Fredericka Mandelbaum arrived in the US in 1850 from Germany. She and her husband had been peddlers there and continued that work in New York. She became a fence and before long was very successful, ultimately becoming a true organized crime boss. Millions of dollars in jewels, gold, cash, and silk material passed through her shop. Her success came from her meticulous work in choosing and training those who robbed for her, removing all identifying marks on items she fenced, and paying off police and others who protected her.
The author describes the world of New York that allowed this level of crime. Policing in New York was so corrupt that it was only because the Pinkerton Detective Agency could investigate as directed by the District Attorney Peter B. Olney that it was possible to prosecute “Marm” Mandelbaum, which did not occur until the 1880s. She was so meticulous about removing identifying marks on goods before they arrived in her shop that only by having a mole was it possible to have evidence against her. She was a remarkable figure; over six feet tall, she wore black silk dresses and thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. She entertained high society, including the very people who should have been policing her.
She was arrested in the mid-1880s and escaped to Canada during the trial. She could not be extradited to the US as there was no extradition treaty with Canada. She died in 1894, without ever returning to the US.
The facts related in her story are in themselves interesting, but it’s no surprise that she left no record that gives us a feeling of what she was thinking. I found the author’s practice of translating the amount of the various bank heists and other thefts from the worth at the time to the value in today’s money to be distracting.
Margalit Fox, The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum, Random House, 2024, 336 pages.