Jacob Gurrah Shapiro Fur Industry Mafia Enforcer

Jacob Gurrah Shapiro was a Mafia enforcer in the fashion fur industry. He worked as a lieutenant to the notorious Louis Lepke Buchalter who was himself executed at Ossining Prison (Sing Sing) in 1944. Shapiro and Buchalter were a tandem that single handedly dominated an industry in which shopkeepers and manufacturers were intimidated into paying tribute for Mafia control of striking workers. Over a period of time Shapiro and Buchalter collected hundreds of thousands in extorted money from merchants in the New York City garment industry.