Louis Cohen

Louis Cohen or Louis Kerzner (born January 1, 1904 , † January 28, 1939 in New York City ) was a mobster close to Louis Buchalter and known for the murder of the gang leader Nathan Kaplan . It is attributable to the Kosher Nostra .

Murder of Nathan Kaplan

Cohen was born as Louis Kertzner and was soon a member of the Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen gang . He was considered a romantic who first wanted to become a real gangster , which is why he was hired by Louis Buchalter , Jacob Shapiro and Legs Diamond to murder a rival gang leader.

It was about Nathan Kaplan, who, after the death of Johnny Spanish in the early 1920s, basically held the monopoly of violence in labor disputes in New York's clothing district for four years. With Buchalter and Co., a competition that was resisting him had now grown up.

In early 1923, in the so-called fourth laboratory, Slugger War , on the occasion of the strike by laundry workers, shootings between the two groups took place, Shapiro was apparently shot by Nathan Kaplan. At least that's what Shapiro reported to the police and Kaplan was forced to appear in court.

When Shapiro gave his testimony in the courtroom on August 28, 1923, he now denied that Kaplan had been the shooter and withdrew his allegation. Shapiro had already achieved what he was trying to do: pushing Kaplan out into the open, creating an easy target. When Kaplan finally left the court under police guard, he was shot by Louis Cohen, who was immediately arrested without resistance.

Cohen was sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison in Sing Sing for the murder of Kaplan . During his imprisonment, as promised by the Buchalter-Shapiro gang as a reward for the murder, he received monthly severance pay and prison visits from an Buchalter confidante named Isadore Friedman alias Danny Fields. In 1937, Cohen was paroled.

Release from prison and death

After Cohen was released from prison in 1937, he continued his criminal activities and turned to his previous contacts in the criminal milieu.

In 1939, Buchalter was already under heavy pressure from law enforcement and began to evict potential witnesses from New York City or have them murdered by Murder, Inc. At the same time, Isadore Friedman was also suspected by Buchalter of collaborating with the authorities. Philip Cohen , Jacob Midgen and Louis Cohen were therefore charged with the murder of Friedman. The latter had known the perpetrators for many years and was on friendly terms with them.

On January 28, 1939, Cohen and Friedman drove to a remote backyard. When Cohen stopped the car, he jumped out of the vehicle, drew his gun, and fired at the vehicle. At the same time, Philip Cohen and Jacob Midgen shot the occupant of the car from the opposite side, killing Friedman. Apparently, Cohen was also fatally injured in the shooting. It could not be clarified whether this was accidental or deliberate. According to the authorities, Emanuel Weiss was also an urgent suspect. On instructions from Louis Buchalter, Weiss is said to have commissioned Jacob Midgen, Philip Cohen and Louis Cohen with the murder and was also seen by witnesses on the day of the crime with Friedman and Cohen. While an indictment against Jacob Midgen could not be brought due to a lack of sufficient evidence, the investigations against Emanuel Weiss and Philip Cohen failed because of their alibis and the resulting evidence that both were not at the scene at the time of the offense and are therefore not in question as immediate perpetrators came.

literature

• Herbert Asbury: The Gangs of New York . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. ISBN 1-56025-275-8
• Carl Sifakis: The Mafia Encyclopedia . New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
• Olindo Romeo Chiocca: Mobsters and Thugs: Quotes from the Underworld . Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2000. ISBN 1-55071-104-0

Web links

• Louis Cohen on Find a Grave