Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen (4 September 1913-29 July 1976) was a Jewish Mob boss who dominated crime in Los Angeles, California from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Biography[]
Meyer Harris Cohen was born in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City on 4 September 1913, and his family moved to Los Angeles around 1919. Cohen became a petty thief as a youth, and he was an illegal prizefighter during his teenage years. Cohen decided to work as an enforcer for the Chicago Outfit under Al Capone during his stay in Chicago, Illinois, and he worked with Jake Guzik. Later, he met Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel in Cleveland, Ohio, and Lansky sent Cohen to assist Siegel with the casino business back in Los Angeles. Cohen initially worked as a bodyguard for Siegel, but he would take over Siegel's businesses after Siegel's murder in 1947. Cohen became the boss of the Sunset Strip, and he would be convicted of tax evasion several times during the 1950s. In 1961, he was sent to Alcatraz, but he became the only person to be bailed out of the infamous prison. He died in 1976 at the age of 62.