Jewish-American organized crime

Jewish Mafia

Bugsy Siegel was instrumental in the creation of Las Vegas
Founded	Late 19th century
Founded by	Arnold Rothstein
Founding location	New York City and various towns of the East Coast
Years active	Late 19th century–Present
Territory	United States; active mostly in New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Florida
Ethnicity	Jewish, Jewish-American, Italian-American and Jewish-Italian
Criminal activities	Narcotics trafficking, racketeering, gambling, loan sharking, bookmaking, contract killing, diamond trafficking, extortion, weapons trafficking, fraud, prostitution, bootlegging and money laundering
Allies	Italian American Mafia, Israeli mafia, Russian mafia, various criminal organizations in the U.S., in Australia and Canada

Jewish-American organized crime emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been referred to variously in media and popular culture as the Jewish Mob, Jewish Mafia, Kosher Mafia, Kosher Nostra, or Undzer Shtik (Yiddish: אונדזער שטיק‎). The last two of these terms refer to the Italian Cosa Nostra (Italian pronunciation: [kɔza nɔstra]); the former is a play on the word kosher, referring to Jewish dietary laws, while the latter is a direct translation of the phrase (Italian for "our thing") into Yiddish, which was at the time the predominant language of the Jewish diaspora in the United States.

In the late 19th century in New York City, Monk Eastman operated a powerful Jewish gang that competed with Italian and Irish gangs, notably Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang, for control of New York City's underworld. Another notorious gang, known as the Lenox Avenue Gang, led by Harry "Gyp the Blood" Horowitz, consisted of mostly Jewish members and some Italian members (such as Francesco Cirofisi). It was one of the most violent gangs of the early 20th century and became famous for the murder of gambler and gangster Herman Rosenthal.