Philip (Little Farvel) Kovolick

Philip Kovolick had it all: connections to the biggest names in organized crime, control over lucrative vending machine rackets, and a low-profile life in Florida. But his mysterious disappearance and gruesome murder left more questions than answers. What really happened to this mob power player?

Philip (Little Farvel) Kovolick -- aka the Stick, Joseph Farvel, Phil Koblick, Joseph Phillips, and Farvel Kovack - - was born on September 2, 1908. He was raised and operated in his youth on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Philip Kovolick

He lived in midtown Manhattan as he became established until he relocated with his wife and family to South Florida in the late 1940s. They resided for years at 1311 Jefferson Street in Hollywood.

Side Note: During several arrests, he gave his address as the Second Avenue Baths, located downtown off 1st Street on 2nd Avenue.

FBI # 120992, NYCPD # B-68023

Kovolick was married and had at least two daughters. He was said to have been a doting and loving father, providing a beautiful home and sending them to the finest colleges in the country -- the University of Miami and the University of Southern California.

In November 1963, he threw a large, lavish wedding reception for his daughter Judi at the Hollywood Beach Hotel in Hollywood, Florida.

A Violent Record

Kovolick had a long and violent criminal record dating to 1923. He had at least eleven known arrests:

1923 -- grand larceny

1926 -- burglary (2 years probation)

1927 -- attempted burglary (sent to Elmira Reformatory on an indeterminate sentence)

1928 -- burglary

1929 -- robbery

1929 -- murder

1931 -- possession of a revolver

1931 -- disorderly conduct (45 days in jail)

1939 -- vagrancy

1941 -- narcotics conspiracy (penalty not available)

1965 -- consorting with criminals

He was a close associate and friend of some of the biggest racketeers in the United States, including Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel, Charles (Lucky) Luciano, Meyer (Little Meyer) Lansky, Louis (Lepke) Buchalter, Vincent (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Alo , Emanuel (Mendy) Weiss, and Abner (Longy) Zwilman of New Jersey.

For years, Kovolick dealt daily with top hoodlums such as Jacob (Jack) Lansky, Hyman (Red Hymie) Siegel , Irving (Knadles) Nitzberg, Hymie Abrams, Morris (Sheppie) Shapiro, Irving Mishel, Louis Capone, Abraham (Kid Twist) Reles, Tom Cutty, and Samuel (Red) Levine. Each of these men was a top member of New York’s Jewish mob.

He was said to have originally been a Lepke/Gurrah Gang member. Later, he became a chauffeur for top capo and later Family boss Frank Costello .

Garment and Jukebox Racketeering

In 1939, Kovolick was one of three hoodlums named by the famed Manhattan District Attorney Tom Dewey, who later became New York’s Governor) as garment center racketeers . This happened after they were arrested on vagrancy charges and held on a whopping $10,000 bail each.

It was a huge amount in 1939, especially for the minor charge of being a vagrant. They were held at the draconian Tombs Prison in Lower Manhattan, a hell hole of a jail, pending their release on bail.

Their arrests were part of a sustained police crackdown on known members of the Lepke-Gurrah Mob, headed by Louis Buchalter and Jacob Shapiro.

Notorious for their industrial and extortion rackets, this mob successfully infiltrated and later took control of numerous industries, including the garment district, trucking, restaurants, and building unions, bakery workers union locals, and many other New York industries.

Kovolick was arrested in this case along with Jacob (Spunky) Weiss and the notorious killer Samuel (Red) Levine -- a prime suspect in the 1931 murder of Sicilian Mafia boss Salvatore Maranzano, who was shot and stabbed by four men posing as NYC policemen in his midtown Manhattan office on Park Avenue. It was a pivotal moment in organized crime in America.

Philip Kovolick and Hyman Holtz.

Earlier that week, New York detectives had arrested Benjamin (Benny the Boss) Tannenbaum, another member of Lepke’s mob.

In 1941, Kovolick stood trial with his boss, Lepke Buchalter, his top lieutenant, Mendy Weiss, and fellow enforcer Louie Capone. Kovolick was later convicted and sent away on narcotics (heroin) peddling charges.

In 1944, he was intimately linked with New York City’s vending machine racket : jukeboxes, cigarette machines, candy, pinballs, and other gaming machines.

