Retired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. In this episode, Gary and Mob lawyer expert Tony Taouk continue exploring the world of mob lawyers and focus on Sidney Korshak, a mob lawyer and fixer for the Chicago Outfit. Korshak’s success was built on his connections, using them to negotiate criminal charges and bribe officials. He extended his influence to labor unions, Hollywood, and Las Vegas. Despite investigations, he remained anonymous and evaded severe consequences. We also touch on the role of Jewish gangsters in Las Vegas development. Lastly, we provide resources for veterans with PTSD and individuals struggling with substance abuse.

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Traqnscript

[0:00] Welcome, all you wiretappers out there back here in the studio of Gangland Wire.

As you can see, if you’re on YouTube, it’s a nice cold day in Kansas City here, and we are going all the way back down to Sydney, Australia.

You know our friend Tony Tok, who is, shall we say, a contributor and the mob lawyer aficionado and expert that we go to. We want to know about mob lawyers.

I notice not many other people deal with mob lawyers out there, And we’ve dealt with, I don’t know, God, Bruce Cutler and Oscar Goodman and a bunch of them.

So I know if you haven’t, if you’re interested in mob lawyers and you haven’t listened to those or watched them on YouTube, go back and find those that we have on mob lawyers because they’re a great show.

Tony, welcome. Thank you for having me.

It’s great to have you back. As we can tell by your accent, you’re down under and it’s winter here, but it’s getting summer down there. Is that correct?

[0:55] That’s right. Right. It would be equivalent to, say, San Diego.

Okay. Interesting. Well, it’s nice weather in San Diego. I know that.

Year-round, it’s nice weather in San Diego.

Sidney Korshak: A Shadow Among Shadows

[1:07] So we’re going to talk about Sidney Korshak, and I’ve looked up stuff on him.

I even had a book about him for a while. I borrowed from a friend of mine that was so dense, and I finally just gave it back to him.

But I did a bunch of research for this show, and I know you’ve really done a lot of research, and I want to ask you some questions once you’ve learned about Sidney Korshak.

Guys, he was a mob lawyer and fixer for the Chicago Outfit, started back in Capone days and came all the way up until whenever he died in the 80s, I think. And he was everywhere, but he was nowhere.

Let me give you a quote I read about him was, in the land of dreams, Sidney Korshak was a shadow among shadows, just a wisp of air floating around the land of dreams or Hollywood.

Nobody could ever quite get their hands on Sidney Korshak. So, Tony, tell us, how did he get started?

I kind of gave it away. He started in Chicago under Capone, but tell us how he got started in his early days.

[2:06] Well, he was born in Chicago in 1907, and he graduated from the University of Wisconsin, but he received his law degree from DePaul University in about 1930.

Now, Gary, there are rumors that he was employed by Al Capone as a driver during his college years and that Capone even paid his college tuition.

I personally don’t put much stock in that.

Capone had all these hardened criminals at his disposal.