Chapitres XI et XII de The New Babylon (Michael Collins Piper, 2009)...
''The Dukes and Duchesses''
of Rothschild’s American Court:
The Thirty Most Powerful Jewish Families
What follows—in alphabetical order—is our estimation of the 30 most powerful individuals (all of them Jewish but one and virtually all U.S. based) who constitute—along with the Bronfman family—the highest level of those operating as key forces on behalf of the Rothschild Empire. They truly constitute the New Pharisees.
SHELDON ADELSON, although advanced in age, has recently risen to the fore as one of the great leaders of Jewish wealth. Boston-born, he is now a major figure in the Jewish-dominated casino industry in Las Vegas. Although he originally was engaged in the computer trade show industry, he purchased, with partners, the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in 1988 and now has expanded his holdings to Macao in the People’s Republic of China, a gambling city that had been a Portugese colony until the end of 1999. He is also developing a casino in Singapore. Said to be the third richest person in the United States, worth as much as $26.5 billion, he is a devoted friend of Israel and in 2006 he established a newspaper in Israel, from which he later divested. However, he has since set up a new daily publication in Israel—a free newspaper—entitled HaYom. Reflecting his immense interest in Israel, he also made an unsuccessful attempt to buy a controlling interest in Israel’s prominent Maariv newspaper. Likewise, Adelson is another major financier behind Birthright Israel which provides for young persons of the Jewish faith to travel to occupied Palestine. Adelson’s political inclinations are also reflected by the fact that he has funded a group called Freedom’s Watch which supports the hard-line neo-conservative stands pursued by the corrupt administration of George W. Bush.
ISRAEL HOWARD “IZZY” ASPER, who died in 2003,was the founder of CanWest Global Communications Corporation, which is now in the hands of his children, Leonard, Gail, and David. Born to a Jewish family in Manitoba, Canada, Asper was involved in the Liberal Party and was known—despite the party’s name—for his “conservative” leanings, which are probably reflective of the fact that Asper, a hard-line Zionist, was an admirer of famed “Jewish Nazi” Vladimir Jabotinsky whose philosophy guides the thinking of the Likud Party in Israel (and the like-minded “rival” party, Kadima).Although initially an attorney by profession, Asper went into the media business in 1975 when he assumed ownership of CKND Television in Winnepeg, but within the next 25 years,Asper’s CanWest took control of the daily National Post, as well as more than 60 other Canadian newspapers, along with the Global Television Network. This committed Zionist family extended their influence into the United States when they purchased control of the famed New Republic magazine from Martin Peretz, another hard-line Zionist known for his particularly and unusually close longtime personal relationship with former Vice President Al Gore (who was a student of Peretz when Peretz taught at Harvard). Gore, as we’ve noted in these pages, is now related to the powerful Schiff banking family (a key cog in the Rothschild Empire) through the marriage of Gore’s daughter, Karenna, to an heir to the Schiff fortune.
SAMUEL BELZBERG, the founder of another wealthy Jewish business empire based in Canada, operating alongside the better-known (and more influential) Bronfman family (who were described in considerable detail in the preceding chapter), established and is the chairman and chief executive officer of First City Financial Corporation, Ltd., a full-service financial institution, and he is now president of the Gilbralt Capital Corporation, a private investment company. One of his daughters, Lisa, is married to Matthew Bronfman, son of Edgar Bronfman, and she is reputed to have been a sometime mistress of former President Bill Clinton. Another daughter, Wendy, is married to media entrepreneur Strauss Zelnick. Sam Belzberg has been one of the primary funders of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, which has emerged as a major player in worldwide Jewish propaganda and intelligence operations under the guise of “fighting hate.”
SHELDON ADELSON, although advanced in age, has recently risen to the fore as one of the great leaders of Jewish wealth. Boston-born, he is now a major figure in the Jewish-dominated casino industry in Las Vegas. Although he originally was engaged in the computer trade show industry, he purchased, with partners, the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in 1988 and now has expanded his holdings to Macao in the People’s Republic of China, a gambling city that had been a Portugese colony until the end of 1999. He is also developing a casino in Singapore. Said to be the third richest person in the United States, worth as much as $26.5 billion, he is a devoted friend of Israel and in 2006 he established a newspaper in Israel, from which he later divested. However, he has since set up a new daily publication in Israel—a free newspaper—entitled HaYom. Reflecting his immense interest in Israel, he also made an unsuccessful attempt to buy a controlling interest in Israel’s prominent Maariv newspaper. Likewise, Adelson is another major financier behind Birthright Israel which provides for young persons of the Jewish faith to travel to occupied Palestine. Adelson’s political inclinations are also reflected by the fact that he has funded a group called Freedom’s Watch which supports the hard-line neo-conservative stands pursued by the corrupt administration of George W. Bush.
ISRAEL HOWARD “IZZY” ASPER, who died in 2003,was the founder of CanWest Global Communications Corporation, which is now in the hands of his children, Leonard, Gail, and David. Born to a Jewish family in Manitoba, Canada, Asper was involved in the Liberal Party and was known—despite the party’s name—for his “conservative” leanings, which are probably reflective of the fact that Asper, a hard-line Zionist, was an admirer of famed “Jewish Nazi” Vladimir Jabotinsky whose philosophy guides the thinking of the Likud Party in Israel (and the like-minded “rival” party, Kadima).Although initially an attorney by profession, Asper went into the media business in 1975 when he assumed ownership of CKND Television in Winnepeg, but within the next 25 years,Asper’s CanWest took control of the daily National Post, as well as more than 60 other Canadian newspapers, along with the Global Television Network. This committed Zionist family extended their influence into the United States when they purchased control of the famed New Republic magazine from Martin Peretz, another hard-line Zionist known for his particularly and unusually close longtime personal relationship with former Vice President Al Gore (who was a student of Peretz when Peretz taught at Harvard). Gore, as we’ve noted in these pages, is now related to the powerful Schiff banking family (a key cog in the Rothschild Empire) through the marriage of Gore’s daughter, Karenna, to an heir to the Schiff fortune.
