Cleveland Crime Family: Alex Birns, Thomas Sinito, Porrello Crime Family, Jimmy Fratianno, James T. Licavoli, John Nardi, Ray Ferritto

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 26. Chapters: Alex Birns, Thomas Sinito, Porrello crime family, Jimmy Fratianno, James T. Licavoli, John Nardi, Ray Ferritto, John Tronolone, Moe Dalitz, Salvatore Todaro, Alfred Polizzi, John T. Scalish, Angelo Lonardo, Leo Moceri. Excerpt: Alex Birns (February 21, 1907 - March 29, 1975), also known as Shondor, was a notorious Jewish-American mobster and racketeer from Cleveland, Ohio who was once labeled as the city's Public Enemy No. 1 by the local newspapers. He was actively involved in a wide variety of racketeering and other organized crime related activities such as prostitution, theft, numbers, etc., from the days of Prohibition until his demise. Alex Birns was born Alexander Birnstein in 1907 in the town of Lemes in a section of Austria-Hungary that went to Czechoslovakia under the Versailles treaty. His parents were Herman and Illon Birnstein. Youngest of three children, he was brought to New York at the age of one month. From New York City, the family moved to Cleveland, settling in the lower Woodland Avenue district. Like many immigrant families, the Birnsteins Americanized their surname to Birn. Alexander's name was abbreviated to an English translation of Zander. But the Italian and Jewish neighbors took to calling the boy Shondor and the name stuck. Like most families, the Birn family struggled to earn a living in the New World. Like many immigrants during Prohibition, they turned to bootlegging, taking in a small still from Cleveland Mafia boss, Joe Lonardo to supplement their income and provide better for their children. In November 1920, Birn's mother was tending to the 10-gallon still in their apartment, when a faulty gas connection caused an explosion. Her clothes caught on fire and were engulfed in flames. She ran out screaming where a passing motorist helped extinguish the flames and drove her to the h...