What 5 Famous Gangsters Drank
Editor’s note: It seemed like a natural fit for contributor Mike Gerrard to write a story on what gangsters drank. A terrific sleuth and researcher, his latest book is Behind Bars: True Crime Stories of Whiskey Heists, Beer Bandits and Fake Million-Dollar Wines. Most recently Gerrard wrote about cheese heists for our sister site, the Cheese Professor.
When prohibition was introduced in the USA in 1920 it was like Christmas for mobsters and moonshiners all over the country. Bottles of illicit booze by the million were moved around the USA, making unheard-of fortunes for the criminal gangs behind the operations.
Some mobsters, like George Remus, aka The Bourbon King, were totally teetotal, while others, including Al Capone, certainly enjoyed a drink at the end of a hard day of mobstering, mayhem, and murder. But what did they and more recent mobsters like to drink (bearing in mind that during prohibition most people, from mobsters through to the White House, were still able to drink whatever they wanted)?
John Gotti
Rémy Martin Louis XIII Cognac and John Gotti
Top of the list when it comes to expensive tastes was John Gotti, whose preferred drink was the ultra-expensive Rémy Martin Louis XIII Cognac. Even today that will set you back several hundred dollars for the cheapest bottles, rising to several thousand for the rare and special editions. Gotti would give these as gifts to his staff, as well as drinking it himself.
Gotti was of Italian heritage and took over as head of New York's Gambino crime family in 1986, soon after ordering the murder of the gang's previous boss, Paul Castellano. When it came to food, Gotti had simple tastes, with a liking for chicken-fried steak, chicken and biscuits, and other homely and decidedly non-Italian dishes from Cracker Barrel restaurants, though Rémy Martin Louis XIII Cognac probably wasn't on the menu.
Al Capone
Al Capone and Templeton Rye
Capone was the child of Italian immigrants and grew up in poverty in New York, turning at first to street crime gangs as a way out. It was definitely a profitable way out, as it's estimated he was eventually worth around $100 million (equivalent to about $1.5 billion today). For food he stayed true to his Italian roots, his favorite dish being spaghetti with walnut sauce.
When it came to drink he was more adventurous, one drink of choice being champagne. His favored spirit was Templeton Rye Whiskey, and his go-to cocktail was a Southside Fizz. This was made with gin, lime juice, simple syrup, and club soda. It was probably a refreshing drink to relax with, after dealing with bootleggers, brothels, blackmail and other day-to-day activities.
Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano drinking a glass of an unknown beverage
Luciano was yet another mobster of Italian descent, who began his ascent into the top ranks of crime on the streets of New York. His favorite food was kosher green pickles, which came about through his friendships with Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel. They were two Jewish gangsters who he tried to work with alongside Irish mobsters, to expand his crime empire so that it wasn't a 100% Italian operation.
It's not known what Lucky Luciano most liked to drink, but this didn't stop some enterprising bartender creating a Lucky Luciano cocktail in his honor. This is made with rye whiskey, vermouth, and Fernet-Branca, a style of amaro, the Italian herbal liqueur.
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky and Dewar's scotch
Russian-born Meyer Lansky became childhood friends with Bugsy Siegel when they grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Later he also became buddies with Lucky Luciano, and eventually became one of the most successful gangsters of all time. No-one knows how much money he made, but at one time it was estimated he was worth several hundred million dollars, way more even than the legendary Al Capone.
His favorite food was a cheese blintz, a pancake filled with sweet cheese. This is a variation on the Sicilian specialty, cannoli, the finer points of which Tony Soprano discussed with Christopher Moltisanti in an episode of The Sopranos. Lansky's preferred drink was Dewar's scotch. As with many mobsters, it had to be a particular brand of scotch, and woe betide the bartender who didn't stock it. Another mobster favorite was Chivas Regal.
Bugsy Siegel
Vintage Champagne and Bugsy Siegel
Siegel was born in Brooklyn and got into crime when he joined a Manhattan street gang. He made his first big money from bootlegging on the East Coast during prohibition, before moving to Hollywood, where he befriended movie stars - and borrowed money from them without repaying it. He then went to Las Vegas. Here he put his laundered money into helping build The Flamingo, which helped kick off the Las Vegas Strip.
Siegel certainly enjoyed the finer things in life, although there's no record of him having a particular favorite food or beverage. However, it is known that he enjoyed knocking back vintage Champagne and classy cocktails with his showbiz friends, who included Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, and George Raft, an actor who played gangsters on the silver screen but was also involved in organized crime in real life. Siegel was also good buddies with Frank Sinatra: The Rat Pack and the Mob made for good bedfellows.