Arthur Intrator was a feared figure in New York’s underworld. His life of crime was as brutal as his untimely end. What happened to this notorious enforcer? Arthur (The Animal) Intrator was born in 1930 on Division Street on the Lower East Side in NYC to Jewish parents. By 1956, he resided at 152-38 Jewel Avenue in the Kew Gardens section of Queens. By the mid-1960s, he had relocated to 452 South Marginal Road in Jericho on Long Island. Arthur Intrator He was originally identified by authorities as a Bonanno associate. But Intrator either re-affiliated or was misidentified because he was later connected to John (Sonny) Franzese and the Colombo Family. Intrator was active in shylock rackets, union activities, and extortion and was a strong-arm enforcer in New York’s garment district. In 1960, he was accused with five other Jewish hoods of operating a loanshark ring that preyed on taxi cab drivers working at JFK and LaGuardia airports. They were charging exorbitant interest rates of 3% to 5% weekly as well as threatening and assaulting any cab drivers who faulted in their payments. Among the hoodlums charged with Intrator were Arthur Shevrin, Lenny Baden, Samuel Krevoy, Allen Beinstein, and Harry Gross, a well-known bookmaker and Manhattan hood. Gross was brought over from Rikers Island where he was serving a three-year term for a previous loanshark conviction. The group was charged with violating state banking laws (usury), extortion, grand larceny, and assault. Queens D.A. Frank O’Connor had run a six-month undercover probe to expose the operation. In 1961, Intrator was again arrested for loansharking and the blackmail extortion of a victim. Another cab driver said he had paid $1,350 on a $500 loan a year before but still owed the full $500. Intrator had assaulted the cab driver and threatened to tell his wife about the debt. She had paid off a previous loan after her husband promised not to borrow again. Intrator's arrest record included assault (three times), robbery, attempted extortion, usury, abortion, and state bank law violations. He was convicted of robbery (indeterminate jail term), state bank law violations, extortion (one year), and abortion. He also seemed to have been involved in some labor union activities by the late 1960s. After Franzese was sentenced to a 50-year term on a bank robbery conspiracy conviction, Intrator was said to have gravitated to Family Boss Joseph Colombo. One day, Intrator went missing. Several weeks later, his partially decomposed body turned up in Staten Island, badly beaten and shot. There are several theories. One is that he was a very loud and obnoxious hoodlum who stepped out of line, possibly backtalking and disrespecting Colombo in public. No one will ever know for sure. This was in 1972. Intrator was only 41 years old. Until next time..."The Other Guy"
