Waxey Gordon

Irving Wexler (January 19, 1888 – June 24, 1952), better known as Waxey Gordon, was an American organized crime figure of Polish-Jewish descent who rose from pickpocketing on New York City's Lower East Side to become one of the era's leading bootleggers during Prohibition. Earning his nickname for the dexterous, "waxy" touch that allowed him to lift wallets undetected as early as age ten, Gordon transitioned into labor racketeering before entering the lucrative illegal alcohol trade around 1920, partnering initially with Maxie Greenberg under the financial patronage of gambler Arnold Rothstein. He built a vast beer distribution network, smuggling from Canada and later operating clandestine breweries in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to supply much of Manhattan's speakeasies, generating millions in revenue—including over $1.6 million in 1930–1931 alone—while associating with figures like Dutch Schultz. Gordon's dominance eroded amid gangland rivalries, including a 1933 assassination attempt attributed to Schultz, the same year federal authorities convicted him of income tax evasion and conspiracy for concealing over $1.4 million in earnings, resulting in a ten-year prison sentence and substantial fines. Released in 1940, he pivoted to wartime black-market sugar sales and eventually narcotics trafficking, leading to his 1951 indictment for heading a heroin distribution ring; convicted as a repeat offender, he received a 25-year term but died of a heart attack at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary the following year, having spent much of his later life cycling through arrests and incarcerations.

Irving Wexler, known by his alias Waxey Gordon, was born on January 19, 1888, in Manhattan's Lower East Side, New York City. His parents, Louis and Beila Wechsler, were impoverished Jewish immigrants from Poland who had settled in the densely populated immigrant enclave amid widespread poverty and overcrowding.

The Wexler family belonged to a large household typical of Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the area, residing near Forsythe and Chrystie streets in conditions marked by economic hardship and limited opportunities. This environment, characterized by tenement housing and street-level survival, shaped the early circumstances of Wexler's upbringing within New York's burgeoning Jewish community.