Surveillance was conducted on Gold Coast from the parking lot, from across the street, from the waterway, and by undercover agents with body cameras and recording devices hiding behind Sonken's big red menus. But on this day in May 1986, his 8-year-old ocean-blue Oldsmobile barreled backward, crashing through the dock and plunging into the Intracoastal. He testified in 1968 before a state crime investigation committee checking into the mob presence in his restaurant, but nothing ever came of the committees report. "Get me outta here," Sonken yelled in the last moments before the car sank. It was there that he met the infamous organized crime figure Meyer Lansky who was also a resident of Miami Beach. As you can see, these arent pup tents or camping tents. Pivotal moments in mob history transpired over homemade ravioli and Gold Coast's famous Chicken Vesuvio (baked with potatoes and onion). He dressed in a white, open-collared shirt with a dark sport coat and white socks. And below is one of my favorites, with raised vertical trim, and complete with portholes.. The task force, if successful, might have pressured Sonken to turn over information against his big-name customers. If Sonken thought you did something wrong, he would unleash an epic string of profanity. He had amassed a multi-million dollar fortune, and left the bulk of it to local charities, most notably Nova University. Numbers aren't adding up here. He was tough enough to be violent when he had to be violent, says Col. Clinton Pagano, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. The shots missed their mark, and a high-speed car chase that included local cops and even a helicopter ensued down A1A. Joe Sonken (left) was proprietor of the Gold Coast Restaurant and the Cutty Sark Lounge, which were located on A1A in Hollywood. Lansky moved to Florida, and for many years lived in a house in Hallandale. In 1979 the House of Representatives Assassinations Committee . Ben Kramer, a speedboat racer and smuggler, once left $10,000 in cash in a garbage bag in his trunk in the Gold Coast parking lot. It is located across from the Flamingo Wildlife Habitat main entrance. When not checking on his customers' place settings or the sauces simmering in the kitchen, he'd hunker down at his corner table with his dogs, reviewing receipts, a cigar clenched between his teeth. IN CLOSING - It would be nice if you posted a comment with your memories of these wonderful places. 68 reviews. "If you try anything, we'll kill them!". He coordinated previously disjointed illegal gambling operations, creating layers of employment, legitimate and otherwise, in a farmland area that had long been depressed. The restaurant was later sold and now has a new name. Nope, sorry. Meyer arrived at the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1911. Or perhaps it was one of the scores of mobsters who made his restaurant a second home. one of the robbers yelled. He remembers that Mr. Lansky was soft spoken and encouraged him to try Wolfie's "poached eggs and tomatoes." It didnt last long, since patronage was limited to the groups invited guests, and the city rescinded the lease in 1931. he said of Sage, Bagel & Deli in Hallandale. Quietly, Joe Sonkens Gold Coast Restaurant became known as a place where rival mob factions could meet and get along. Lansky and Batista fled Cuba on the same day. A rise in investigative journalism on the mafia inspired Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee to hold televised hearings into organized crime, which pressured J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to step up enforcement. Meyer Lansky lived here at 512 Hibiscus Dr. Hotel Garni Am Ellinger Tor. For rent This 2148 square foot single family home has 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. Patrons have included John Gotti, boss of the Gambino Mafia family in New York and currently the most powerful mobster in the country; Joseph Todaro, head of the Magaddino family in Buffalo; and Edward Sciandra, acting boss of the Bufalino family based in Pennsylvania and New York. Less than two years later, another journalist, Kennedy family insider Pierre Salinger, announced to a Senate committee on organized crime that Sonken was "a notorious Chicago figure." Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House was a Jewish delicatessen at the intersection of 172nd Street and Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. Never a true Mafioso because he was Jewish, not Italian, Lansky outlived nearly all of his Mafia associates. Im not a member of the Mafia, he said. Hollywood Gazette is Hollywood, Floridas only independent, free community newspaper since 2001. It opened in 2008. Art Mooney, a well-known bandleader and singer who performed at Gold Coast, recorded a bouncy song inspired by Sonken called "I Never Had a Worry in the World.". Sonken was Gold Coast, which was famous for stone crabs and called one of the best restaurants in South Florida by the Miami News. Hallandale briefly became part of Hollywood, then on March 6, 1927 it secedes again. And he was smart enough to get into money-making businesses. He is buried at Mount Nebo Cemetery, 5505 NW Third St., in Miami Beach. In 1970 he was sent to prison for refusing to answer questions from a New Jersey state commission about the underworld. Enter dates to see prices. If there were, you may be sure that Id write about it. Almost every night there was a new food critic, chef from another restaurant, politician, or entertainer such as Sammy Davis Jr. at the place. While in prison for murder, Provenzano was also convicted of labor racketeering charges. Included are two master bedroom suites one with a Jacuzzi marble and tile floors, a patio bar and even some of Little Nickys furnishings, including a white leather sofa. All the powerful families have people down here. His arrest record dates back to 1956, yet he seldom has been convicted, and his longest sentence was four months, served at Eglin Federal Prison Camp, a minimum-security federal institution in North Florida. The agents had sold him $10,000 worth of anchovies, mushrooms and olive oil for $4,450 on the theory that Sonken would have to know that the groceries were hot to be sold so cheaply. Had enough of the Jungle Queen? He was known simply as "boss." A former busboy recalls clinking two glasses together while clearing a table, when the old man, as staff called the restaurateur, shouted, "Where's the fucking cocksucker busboy?" There was a question about jurisdiction, but by 1937 Hollywood wasnt allowing gambling in the city. Casino owners were occasionally put in jail but the gaming continued. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma damaged both the original Rascal House sign and the building. It also attracted politicians looking for the liberal vote and visiting borscht-belt performers such as Milton Berle and Henny Youngman, as well as big and little gangsters and bookies with a yen for chicken livers, pastrami, and cheesecake. Cary Grant frequented the restaurant when he was in town, at one point giving Sonken a case of Faberg perfume (Grant was on the company's board); the restaurateur would hand out gift-wrapped bottles of the perfume to female customers, generating press mentions in the Miami News on top of earlier ones that reported spotting Grant. Please note: although its rumored that J. W. Young built a sound stage in Hollywood (Florida) in order to make movies, there is absolutely no record of this in Youngs numerous publications. called Lt. Neil Robar of the Hollywood Police, ordering his officers to stand down. anonymously (anonymous users cannot post links). I don't bother nobody. Years later, Meyer Lansky, it is said, was asked why, being the brilliant businessman that he was, he never went legit. asked Gerald Kogan, the committee's legal counsel and a future Florida State Supreme Court justice. With that in mind, join us on Sunshines exclusive tour of the homes and the haunts of the hoods. OTHER MARCH NEWS Another topic causing some uproar had to do with the site of J. W. Young's Tent City, or Beach City, as it was also called. They grabbed $5,080.83 from the register. Al Capone kept a villa in Miami Beach, where he died after a prison stint for tax evasion. Ralph Morse, LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images T. J.. The site, a city block at Washington Street between the Atlantic Ocean and A1A, is now a city park and rec building. Hallandale soon was home to all types of gambling establishments. Sonken didn't hold grudges. On March 18, 1937 the Hollywood Herald said that beach area landlords were up in arms against the establishment of a trailer park on the site of Beach/Tent City. Scarfos Fort Lauderdale house was up for sale but is temporarily off the market until more than $1 million in liens are settled with the homes owner of record, Leonard J. Mercer Jr. A smooth-talking businessman with a long history of big plans and big debts, Mercer is serving a four-year federal prison sentence for obtaining a loan under false pretenses, perjury and income-tax fraud. Following their lead, other locals who supported them and their businesses