By the late 1940s mobsters from the East Coast were finally gaining a bit of a toe hold in L.A. They had been attempting to move-in and take over the city for years — but L.A. had a much different paradigm than New York or Chicago.
In L.A. corruption was a trickle-down affair with dishonest city government officials at the top of the heap in charge of vice, gambling, and (during Prohibition) liquor. A shadowy and mutually beneficial collective between the people in office and local bad guys was known as The Combination. With collusion among City Hall politicians, some members of local law enforcement (both LAPD and LASD), and vice and gambling lords like Charlie “The Gray Fox” Crawford and Tony “The Hat” Cornero, there was plenty of illegal loot to go around — not that that stopped anyone from trying to grab a bigger slice of the profane pie for himself.
I’ve lived in Southern California nearly all of my life, but I was born in Chicago, which I believe accounts in large measure for my fascination with crime. As a little kid I had an honorary uncle, a close friend of the family, not a blood relation — let’s call him Tommy. Whatever Uncle Tommy did for a living in Chicago was mysterious, at least to me. His real line of work became clear when he and his family departed for Las Vegas where he was made pit boss at the Stardust. Interestingly, the Stardust was conceived and built the previously mentioned Tony “The Hat” Cornero. The criminal world, especially back in the day, was a small one.
In future posts I’ll introduce you to many more of the bad actors in the so-called Combination, and some of the mobsters who relocated to L.A. from places like New York, Chicago and Cleveland, but today I want to focus on one guy, a small-time hood with big ambitions, Benny “The Meatball” (aka “Little Meatball”) Gamson.
The Meatball was a Chicago transplant. It was there that he’d known Mickey Cohen who, in the 1940s, was beginning to rise in the L.A. rackets. When Benny came out to L.A. he expected his old pal Mickey to welcome him with open arms and introduce him to a couple of the city’s biggest players: Ben “Bugsy” Siegel and Jack Dragna.
Mickey was attempting to be a pal when he tried to explain to Benny that things didn’t work the same way in L.A. as they had in Chicago, but The Meatball didn’t like what he heard. In fact he pitched a fit and beat the crap out of one of Cohen’s longtime Boyle Heights buddies. Then Benny did something completely unforgivable, he went in to business with one of Cohen’s rivals, Paul “Pauley” Gibbons.
Gibbons may, or may not, have been a serious rival of Mickey’s but he was certainly a gambler on a life-long losing streak. He was also a guy who didn’t pay his debts, and things never end well for welshers.
Whether it was for crossing Cohen, or reneging on a debt, Gibbons paid with his life. On May 2, 1946 at 2:30 a.m. the forty-five year old ex-con with an extensive arrest record, was shot and killed in an ambush.
Gibbons had parked his pricey sedan across from his apartment on N. Gale Drive. He had no idea that a gunman was waiting in the shadows. Witnesses said that as Pauley walked toward his apartment, a car came screeching out of the alley. Five shots rang out, Gibbons staggered and fell. The killer leaped from the car and as Gibbons begged for mercy he was lifted into a kneeling position and finished off with two more shots
Among the local thugs questioned in the slaying was Mickey Cohen, referred to in the newspapers as a “sporting figure”. Mickey denied knowing anything about the murder.
Benny was booked in Beverly Hills Jail on suspicion of Pauley’s murder, but he wriggled out of the net. The cops characterized the killing as a professional hit and Inspector Norris Stensland of the Sheriff’s office said:
“The job was too well done to have been thought up by any of our small-fry racketeers.”
If ever there was a small-fry it was the 5′ 1″ crook, Benny Gamson. Beverly Hills held him for two days and then kicked him loose.
A couple of weeks later two radio car officers, E.M. Kudlac and J.D. Wolfe, noticed The Meatball as he was driving on Beverly Blvd. between Ogden Drive and Genesee St.
The officers noticed that sprayed along the driver’s side of Benny’s car were five bullet holes — and another had punctured the rear window.
Old school wise guy that he was, Meatball knew nuthin’ about nuthin’. He told the cops a variety of different stories. My favorite of them was that he’d noticed the holes in his car two weeks earlier and had reported them to his insurance company as the attack of “vandals who tried to ruin my car.”
The Meatball should have seen the handwriting on the wall, but he wasn’t exactly a deep thinker.
In October 1946 Gamson, who was described as: “the pudgy 39 year old strong arm of many aliases”, and an associate, George Levinson, were shot and killed by unknown assailants.
Witnesses said that Gamson had stumbled from an apartment house on Beverly Blvd with blood streaming from five through and through bullet holes. He died on the sidewalk, screaming for help.
George Levinson dropped near the door of the apartment house with a slug through the back of his head.
A big, black sedan was observed fleeing the scene.
Mickey Cohen and his bullet proof car.