Kovolick figured prominently and was said to be part of an underworld monopoly that dominated the five boroughs. They reportedly controlled the manufacture, sale, placement, and servicing unions that regulated the “sites” and “stops” to bar independent vending operators and smother competition.

Local # 805 - Jukebox & Vending Machine Workers Union, was named by investigators as the “whip” the Jewish mob used to help control the industry.

Mob bosses Meyer Lansky and Abner (Longy) Zwillman were believed to be the driving forces and true power behind the union. The vice president of the Local was said to be Abraham (Abe) Gordon, a notorious hood and Johnny Dio minion. Gordon also headed the Union’s million-dollar-plus welfare fund.

Kovolick was a partner with Gordon in two trucking companies based in the garment district on the Westside. This mob also formed an industry “association,” the Cigarette Merchandisers Assn.

Joe Adonis

It was established to protect its members from draconian state laws, increases in city, state, and federal cigarette taxes, labor contracts with Local # 805, and solicitation of their route locations by other association vendors, among other benefits.

In actuality, the association served as little more than a vehicle to control and “shakedown” vending companies for $6. per machine, per year each. It brought in thousands of dollars monthly and had a slush fund of over $100,000 in its union treasury.

It was estimated that there were over 40,000 cigarette vending machines alone in Queens County and the other boroughs. Add in jukeboxes, pinballs, and other coin-operated devices, and it was easily a multimillion-dollar racket annually. And all in cold cash at that.

Another link was the operation of Herald Vending Corp., a large cigarette machine vending firm owned by Giuseppe (Joe Adonis) Doto. His Jewish mob friends bought his company in 1942 when Adonis was under intense investigation by the Kings County grand Jury.

Although Kovolick always tried to operate in a low-key manner, he came to the attention of New York authorities again in 1965. NYC police raided a small nondescript storefront on Spring Street in Little Italy that housed a restaurant called Lombardi’s. Seven men were arrested and described as top figures and leaders in the Genovese Family.

They were arrested on charges of “consorting with known criminals” for unlawful purposes -- each other. Among those arrested was Thomas (Tommy Ryan) Eboli, who was said to have been the “acting boss” of the Genovese Family then.

A few years later, Kovolick was subpoenaed again to testify before a local New York County grand jury investigating illegal gambling rackets, bribery, and police corruption.

He fled the New York region and refused to come back or voluntary extradition back to New York State.

Not So Sunny in the Sunshine State

After moving down to Florida, Kovolick became active again in the jukebox-vending machine business, a business and racket he knew well.

He also became involved in overseeing The Colonial Inn, a wildly popular but illegal plush “carpet joint” located in the wealthy Hallandale section. He assisted the Lansky brothers in the operation, being trusted enough by Meyer to handle the cash flow and daily logistics.

Informants also connected him with Miami cigar shops. It’s believed that Kovolick went partners in three cigar stores/lounges with former New York gambler Artie Newman and Abie Brown (Miami PD # C-89918), another notorious hoodlum and bookie from Miami Beach.

Philip Kovolick

Named the Johnina Tobacco Co., Inc., the trio had one cigar lounge in the popular Johnina Hotel on the famed Collins Avenue in Miami. Another was located on 41st Street in Miami, and the last was located at Surfside, Florida. They were allegedly set up as a front or cover for an extensive bookmaking network they intended to operate in the South Florida area.

In 1956, it was also reported to the FBI that he was booking horses at Gulfstream Racetrack like he had a license, in conjunction with transplanted top East Harlem capo Michael (Trigger Mike) Coppola and other hoodlums.

There is some confusion over his disappearance and alleged death around 1971-1972 in Florida. His wife stated he went missing on April 7, 1971, vanishing without a trace.

A year later, on April 27, 1972, Fort Lauderdale newspapers reported that Little Farvel had been found murdered and sealed up inside a steel drum. It had been rolled down to the bottom of a rock pit in a Hallandale dump.

Philip (Little Farvel) Kovolick was 62 years old at the time of his murder.

A suspect was arrested in his homicide by the name of John Alvin Baxter, a 36-year-old with no known connection to Kovolick or the underworld. No theory was given for his murder.

It was a violent but weird ending to an “up until then” successful mob career...just another fabled tale of underworld intrigue.

Until next time..."The Other Guy!"

Philip (Little Farvel) Kovolick

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