Name Joseph Linsey | Died November 24, 1994 | |
Joseph Linsey (May 27, 1899 – November 24, 1994) was an organized crime figure in Boston's underworld during the Prohibition era, associated with Joseph Kennedy and Meyer Lansky, and later became a prominent businessman and philanthropist, specifically making contributions to Brandeis University. In 1960, he was the national chairman of the Brandeis Athletic Associations.
Biography
Born in Russia, he immigrated to the United States as a child and later grew up in Boston. After his father died, he went to work at the age of nine delivering groceries and later became apprenticed as a meatcutter. At the start of Prohibition, the 21-year-old Linsey began bootlegging illegal liquor with Charles "King" Solomon from a front business, the National Realty Company. He also bought Canadian liquor from the Bronfmans and, although serving a year for violations of the Volstead Act, he was acquitted from his two later indictments on similar charges. He was alleged by Vinnie Teresa to have been involved in wholesale gambling in the time post Prohibition era. He died in Florida of natural causes in 1994.