| |
| Hyman Suchowsky | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Aliases | Roth |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | December 18, 1890 Warsaw, Poland |
| Died | April 5, 1960 Miami, Florida |
| Affiliation | Roth crime family |
| Title(s) | Boss |
Hyman Roth, born Hyman Asael Suchowsky, was a Polish-born American organized crime figure, who, along with his business partner Vito Corleone, was instrumental in the molasses smuggling during Prohibition. He was closely aligned with various families of the mob, and supported multiple families during the Miami War. As a result, he was murdered on Michael Corleone's orders in 1960.
Biography
A young Hyman Suchowsky in 1920
Hyman Roth was born in the city of Warsaw, in the Russian Empire, in December 1890. He was born to two workers who had an average income, being serfs to the Russian Czar Nicholas I. In 1893, his family immigrated to America to seek liberty and justice. They moved to Brooklyn, which was the hub of Jewish immigration. There, he befriended Bugsy Siegel, a future mobster, and Moe Greene a future casino mogul who transformed Las Vegas from a regular town to a huge city with various casinos and hotels.
Roth had close alignments with the mob, befriending Vito Corleone, the Don of the Corleone crime family, in 1923. During that time, they ran molasses over the Canadian border and into the United States, making a large profit. Roth also bought out several casinos in Las Vegas, aiding Moe Greene in his rise to stardom.
Hyman Roth's 68th birthday party in Havana.
Hyman Roth got most of the Sicilian Mafia families to chill down, arranging meetings and such. He was, however, unable to prevent the Olive Oil War and the Five Families War, both of which caused mass destruction and hundreds of deaths (the Five Families War caused over 2,000). The Corleones lost the support of Hyman Roth in 1954 when they murdered Moe Greene in order to fully-move their family to Las Vegas, without worrying about buying him out. Roth attempted to assassinate Michael Corleone in 1958, attacking the Corleone Compound with machine-gunners at night. They were all killed before they could be interrogated about who sent them, so the Corleones were in confusion.
Roth later called a meeting in Havana to get all of the dons to sit down, hoping to prevent a war from sparking up. It was attended by Eddie Levine of the Levine crime family, Dino and Eddie Pennino of the Pennino crime family, Louie Russo of the Chicago Outfit, Vincent Forlenza of the Lakeville Road Group, Rico Granados of the Granados crime family, Alejandro Almeida of the Almeida crime family, Samuele Mangano of the Mangano crime family, Michael Corleone of the Corleone crime family, and Aldo Trapani of the Trapani crime family. He had a plan to divide up Cuba between the bosses after his retirement, when it would occur. However, the arrangements were messed up when he lost all of his casinos in the Cuban Revolution and Aldo Trapani was shot. This caused Carmine Rosato and Tony Rosato, two Trapani Capos, to split from the Trapanis.
Corleone tried to have Roth killed on New Year's Eve 1958, his zip Amerigo Bussetta killing Roth's consigliere Johnny Ola but failing to kill Roth. Thus, Roth gave the go-ahead for the Rosato Brothers to murder Corleone Capo Frank Pentangeli, although he was not able to be garroted to death because of the "coincidental" intervention of NYPD Police Captain Douglas Hughes, who noticed the hitman strangling him while getting a drink.
When war in Miami broke out between his family and the Granados, who wanted their turf to expand, Roth's associate Steven Ciccoricco was kidnapped and held hostage, so he had no choice but to call on the new Trapani don, Dominic Corleone, to come to Miami and help him. Roth wanted Dominic, as the head of a pro-Corleone family (that was well-trusted), to go over to his side. However, he played along with the game, bringing the Granados, Manganos, and Almeidas to war with him. Roth made arrangements with the Almeida family, informing him that Dominic would try to kill Fidel Castro to get the Cuban government to return to Fulgencio Batista. However, Roth had him kill the dissident leaders to gain the trust of the government and be invited into the presidential palace, even though the real reason was to get rid of Batista's last supporters to help the Almeidas (a pro-government and legitimate family). Roth also convinced that a drive-by shooting on the Corleone Miami Safehouse was by the Manganos, even though it was his own hitmen. Dominic killed off the Manganos, so Roth failed to weaken the Corleone family by erasing Trapani in a war with the unforgiving Mangano family.
Since he had manipulated Pentangeli into thinking that Corleone had ordered the Rosatos to kill him, Roth gained an indirect ally in him when the Kefauver Hearings began, and Pentangeli was prepared to testify against Michael Corleone, thus breaking Omerta. Roth kidnapped Vincenzo Pentangeli, Don of the Pentangeli crime family back in Sicily, so that he could not convince his brother Frank not to break the Mafia's laws, as the Corleone family requested of him. However, Dominic freed Pentangeli and brought him into the courtroom, so Frank was convinced to break his sworn statements and deny all of the questions asked by Senator Richard Kane, the head of the inquiry. Roth's plan again failed.
Dominic Corleone kills Hyman Roth.
Finally, in 1960, Michael Corleone ordered the murder of Hyman Roth to end his troubles with the Corleone crime family. Roth was trying to head to Panama to avoid tax evasion charges, unsuccessfully bribing the Latin president into letting him gain Panamanian citizenship. Roth tried to head to Israel next, hoping to end his life as a Jew.
Corleone dispatched Dominic to fulfill his revenge against Roth, as all of the mob wars that he had been wounded in were planned out by Roth. The murder was carried out while Roth was returning from a flight at the Miami International Airport, guarded by police, bodyguards, and airport security. Corleone consigliere Tom Hagen stated that "it was like trying to kill the president" in a 1960 interview. Dominic bribed a guard to let him past the metal detectors with all of his firearms, before he proceeded to fight his way through Roth's guards. Roth fled to the gate's tunnel where passengers would board the plane, cowering in fear. Roth begged him for mercy, but Dominic shot him twice in the stomach. Roth, still alive, was forced off the ledge by the impact, breaking his bones and killing him.
Legacy
Hyman Roth was often compared to contemporary mob boss Meyer Lansky, who also ran gang operations in Cuba and was business partners with the Sicilian Mafia. Roth's wife Marcia moved to Israel in 1965, living there until she died in 1973. Roth's children and family also moved to Israel, but some of his descendants remained in Miami. His brother Sam, the former Underboss, became the Boss of the Roth Family, but was murdered later in the year by the Corleone soldier Roberto Nelenza.
| Boss of the Roth Syndicate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: none |
1920-1960 | Succeeded by: Sam Roth |