The Real Mobsters of Old Hollywood BY ROBIN KERR DRULARD COMMUNITY CORRESPONDENT robin@hollywoodgazette.com
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f Al Capone was actually in as many places in old South Florida as the legends say — and for as many years — he would have slept in more places than George Washington! Nope, sorry. Capone was actually not Hollywood’s favorite hoodlum, after all. His biggest claim to fame here, according to Dr. Joan Mickelson, local historian and volunteer archivist for the Hollywood Historical Society, is that in 1929, the city of Hollywood, which was having a hard time financially, Photo of Joe Sonken and his dog Bozo, on display at the Hollywood Historical Society leased the Hollywood Beach Golf and Country Club to his people. It didn’t was rampant all over South Florida. cups,” Dr. Mickelson laughed. “Prohibilast long, since patronage was limited to And it was all about the drinking. tion was totally ignored by the populathe group’s invited guests, and the city Everybody wanted it, everybody did it, tion.” rescinded the lease in 1931. she said, and you could get it anywhere. But alcohol was big business for the “We had an ocean right here, after “My mother said that back in her mob, and when Prohibition ended in all,” she pointed out. flapper days, she’d go to Italian restau1933, the next big thing was gambling. But it was the time of Prohibition, rants and drink red wine out of coffee Meyer Lansky, known as the “Mob’s said Dr. Mickelson, and rum-running Accountant”, became important in the
gambling scene in Miami, while his brother Jake lived and worked in Hollywood. But it wasn’t really Hollywood which became the center of Broward County’s illegal activity going into the ‘30s. It was Hallandale Beach, a farming city, which soon had speakeasies, drinking establishments and gambling casinos up and down its eponymous Boulevard. Hallandale was indeed the “hotbed of sin” of Broward County in the ‘30s. The local farmers often made good profits selling their products to the casinos, and other local residents were happy to take advantage of the employment opportunities provided by the illegal establishments. These businesses flourished, helped along by Broward Sheriff Walter Clark, who allowed slots and casinos to thrive in the county in the 1930s and ’40s and even held a share in one, according to an article in the Sun-Sentinel on May 09, 2005.
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