SAMUEL BELZBERG, the founder of another wealthy Jewish business empire based in Canada, operating alongside the better-known (and more influential) Bronfman family (who were described in considerable detail in the preceding chapter), established and is the chairman and chief executive officer of First City Financial Corporation, Ltd., a full-service financial institution, and he is now president of the Gilbralt Capital Corporation, a private investment company. One of his daughters, Lisa, is married to Matthew Bronfman, son of Edgar Bronfman, and she is reputed to have been a sometime mistress of former President Bill Clinton. Another daughter, Wendy, is married to media entrepreneur Strauss Zelnick. Sam Belzberg has been one of the primary funders of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, which has emerged as a major player in worldwide Jewish propaganda and intelligence operations under the guise of “fighting hate.”
ELI BROAD (pronounced as in “road,” incidentally), born in Detroit and now living in Los Angeles,was chief executive officer of Sun America, a real estate empire, and he is ranked as the 42nd richest person in America, worth $5.8 billion. He and his wife Edith,who are strong supporters of Israel, have plowed much of their wealth into educational institutions and are, as a consequence, major figures in directing the course of American education. They are also major players in the world of art, which, institutionally, has long been controlled by Jewish interests.
WARREN BUFFETT, said by Forbes to have been the richest person in the world as of March 5, 2008—worth a staggering $62 billion—is not Jewish, but he is one of the Rothschild Empire’s chief (and obviously wellpaid) henchmen. He is a particularly good friend of London’s Lord Jacob Rothschild. He is a perfect “front” for the Rothschilds, with his Nebraska heritage, his homespun style, and his identification with Berkshire Hathaway shirts, known for its colorful advertising, featuring male models (often celebrities) wearing eyepatches and Berkshire Hathaway shirts. Although Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is identified with its shirts, the company is now a massive holding company for a vast array of assets under the control of this major figure in the American and global stock markets, representing Rothschild interests. And although many people identify the powerful Washington Post newspaper as the family fiefdom of the Meyer-Graham dynasty in Washington, the fact is that Buffett (along with other financial institutions with Rothschild connections) has a substantial interest in the Washington Post Company,publisher of the Washington Post and also (until late 2010) publisher of Newsweek magazine and owner, in addition, of multiple newspaper and broadcasting interests across America. Parenthetically, it should be noted that the Meyer family publishing empire was established by Eugene Meyer, World War I-era war profiteer who later was appointed chairman of the board of governors of the Rothschild-controlled Federal Reserve System and later—appropriately—head of the World Bank. His purchase of the Washington Post at firesale prices in 1933 was almost an afterthought, although a critical one at that, one which firmly ensconced Rothschild influence in official Washington. Meyer was a relative, incidentally, of the Haas family (heirs to the gigantic San Francisco-based Levi-Strauss garment manufacturing empire) and of the grand rabbi of France. (For more on the Meyer-Graham story, see The New Jerusalem by this author, Michael Collins Piper.) In any case, Warren Buffett also holds 7 percent of the Coca-Cola Company, quite a lucrative investment in itself. And what many likewise do not know is that Coca-Cola (despite its identification as a soda manufacturer) has also been deeply engaged in wide-ranging international political intrigue of the highest (and lowest) order, as documented in the hard-to-find work, The Cola Wars, by J. C. Louis and Harvey Z. Yazijian. So there’s even more to the “American” tradition of “Coke” than many realize—and Rothschild asset Warren Buffett is in the midst of it all. Buffett is now transferring many of his assets to the foundation of Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates who many believe is of Jewish heritage but who does not acknowledge it.
RONALD BURKLE. This Los Angeles-based Jewish operator, worth more than $3.5 billion, is a close friend of Bill Clinton (whom he has helped enrich) and, despite his young age (born in 1952), he is one of the primary investors in the retail, manufacturing and distribution industries. He is a board member of Occidental Petroleum which was the oil concern of the late Armand Hammer, the son of a prominent Jewish figure in the Jewish-dominated Communist Party in the United States in the early years of the 20th Century. Hammer later emerged as a preeminent figure in promotion of Soviet interests in the United States, even during the Cold War. (Hammer was also a close friend of the family of former Vice President Al Gore whose daughter, Karenna, as we’ve noted, is married into the family of Jacob Schiff, the New York-based satellite of the Rothschild Empire.) Burkle has also been chairman of the board and a controlling shareholder in Alliance Entertainment, Golden State Food, Dominics, Fred Meyer, Ralph’s and Food4Less. He’s also a member of the board of Yahoo, the Internet empire.
LESTER CROWN, the primary heir to Chicago-based Jewish financier Henry Crown, who died in 1990, is in charge of the family’s enterprises which were based on the fortune of the General Dynamics arms manufacturing company, of which Henry Crown assumed control in 1959. The Crown family now controls Maytag, Hilton Hotels, Alltel, Aspen Skiiing Company, and New York’s Rockefeller Center—yes, even that jewel in the Rockefeller crown. (For more on the truth about who really runs the Rockefeller empire, see MAURICE GREENBERG.) Crown also controls the Chicago Bulls basketball team and has a stake in the New York Yankees baseball team. A major benefactor of the American Jewish community in general, Crown also serves on the board of governors of Tel Aviv University and is a member of the American Committee of the [Israel-based] Weizmann Institute of Science. He has also been a director of TransWorld Airlines and Continental Illinois Bank. In the 1950s the Crown family had a controlling interest in New York’s Empire State Building. A daughter, Susan Crown, is chair of the Shoah Foundation, a Holocaust industry enterprise. The family is altogether worth more than $4 billion and they are especially influential in Israel because they have funded Israel’s nuclear weapons development program. Lester Crown has also chaired the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, an offshoot of the NewYork-based Council on Foreign Relations, the official American affiliate of the Rothschild Empire’s London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs.The Crown family—along with another Chicago based Jewish family, the Pritzkers (See NICHOLAS J.PRITZKER)—are among those described as part of the “inner circle” of the Chicago-based politician, Barack Obama, chosen as U.S. president in the election of 2008. The Crowns and the Pritzkers are key figures in what author Gus Russo candidly described in his book Supermob as a national Jewish crime syndicate.
