David Berman (mobster)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

David Berman (1903–June 16, 1957) was an Jewish-American organized crime figure in Iowa, New York City, Minneapolis, and Las Vegas. He was one of the pioneers of gambling in Las Vegas, where he was a partner with flamboyant mobster Bugsy Siegel at the Flamingo Hotel. Berman died a non-violent death in 1957 during surgery.

Early life[]

Berman was born into a Jewish family^[1] in Odessa, Ukraine, at that time in the Russian Empire. His father was a former rabbinical student who played the violin. When he was a young child, his father departed for America and settled in Ashley, North Dakota,^[2] on land provided by Baron Maurice de Hirsch's Jewish Colonization Association. Berman then sent for his wife and children. David's mother was reportedly horrified after getting off the train and realizing that they had exchanged the warmth of Odessa for the icy cold of the Great Plains.

Gangster[]

After failing on the land, the Bermans moved to Sioux City, Iowa, where David got his start as a mobster. At the age of 13, he ran a crew of teenaged thugs committing petty shakedowns and eventually a string of illegal distilleries. He then went on to supplement his earnings by also running his own armed robbing crew.

After developing close ties to the Genovese crime family associates Moe Sedway and Meyer Lansky, Berman moved to Minneapolis, where he operated a major bookmaking operation in rivalry with local mobsters Yiddy Bloom, Kid Cann, and .

One of Berman's closest enforcers during those years was Israel Alderman, a notoriously homicidal Jewish hitman from North Minneapolis, who was nicknamed "Ice Pick Willie". Davie's brother, "Chickie" Berman, also worked for him. He was nicknamed "Davie the Jew".

According to his daughter Susan's memoir Easy Street, Davie Berman ordered the murders of two Italian-American brothers who had been sent by Chicago Outfit acting boss Al Capone to organize a Mafia family in the Twin Cities.

The murders allegedly resulted in a sit-down between Capone and Berman's protectors in the Genovese crime family of New York City. Capone demanded Berman's assassination and the New York mobsters spoken in Berman's defense. At the end of the sit-down, Capone grudgingly backed down, but vowed to kill Berman if he ever came to Chicago.

Due to his close relationship with Minneapolis mayor Marvin L. Kline, Berman briefly eclipsed his rivals as boss of the Minneapolis illegal gambling rackets. Banks and Kid Cann briefly went to work for him.

According to his daughter, Susan, Berman also used his crew to intimidate and terrorize members of the pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic Silver Shirts, driving them out of Minneapolis.

World War II[]

Berman said that persecution of his fellow Jews enraged him so much that he enlisted in the Canadian Army. He had, in fact, previously been turned away by the U.S. military as a convicted felon. In addition, Pearl Harbor had not yet brought the U.S. into World War II. He saw combat in the European Theater with the 18th Armoured Car Regiment (12th Manitoba Dragoons), a reconnaissance outfit, along with Minnesota friend Nathan Gittlewich. Berman was well-liked, and fellow troopers did not know of his criminal background.

Las Vegas[]

After his return to Minneapolis, Davie's gambling operations were shattered during the first term of racket busting Mayor Hubert Humphrey. Berman moved his crew to Las Vegas and operated there in concert with Genovese Family associate Moe Sedway.

Almost immediately after the 1947 assassination of Bugsy Siegel, Sedway and Berman walked into the lobby of the Flamingo and announced that they were in charge. During their tenure as Las Vegas mob royalty, Gladys Berman regularly hosted Seders for thousands at the Riviera Hotel on the Las Vegas strip.^[3]

Berman died on the operating table during surgery to remove polyps from his colon on Father's Day, 1957.

Family[]

While he lived in Minneapolis, Berman met and married Gladys Ewald, a German-American dancer who converted from Lutheranism to Judaism. The couple's only child, daughter Susan Berman, wrote a memoir about growing up as Las Vegas mob royalty titled Easy Street (1981). In her memoir, Susan indicated she knew little of her father's past until an acquaintance brought to her attention the mentions of her father in the book The Green Felt Jungle. Gladys Berman died shortly after the death of her husband due to an overdose of barbiturates, although it is unclear whether it was suicide. Gladys Berman was only 39 years old. Their daughter Susan Berman was murdered in her Southern California home — the suspected murderer, whose trial is set to begin September 3, 2019 is Robert Durst.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Berman, Susan. Easy Street: The True Story of a Gangster's Daughter. Bantam Books, 1983. ISBN 0-553-22935-4.
• Scott, Cathy. Murder of a Mafia Daughter: The Life and Tragic Death of Susan Berman. Barricade Books, 2002. ISBN 1-56980-238-6.
• Scott, Cathy. "Who Killed Susan Berman?" Las Vegas CityLife. February 25, 2004.
• DePaulo, Lisa. ""Who Killed the Gangster's Daughter?" New York. March 12, 2001.

External links[]

• David Berman at Find a Grave