Arnold Rothstein

Arnold Rothstein (January 17, 1882 – November 5, 1928), nicknamed "the Brain," was a Jewish New York racketeer, businessman and gambler who became a kingpin of the Jewish mob in New York. Rothstein was widely reputed to have organized corruption in professional athletics, most notoriously conspiring in the fixing of the 1919 World Series Black Sox Scandal.

According to the 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 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.