A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from May 24, 2009
Kosher Nostra (Jewish Mafia)

“Kosher Nostra” is a pun on the name “Cosa Nostra” (meaning “our thing”), another name for the Sicilian mafia. “Kosher Nostra” is cited in print from at least 1964 and has been applied to Jewish criminals, especially those who associated with the Cosa Nostra.
 
The name “Kosher Nostra” has applied to any Jewish gang (not necessarily criminal), such as a group of Jewish musicians or a group of Jewish eaters (“noshers”).
 
   
Urban Dictionary
Kosher Nostra 
1. The Jewish Mafia
2. Lead by Jachim “Dewey” Horowitz
On the PA at Newark International Airport: “Welcome to New Jersey, home of the Kosher Nostra”
by Raised by a cup of coffee Apr 14, 2004
 
Zazzle.com
La Kosher Nostra
T-shirt by bluejeanmafia
La Kosher Nostra is a registered trademark of Bluejean Mafia, LLC.
created by bluejeanmafia (4/10/2008 5:46 PM)
 
Wikipedia: Mafia
The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily, and the first such society to be referred to as a mafia. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct. Each group, known as a “family”, “clan” or “cosca”, claims sovereignty over a territory in which it operates its rackets - usually a town or village or a neighborhood of a larger city.
 
Offshoots of the Mafia emerged in the United States and in Australia during the late 19th century following waves of Sicilian and Southern Italian emigration (see Italian-American Mafia).
(...)
The name “Cosa Nostra”
When the American mafioso Joseph Valachi testified before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations in 1962, he revealed that American mafiosi referred to their organization by the term Cosa Nostra (“our thing”). At the time, it was understood as a proper name, fostered by the FBI and disseminated by the media. The designation gained wide popularity and almost replaced the term Mafia. The FBI even added the article to the term, calling it La Cosa Nostra. In Italy the article la is never used when referring to the Sicilian Mafia.
 
Italian investigators did not take the term seriously, believing it was only used by the American Mafia. Then, in 1984, the Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta revealed to the anti-mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone that the term was used by the Sicilian Mafia as well. According to Buscetta, the word “mafia” was a literary creation. Other defectors, such as Antonio Calderone and Salvatore Contorno, confirmed this. Mafiosi introduce known members to each other as belonging to cosa nostra (“our thing”) or la stessa cosa (“the same thing”), e.g. “he is the same thing, a mafioso, as you”. The name is not a formal one, however, as members see no need for one.
 
The Sicilian Mafia has used other names to describe itself throughout its history, such as “The Honoured Society.” Mafiosi are known among themselves as “men of honour” or “men of respect”.
 
3 January 1964, Pasadena (CA) Independent, “Notes From Hollywood” by Mike Connolly, pg. 11, cols. 2-3:
Max Shulman, aside from scripting a Hollywood TV satire titled “Nutsyfagansville,” tells me he’s found time to join up with a new mob on Fairfax Avenue’s Delicatessen Row called the Kosher Nostra.
 
14 February 1965, New York (NY) Times, “Mafia Steps Up Infiltration And Looting of Businesses” by Charles Grutzner, pg. 65:
The Mafia leaders have on occasion utilized killers from other ethnic groups to carry out executions. In their lighter moments the Mafiosi refer to their Jewish hirelings or associates as the Kosher Nostra.
   
2 August 1967, Denton (TX) Record-Chronicle, pg. 1, col. 2:
With the situation in the Middle East still uneasy, the Israelis have started an underground movement. It’s called the Kosher Nostra.
 
2 June 1971, New Castle (PA) News, pg. 39, col. 7:
Shapp (Pennsylvania Govenor Milton J. Shapp—ed.) underwent the usual good-humored needling in high spirits as almost 500 state officials and political figures watched this year’s proceedings, entitled “Kosher Nostra” and sponsored by the newsmen who cover the state capitol.
—Buck Herzog, Milwaukee Sentinel
 
29 December 1971, Charleston (WV) Gazette, “Kosher Nostra Moving” by Jack Anderson, pg. 4:
WASHINGTON—The Zionists and refugees aren’t the only Jews who look upon Israel as the promised land. A disturbing number of Jewish racketeers have also sought sanctuary in Israel.
 
Within the underworld, these criminal operators are known as the “Kosher Nostra.” But their activities in narcotics, gambling, shylocking and prostitution are anything but kosher.
 
7 August 1987, Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada) Free Press, “Newspaper rebuked,” pg. 5, col. 2:
LONDON—A British newspaper was accused today by the watchdog press Council of having encouraged anti-Semitism by the use of the term “Kosher Nostra” to describe a Jewish stockbroker and his associates.
(...)
A spokeman for The Daily Mail told the council the name “Kosher Nostra” was intended as an amusing play on words and not meant to be anti-Semitic.
 
New York (NY) Times Book Review
Kosher Nostra
By RICH COHEN
Published: September 24, 2006
(...)
SUPERMOB
How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America’s Hidden Power Brokers.
By Gus Russo.
Illustrated. 623 pp.
Bloomsbury. $34.95.
   
(Trademark)
Word Mark KOSHER NOSTRA RESTAURANTS
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 030. US 046. G & S: PIZZA AND RELATED PRODUCTS. FIRST USE: 19780102. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19780102
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Serial Number 73291457
Filing Date December 30, 1980
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Owner (APPLICANT) WEISS, HOWARD DUMONT INDIVIDUAL 363 S. FAIRFAX LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA 90063
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark LA KOSHER NOSTRA
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 016. US 002 005 022 023 029 037 038 050. G & S: Screenplays as well as clothing, namely, hats and t-shirts
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number 77448134
Filing Date April 15, 2008
Current Filing Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Blue Jean Mafia, LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY FLORIDA 515 East Park Avenue Tallahassee FLORIDA 32301
Attorney of Record Gustavo Sardina
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date January 7, 2009

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityWorkers/People • Sunday, May 24, 2009 • Permalink


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