Tough Jews

In a Los Angeles deli, the children of Brooklyn natives gather to discuss sports and the weather in their hometown. Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Louis Lepke, the self-effacing mastermind behind Murder Inc. 's string of hits; Red Levine, a Brooklyn hit man who refused to kill on the Sabbath; Abe Kid Twist Reles, a gangster with an unassuming appearance but who buried his rival alive--these Robert De Niro-like characters graced the store owned by Cohen's father and are immortalized in Tough Jews. Through his colorful descriptions of these tough Jews and their white-collar sidekicks, Cohen breathes life into an era long gone and shows that even though organized crime has changed, it’s still as dangerous as ever.