Arnold Rothstein: Corruption In The 1920's

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Nick Carabin Ms. Drosdick English 10/ Period 4 3/14/16 Arnold Rothstein The 1920’s was a crazy time for everything , corruption rose into cities as famous gamblers approached . To help the cause of corruption, the Prohibition put a ban on any alcoholic beverage. This then cause speakeasies and gambling parlors to start up. One famous man to start up a gambling was named Arnold Rothstein. He would later expand his business and start to gamble himself. “He was referred to as Mr. Big, the Big Bankroll, The Man Upstairs, and the Fixer. Arnold Rothstein was all of that and more.” This quote explained how many other people during the 1920’s viewed Rothstein. Although Rothstein was just one man, there were numerous ways to perceive him. Some thought of Rothstein as a boss, some a cheater, and others a thief and a bad guy. Even if he was all of these names he did have an enormous impact on what happened in the 1920’s. On January 17, 1882 Arnold Rothstein was born in the city of New York. His dad was named Abraham Rothstein and he was a businessman. However Abraham was usually dishonest and was it was unusual for him to tell the truth. Sixteen years later Arnold dropped out of his high school and found a job selling hats. This however did not work for him and he was …show more content…

That same year Rothstein “borrowed” $2,000 from his father-in-law to open a gambling parlor. Many high-end people started to come, fact there's a story of a person who lost $40,000 in a single night at the parlor. This proves how Rothstein's parlor was very successful. Since Rothstein was so successful he was able to buy out the parlor and make it his own. After that he learned that he could make a living off of his gambling. Problems he had to overcome included him dropping out of school at 16 and shifting between jobs until he found his calling of big head of a gambling