{{Short description|Russian-American gangster (1901–1975)}} {{Infobox person |name = Hyman Abrams |image = |image_size = |caption = Hyman Abramovitz |birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|5|1}} |birth_place = Vilnius, Russian Empire |death_date = January 1975 (aged 73) |death_place = Las Vegas, Nevada |resting_place = |known_for = Mafia associate, Mafia financier |education = The Mather School<ref name="MSG">Staff (June 19, 1913). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=73870469 "Boston Public School Graduates Number 9,789"]. ''The Boston Globe''.</ref> |net worth = |title = |parents = |spouse = Harriet Janice Allison |relatives = |signature = }} '''Hyman Abrams''' (born '''Abramovitz'''; May 1, 1901 – January 1975)<!-- no date given on Social Security death record means no date was known, meaning he was likely found dead after some time --><ref name="nat">''U.S., Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794–1995''</ref> was an American businessman, Boston mobster, and high-ranking member under Charles "King" Solomon during Prohibition.
==Biography==
Abrams was born into a Jewish family<ref>{{cite book|url=|first=John P.|last=Marschall|title=Jews in Nevada: A History|pages=173|publisher=University of Nevada Press|date=February 1, 2008|isbn=9780874177374|quote=Most of the hotel builders were Jewish Americans: ...Hyman Abbrams, Carl Cohen, and Jack Entratter with the ownership and operations of the Sands}}</ref> in Vilnius, Russian Empire (now Lithuania),<ref name="nat"/> the son of Israel and Ethel "Etta" Dimenstein Abramovitz. They immigrated to Boston in 1906.<ref>''1910 United States Federal Census''</ref> He became a U.S. citizen in 1923, when he changed his surname to Abrams.<ref name="nat"/> He started out as a restaurateur in Boston.<ref name=Moehring>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oiuVDwAAQBAJ&dq=Hyman+Abbrams+sands&pg=PT79|first= Eugene P. |last=Moehring|authorlink=|title=Resort City In The Sunbelt, Second Edition: Las Vegas, 1930-2000 |pages= |publisher=University of Nevada Press|date=May 1, 2000|isbn=978-0874173567}}</ref> Abrams and other members of Solomon's organization took over Boston's criminal operations for themselves following Solomon's murder in 1933. He would later become involved in financing syndicate controlled casinos with Meyer Lansky, specifically the ''Flamingo'' and later the ''Sands'' with Carl Cohen and Jack Entratter. In 1957, he partnered with Moe Dalitz, Morris Kleinman, Sam Tucker, Wilbur Clark (of the Desert Inn and Lansky's Hotel Nacional casino), Ed Levinson (of the Fremont Hotel and Casino), Charles "Babe" Baron (who represented Sam Giancana), and Morris Rosen (of the Flamingo Hotel) to build the Hotel Habana Riviera casino in Havana.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Norm |last= Clarke|authorlink= |title= Lansky Heirs at Odds |newspaper=Las Vegas Review-Journal|date=April 3, 2016 |url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/the-strip/much-anticipated-t-mobile-arena-opens-with-a-bang/ |accessdate=}}</ref>
In 1968, Abrams married Harriet Janice Allison, a dancer in Las Vegas.<ref>{{Cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |title=Harriet Janice Abbrams (nee Allison), 80, passed away peacefully Aug. 25, 2014, at home in Las Vegas, surrounded by her loved ones. |newspaper=Las Vegas Review-Journal |date=August 25, 2014 |url=https://obits.reviewjournal.com/us/obituaries/lvrj/name/harriet-abbrams-obituary?pid=172502669 |accessdate= }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> They divorced in 1971.<ref>''Nevada, U.S., Divorce Index, 1968–2015''</ref> He died in January 1975 in Las Vegas.<ref>''U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014''</ref>
== Further reading == * Fried, Albert. ''The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. {{ISBN|0-231-09683-6}} * Messick, Hank. ''Lansky''. London: Robert Hale & Company, 1973. {{ISBN|0-7091-3966-7}} *Reid, Ed and Demaris, Ovid. ''The Green Felt Jungle''. Montreal: Pocket Books, 1964. *Schwartz, Rosalie. ''Pleasure Island: Tourism and Temptation in Cuba''. U of Nebraska Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-8032-9265-1}}
== References == {{Reflist}} *Fox, Stephen. ''Blood and Power: Organized Crime in Twentieth-Century America''. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1989. {{ISBN|0-688-04350-X}}
==External links== *{{find a Grave|208029270}} * [https://books.google.com/books?id=KZCUIxhP7ikC&pg=PA23 ''Mr. Mob: The Life and Crimes of Moe Dalitz'' - Google Books] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=OSqBs8QgxZIC&pg=PA103 ''The business of crime: Italians and syndicate crime in the United States'' - Google Books] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=5xwkf8jpHo0C&pg=PA151 ''The Jewish body'' - Google Books]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrams, Hyman}} Category:Jewish American gangsters Category:Businesspeople from Boston Category:1901 births Category:Date of death unknown Category:1976 deaths Category:20th-century American criminals Category:American businesspeople in the real estate industry Category:American restaurateurs Category:American businesspeople in the casino industry Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Category:20th-century American Jews