The police couldn’t get anyone to cooperate and nobody came forward with information on the murders.
Gamson’s wife clammed up — she knew better than to comment on the slayings.
Levinson’s wife also kept quiet. When asked by investigators if she would discuss the case, she replied:
“I got nothing to say.”
i grew up in the Boston area,and my family also had a “friend” with an occupation that didn’t seem to have any regular hours,but it wasn’t suspicious to me at the time because he wasn’t the same ethnic group we associate with the Mob,needless to say that later on when a relative was drawn into his circle,eyes were opened,mine especially,and it suddenly dawned on me what was going on all those years…as a side note (of course) they just don’t make nicknames like “Meatball” and “the Hat” anymore,and they don’t make gangsters that “didn’t know nuthin’,didn’t see nuthin'” anymore either
Devlin, I have a feeling that those of us who grew up in cities like Boston, Chicago, New York, Cleveland and Detroit had
at least one family friend who made a living doing shady stuff. I confess, I was drawn to Benny’s story partly because of his great
nickname! Modern gangsters apparently don’t take an oath of silence — quite the contrary, they are blabbermouths.
I had an “Uncle Tommy” too! They called him “The Greek”, it’s good to hear from someone else that had “Uncles”!
Patty – That’s hilarious! I wonder how many other people had a shady Uncle Tommy. Best, Joan
Benny was my maternal grandfather.
Robyn: Oh dear. Well, I hope I didn’t do any injustice to Benny in my story. He was certainly a colorful character and played a part in the fascinating history of crime in L.A. Do you have any recollections of him, or was he gone long before you were born?
Yes, he definitely sounded like a very colorful person. Unfortunately, I never got to meet him. He was killed when my mom was only 4. I do have lots of family stories though. I wish I could have met him.
Robyn – so sorry that you never got to meet him. I had an “uncle” (friend of the family – not relation) who relocated to Vegas in the late 50s, but even if I’d have asked him about his work I know he’d never have told me a thing–it was just part of their life, the Code of Omerta (silence).
Benny was my mother’s father’s cousin. My mom and her side were from Chicago.
Steve
I’m originally from Chicago too — some great family stories come out of there.
Thanks for reading the blog.
Best,
Joan
He was my grandmother’s brother, my mom’s uncle.
Don’t we have an interesting family Robyn?
You were right about his wife, my grandmother, she definitely clammed up when talking about him. I actually did not even know anything about him until I read about him in a book about mobsters. She was always too afraid to speak about him. I do know “they” took care of her and my mother since they made her a widow.
Robyn — no doubt about it, it was a professional hit and, frankly, your grandmother was probably wise to keep quiet. Scary stuff.
Benny the Meatball Gamson was my great uncle. My grandmas brother. I always heard the story of a relative being killed by the mafia,but until now hadn’t realized that such information would be in several books. Its nice to hear the real story since grandma and her sisters have been dead for years and I never had a chance to ask her about it.
I know that my grandma Cerna had a bad feeling the night Benny was killed. My grandpa George was supposed to go with him that night but my grandma wouldn’t let him go.
Pretty cool
Sarah, I never underestimate a woman’s intuition! It sounds like your grandmother saved your grandfather’s life. You family history could have been forever altered if she hadn’t prevented him from going out that night. Very cool indeed! Thank you for your comment and I hope that you will continue to read the blog. Best — Joan
yes, gramma would tell that story..and so many others..grampa george had plenty of them too, re: Uncle Benny…our mom was 9-10 when benny was gunned down in the apt building on BB. He ran outside with all those bullets in him….Adrenalin…. can not tell you how many times we drove through Topanga Cyn, wondering which ‘big Oak tree” the money was buried next to! My guess, is it was found by a construction worker or someone and is long gone! I remember telling cousin Josh Gamson lots of this with robyn
Hi Joan, I really love your blog! My Grandfather was from Sicily, and when he moved to Rochester,NY he lived in a Sicilian neighborhood. One morning he found a dead mobster at the end of the driveway! He immediately moved the family to a German neighborhood!
Rocco — Your grandfather was a sharp cookie! Thank you so much for your kind words about Deranged. I appreciate your readership.
Joan
September 9,2019
Just saw this piece. Benny actually was my uncle I was not born yet but
had heard story’s when I was a little boy not really understand how serious
this subject was and did not put two and two together. My first cousin that
was her father and she was just about 3 years old when he was killed.
Paul
Wow. Isn’t it amazing who pops up on the family tree?
Best,
Joan
Paul, who are you? Cerna (Gamson) Almond was my grandmother, Benny was her brother and my great uncle.
paul, you are talking about my cousin michelle,the only child of benny’s, and she was about 4 when he was shot down. my mom told michelle andI the story.. not sure who you are though?