Mickey Cohen - Early Life

Early Life

Mickey Cohen was born on September 4, 1913, into an Orthodox Jewish family. His mother Fanny had emigrated from Kiev, Ukraine. At age six, Mickey was selling newspapers on the street; his brothers Louie or Harry would drop him off at his regular corner, Soho and Brooklyn Streets. Soon, however, Cohen and most of his brothers became involved in crime. (Cohen's brother Sam, an Orthodox Jew, was an exception.) In 1923, at age nine, Cohen was delivering alcohol to customers from a gin mill operated by his older brother in a drug store. He was arrested later that year, but avoided prosecution due to his brother's connections.

As a teenager, Cohen began boxing in illegal prizefights in Los Angeles. He moved to the West Coast to train as a professional boxer, fighting in the Midwest on the way. His first professional boxing match was on April 8, 1930 against Patsy Farr in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the preliminary fights on the card for the Paul Pirrone/Jimmy Goodrich feature bout. On April 11, 1933 Cohen fought against Chalky Wright in Los Angeles, California. Wright won the match and Meyer was incorrectly identified as "Mickey Cohen from Denver, Colorado" in the Los Angeles Times sports page report. His last fight was on May 14, 1933 against Baby Arizmendi in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. On June 12, 1931 Cohen fought and lost a match against World Featherweight Champion Tommy Paul, having been knocked out cold after 2:20 into the first round. It was during this round he earned the moniker "Gangster Mickey Cohen". Cohen lived first in Cleveland, where he met Lou Rothkopf, an associate of Moe Dalitz. Cohen moved later to New York, where he became associates with Tommy Dioguardi, the brother of labor racketeer Johnny Dio, and with Owney Madden. Finally, Cohen went to Chicago, where he ran a gambling operation for the Chicago Outfit, Al Capone's powerful criminal organization.