Mickey Cohen (Bantamweight)
Name: Mickey Cohen
Alias: Irish Mickey Cohen
Birth Name: Meyer Harris Cohen
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Died: 1976-07-29 (Age:62)
Height: 165cm
Pro Boxer: Record
Mickey Cohen was born Meyer H. Cohen, in the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn. He moved to Los Angeles in 1920 with his family, where they ran a drug store. In 1930, when he was 17 years old, his brother Harry introduced him to boxing manager Eddie Borden. Borden handled him in NY and surrounding areas until Cohen moved back to Ohio. Perhaps his most notable bout was a 1st-round knockout loss to Featherweight Champion Tommy Paul.
Cohen is best-known for his involvement in organized crime. He initially worked for the Chicago Outfit, headed by Al Capone, but was eventually forced to relocate to Los Angeles due to several confrontations with various gamblers and mobsters. It is said that he was the true owner of the Hollywood nightclub called Slapsy Maxie's. (See: [1])
Working in Los Angeles, he became the bodyguard for Jewish mobster Bugsy Seigel. When Seigel was murdered in 1947, Cohen began to work for Frankie Carbo, whose mob syndicate took over the Los Angeles area.
In 1951 Cohen was convicted of evading $150,000 in Federal taxes and did four years for tax evasion, being released in OCtober 1955. In 1961, Cohen was again convicted of tax evasion and sent to Alcatraz. He was released in 1972 from Fedeeral Prison.
Cohen died in his sleep in 1976.
Links
- Wikipedia Article on Cohen: [2]
- 2013 Sean Penn movie Gangster Squad