LARRY ELLISON, in the year 2000,was the richest man in the world. By 2005, with a net worth of $18.4 billion, he was only the ninth richest man in the world. Although his name is not well known, he is nonetheless a major world player as the founder and chief executive of a major software company known as the Oracle Corporation. What is interesting is that prior to his rise to power, Ellison worked in the 1970s for the AMPEX Corporation and during that time frame, one of his projects was a database for the Central Intelligence Agency which he named Oracle. It should be noted that, according to Forbes, Ellison was worth $26 billion in 2007, up rather substantially from his net worth of 2005. Known for a flamboyant lifestyle, Ellison owns the fifth largest yacht in the world, many exotic cars and many private planes, including fighter jets! It is interesting to note that this former operative involved in CIA database operations, at one point following the September 11 terrorist tragedy, offered to donate software to the U.S. government that would build and maintain a national identification database from which national identification cards would be released, a mechanism for Rothschild Empire monitoring and control of the American population.
JEFFREY EPSTEIN, whose name is little known to the American public, is one of the richest men in America, and despite the fact that he is now only in his mid-50s, he is very influential in the Rothschild sphere of influence. His company, initially called J. Epstein & Company, later called Financial Trust Company, handles the financial affairs of Jewish billionaires. The New York Times reported on July 1, 2008 that Epstein’s business is “something of a mystery. He says he manages money for billionaires, but the only client he is willing to discuss is Leslie H.Wexner, the founder of Limited Brands . . . . As Mr. Epstein explains it, he provides a specialized form of superelite financial advice. He counsels people on everything from taxes and trusts to prenuptial agreements and paternity suits, and even provides interior decorating tips for private jets. Industry sources say he charges flat annual fees ranging from $25 million to more than $100 million.” Evidently one of young Epstein’s roles in the Rothschild Empire is—like other rising names in Jewish financial circles—to govern institutions long associated with the Rockefeller family name. Epstein is a member of the board of Rockefeller University and he has also been a member of the Trilateral Commission, founded by David Rockefeller,and of the Council on Foreign Relations, widely-known as a “Rockefeller” institution, but which, as we’ve noted repeatedly, is actually an offshoot of the London-based Rothschild entity known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
A primary interest of Epstein’s seems to be the realm of science. In that regard, Epstein has been a benefactor of a number of high profile scientists, many of whom are themselves Jewish. Epstein’s money has gone toward research in physics, research in South Africa and India, and experimentation in microbiology in Bangladesh. One of Epstein’s close friends is Ghislaine Maxwell, herself the daughter of the late corrupt Czech-born Jewish intriguer who came to world prominence under the name “Robert Maxwell” in Britain where he was a major media power, during which time he was engaged in the world of high-level espionage for both Israel’s Mossad and the Soviet KGB. Epstein has also been a close friend, in recent years, of former President Bill Clinton. This seems appropriate, in some respects: Epstein recently pled guilty in Florida state criminal court for inappropriate behavior with several young women. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Among Epstein’s attorneys in his imbroglio were famed Jewish advocate Alan Dershowitz, one of the most outspoken Judeo-supremacists today, and Kenneth Starr, who bears the distinction of having been the chief tormentor of Epstein’s friend, Bill Clinton. Despite this setback Epstein remains powerful and will soon return to the center of the global Jewish elite.
STEPHEN FEINBERG. Described by Israel’s Ha’aretz as “a New York Jew with a golden touch,” Feinberg controls the New York-based holding company Cerberus Global Investments,which, in 2006,purchased the Israeli government’s interest in Bank Leumi, the second largest bank in Israel. The Israeli newspaper said that proceeds from Feinberg’s purchase will go toward “paying off Israel’s high national debt.” In fact, Epstein’s Cerberus venture is quite substantial. The Oct. 3, 2005 issue of Business Week described Cerberus as being “bigger” than even such well known business giants as McDonald’s, 3M, Coca-Cola and Cisco Systems and noting that Cerberus controls some 226 Burger King restaurants, the National and Alamo car rental chains, building products maker Formica Corp. and the old Warner Hollywood Studios (which, incidentally, has been passed back and forth between various Jewish interests—primarily elements of outright organized crime—for several generations). Another major player in Feinberg’s operations is New York-based Jewish financier Michael Steinhardt (See MICHAEL STEINHARDT). And what is of particular interest is that two powerful American political figures are closely associated with Feinberg’s operations: former Vice President Dan Quayle and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Quayle is Feinberg’s front man, serving as chairman of the board of Cerberus,and,according to Ha’aretz, Feinberg is a “shy wunderkind” who “makes himself scarce around photographers and sends underlings like Cerberus chair Dan Quayle to sign his deals.” As far as Rumsfeld is concerned, what should disturb Americans is that Rumsfeld (while serving as defense secretary) was an investor in Epstein’s Cerberus as far back as 2001—well before the American invasion of Iraq (of which Rumsfeld was a foremost advocate), after which time Cerberus profited from setting up military base camps in Iraq.
MAURICE GREENBERG. Although the famed name “Rockefeller” has come to represent, in America (and worldwide), since the late 19th Century, vast wealth and influence, the fact is that, as the generations of the Rockefellers have passed onward, the family’s wealth has substantially diminished as it has been distributed among the younger generations. In addition, what is not generally known is that a New York-based Jewish billionaire, Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg, has essentially emerged as the real prime mover behind the remnants of the Rockefeller Empire in a variety of spheres, along with his son Jeffrey Greenberg, former chairman and CEO of the Marsh & McClennan Company, and his other son, Evan G. Greenberg, president and CEO of Ace Limited. These firms, together with their father’s company, American International Group (once said to be the world’s largest insurance and financial services corporation), in fact, control a major portion of the insurance industry.
