William Morris Bioff

William Morris "Willie" Bioff alias William Nelson (born October 12, 1900 in the Russian Empire , † November 4, 1955 in Phoenix (Arizona) ) was an American mobster who is attributed to the Kosher Nostra .

He served as a union leader in infiltrating the Hollywood film industry from the 1920s to 1940s.

Life

Criminal career

Bioff grew up in a devout Jewish household in Chicago , but his father put him on the street when he was eight.

He eventually became a member of the Forty-Two Gang ; at least he was in contact with the Battaglia brothers Augie, Paul, Frank and Sam Battaglia . His criminal career from simple thief to pimp took him to a district of Chicago known as the Levee . The neighborhood was known as the red light district and was under the control of the Chicago outfit early on ; but at the latest since 1915 when boss Jim Colosimo took over three brothels in the district.

Bioff's specialty was apparently gutting Jewish butchers who slaughtered kosher . Bioff partnered with George Brown , a local union official for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

When Forty Two Gang gang leader Paul Battaglia had to start his first prison sentence on January 24, 1934, was also a. Bioff there.

Membership or not; many members of the Forty Two Gang later became leading mobsters in Chicago outfits ; Bioff came into contact with Jake Guzik and his brother Harry; Both were associates of the Chicago Outfit, but due to their non-Italian origins - like Bioff - could never become full members of the basically purely Italian clans of La Cosa Nostra ; so also not in the outfit .

Nevertheless, Bioff also got to know great gangsters like Al Capone and (later) Frank Nitti . In the 1930s - after serving his sentence - Bioff went to California . Presumably he was sent by Frank Nitti to work as "enforcer" (am: enforcer) with George Brown .

Hollywood

The expansion of the outfit to the west was due to the fact that new sources of income were to be opened up, especially after the foreseeable end of Prohibition in the United States , which was actually lifted in 1933. By the end of the 1920s, the outfit had already developed considerable interest in the entertainment sector and was planning to exploit it as profitably as possible .

The first efforts were made by Tommy Maloy , who took over the Motion Picture Machine Operators' Union in Chicago in 1920 and subsequently worked with Al Capone and George Moran . The great interest at Nitti was only aroused when the commercial potential of soundtracks unfolded. Maloy was beginning to matter to the new Chicago leader, as he had control of the city's projectionists' union.

Brown and Bioff had it on extortion managed Barney Balaban (and indirectly Sam Katz ) exempt. To do this, they threatened their cinema chain Balaban & Katz Theaters with a union strike . Balaban initially refused to respond to these threats, but after convincing the money to go to a cash register for unemployed unionists and soup kitchens , he paid $ 20,000.

In reality, these soup kitchens and "donate funds" were, however, only cover organizations for the purpose of money laundering and the money then fell into the hands of Bioff and Brown.

But Nitti wanted to make something bigger out of the matter; The first goal was to gain control over the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). To do this, Brown should be elected as the new president, while Bioff should act as his executor.

The effective control should keep the outfit , the two henchmen only take care of the daily exercise of their tasks (including collecting the funds). Initially, the focus was on gaining the entertainment sector in Chicago, but this was just the beginning of the bigger action in Hollywood.

In June 1934, George Brown was elected the union's new president at an IATSE meeting in Louisville, Kentucky . Brown and Bioff immediately began engaging various union members and studio unions to work with the IATSE.

Soon after, operations in Los Angeles began using the usual tactics of extorting money from the big studios such as Paramount , 20th Century Fox , RKO Studios, etc. In addition, in 1936 a special levy was levied on the salaries of trade unionists, which were supposed to be used for a trade union defense fund.

Through these methods, the outfit managed to generate several million US dollars in profit over the years, sums of money that were never taxed. Other people who played a special role in Hollywood for the outfit were John Roselli and Fred Evans . While Evans was considered an expert in money laundering of the extorted amounts, Roselli was tasked with overseeing Bioff's actions in Los Angeles. Bioff was believed to be a safety risk that required constant monitoring due to his heavy drinking and associated talkativeness. A similar role for Brown, who mainly located in Washington, DC and New York City was staying, took Nick Circella one.

Over time, even the studio bosses' perception of this blackmail changed. It became more and more a kind of bribe to Brown and Bioff to keep the union's demands as low as possible. This allowed film studios to have a rigorous policy against weak unions and saved them millions in "expenses" by preventing wage increases.

