Born back in 1908, as a young man, Max “Little Maxie” Eder resided in the Bronx but mostly hung out with the Italians around the East Harlem section of Upper Manhattan. He also hung around with fellow Jewish associates in Downtown’s Lower East Side, Delancey Street area.
Maxie was a born hoodlum through and through who pretty much knew everybody there was to know among New York’s hoodlum set. From a young Meyer Lansky to the notorious “Trigger Mike” Coppola and most everybody in between, Maxie was considered a friend.
But although he knew and partnered with many racket guys from various crews over the years, his loyalty and obligation seems to have been to the Genovese Family’s powerhouse capodecina in charge of East Harlem: Michael “Trigger Mike” Coppola.
Maxie was said to have served as a trusted “associate” of the “Coppola Regime” for decades. He was also considered to be a close associate of Coppola regime soldier Pasquale (Little Paddy) Erra, with whom he would later work in Florida.
Eder’s criminal record started back in 1925 when he was just 17 years old. Through the years, he accumulated arrests for burglary, possession of burglar’s tools, receiving stolen goods, fraud, vagrancy, common gambling, vehicular homicide, a federal narcotics conviction, and maintaining a gambling establishment.
Federal authorities identified Eder as being most active in heroin smuggling and wholesale distribution, as well as running bookmaking and large-scale card games on behalf of the Mafia.
By at least the late 1940s, he was already visiting South Florida seasonally. By the 1950s, he had relocated to Miami Beach as a part-time resident following the lead of Coppola who had also relocated to the Sunshine State around that time. Coppola quickly put Eder in charge of overseeing and running high-stakes gambling parlors along the Miami Beach area.
Until next time…”The Other Guy”