What is interesting is that Greenberg, Sr.,who serves as an honorary director and as vice chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)—long viewed as the primary Rockefeller-sponsored foreign policy arm—is, in fact, the prime power within the CFR today, although, of course, David Rockefeller, now well advanced in years, still remains a nominal figurehead at the CFR. In addition, Greenberg is also active in theTrilateral Commission, another foreign policy pressure bloc, founded by David Rockefeller. Greenberg is a longtime close associate of former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger whose rise to prominence came at the patronage of David Rockefeller and the circles surrounding the CFR which, as noted earlier, is no more than a New York-based “junior cousin” of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the foreign policy arm of the Rothschild Empire, through which the Rothschild Dynasty issued directives to the British Foreign Office for the advancement of Rothschild interests across the globe.
The relationship between Greenberg and Kissinger was so close, in fact, that, at one point, Kissinger was chairman of AIG’s international advisory board. Not surprisingly, this immensely powerful Jewish prince, Greenberg, was a past chairman, deputy chairman and director of the Federal Reserve Bank of NewYork, and, accordingly,he has also been involved at high levels in several institutions founded by the Rockefeller family including the Asia Society, Rockefeller University, and the Museum of Modern Art. Greenberg is currently chairman of C.V. Starr & Company and it is interesting to note that Greenberg was forced to resign from his post as chairman and CEO of AIG as a consequence of criminal charges filed against him by no less than then-New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. Later, of course, Spitzer was elected governor of New York largely on the basis of his reputation as a “giant killer,” but, of course, in the spring of 2008 he was “watergated” out of office, after which even the prestigious Jewish newspaper, Forward, commented that— despite his Jewish heritage—Spitzer had never really identified himself with Jewish concerns and was considered distant by the Jewish community at large, perhaps explaining, in part,why this powerful Jewish public figure was ceremonially “executed.” In any case, while Spitzer fell, Greenberg remains one of the most powerful Jews on the face of the planet, perhaps, in some ways,one to be described as the Rothschild Empire’s chief administrator of the American circles and spheres of influence surrounding the remnants of the Rockefeller family’s operations. In the fall of 2008—just prior to the U.S. presidential election—Greenberg’s intrigues once came into public scrutiny. His longtime fiefdom, AIG, was central to the gigantic (largely Jewish-connected) financial scandals that shattered the American economy, threatening to bring collapse to yet another Western outpost—the United States—recalling Jewish philosopher and historian Max Dimont’s provocative suggestion that the Jewish people have a history of surviving the collapse of civilizations and that they will ultimately come to reign supreme over the planet. In this respect, then, some might wonder if the collapse ofWall Street—under Jewish domination— is not then part of the final chapter, a deliberate scheme to, in some way, further the aim of establishing The Jewish Utopia.
THE HAAS FAMILY are the heirs to the Levi-Strauss garment fortune and cumulatively the members of the family are certainly among the wealthiest in the United States. They are also related to the Meyer family who are primary figures in the Washington Post Company along with non-Jewish Rothschild family front man,Warren Buffett. (See WARREN BUFFETT.) The Haas family are relatively low-key but quite powerful as a result of their combined wealth which dwarfs that of so many other non-Jewish Americans.
HENRY R.KRAVIS and GEORGE R.ROBERTS. Kravis, the son of a Jewish oil engineer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and his cousin, Roberts, teamed up with Jerome Kohlberg, Jr. in New York City to set up Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts and Company from which they became internationally known for their involvement in leveraged buyouts. They were known as “the kings of the junk bonds.” Kohlberg left the firm but Kravis and Roberts continue to be primary figures in the institution.They were known for their leveraged buyout of the RJR Nabisco Company which became the subject of a book and film, Barbarians at the Gate. Among the companies that Kravis has been ssociated with over the years, buying and selling them, are: First Data Inc., Toys R Us, Duracell Batteries, Safeway, Beatrice Foods, Playtex,Texaco, and HCA Inc., the health care provider. Kravis’ wife, Marie-Josee, was a Canadian columnist and television personality, who, along with her husband, has been active in the “neo-conservative” (that is, hard-line Zionist) Hudson Institute in the United States and known for their involvement in Republican Party affairs. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kravis are active members of the Council on Foreign Relations and have attended meetings of the Bilderberg Group, which meets annually, sponsored by the Rothschild Empire and its satellites in the Rockefeller family. Kravis himself is a vice chairman of Rockefeller University, placing him among that group of Jews who have supplanted the Rockefellers within numerous institutions initially sponsored by that family.
RONALD LAUDER is said to be worth $3 billion. He and his brother, Leonard, are the heirs to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune. Lauder has long been connected to Republican Party affairs, having served during the Reagan administration as a deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy at the Pentagon. Later, President Reagan appointed Lauder as U.S.Ambassador to Austria. At one point, he made a failed bid to become mayor of New York City, only to lose to no less than a leading voice for the Jewish interests, non-Jewish Rudy Giuliani, in the GOP mayoral primary. Particularly involved in Jewish intrigues, Lauder runs the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation that focuses on Jewish affairs in Eastern and Central Europe. He also has investments in the Eastern European media and in Israeli television. He is involved in multiple Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Theological Seminary and in 2007 he was elected president of the World Jewish Congress. It is also worth noting that Lauder’s daughter, Jane, is married to Kevin Warsh, a member of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System.
