Edgar "the Armenian" Kasabian was an Armenian-German crime boss and the head of the Berlin Mafia during the Weimar era. Kasabian was a powerful figure in Berlin's criminal underworld, owning the popular Moka Efti nightclub, engaging in criminal activities such as bootlegging and extortion, and even claiming to "own" the Berlin Police.
Biography[]
Edgar Kasabian was born in the German Empire to a family of Armenian heritage, and, by the time of the Weimar Republic, he came to be the owner of the popular Moka Efti nightclub in Berlin and the head of the Berlin Mafia. Kasabian was ruthless, cutting out the tongue of Sandor Gosztony for selling cheap liquor disguised as arrack and feeding Sandor's tongue to his brother Bela Gosztony as a warning. He also had the pornographers Johann König and Franz Krajewski secretly film prominent politicians and civil servants, from Konrad Adenauer to Engelbert Rath, in sexual bondage with prostitutes, using these films as blackmail. In 1929, the Cologne policeman Gereon Rath transferred to Berlin with the mission of destroying the compromising films, doing so with the reluctant help of Krajewski. Kasabian attempted to resist Rath and Bruno Wolter's raid on his nightclub, but Rath shot Kasabian in the hand before leaving with the films and destroying them.