Arnold Rothstein

Arnold Rothstein’s Saratoga Club & The 1919 World Series Scandal

May 20, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Arnold Rothstein was of the most famous of America’s 20th century criminal masterminds, and for more than 20 years, the New York City native spent his summers in Saratoga Springs, gambling on the horses by day – and just plain gambling by night.

He first started coming to Saratoga on a regular basis in 1904, when he was 22 years old, and he largely gave up on Saratoga after 1925 – by then, he was able to make so much money bootlegging liquor that he no longer spent much time gambling at the Saratoga Race Course. [Read more…] about Arnold Rothstein’s Saratoga Club & The 1919 World Series Scandal

Gangsterland: Organized Crime in 1920s New York City

October 27, 2023 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week on the Historians Podcast Historan David Pietrusza talks about his new book Gangsterland: A Tour Through the Dark Heart of Jazz-Age New York City (Diversion Books, 2023).

Gangsterland is a site by site, crime by crime, outlaw by outlaw walking tour through Roaring Twenties Manhattan, where gamblers and gangsters, crooks and cops, showgirls and speakeasies ruled the day and, always, the night. [Read more…] about Gangsterland: Organized Crime in 1920s New York City

Saratoga’s ‘Fanny the Flower Girl,’ Gotham Book Mart Founder

December 14, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Frances Steloff was the daughter of a Russian immigrant and itinerant rabbi who, in an age of rising anti-Semitism, was one of the early Jewish settlers in Saratoga Springs. The large family lived in dire poverty.

After the death of her mother, Frances was “informally” adopted by a wealthy Boston couple. Having run away from her foster parents, she made her way to New York, worked in a Brooklyn department store selling corsets, before establishing a tiny bookshop in Midtown Manhattan. On her death, after eighty-one years in the business, she was revered as one of America’s most influential booksellers and bibliophiles. Founder of the Gotham Book Mart, she turned her establishment into a center for avant-garde literature. [Read more…] about Saratoga’s ‘Fanny the Flower Girl,’ Gotham Book Mart Founder

Gamblers and Gangsters of Saratoga

August 17, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Saratoga has always been a gambling town. Even before the famous racetrack was built, Saratoga was full of gambling dens.

Many of the early gambling places were run by men who were considered “gentlemen gamblers.” They ran relatively clean games and generally avoided violence or other forms of vice. They were professional gamblers.

Later, with gambling well entrenched and Saratoga’s location along the notorious bootleg trail from Canada during prohibition, Saratoga attracted nationally known gangsters. [Read more…] about Gamblers and Gangsters of Saratoga

The 1921 Trail of Saratoga’s District Attorney That Turned Into A Riot

May 7, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

On May 11th, 1921, Saratoga County District Attorney Charles Andrus stood before Justice Henry Borst at the courthouse in Ballston Spa for the start of a criminal trial.

It must have been a strange feeling that day for Andrus because unlike countless other times before the court, this time the District Attorney was seated at the defendant’s table. He had been indicted on charges of neglect of duty, bribery, and corruption. His trial would be extraordinary on many levels. [Read more…] about The 1921 Trail of Saratoga’s District Attorney That Turned Into A Riot

Author to Discuss New Amsterdam, NY, Centered Memoir

February 6, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

David Pietrusza, author of the new memoir, Too Long Ago: A Childhood Memoir. A Vanished World (2020), is set to discuss the book with Bob Cudmore, host of the The Historians Podcast on Tuesday, February 9th in a live Zoom event. [Read more…] about Author to Discuss New Amsterdam, NY, Centered Memoir

Arnold Rothstein

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