also became big contributors to the citys organizations, and generally, most city leaders and residents looked the other way and didnt make a fuss over what was going on. Below is a little information I gleaned from websites. One question asked repeatedly of suspected mobsters was: "Do you know Joe Sonken?". Meyer Lansky In His Own Words Throughout the 1960s the G-men eavesdropped on the private conversations of Meyer Lansky by bugging his personal residence where he lived with his wife in. When his case came to trial, Accetturos doctors claimed that he was suffering from Alzheimers disease. My mother said that back in her flapper days, shed go to Italian restaurants and drink red wine out of coffee cups, Dr. Mickelson laughed. Sporting a large neon sign in the front, the building was designed in the 1950s. One. He settled in at 1321 Tyler Street and opened up a casino in a former tomato packing barn in Hallandale. In fact, in the 30s and 40s, Hallandale had legal slot machines everywhere in drugstores, gas stations, stores and even fishing camps. The heat turned up on Sonken when a 1957 article by columnist Jack Anderson claimed the restaurateur didn't just serve steaks to the mafia, he was mafia. Lansky and his people went to Cuba, where they flourished in Havana until the Castros came into power, and from there to Las Vegas. Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 - January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States.. A member of the Jewish mob, Lansky developed a gambling empire that stretched around the world. At left is a simple single-story home in Hollywood in this geometrical Modern style. In fact, in 1937 Oscar Johnson, the same manager of the Beach Hotel that was a major source of revenue in Hollywood in the 1930s, and whose hotel would overlook the trailers, said that such mobile housing was the thing of the future and didnt object. But it didn't work. Among the guests were Joe E. Lewis, George Jessel, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and other entertainers who performed in Miami nightclubs. So whats the connection? In one year alone, 2,592 photos of Gold Coast were taken by the FBI. How many times had he pulled out of this spot in the last 33 years? Already seen the wiggles at the Mai-Kai, the jiggles at R Donuts? The maitre d' and a share of diners wore tuxedos, but Sonken, son of a tailor, eschewed even a tie. 4,646 views 0 faves 0 comments Taken on December 17, 2008 All rights reserved Additional info Viewing privacy Public Safety level Safe Content type Photo License History S Search Photo navigation < > Thumbnail navigation Z Zoom B Back to context Then he moved to a Miami Beach condo at 5001 Collins Ave. After World War II, Lansky set up real-estate firms and invested in Florida and Caribbean real estate. The Inn was neither colonial nor an inn. In this photo Harding is the tall, white-haired man with a bow tie, in the photo center. March 13, 1923 marks the first presidential visit to Hollywood, a city barely two years old. Today, Catena lives the life of a retired businessman and revered Mafia don. And (going out of chronology) on July 30, 1937 the Hollywood police raided the Plantation in Hallandale. And drove for Lansky when he was in western n.y, If you're interested, I'd like to hear more about your dad. The following year he bought the white stucco, waterfront house for $40,000. Sonken went to court to demand his food back. In the early 1960s, mafia powerhouse Santo Trafficante Jr. and mob flunkey David Ferrie (who years later was portrayed with frenetic flair by Joe Pesci in Oliver Stone's JFK) met other anti-Castro figures at Gold Coast. If so, Provenzano was one of the worlds best-paid truckers, with a penchant for violence, profanity, silk shirts and pinky rings. Joseph Sonken died at age 83 in 1990 with no wife or children, in Plantation, Florida. The dapper but hot-tempered Scarfo, 60, has been in prison ever since, and it is likely he will spend the rest of his life there. Yet Lummus admitted that his real-estate firm had sold Capone the Palm Island house. Born to a father from Russia and a Polish mother, Joe Sonken worked from the time he was 10, leaving school after eighth grade. Cars owned by visiting Mafiosi used to line the dead-end street, and some bigger gatherings were professionally catered. When someone asked what he knew about Meyer Lansky, Sonken would say, "He orders spaghetti." with this post, location or person. In 1968, the same year Sonken gave one of his many English bulldogs to a state senator, the Florida Legislature convened an organized