Max Hoff (mobster)
| Max Hoff | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1892 South Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | April 27, 1941 (aged 48–49) West Philadelphia, United States |
| Other names | Maxie, Boo Boo |
| Occupation | Gangster, crime boss, gambler, boxer, bootlegger |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Hoff (second wife) |
Max "Boo Boo" Hoff was born in South Philadelphia in 1892. Hoff was an ex-boxer who later became a bootlegger and gambler.
Max Hoff was born in Little Italy, Philadelphia, in 1892 to poor Russian Jewish immigrants. After quitting school, Hoff worked for many years in a cigar store where the service also included gambling. His pay was raised from $12 a week to $15 after his boss noticed how his amiable personality appealed to customers. In 1917, he started a gambling operation in the section of Philadelphia now known as Society Hill.
In the late 1920s, he had the largest stable of prizefighters in the nation, and he staged boxing matches for many years at several Philadelphia sites. None of his boxers won a world championship, but several were highly ranked contenders in a period when boxing was a widely popular form of sports entertainment. In 1928, his stable of boxers became Max Hoff Inc. His group was the first group of prize fighters to be incorporated.
In 1927, Hoff filed a $350,000 lawsuit against Gene Tunney and his manager, Billy Gibson. The suit was based on a disputed agreement, which Hoff claimed was signed by Tunney and Gibson the day before Tunney's first fight with the heavyweight champion, Jack Dempsey, in 1926. He said he loaned Tunney and Gibson $20,000 as an advance to bind an oral agreement. Tunney and Gibson claimed they needed money right away because they owed thousands of dollars to Tex Rickards, who promoted the fight and had loaned them money to cover training and other expenses. The deal called for Hoff to receive 20% of Tunney's championship fight earnings and to be joint-manager, with Gibson, in exchange for the loan. For unknown reasons, Hoff dropped the suit in 1931, despite his insistence that he had a strong case.
When Prohibition took effect in 1919, Hoff expanded his business into bootlegging; just like most mobsters in Philadelphia including Mickey Duffy, Leo and Ignatius Lanzetta, and Salvatore Sabella.
...
Wikipedia