Hyman Siegel – “The Shylock of 7th Avenue”

A biography on Genovese Family associate Hyman (Red Hymie) Siegel.

Hyman (Red Hymie) Siegel - aka “Hymie Segal” - was born in 1903. He was raised and reared at 161 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the Jewish ghetto.

By 1929, he had moved to 243 S. 9th Street in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. He later married Dora Schlemowitz of Queens.

His boyhood buddies included many young Jewish hoods who would later rise to mob stardom. In later years, as he grew in wealth and success, he moved uptown, residing in an exclusive apartment at 501 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. He also maintained a private residence at 1042 50th Street in Brooklyn.

He regularly traveled to Hot Springs, Arkansas for the natural hot steam baths and therapeutic applications they afforded, vacationing for weeks at a time at the exclusive Arlington Hotel with other top mobsters and their families.

FBI # 91918

Siegel was known as a clothes horse and a dapper dresser. He was said to have a wardrobe that included over 30-40 expensive suits and 50-60 custom-made shirts. Each suit was estimated to cost no less than $200-300 each, in an era that called for an average suit price of $50-$75 each.

“Red Hymie”, as he was commonly known, was named by the FBI as being very active in garment racketeering operations.

He was known to shylock (on a fantastic scale), gambling (bookmaking), the buying and selling of “swag”, or (fencing), and other rackets mostly centered around Manhattan’s “garment district”.

He was said to have also served as a troubleshooter for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), working in tandem with Union President David Dubinsky, on behalf of Meyer Lansky and the mob.

Meyer Lansky

He was said to have an interest in an apparel trucking firm located at 140 West 37th Street in the heart of the garment district.

In 1960, several reliable informants stated that Siegel was the “head” shylock in the garment district, appointed by Lansky himself. That Siegel had taken over the position formerly held by Bugsy Siegel (no relation), and that Red Hymie oversaw high-interest loans to numerous dress manufacturers who go into the “red” with their businesses and factories. This shylock network was said to involve millions of dollars annually.

He was also reputed to control upwards of 10 to 15 syndicate bookmakers who took betting action in the district.

Bugsy Siegel

Siegel held court each morning from his booth at the Stage Delicatessen, a famous and popular Jewish eatery located at 51st Street and Seventh Avenue. His close associates and aides the “Newman brothers”. Doc Newman and his brother were said to arrive each morning for the day's instructions.

He was also said to headquarter out of a back room at his West 37th Street trucking company, where he doled out loans and collected payments.

By the mid-1950s, he was said to have become a garment industry tycoon. Hymie Siegel was said to have become wealthy enough to be a co-investor with Lansky in many enterprises.

He numbered among other close criminal associates:

• Meyer (The Little Man) Lansky - probably the top Jewish racketeer in the United States. Hymie was one of his closest aides and operatives for decades.

• Charles (Doc) Newman - FBI # 1659652, of 15 Central Park, in Manhattan.

• Vincent (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Alo - top “capo de decina”, Lansky intimate and Meyer’s lifelong partner. Alo was believed to have been the mob “rabbi” for the entire Jewish group under Lansky.

• Morris Kleinman - top gambling racketeer who later migrated to Las Vegas, handling casino operations for the mob.

• Dovie Pollins - another Little known but pivotal Jewish gambling figure.

• Nicholas (Bobby Blanche) Belangi - a “made” member (soldier) of the Genovese Family serving under Vincent Alo, who’s lifelong assignment was to aide Lansky in his racket operations and protect him. He was also known as a money courier from Las Vegas to NYC mob bosses and Lansky in Miami.

• Jacob (Jack) Grill - NYC based gambler active in large-scale bookmaking rackets. He also handled police payoffs to protect gambling operations.

• Philip (Little Farvel) Kovolick - a member and close associate of the Lansky group. He worked closely with Hymie before relocating to South Florida with his boss and buddy Lansky.

Nicholas “Bobby Blanch” Belangi

Hymie had a limited arrest record dating to at least 1925 for:

1925 - kidnapping and robbery 1925 - $41,000 jewelry robbery 1929 - liquor bootlegging

He was one of four Jewish hoodlums accused of entering the I.P. Rosow Jewelry Shop and heisting it at gunpoint. They were said to have escaped with $50,000 in jewels. Bail was set for them at $25,000, a huge sum of money in 1925. No disposition was available about the case.

He was also picked up for alcohol bootlegging (prohibition tax law violations) in 1929 along with the notorious Harry (Big Harry) Greenberg.

In 1962, a key informant based in New York City related to his FBI handlers that Hymie Siegel owned several “points” in the Fremont Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in partnership with Lansky and Jimmy Alo. That, of course, these were hidden ownership interests and that they were paid their percentages on a monthly basis through “skimming” operations being conducted.

No further information was available about Siegel after the 1965 period, and no dod was available.

Hyman Siegel – “The Shylock of 7th Avenue”

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Hyman Siegel – “The Shylock of 7th Avenue”

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You May Also Enjoy

Racketeer Snapshot: Connecticut’s Frank (The Cigar) Piccolo

The Anthony Strollo Regime of NY/NJ

The Day Charlie (the Bug) Workman Saved a Horse

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