crime committee and called in Sonken. "I do, Judge," the mobster answered. Although he could never be a "made man," Lansky was the unofficial "consigliere" (advisor) to mob chairman Charles "Lucky" Luciano. If you have been following this blog, you know that it was Fisher and his developing Miami Beach that brought J. W. Young here, seeking a site for his city. Accetturo, 51, who got his nickname from the club-wielding caveman in the movie One Million, B.C., moved to South Florida from New Jersey in 1971. Some alleged Sonken was especially close to Chicago's underworld, including Al Capone. The asking price for the house has been reduced from $850,000 to $795,000. Catena was the underboss, or number two man, in the mighty Vito Genovese Mafia family of New York. The boom years for Wolfies and all of Miami Beachs deli-style eateries came after World War II when Jewish veterans and retirees, mostly from New York and the Northeast, flowed into Miami Beach by the thousands as permanent residents, snowbirds, and tourists. MEYER LANSKY WAS THE antithesis of Al Capone, but no less dominant a figure in the annals of organized crime. Meyer Lansky, known as the Mobs Accountant, became important in the gambling scene in Miami, while his brother Jake lived and worked in Hollywood. THE RELATIVES ARE VISITING AGAIN AND youre stumped as to where to take them. And thank you to all my readers! This is the land-facing side of the 1933 Florida Tropical House, designed by Robert L. Weed. In the 1970s mobster Meyer Lansky, pursuing the simple life of a philosophical, Chevrolet-driving, book-borrowing library patron, was often spotted noshing in Wolfie's. By the mid-1980s, after the original Pumperniks closed (another Wolfie Cohen 1950s start-up), Wolfie's was one of few, or perhaps the only, large-scale deli left on the . "You got some boys who might want to punch a Nazi?" he asked. He died last December at age 71 of a heart attack at the federal prison in Lompoc, Calif. His second wife, Marie-Paule Provenzano, has put the Hallandale house up for sale. I would expect him to give advice and counsel to anyone who wants it, says Colonel Pagano of the New Jersey State Police. Living in Florida for over 45 years, we occasionally visited Rascal House on Collins Avenue and Pumperniks on Hallandale Beach Boulevard. Then, in 1976, based on evidence that he would never be healthy enough to stand trial, the Las Vegas skimming charge was dismissed. His rise, his polarizing effect on people, even his kindness are both unlikely and illustrative of a South Florida colonized by wise guys and silky-voiced crooners. Presumably, either the robbers didn't know Gold Coast's reputation or they knew it and that's why they hoped for a big score. Kaufman was connected to New York mobster Vincent Jimmy Blue-eyes Alo. Notorious mobster Meyer Lansky's daughter Sandi and grandson Gary want a piece of what they say is theirs - the hotel and casino empire Fidel Castro seized from Lansky in 1960. "When he got in trouble (with the IRS), he turned everything over to his brother. Hallandale was indeed the hotbed of sin of Broward County in the 30s. The building was repaired and reopened but the old sign was torn down and replaced with a plain sign lower to the ground. Mobsters living in or visiting South Florida meet at Joe Sonkens and receive or pass messages there, says Lieutenant Green, because it is one way of circumventing wiretaps on their telephones. There, he lived out the last years of his life suffering from peresis, a disease of the brain caused by syphilis. So he was born turn of the century. The home at 612 Hibiscus Drive was once owned by mobster Meyer Lansky. It may not be Chicago, but you can truthfully say that Al Capone slept and died here. Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House was a Jewish delicatessen at the intersection of 172nd Street and Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. Proximity to Cuba, another paradise ripe for exploitation (and a pre-Castro gold mine for Lansky), added to South Florida's appeal. 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Alo had been the overseer of clubs, speakeasies and illegal gambling in Brooklyn according to Wikipedia. Reporters gathered outside the gate to his home. "If you want excitement, skydive." Poker games and parties were common at the Capone estate. By Shelley Sackett When Jonathan Lang '98 set out to write a graphic novel about the notorious Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky, he was determined to capture the mobster's life in all its moral complexity.. Meyer Lansky was the highest-ranking non-Italian in the American Mafia. