Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America’s Hidden Power Brokers

Investigative reporter Russo returns with the remarkable story of the Supermob–a cadre of men who, over the course of decades, secretly influenced nearly every aspect of American society. Presenting startling, never-before-seen revelations about such famous members as Jules Stein, Joe Glaser, Ronald Reagan, Lew Wasserman, David Bazelon & John Jacob Factor–as well as infamous, scrupulously low-profile members–Russo pulls the lid off of a half-century of criminal infiltration into American business, politics & society. At the heart of it is Sidney “The Fixer” Korshak, who from the 1940’s until his death in the ’90s, wasn’t only the most powerful lawyer in the world, according to the FBI, but the enigmatic player behind countless 20th century power mergers, political deals & organized crime chicaneries. As the underworld’s primary link to the corporate upperworld, his backroom dominance & talent for anonymity will likely never be equaled. As Supermob proves, neither will his story.
Cast of characters
Preface
The lawyer from Lawndale
From Lawndale to the Seneca to the underworld
Birds of a feather
Kaddish for California
The future is in real estate
“Hell, that’s what you had to do in those days to get by”
Scenes from Hollywood, part 1
Jimmy, Bobby & Sidney
Forty years in the desert
The kingmakers: Paul, Lew & Ronnie in California
The new frontier
Bistro days
“He could never walk away from those people”
Scenes from Hollywood, part 2
“A sunny place for shady people”
Coming under attack
From Hoffa to Hollywood
From Dutch sandwiches to Dutch Reagan
Airing dirty laundry & laundering dirty money
Pursued by the Fourth Estate
The true untouchables
Legacies
Appendices: A-Supermob investments/B-Pritzker holdings/C-Ziffren-Greenberg-Genis documents
Notes
Bibliography
Index