Jacob Orgen

Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen (1894-October 16, 1927) was a Jewish Prohibition gangster and New York labor racketeer .

Born in 1894, Orgen became a well known labor slugger for "Dopey" Benny Fein by the early 1900s. After Fein's conviction in 1917 Orgen soon formed his own gang, known as the "Little Augies", shortly after the gang war between Nathan Kaplan and Johnny Spanish in 1919.

Quickly becoming a rival, Orgen gradually built up a formidable organization, including members such as gunmen Louis Buchalter, Gurrah Shapiro , and Jack Diamond. Orgen would continue challenging Kaplan over labor slugging, particularly in the garment district, and in 1923 a gang war broke out after a dispute over striking "wet wash" laundry workers.

After several months of fighting Kaplan was murdered by gunman Louis Kushner on August 28, 1923. With Kaplan's death Orgen gained complete control over labor racketeering.

City officials, however, soon began investigating union racketeering in New York, threatening to expose other racketeering operations. Louis Buchalter (although some sources say Meyer Lansky), advised by Arnold Rothenstein , tried to persuade Orgen to concentrate instead on infiltrating labor unions instead of labor slugging. Although Orgen had started to move into bootlegging, becoming partners with Diamond, Orgen refused to cease labor slugging operations.

On October 16, 1927, while walking on Norfolk Street in a Lower East Side neighborhood, Orgen was killed by Buchalter and Shapiro in a drive-by shooting. Orgen bodyguard Jack Diamond was also seriously wounded during the attack. Buried in Mont Judeah Cemetery by his father, who had disowned him after he formed the "Little Augies" in 1919, Orgen's cemetery nameplate reads simply "Jacob Orgen, Age 25 Years".

External links

• FindaGrave.com: Augie "Litte Augie" Orgen
• Everything2.com: Little Augie
• The Big Bankroll by Kris Millegan