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. A good friend of mine who now lives in Aventura grew up in North Miami Beach. Hallandale Beach, Florida (FL), US Meyer Lansky, known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Belarusian-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States. According to authorities, Pro- venzano regularly was host for meetings of mobsters at his Sea Inn restaurant next to the Gulfstream Park racetrack. Meyer Lansky was saddled with the name Maier Suchowljansky when he was born in Grodno, Poland, sometime between 1898 and 1902. . There he holds court with visitors regardless of their professions or business connections with his English bulldog, Bozo, sitting at his feet. I'm a businessman. Until recently, he lived inconspicuously in an upper middle-class Hollywood neighborhood. The house, located on Palm Island in Biscayne Bay, was built in 1922 by St. Louis brewer Clarence M. Busch. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Time slowed to a crawl. The son of a millionaire commodities commission agent, Kaufman supposedly didnt have to work but did, trading in the potato market hence the nickname then in criminal underwriting and deal making, and then in gambling. Meyer arrived to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1911. 165, located at 76 Lott Avenue (1912-1914). In at least one year, his salary from various union posts exceeded that of the top man, Hoffa. Joe Sonken's Gold Coast Restaurant, it read. "[Sheriff Walter] Clark was a pragmatist," points out Bob Jarvis of Nova Southeastern University Law School, an expert in gambling history. In the mid-1960s, a grand jury on corruption and rackets convened in Broward County with Sonken the marquee name of the investigation. By the time he died at age 81 in 1983, federal agents estimated Lanskys fortune in numbered foreign bank accounts at $300 million. Hallandale was a gamblers paradise and soon became known as the Wall Street of South Florida, due to the many banks and other financial companies that had opened there to support the illegal gambling trade. | If you Google any of the restaurants you will find small tidbits of information and memories posted by people who lived in Florida or visited Florida when these establishments were open. Later, Lansky concocted another scheme. These businesses flourished, helped along by Broward Sheriff Walter Clark, who allowed slots and casinos to thrive in the county in the 1930s and 40s and even held a share in one, according to an article in the Sun-Sentinel on May 09, 2005. Seventy years ago today, February 14, 1948, a display ad for the erstwhile Colonial Inn in Hallandale, Florida, ran in the Ft. Lauderdale News. Houses in this Modern style can be found all over Hollywood, both single-story and two or more stories. So closely was Wolfies identified with Miami Beach that in 1959 Northeast Airlines chose it to cater meals for Miami-to-NY passengers; Lindys supplied delicacies to those flying south. Kaufman was connected to New York mobster named Vincent Jimmy Blue-Eyes Alo, who was also a longtime friend of Meyer Lansky. Copyright var creditsyear = new Date();document.write(creditsyear.getFullYear()); Among the gambling houses he opened were the Greenacres Club in Hollywood and the Colonial Inn near Hallandale. He would have been in his 20s. Cant bear to buy another shark-in-a-bottle or seashell frog from a tacky tourist trap? Meyer Lansky lived in Miami Beach, but his brother Jake lived in Hollywood at 1146 Harrison Street. His success was such that Lansky once made an uncharacteristic but famous boast to an associate: Were bigger than U.S. Steel.. "Oh, it was Joe Sonken's," he explained later. 63ms. Mizners most productive years were behind him, but Robert L. Weed would design the Florida Tropical House for the 1933 Worlds Fair in Chicago. He returns home to Marseilles, Illinois, then with a friend goes over to Indianapolis, where he begins to work for J. W. Young. My thanks to all of you who write me to share with me your knowledge of early Hollywood history. His biggest claim to fame here, according to Dr. Joan Mickelson, local historian and volunteer archivist for the Hollywood Historical Society, is that in 1929, the city of Hollywood, which was having a hard time financially, leased the Hollywood Beach Golf and Country Club to his people. Green convinced DeCrescito to introduce him to people involved in shady liquor distribution, narcotics, and gambling.

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