| Abstract: | The following is an analysis of primarily the cocaine trade in New York from 1910 to 1917. The data used come from the investigative files of the Bureau of Social Morals, part of the New York Kehillah. The Kehillah itself was a broadly based communal agency which functioned in part as a counter to accusations of Jewish criminality current in the press. The analysis deals with the social backgrounds of cocaine dealers. and then looks at the manner in which cocaine was distributed especially by criminal collectives known as combinations. It concludes that the structure of drug syndicates was exceptionally loose, fluid, and often kin-centered. Finally, the essay strongly suggests the need to integrate urban history with studies of organized crime in general. |
