The Queen of Thieves: The Jewish Mother Who Built America’s First Criminal Empire
The Queen of Thieves: The Jewish Mother Who Built America’s First Criminal Empire

The Queen of Thieves: The Jewish Mother Who Built America’s First Criminal Empire

Date: March 11, 2025
Time: 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Cost: Free for Museum Members or with Museum Admission​

Award-winning journalist and author Margalit Fox joins The Mob Museum to share the fascinating story of one of America’s first crime bosses: a mother who turned stolen goods into a retail empire. In 1850, Jewish immigrant Fredericka “Marm” Mandelbaum arrived penniless in Gilded Age New York City. Within decades, the shopkeeper became an organized crime boss, masterminding a $10 million fencing operation ($300 million today). Fox, author of The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum, will tell this stranger-than-fiction story of a criminal visionary who created America’s first organized crime syndicate.

A book signing will follow the program.

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