S.I. NEWHOUSE and his brother DONALD NEWHOUSE are the heirs to the publishing fortune established by their late father. As of 2007, Forbes ranked Newhouse and his brother to be the 37th richest Americans, with their wealth estimated to be as much as $8 billion. Their late father Sam Newhouse had long-standing ties to organized crime. The Newhouse media holdings are so expansive that they bear listing:
NEWHOUSE NEWSPAPERS:
Alabama
• The Birmingham News
• The Mobile Press
• The Mobile Press Register
• The Mobile Register
Louisiana
• The New Orleans Times-Picayune
Michigan
• The Ann Arbor News
• The Flint Times
• The Grand Rapids Press
• The Kalamazoo Gazette
• The Saginaw News
• The Times (Bay City)
Mississippi
• The Mississippi Press (Pascagoula)
• The Mississippi Press Register (Pascagoula)
New Jersey
• The Jersey Journal (Jersey City)
• The Star-Ledger (Newark)
• The Times (Trenton)
New York
• The Herald-American (Syracuse)
Ohio
• The Plain-Dealer (Cleveland)
Oregon
• The Oregonian
Pennsylvania
• The Patriot-News (Harrisburg)
• The Juniata Sentinel
• The Perry County Times
• The Duncannon Record
• The News-Sun (Perry County)
NEWHOUSE MAGAZINES:
• Allure
• American City Business Journals
(28 local weekly business newspapers)
• Architectural Digest
• Bon Apetit
• Bride’s
• Conde Nast Traveler
• Details
• Gentlemen’s Quarterly
• Glamour
• Gourmet
• Mademoiselle
• Parade magazine (the famous Sunday supplement)
• The New Yorker
• Vanity Fair
• Vogue
RONALD PERELMAN. Probably best known as the head of the Revlon cosmetics empire, Perelman was actually said, at one point, to be the richest man in America. As of 2007, however, Forbes magazine demoted him to the status of being only the 28th richest American (and the 87th richest person in the world),worth somewhere in the range of $9 billion. His primary front operation is MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings (no relation, apparently, to the aforementioned Forbes publishing company). This, of course, sounds like a very staid old-line White Anglo Saxon Protestant investment firm but it is anything but that. Perelman is a very devout Jew with tendencies in the Orthodox realm and is a strong supporter of numerous Jewish charities. He spends three hours every Jewish sabbath in prayer and even keeps a kosher home. One of his favorite charities is the Chabad Lubavich group,one of the more hard-line Jewish sects.What is remarkable about Perelman is the wide range of his investments. He came from a relatively well-to-do family in the first place. His father’s family controlled the American Paper Products corporation and later bought Belmont Iron Works, a manufacturer of structural steel, a corporation in which Perelman learned the business of business. He later majored in business and received a master’s degree in business from the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School. Businessman that he is, Perelman has branched out into many fields. He has purchased television stations and entertainment companies such as Genesis Entertainment.He has also purchased major amounts of stock in the famous Sunbeam corporation, although that company later filed for bankruptcy. He was also a major owner of Consolidated Cigars, a holding company which owns numerous cigar brands. Perelman is also said to have made between $600 million and $1.2 billion by diving into the savings and loan crisis and buying a number of insolvent operations and then restructuring them for his own profit. Among other things, Perelman is the owner of the Marvel Entertainment Group which produces comic books and all of the inter-related marketing gimmicks stemming from them. He has also purchased the companies, Skybox International and the Fleer Corporation which are in the baseball card business, as well as the Italian sticker manufacturer, the Panini group, which produces sports-related items. And while one does not normally think about this, the fact is the comic book industry provides a major outlet for political propagandizing. So Perelman, in his own fashion, is a major force in the Rothschild sphere of influence.
NICHOLAS J. PRITZKER is today the head of the Chicago-based Pritzker family fortune (long tied to Jewish organized crime) and is chairman of his family’s Hyatt Development Corporation, the hotel chain. The family also controls the Trans-Union Credit Bureau (a major source of “inside” data on millions of people for use by the Rothschild Empire) and Caribbean Cruise Lines. Their fortune is tremendous and, although the subject of nasty legal disputes among the family, remains one of the powerful fortunes in the global Jewish elite. The Pritzkers—along with the aforementioned Crown family of Chicago (See LESTER CROWN)—are among those described as being part of the “inner circle” of newly-elected U.S. President Barack Obama.
SUMNER REDSTONE, born in Boston,was the son of Michael Redstein, owner of the Northeast Theater Corporation, which later became National Amusements.Although Redstone initially practiced law and worked for the U.S. Department of Justice in San Francisco, he opted to go into his father’s company,where he began making investments in such film production companies and studios as Columbia Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Orion Pictures, and Paramount Pictures. Ultimately Redstone assumed control of Viacom International, which had been a spin-off of CBS. Later, through Viacom, Redstone actually assumed control of the aforementioned film companies, and today Viacom is one of the largest media companies on the face of the earth.Among its holdings are Blockbuster Entertainment and now CBS itself,which Redstone acquired in 2000. Redstone is said to be the 86th richest person in the world and worth $9 billion.
SAMUEL REICHMANN, a Jewish immigrant from Hungary, was the founder of another legendary Canadian-based Jewish fortune which has been particularly influential in North American affairs. Based in Montreal, home base of the Bronfman family (see previous chapter for more on that family). Reichmann’s heirs include his sons Paul, Ralph, Albert, Louis and Edward (who emigrated to Israel and who is now deceased) and daughter Eva. The primary source of Reichmann wealth was construction and property development. They were responsible for the construction of First Canadian Place, which was Canada’s tallest building and their holdings reached abroad, including New York and Tokyo and at one point they were the biggest developers in the world. Although their Olympia & York empire ultimately went into bankruptcy, the Reichmanns are very wealthy and remain influential in global affairs. They are known for their immense devotion to their Orthodox Jewish heritage, so much so that even in the midst of their development of buildings and other real estate projects, construction would stop on the Jewish holy days.They have been associated in international partnerships with such Jewish wheeler-dealers as George Soros and Laurence Tisch, among others (See GEORGE SOROS and LAURENCETISCH).
HAIM SABAN, worth more than $3 billion, is an Egyptian-born Jew whose family emigrated to Israel in 1956—and who now resides in Beverly Hills and Israel—was said by Forbes to be the 102nd richest person in America. Starting out as a television producer, Saban partnered with Rothschild front-man Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and sold Fox Family Worldwide to the Walt Disney Company. The sale of this network, since renamed the ABC Family Channel,was the largest transaction in history between a company and an individual and Saban made a profit of $1.6 billion as a result. He is currently a leader of the investment group which took control of Univision, the largest Spanish-language media company in the United States making this Egyptian-born dual U.S.-Israeli citizen a primary figure in directing the course of the increasingly important Spanish-language media in the United States and thus having major political clout over the Spanish-speaking population which Jewish groups and their spokesmen have often indicated could prove a threat to Jewish interests (primarily because of their historic ties to the Roman Catholic faith). Saban funds the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Saban once admitted candidly to the New York Times: “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.”
