Birth name Harold Rothman Name Hooky Rothman Other work Bodyguard Battles/wars World War II Rank Private | Years of service 1942–1945 Allegiance United States Battles and wars World War II | |
Died August 18, 1948, Los Angeles, California, United States Awards World War II Victory Medal | ||
Service/branch United States Army | ||
Harold "Hooky" Rothman (1910 – August 18, 1948), also known as Harry Rothman, was a Jewish mobster and mob enforcer who was the right-hand man of Los Angeles kingpin Mickey Cohen during "The Battle of Sunset Strip" for the control of illegal activities in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
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Early life
Not much is known about Rothman's early life but what is known is that he was born to Jewish parents and was born in New York City, New York. He had eight brothers and two sisters.
Rothman had a lengthy criminal career and served a term of imprisonment in 1938 in New York State.
World War II
Rothman served in World War II in the US Army as a private from 1942 to 1945, and received an Honorable Disharge.
The Battle of Sunset Strip
After World War II, Rothman went to Los Angeles, California in mid-late 1945. In 1946, on orders of former New York mob boss and fellow hitman Benjamin Siegel and Mickey Cohen, Rothman murdered rival bookies Benny "the Meatball" Gamson and George Levinson in their apartment.
Cohen ordered their deaths, because Levinson and Gamson were moving in on his business, including: extortion, prostitution, narcotics and Siegel and Cohen's gambling rackets. Jimmy Fratianno had considered Harold "Hooky" Rothman to be Cohen's toughest and smartest man.
On June 20, 1947, Siegel was murdered by his East Coast bosses. After the hit, Los Angeles crime family boss Jack Dragna (Cohen's rival) attempted a hostile takeover of Siegel's gambling rackets. Dragna ran into a road block in the form of Cohen, who wasn't about to let Dragna take it all over without a fight and the war was on.
Death
On August 18, 1948, Fratianno used his wife and daughter to set up Cohen at his haberdashery store. Luckily, Cohen was washing his hands in the bathroom, a weird fetish he had of germs, after shaking Fratianno's hands. As Fratianno left, he signaled Dragna gang members and they rushed into the store. Frank Bompensiero stuck a sawed-off shotgun in Rothman's face and ordered him to get back into the shop. As two other hitmen ran past him, Rothman swung at the shotgun causing it to go off obliterating his face, killing him instantly.
Media
Rothman is the basis for a hitman and close friend of Siegel in the TNT miniseries Mob City. In the show, he has a right-hand man named Terry Mandel. He is played by Robert Knepper