Portrait of a Harlem Policy Banker: Big Joe Ison

Two images of a Harlem policy banker. Joseph Ison, left, looking rather scholarly upon his entry into the United States in 1928 and, at right, exhibiting some of the swagger that he cultivated as one of the premier policy bankers in Harlem when he appeared as a witness in the corruption trial of Jimmy Hines in 1938. By 1931, Big Joe Ison was clearing anywhere from $8000-10000 per day from the nickel and dime bets that the people  of Harlem placed at his numbers spot. The players were generally a superstitious lot - they tended to play the same numbers on certain days, which usually guaranteed big profits for Big Joe. That is, until that dark day that came to be known as Black Wednesday, when the heavily played ‘527’ hit on Thanksgiving Eve of 1931. The bankers were hit hard and scrambled to pay off the winners. Big Joe was hit harder than most and it wasn’t long before word filtered back to him that the Dutchman might be willing to extend an emergency loan in exchange for a piece of his bank. Big Joe demurred until Schultz sent his muscle around in the form of Abraham “Bo” Weinberg, his number two man and chief enforcer who was credited with such notable hits as Salvatore Maranzano, Legs Diamond, and Mad Dog Coll. Did “Bo Legs” lean on Big Joe to get the Dutchman a cool 50-50 split of the Ison bank? The Puerto Rican knows.

I had previously posted these short portraits of various characters from my historical fiction novel to my feed on Instagram (@AnUptownDandy), but thought it would be worth posting here at the blog. From Pretty. A Novel From the East Harlem Cycle