SASSOON FAMILY. Another of the Babylonian Jewish families, and later intermarried with the Rothschilds, an early leader of the Sassoon dynasty was the banker for the provincial governor of Baghdad and later his son went on to Bombay, India. At that time the Sassoons branched out to Burma, Malaya and East Asia. It is said that in each branch of the Sassoon banking houses, which intertwined with the opium trade, there was maintained a rabbi. The Sassoons also extended into China with offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai and it should be noted that the Chinese nationalist figure, Chang Kai Shek was married to the daughter of T.V. Soong who was an official of a Sassoon family bank. The Sassoons are a critical extension of the Rothschild Empire throughout Asia.
WALTER SHORENSTEIN might be referred to as“The Jewish King of San Francisco.” A real estate tycoon said to be worth about $1 billion, Shorenstein was the largest operator of commercial real estate in San Francisco for many years and is believed to control about 25% of the city’s downtown, where real estate prices have skyrocketed. Today, in his 80s, Shorenstein’s empire is now being run by his son Douglas. Shorenstein has been well known nationally in the sense that he has been a major financial donor to the Democratic Party, although, obviously grass-roots Democrats in America’s small towns and rural communities have never heard of this Jewish maven. A major propaganda initiative by Shorenstein to influence public affairs is the funding of an outfit (named after his deceased daughter) called the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F.Kennedy School of Government. So Shorenstein has long been a major player in a major city where Jewish money has long been supreme. It is no accident that Roy Bullock—the Anti-Defamation League’s longtime chief undercover operative, targeting American dissidents who challenged Israeli influence and Jewish power—operated out of San Francisco. (For a study of the ADL and a personal account by author Michael Collins Piper of his own encounters with Bullock, see The Judas Goats.)
GEORGE SOROS, the Hungarian born stock speculator and predator, in recent years, has put himself forth as a “liberal” figure in American political affairs. Ranked by Forbes as the 80th richest person in the entire world, worth an estimated $8.5 billion, he has served on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations, the New York outpost of the Rothschild Empire. His international money rackets have rightly led him to be attacked by many influential nationalists around the world, in particular, then-Malaysian Prime Minister Dr.Mahathir Mohamad.Nationalists in Thailand called Soros “an economic war criminal who siphoned the blood from the people.” One major Soros project has been to “spread democracy” in Eastern Europe and he has also attempted to interfere in the political affairs of Russia during the time when Russia’s nationalist premier Vladimir Putin was challenging the intrigues of the Rothschild Empire and its tentacles among the Jewish oligarchs in Russia (many of whom hold dual Russian-Israeli citizenship). Soros has been a “critic of Israel” and has expressed concerns about “anti- Semitism,” acknowledging that worldwide concerns about Jewish power stem from disenchantment with Israel’s treatment of Christian and Muslim Palestinian Arabs. He has openly acknowledged that U.S. support for Israel has contributed to the rise of anti-Semitism and that individuals such as himself who are involved in the global financial community have been the subject of “anti-Semitic” rhetoric. By virtue of his substantial funding for a number of “liberal” organizations that challenged George W. Bush’s administration, Soros has effectively sought to co-opt those institutions and individuals in an effort to redirect attention away from Jewish intrigues by playing the role of “Jewish critic” of “the neo-conservatives.”
MICHAEL H. STEINHARDT, born in Brooklyn, emerged as one of the first prominent figures in the hedge fund financial business. Steinhardt has admitted that he launched his early career with funding from his father, Sol Frank “Red” Steinhardt, who was the number one “fence” of stolen jewelry in New York City, closely associated with Jewish crime syndicate chief Meyer Lansky. Steinhardt said that his father would give him envelopes stuffed with $10,000 in cash—something that the average working middle-class American has never seen. Steinhardt has even implied that his own education at the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania may have also been funded by his father’s organized crime activities. In any event, Steinhardt is now an immensely wealthy man who is known for his devotion to Jewish causes, perhaps best exemplified by his funding of the hard-line pro-Israel daily, The New York Sun, which is “neoconservative” in its outlook.This scion of crime is also a board member of the Foundation for the Defense of the Democracies, which he has actively funded. This is the project of Clifford May, an ex-journalist-turned-profes- sional propagandist for the global Jewish agenda. Steinhardt is also past chairman of the so-called “centrist” Democratic Leadership Council. He has also chaired his own Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life and also Taglit Birthright Israel, which funds travel to Israel by young Jewish Americans. Today Steinhardt is chairman of Wisdom Tree Investments which manages some $5 billion and was said to be growing by some 10 percent a month.
ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER, JR. Born in 1951, Sulzberger is the publisher of the New York Times and chairman of The New York Times Company, heir to the Sulzberger family which made the Times the foremost daily newspaper in America. Traditionally liberal, the Times is likewise the premier voice—perhaps in the world—for the interests of Jews in general and of the Rothschild Empire and its global concerns. To say more about the influence of this newspaper empire and its family would belabor matters.
LAURENCE TISCH AND PRESTON TISCH, the founders of the modern dynasty, were part owners of the Loew’s Entertainment Corporation. Preston was actually postmaster general of the United States from 1986 to 1988. The Tisch brothers were also key figures in the CBS entertainment empire and their heirs remain prominent players in global Jewish affairs.
SANFORD I.WEILL is not a household name but he is one of the major Jewish financiers. At one point he served as chairman and CEO of City Group, Inc. which are American satellites of the Rothschild-controlled banking institutions in “The City” of London. (See elsewhere in these pages for a detailed analysis of “The City.”) Those American banking groups with the preface “City” in their names were always extensions of Rothschild banks in London.Weill rose to power in the mid-1960s and 1970s when he merged his own firm with other firms to establish Shearson-Loeb-Rhodes, a modern incarnation of the old German-Jewish (so-called “Our Crowd”) New Yorkbased Loeb banking enterprise (not to be confused, incidentally, with Kuhn- Loeb, another of the “Our Crowd” network). In the early 1980s,Weill sold Shearson-Loeb-Rhodes to American Express but in 1993 he reacquired his old company, now known as Shearson-Lehman (and Lehman, of course, was the name of yet another New York-based “Our Crowd” banking institution in the sphere of the Rothschild Empire). In 1997 he assumed control of Salomon Inc., the parent company of the famed Jewish banking Salomon Brothers firm. Weill called his new company Shearson-Lehman-The Travelers Group which then merged with CitiCorp, which is how Weill came to assume management of that concern. Weill, said to be worth $1.9 billion, was also named a“Class A”director of the Federal Reserve Bank of NewYork City. He is, beyond question, a key administrator of the Rothschild Empire.
