seeing what was going on in Europe and what these movements might do if they gained power in the US, decided to make life difficult for them—urged on, according to Benson, by a New York judge and a prominent rabbi. Benson describes the gangsters busting up rallies and meetings in New York, Chicago, New Jersey, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, Syracuse, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle.

[Note: Los Angeles was a particular focus for the struggle between Nazis and anti-Nazis because it was the home of the film industry and Nazi Germany had great respect for the power of mass media in propaganda. The struggle dynamic among Nazis, anti-Nazis and the film industry in Los Angeles had relatively little to do with gangsters, so this book doesn’t include a lot of detail about LA. But it’s a fascinating story, complicated by Hollywood’s desire to continue to release movies in Germany during the Nazi era (but before war was declared between the US and the Axis powers) and if you want to read about it, there are several books you should check out, including Steven J. Ross’s Hitler in Los Angeles (2017), Thomas Doherty’s Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939 (2015), and Ben Urwand’s The Collaboration: Hollywood’s Pact With Hitler (2015).]

Though this book is non-fiction, it tells its story in a sort of rock ‘em, sock ‘em comic-book style. Or maybe look at this as a non-fiction book version of Quentin Tarantino’s wildly colorful alternate-history movie fantasy, Inglourious Basterds [sic], in which a gang of mostly Jewish soldiers and Nazis resisters plot to assassinate a whole swath of Nazi leadership.

However you look at it, a key point is that this is not an academic history, with restrained, formal language and copious footnotes and citations. It doesn’t assume its readers know anything about the topic, so there is a lot of background exposition. It also doesn’t engage in any both-sides stuff. Benson’s clear point of view is that the American Nazi supporters were (and are) knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing master-race wannabes, and the gangsters were doing the right thing in beating them up—even if the rest of the time the gangsters were outlaws and often sadistic killers.

Where it gets off track for me is Benson’s lengthy bios of the gangsters. It’s colorful up to a point, but by the time you get to Chicago, which is fairly early in the story, it’s often more a mini-history of Jewish gangs than it is about their anti-Nazi activities. It gets to be a bit of a slog and I had to wonder who Benson thought he was writing for. It’s quite an interesting story that could use editorial help to tighten up and clarify the narrative.

This book is written like a throwback to the times when reporters were on the crime beat, pursuing unsavory mobsters and looking for an angle. Benson has his unsavory mobsters and unique angle in Jewish gangsters who were recruited to rough up/ beat up anti-Semites affiliated with the German Bund during the late 1930s. His tone sometimes veers towards admiration for the gangsters but then again, who wants to root for the Nazis?

Benson grounds his book in historical detail that takes the reader cross country, where various Nazi affiliated groups were targeted by a coalition of gangsters, reporters and some unexpected allies in major cities. In most chapters, Benson highlights one Jewish gangster, who usually comes from the old country, an impoverished background, and a struggling family. This guy then finds his way to a gym/boxing arena/ or gangster group. But although he is a “bad” guy, he is willing to take his “skills” and crew to disrupt/ beatdown Nazi activities and meetings. His associates within the chapter also get the same biographical treatment. They all want to show the world the toughness and patriotism of Jewish citizens.

The similarity of the chapters follows a pattern that sometimes makes it difficult to focus on all the gangsters involved in fighting the Nazis. Would have liked some photos to help organize who was leading the charges. A great epilog updates the reader as to what became of the major players: the Nazis who faced charges as well as the gangsters whose lives changed with the beginning of WWII and what happened afterwards.

This is great source for people not familiar with this time in American history and a fascinating look at how Jewish gangsters evolved to face off against the rise of Nazism in many cities. Recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

This is absolutely fantastic! A look at Jews in America during the Nazi regime prior to our entry into WW2, and primarily into Jewish "gangsters". Just an amazing read! THANK you!

While the subject matter alone is fascinating it’s Michael Benson’s style of writing that makes the book so enjoyable and easy to read. I’ve devoured books about gangsters/mafia since I was little but this is a slice of history I was unaware of and I’m excited Benson researched and wrote about this subject. I knew of some prominent nazi sympathizers which was disgusting enough but to learn there were packed halls of the pro Hitler everyday man is disconcerting to say the least. I loved what these gangsters did and have to admit I wish they were around today to stop this lunacy that is once again out in the open.