In addition, Bioff reached a secret agreement with Joseph Schenck that placed him in the position of commercial agent between Hollywood and DuPont Chemicals in the procurement of the raw footage . Bioff accepted the offer of a 7% stake on the understanding that annual income from it would have to be more than $ 50,000. In addition, Brown should not be involved, nor should he and Nitti be informed.

Decline

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) - founded in Los Angeles in 1933 - achieved official recognition in May 1937 after a large-scale actor strike in Hollywood and support from the IATSE.

Despite this help, the outfit failed to infiltrate and take control of this union - as well as other organizations such as the Associated Actors and Artists of America - in the years that followed .

As early as 1938, Nitti had asked Bioff that he should officially resign from his post because he had become vulnerable. Nick Circella asked for something similar a year later. However, both remained (internally) on the payroll. The cause of Nitti's demands were the investigations of the actor Robert Montgomery , who was president of the SAG in 1938 and who had found out through his own informants that Bioff had been bribed by Joseph Schenck. He put a former FBI agent on a private investigation, which soon revealed evidence in the form of checks. A check for $ 100,000 was then forwarded to the tax authorities , which began an official investigation.

Schenck had to testify in a court where he disclosed the tactics of the outfit in detail. The result of these statements was that he only had to go to jail for a year before he could resume his duties in Hollywood. But the outfit increasingly lost control.

In the 1930s, the machinations of Bioff, Brown and others slowly became public as the newspapers began a campaign against these activities. In particular, the as conservative force Reporter Westbrook Pegler tried to lighten the backgrounds.

In November 1939 he came across documents about Bioff's criminal past in Chicago and was now continuing independent investigations into why he was now able to stay in the company of Hollywood greats. Robert Montgomery also supported the reporter with his investigation results.

Early in 1940, Bioff was jailed for a pending 1922 conviction, and immediately after his release a year later, Bioff was charged with blackmail along with Browne and Circella. The various offenses ranged from tax evasion to extortion and were all related to the exploitation of the film industry.

Apparently the outfit did not want to allow other people to speak after Schenck . In February 1943, for example, Estelle Carey - Nick Circella's friend - was drastically murdered because she was believed to be involved in the investigation into the outfit for infiltration of the Hollywood studios. Apparently she was handcuffed to a chair, beaten to death, and then burned.

While Circella then found herself guilty, Brown and Bioff made a different decision. In view of the prospect of having to serve a long prison sentence, Bioff became a key witness or - as the Italian mafiosi call it - Pentito ; that is, he testified against the likes of Paul Ricca , Philip D'Andrea , Charles Gioe , John Roselli, Lou Kaufman and Frank Nitti. This enabled Bioff and Brown to reduce their sentences; shortly after Bioff's testimony, Nitti committed suicide .

After his release, Bioff went to Arizona and assumed a new identity as " William Nelson ", cultivated a friendship with Senator Barry Goldwater , whom he supported in his re-election and with whose nephew Bobby he did business.

But his old contacts had not completely disappeared: Bioff worked for Gus Greenbaum , the then manager of the Riviera Casino in Las Vegas .

On November 4, 1955, Bioff was the victim of a car bomb in front of his home in 1250 East Bethany of Phoenix, Arizona ( Maricopa County ) , which had been placed in his car and detonated by the starter.

The crime was featured on page 1 of The New York Times the following day; the perpetrators were never identified. Bioff was buried in the city's Beth Israel Cemetery.

literature

• Robert J. Kelly Westport: Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States . Greenwood Press, Connecticut 2000, ISBN 0-313-30653-2 .
• Carl Sifakis: The Mafia Encyclopedia . Da Capo Press, New York 2005, ISBN 0-8160-5694-3 .
• Carl Sifakis: The Encyclopedia of American Crime . Facts on File Inc., New York 2001, ISBN 0-8160-4040-0 .
• David Witwer: Shadow of the Racketeer: Scandal in Organized Labor . 1st ed. University of Illinois Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-252-03417-6 , pp. 336 .

Web links

• How the Mob Extorted the Hollywood Studio System by John William Tuohy, May 2002 at www.americanmafia.com (English)
• Barry Goldwater: Friends In Low Places by John William Tuohy, July 2002 at americanmafia.com (English)
• William Morris Bioff to Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ William Morris Bioff on Find a Grave (English).
2. ↑ Howard Abadinsky: Organized Crime in books.google.de (English).
3. ^ John William Tuohy: Battaglia Brothers. July 2001 on americanmafia.com (English).