 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
Hyman Holtz | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1896 (1896) |
| Died | c. 1939(1939-00-00) (aged 42–43) |
| Cause of death | Assassination by stabbing |
| Body discovered | East River |
| Other names | Curly Little Hymie |
| Allegiance | Louis Buchalter Jacob Orgen (previous) |
Hyman "Curly"Holtz (c. 1896 – 1939?), also known as "Little Hymie", was a New York laborracketeer who began working as a labor slugger forJacob "Little Augie" Orgen during the early 1920s.
As with many of the other younger members within the organization, Holtz grew disenchanted serving under Orgen, especially for his involvement in narcotics. Without the consent of his lieutenants, Orgen accepted a $50,000 payoff to settle a strike in the painting industry. When Orgen refused a request to return the money, Holtz was one of the younger members who soon left the organization withLouis "Lepke" Buchalter and later aligned himself with Buchalter after his split from Orgen.
In 1927, upon taking control of the International Brotherhood of Painters Flatbush-based Local 102 from Jacob "The Bum" Wellner in Brooklyn, he clashed withArnold Rothstein, who had been hired by an employers association under the "John T. Nolan Agency", headed by Orgen and Rothstein bodyguardsEddie andJack "Legs" Diamond to break up union activities after workers went on strike.
A protégé of Buchalter, he is suspected to have been with Buchalter andJacob "Gurrah" Shapiro when Orgen was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on October 15, 1927.
On November 19, he and associate Benjamin Weinstein were both injured in a drive-by shooting while standing at the corner of Mount Eden and Townsend Avenues. Assigned a police guard of fifteen detectives, he was eventually moved fromFordham Hospital to Morrisania Court for his arraignment for technical assault, which was later dismissed.[1] However he would be detained on a bench warrant regarding a charge of robbery.[1]
An associate ofMeyer Lansky, he attended the Franconia Hotel Conference on November 11, 1931. One of his men,Louis Cohen, was killed in 1939 byMurder, Inc. after serving a 15-year prison sentence for the murder of"Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan.[citation needed]
He would eventually become involved in Buchalter's drug trafficking operations, with shipments reportedly worth $10 million, bringing heroin and morphine into the United States from China withJacob "Yasha" Katzenberg.[citation needed] His body was later found dumped in theEast River; he had been stabbed to death by Murder, Inc. on orders from Buchalter, who suspected Holtz had been skimming from the narcotics operation.[citation needed]
