Phillip Kastel
| Phillip Kastel | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 2, 1893 New York, New York |
| Died | August 16, 1962 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Cause of death | Gun shot |
| Occupation | Crime |
| Spouse(s) | Elsie Conner d.; Margaret Dennis |
| Parent(s) | Solomon Kastel and Rachel Rosenthal |
| Relatives | Brother: Allen. Sisters: Florence, Ida and Rose Kastel |
Phillip "Dandy Phil" Kastel (April 2, 1893 – August 16, 1962) was an American mobster, gambler, and longtime associate of the Genovese crime family.
Phillip Frank Kastel was born in New York's Lower East Side to Solomon Kastel and Rachel Rosenthal on April 2, 1893. He was brother to Allen, Florence, Ida and Rose Kastel. He stood 5'7" and weighed 165 pounds. He married Elsie Conner in 1940 but they later divorced and he married Margaret Dennis. Despite growing up in a violent neighborhood frequented by street gangs and others of the city's underworld, Kastel instead became involved in gambling and confidence games during the early 1900s and held interests in many of the city's gambling dens shortly before Prohibition.
In 1917, upon the United States entry into World War I, Kastel fled to Canada in order to avoid the draft and operated a nightclub in Montreal, Quebec, for the remainder of the war. Returning to New York in 1919, Kastel was quickly arrested for extortion, although the charges were dismissed. Finding employment with Arnold Rothstein, Kastel oversaw Rothstein's numerous bucket shops, an early telemarketing scam selling fraudulent securities. He also preyed upon local chorus girls, specifically being charged with stealing $22,000 from chorus girl Betty Brown in 1922; however this charge was dismissed.
Following Rothstein's death in 1928, Kastel went to work for former Rothstein associate and New York mobster Frank Costello and later moved to New Orleans to establish gambling operations, primarily slot machines, during the mid-1930s. Between 1935 and 1937, the Costello-Kastel partnership earned an income of over $2.4 million from slot machines alone, according to federal authorities. Although both were charged in 1939 for tax evasion, Kastel and Costello were both acquitted.
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