Standing Up
to the Mob
Andrew Gross
has written a novelized biography of his grandfather, a pioneer in the garment
industry. His protagonist is Morris Raab, born Rabishevsky, who as a boy of 12
on the lower eastside starts working in a garment factory and ultimately rises
to become a major manufacturer of women’s coats and later dresses. For me the
book is especially poignant because my furrier father manufactured linings, collars
and cuffs for high end cloth coats, the very product made by Raab. In fact
there is furrier in the book who supplies Raab.
What makes “Button
Man” so interesting is Raab’s encounters with the mob that was dominating the garment
and fur workers unions of the 1920s and 1930s. We see such mobsters and Murder
Incorporated founder Louis Lepke Buchalter and his sidekick “Gurrah” Shapiro
doing their best to intimidate Raab and his brother partner, Sol. We also run
into Albert Anastasia, Legs Diamond and Dutch Schultz.
At first
Raab fights the mob and then is prepared to give in and ultimately he stands up
to them. He does this by linking up with special prosecutor Tom Dewey through
one of his lower eastside lawyer friends. And at great peril to his life and
the lives of his family he plays a role in bringing down the mob.
What Gross’
novel does is that it shows the real life consequences of what happens when the
mob controls the unions. Everybody, but the mob loses with workers and bosses
alike suffering as worker wages and boss’ profits are drained away through
protection payoffs, forced buying from mob controlled firms and fraudulent
union welfare funds. For those who don’t
play ball they face fires, acid attacks on their garments and their persons and
murder. Gross brings to life what it was like to be a small business owner in
the garment industry of that era. As the son of a furrier whose business
started in 1930 the novel rings true.
The full Amazon URL appears at: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2K6PXYT7REFXE/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
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