Whatever happened to Pretty Levine?

May 22, 2008 11:51 AM

What happened to Abraham 'Pretty' Levine after the Murder, Inc trials?

OK, this is a faint hope, but maybe somebody knows. Abe 'Pretty' Levine (his nickname referred to his curls, blue eyes and dimples) was a sometime member of Murder, Inc who eventually coughed and started the ball rolling on a series of trials which brought the consortium to its knees in the early 40s, culminating in the execution of Lepke Buchalter.

Because he had co-operated with the prosecution, Pretty Levine was given a suspended sentence and walked out a free man. He was one of the few members of Murder, Inc who escaped with his life, rather than being murdered by his own, executed, or imprisoned until he was an old man.

But what did he do then? Others like 'Tick Tock' Tannenbaum and 'Bug' Workman went on to lead fairly productive lives as, respectively, lampshade and garment salesmen. But there's no record of Pretty that I can find.

The obvious sources -- Burton Turkus' MURDER, INC and Paul Sann's KILL THE DUTCHMAN are silent on the topic, as is (I think) Ron Ross's BUMMY DAVIS vs. MURDER, INC which has quite a lot of stuff about Pretty.

Extra data points: he was married to a girl called Helen and they had a daughter called Barbara who was born around 1938.

posted by unSane to law & government (4 comments total)

A guy named Pat Hamou is writing a book on "the long forgotten era of Jewish gangsters and their colorful and criminal past". He has a companion blog.
posted by lukemeister at 10:31 PM on May 22

Have you tried checking But He Was Good to His Mother : The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters?
posted by Asparagirl at 11:27 PM on May 22

Thanks. I've looked at Hamou's site but I should probably contact him as he seems to read a lot on the subject. I've got BUT HE WAS GOOD TO HIS MOTHER on order but I don't think it has much about Levine.
posted by unSane at 4:29 AM on May 23

Amazon books with "Pretty Levine." He may or may not have been good to his mother, but there's a tantalizing reference to her on page 215 of But He Was Good to His Mother:

...A few were too shocked or embarrassed to speak. The mother of Abraham "Pretty Levine" expressed her dismay to her interviewer."

(Page 215 isn't viewable.)
posted by kirkaracha at 10:24 AM on May 23