I was really fascinated in reading Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America
by Michael Benson. I found myself googling about what I read in the book and was amazed with the material. Five stars.

First, I want to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read this fascinating novel. Second, I would like to congratulate Mr. Benson for writing such an informative and interesting book. I have always been interested in history, especially military.Including my husband we have seen the Normandy beaches, Imperial War Museum, tunnels under Dover castle, Arnhem, Anne Frank's house, closed to home almost all Civil War sites. I was amazed by my lack of knowledge about Jewish gangsters and the Nazis. Wonderfully written and a must read for anyone interested in history, military or not. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

I recently completed my read of an ARC of "Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in Wartime America," written by Michael Benson and graciously provided to me by Kensington Books. I suppose the first thing to mention about this entertainingly unlikely (but true) text is that the subtitle of the book is slightly misleading in that almost all of the events related occurred between 1930 and 1941. Anyone familiar with the role played by leading Italian American mobsters in lending their "expertise" to the struggle to defeat the Axis will have encountered the far better documented intervention they made among dockworkers to defeat the Axis as improbable allies of the U.S. government after Pearl Harbor. Benson's book focuses more specifically on relating the immensely entertaining tale of how a Rabbi and a Judge organized resistance to the German American Bund and its various offshoots and rivals by soliciting Jewish gangsters to break up meetings and disrupt marches in a way that the would be American Nazis could understand (here I should note that not the least of the improbabilities here is that the Judge and the Rabbi who coordinated and instigated all this violence against the Bund insisted on the remarkable caveat that it be non-lethal).. In other words, physical assaults against people participating in Bund sponsored functions were specifically endorsed as long as no one was killed! It is noteworthy that many of the gangsters employed in these ventures were trained boxers who had to be careful not to rely exclusively on their fists since these could be viewed by the law as "lethal weapons." The tale is told in an almost geographical pattern beginning on the East Coast and proceeding across the American hinterlands to end up on the West Coast, most notably in Hollywood. Throughout the book, the author's sympathy with the mobsters (who in many instances were almost as bad as their Nazi victims here) is evident, but to his credit, he never seems to lose his sense of the inherent irony in his unlikely protagonists and their own history of organized violence. The book is a quick read organized in an anecdotal narrative that is fast paced and fascinating. It is both easy and tempting to see the vicious Jewish gangsters here as heroes, given their targets (in the case of the American Bund and company, they come off as cartoonish caricatures of their European counterparts). Moral ambiguity notwithstanding, this book deserves a read for anyone trying to understand the complex relationship between the criminal underworld and the nascent Jewish resistance to National Socialism as it was manifested in the United States.

I have read alot of books about the Nazi's WW 2 etc and this wa a slightly different angle. Such horrible people and times and amazing to hear what people went through

304 pages

5 stars

I’m almost embarrassed to say that I thought this book was a lot of fun. I was delighted to see the anti-semites get theirs.

Mr. Benson certainly did his research when writing this book. He gives fairly thorough biographical details on the key players, both gangster and Nazis. He pulls no punches. His opinion of the Nazis is very clear throughout the book. I ate it up.

I had no idea that the movement was so big and strong in the U.S. I was aware of figures like Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh. (One has to wonder if his and his wife’s baby was kidnapped because of the beliefs he held? Hmm…) but I had no idea about the rest. A Catholic priest? What was the world coming to?

I was pleased to see that almost without exception the Jewish mob (and others), stepped up to the plate. They were not to kill the Nazis, just beat them up a little. And that they did - thoroughly. I must admit that I have had a fascination with Charles “Lucky” Luciano for some time. I have no idea why. He was a bad man, so…why? While Lucky didn’t participate, his close friend and colleague, Meyer Lansky rounded up a few men. Quite a few from Murder, Inc. participated.

Well researched, brilliantly written and plotted. Mr. Benson does a remarkable job. This book is easy to read, does not have a lot of gore (despite the beating they gave the Nazis), and is very entertaining. I enjoyed it. It literally made my day.

I want to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books/Citadel for forwarding to me a copy of this eminently readable book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

I must admit that when I requested this book I didn't expect much. To that I was disappointed. This was a wonderful book that is not only well written, but devoted to an unconsidered part of the history of WWII. I spent a greater portion of a night with this book.