SAMUEL ZELL, said to be worth $6 billion and the 52nd richest American began his rise to influence in real estate. At one point, his company Equity Residential was the largest owner of apartments in the United States; a related company was the largest owner of office space in the nation. He also was a major player in the mobile home industry, through his corporation, Manufactured Home Communities. This son of Jewish immigrants from Poland has also moved into media and he is now a key player in Anixter International which is the world’s largest distributor of communications products and electronic wire and cable.What is most notable is that, in 2007,Zell grabbed control of theTribune Company, publisher of such august American newspapers as the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and New York’s Newsday. He also owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team (which is owned by the Tribune Company). The foul-mouthed Zell has been described by the distinguished Jewish weekly, Forward, as a “committed Zionist” and he has made many multimillion dollar donations to Israeli academic institutions and has been funding the Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress which is considered to be “right wing.” Not surprisingly, Zell has also been a financial backer of the hardline right wing American Jewish Committee and he has been known for a tendency toward making political donations to Republican Party interests. However, like all Jewish power brokers, he is open to making donations to the Democratic Party as well. Recently it was announced that Zell was taking the Tribune Company into bankruptcy, having devastated that American institution. His employees apparently will face the loss of much of their pension funds.
KHEDORI ZILKHA was, for many years, the modern-day patriarch of this family of Jews who trace their origins back to Babylon.They were among the Jewish princes who reigned in Babylon and remained there after the end of their exile there. Zilkha was described by the Judeo-centric New York Sun newspaper (owned in part by Jewish crime syndicate heir, Michael Steinhardt—See MICHAEL STEINHARDT) as being “a towering figure who bestrode the financial landscape of the Middle East, Europe, America and Asia and became an important player in international banking.” Yet, how many Americans have ever heard of the Zilkha family? The dynasty is ruled today by Ezra Zilkha who said, “My family were proud members of the Jewish community that Nebuchadnezzar established. When the Babylonian captivity ended and many Jews returned to Jerusalem, my ancestors stayed behind. I am always conscious of history. My sensibilities are rooted in antiquity.” This family are among those most powerful and wealthy forces within the Rothschild Empire, loyal to their Talmudic roots and the Talmud’s dream of worldwide Jewish domination. The New York Sun has even described Ezra Zilkha himself as “a living legend.”
MORTIMER ZUCKERMAN. This character, a key figure in the Jewish power network, has risen to supreme influence by virtue of his position as a former president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. That alone makes him a significant power, not only within the “Zionist” movement, but within the entire Jewish community in the United States and, consequently, in the whole world. However, he has extended his role and influence through his involvement in the mass media in America. Zuckerman, of course, is best known as the publisher of US News & World Report, one of the venerable and once-traditionally conservative voices in the American press, long considered the “conservative alternative” to the liberal Time and Newsweek, although many honest media critics would raise the question as to how truly “liberal” Time and Newsweek really ever were. In any case, under Zuckerman’s influence, US News & World Report, particularly in the commentaries by Zuckerman that appear in its pages, has become a hardline voice for Israel and its international aims. Zuckerman began as a builder and real estate operator in Boston in early partnership with elements circling in the sphere of the Bronfman family of Canada and it was through this that he accumulated his initial fortune. Today Zuckerman controls such other American institutions as the New York Daily News and he did, until recently,own the Atlantic. Zuckerman has been ranked as the 188th wealthiest American. He has been active in the “NewYork office” of the Rothschild Empire’s Royal Institute of International Affairs known as the Council on Foreign Relations and in the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. True to the tradition of the Rothschild Empire, Zuckerman has helped seed other Jewish fortunes, most notably that of his special protege, Daniel Snyder, best known as owner of the Washington Redskins football team. Snyder is a remarkable case study. Backed by Zuckerman and through his Snyder Communications, a small family enterprise, young Snyder set up “boiler room” operations all over the United States gathering the names of Spanish-surnamed Americans (legal and illegal), compiling lists of those names, and then marketing calling cards, longdistance programs, mortgages, car loans and credit card offers to them.This was probably the first-ever such name-gathering operation of its kind, vis-a-vis the burgeoning Latino population in the U.S. and it not only enriched Snyder (making him a billionaire!) and the Rothschild Empire but also set in place a special degree of influence over this demographic entity which is increasingly powerful by virtue of its numbers.This is not something widely known, not even to the Latinos, but something they do need to know. So these are the “Dukes and Duchesses”—the highest ranks—of the Rothschild Court. Let us now examine the“third”tier—the“lords and ladies” who are part of the Rothschild dynasty’s royal court.
NICHOLAS J. PRITZKER is today the head of the Chicago-based Pritzker family fortune (long tied to Jewish organized crime) and is chairman of his family’s Hyatt Development Corporation, the hotel chain. The family also controls the Trans-Union Credit Bureau (a major source of “inside” data on millions of people for use by the Rothschild Empire) and Caribbean Cruise Lines. Their fortune is tremendous and, although the subject of nasty legal disputes among the family, remains one of the powerful fortunes in the global Jewish elite. The Pritzkers—along with the aforementioned Crown family of Chicago (See LESTER CROWN)—are among those described as being part of the “inner circle” of newly-elected U.S. President Barack Obama.
