Max Greenberg
| Max Greenberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1883 Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Died | April 12, 1933 (aged 50) Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States |
| Cause of death | Murdered |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Big Maxie Greenberg Big Head Greenberg |
| Occupation | Bootlegger |
| Known for | Detroit and St. Louis organized crime figure during Prohibition; involved in bootlegging with Arnold Rothstein, Waxey Gordon, Max Hassel |
Max "Big Maxie" Greenberg (1883–1933) was an American bootlegger and organized crime figure in Detroit, Michigan, and later a member of Egan's Rats in St. Louis. He oversaw the purchasing of sacramental wine from Orthodox rabbis, then allowed under the Volstead Act, which were sold to bootleggers in the St. Louis–Kansas City, Missouri area during Prohibition. He was also associated with mobsters in this particular method of acquiring illegal liquor including Waxey Gordon, Meyer Lansky and Arnold Rothstein.
By the early 1910s, Max Greenberg had joined the Egan's Rats and become one of their best members. Max, his brother Morris, and two others were suspected in the murder of Sam Mintz on December 5, 1914. It was disclosed that Mintz had informed on the gang in a fire insurance scam they were running; Greenberg managed to avoid being caught. Max Greenberg was also believed to have played a key role in the Rats' first known bank robbery, that of the Baden Bank on April 10, 1919, during which the robbers took $59,000.
Soon after the Baden bank heist, Max Greenberg, Ben Milner, and Edward "Big Red" Powers were sentenced to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary on an interstate theft charge, stemming from the Egan-sponsored robbery of some railroad cars in Danville, Illinois. Egan gang boss William Egan and Missouri State Senator Michael Kinney managed to finagle the three men pardons from none other than President Woodrow Wilson himself.
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