| Harry Davis |
| Montreal was a wide open city in the 1920s and 1930s and Harry Davis was its undisputed overlord. Born in 1903, he headed a huge gang, which included Luigi Greco and Frank Petrula, and controlled much of the drug trade, brothels, and gambling. Davis owned, with Max Shapiro, Fred McBurney, and Harry Baris, the city's most lucrative gambling den. He also owned a very popular night club called the Frolics. The city's toughest hoodlums gathered there. He was also involved in a massive narcotics ring with Lepke Bulchalter, the Jewish mob of New York City. Davis brought in the drugs from Europe and shipped to New York for distribution. |
Davis, despite his small physical stature, ran an empire based on fear and intimidation. So it was that much more surprising when an underling finally flipped. Charles Feigenbaum, who had served Davis loyally for years, was serving a five and a half year jail sentence for illegally importing $100,000 worth of fabrics when decided to provide the government with incriminating information about Davis. He confessed that Montreal's drug baron had supplied the kilo of morphine that Sam Arcadi and Harry Tucker, two drug dealers, had been arrested with. The RCMP arrested Davis on April 9, 1933 and charged him with trafficking, between January 1 and December 31, 1930, 852 kilograms of opium, morphine, and heroin. He was also charged with corrupting public officials. The trial started on October 1, 1933 and lasted only five days. Charles Feigenbaum testified against his former boss and it the jury found Davis guilty after less than an hour of deliberation. He received a 14 year prison sentence and ten strokes of the lash. Feigenbaum pay for his testimony with his life. He was shot to death in front of his 18 year old son on August 21, 1934 as he left his sister-in-law's home on Esplanade Street. Harry Davis was released from prison in 1945. His influence on the streets of Montreal had greatly dimished and the Italian Mafia, led by Vic "The Egg" Cotroni, now contoled most of the city's rackets. On July 14, 1946, he was nearly blown up after a mobster, disgruntled that Davis had refused to allow him to open a gambling house. Eleven days later, on July 25, Harry Davis, once the chieftain of organized crime in Montreal, was shot to death. Louis Bercowitz, a Montreal gangster, would be convicted of the crime. Luigi Greco and Frank Petrula, who had worked for him, took over many of his rackets and joined forces with the Cotroni organization. |
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