According to crime writer Leo Katcher,
Rothstein "transformed organized crime from a thuggish activity by hoodlums into a big business, run like a corporation, with himself at the top." According to Rich Cohen, Rothstein was the person who first realized that Prohibition was a business opportunity, a means to
enormous wealth, who "understood the truths of early century capitalism
(giving people what they want) and came to dominate them.” His notoriety inspired several
fictional characters based on his life, portrayed in contemporary and later
short stories, novels, musicals and films.
Rothstein failed to pay a large debt
resulting from a fixed poker game and was murdered in 1928.
In
the novel The Great Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim is a Jewish friend
and mentor of Gatsby's, described as a gambler who fixed the World Series.
Wolfsheim appears only twice in the novel and is a clear allusion to Arnold
Rothstein.
Here is a clip from Boardwalk Empire.
Here is Eight Men Out. Check out minute 27.
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