SUMNER REDSTONE, born in Boston,was the son of Michael Redstein, owner of the Northeast Theater Corporation, which later became National Amusements.Although Redstone initially practiced law and worked for the U.S. Department of Justice in San Francisco, he opted to go into his father’s company,where he began making investments in such film production companies and studios as Columbia Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Orion Pictures, and Paramount Pictures. Ultimately Redstone assumed control of Viacom International, which had been a spin-off of CBS. Later, through Viacom, Redstone actually assumed control of the aforementioned film companies, and today Viacom is one of the largest media companies on the face of the earth.Among its holdings are Blockbuster Entertainment and now CBS itself,which Redstone acquired in 2000. Redstone is said to be the 86th richest person in the world and worth $9 billion.
SAMUEL REICHMANN, a Jewish immigrant from Hungary, was the founder of another legendary Canadian-based Jewish fortune which has been particularly influential in North American affairs. Based in Montreal, home base of the Bronfman family (see previous chapter for more on that family). Reichmann’s heirs include his sons Paul, Ralph, Albert, Louis and Edward (who emigrated to Israel and who is now deceased) and daughter Eva. The primary source of Reichmann wealth was construction and property development. They were responsible for the construction of First Canadian Place, which was Canada’s tallest building and their holdings reached abroad, including New York and Tokyo and at one point they were the biggest developers in the world. Although their Olympia & York empire ultimately went into bankruptcy, the Reichmanns are very wealthy and remain influential in global affairs. They are known for their immense devotion to their Orthodox Jewish heritage, so much so that even in the midst of their development of buildings and other real estate projects, construction would stop on the Jewish holy days.They have been associated in international partnerships with such Jewish wheeler-dealers as George Soros and Laurence Tisch, among others (See GEORGE SOROS and LAURENCETISCH).
HAIM SABAN, worth more than $3 billion, is an Egyptian-born Jew whose family emigrated to Israel in 1956—and who now resides in Beverly Hills and Israel—was said by Forbes to be the 102nd richest person in America. Starting out as a television producer, Saban partnered with Rothschild front-man Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and sold Fox Family Worldwide to the Walt Disney Company. The sale of this network, since renamed the ABC Family Channel,was the largest transaction in history between a company and an individual and Saban made a profit of $1.6 billion as a result. He is currently a leader of the investment group which took control of Univision, the largest Spanish-language media company in the United States making this Egyptian-born dual U.S.-Israeli citizen a primary figure in directing the course of the increasingly important Spanish-language media in the United States and thus having major political clout over the Spanish-speaking population which Jewish groups and their spokesmen have often indicated could prove a threat to Jewish interests (primarily because of their historic ties to the Roman Catholic faith). Saban funds the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Saban once admitted candidly to the New York Times: “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.”
SASSOON FAMILY. Another of the Babylonian Jewish families, and later intermarried with the Rothschilds, an early leader of the Sassoon dynasty was the banker for the provincial governor of Baghdad and later his son went on to Bombay, India. At that time the Sassoons branched out to Burma, Malaya and East Asia. It is said that in each branch of the Sassoon banking houses, which intertwined with the opium trade, there was maintained a rabbi. The Sassoons also extended into China with offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai and it should be noted that the Chinese nationalist figure, Chang Kai Shek was married to the daughter of T.V. Soong who was an official of a Sassoon family bank. The Sassoons are a critical extension of the Rothschild Empire throughout Asia.
WALTER SHORENSTEIN might be referred to as“The Jewish King of San Francisco.” A real estate tycoon said to be worth about $1 billion, Shorenstein was the largest operator of commercial real estate in San Francisco for many years and is believed to control about 25% of the city’s downtown, where real estate prices have skyrocketed. Today, in his 80s, Shorenstein’s empire is now being run by his son Douglas. Shorenstein has been well known nationally in the sense that he has been a major financial donor to the Democratic Party, although, obviously grass-roots Democrats in America’s small towns and rural communities have never heard of this Jewish maven. A major propaganda initiative by Shorenstein to influence public affairs is the funding of an outfit (named after his deceased daughter) called the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F.Kennedy School of Government. So Shorenstein has long been a major player in a major city where Jewish money has long been supreme. It is no accident that Roy Bullock—the Anti-Defamation League’s longtime chief undercover operative, targeting American dissidents who challenged Israeli influence and Jewish power—operated out of San Francisco. (For a study of the ADL and a personal account by author Michael Collins Piper of his own encounters with Bullock, see The Judas Goats.)
GEORGE SOROS, the Hungarian born stock speculator and predator, in recent years, has put himself forth as a “liberal” figure in American political affairs. Ranked by Forbes as the 80th richest person in the entire world, worth an estimated $8.5 billion, he has served on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations, the New York outpost of the Rothschild Empire. His international money rackets have rightly led him to be attacked by many influential nationalists around the world, in particular, then-Malaysian Prime Minister Dr.Mahathir Mohamad.Nationalists in Thailand called Soros “an economic war criminal who siphoned the blood from the people.” One major Soros project has been to “spread democracy” in Eastern Europe and he has also attempted to interfere in the political affairs of Russia during the time when Russia’s nationalist premier Vladimir Putin was challenging the intrigues of the Rothschild Empire and its tentacles among the Jewish oligarchs in Russia (many of whom hold dual Russian-Israeli citizenship). Soros has been a “critic of Israel” and has expressed concerns about “anti- Semitism,” acknowledging that worldwide concerns about Jewish power stem from disenchantment with Israel’s treatment of Christian and Muslim Palestinian Arabs. He has openly acknowledged that U.S. support for Israel has contributed to the rise of anti-Semitism and that individuals such as himself who are involved in the global financial community have been the subject of “anti-Semitic” rhetoric. By virtue of his substantial funding for a number of “liberal” organizations that challenged George W. Bush’s administration, Soros has effectively sought to co-opt those institutions and individuals in an effort to redirect attention away from Jewish intrigues by playing the role of “Jewish critic” of “the neo-conservatives.”
MICHAEL H. STEINHARDT, born in Brooklyn, emerged as one of the first prominent figures in the hedge fund financial business. Steinhardt has admitted that he launched his early career with funding from his father, Sol Frank “Red” Steinhardt, who was the number one “fence” of stolen jewelry in New York City, closely associated with Jewish crime syndicate chief Meyer Lansky. Steinhardt said that his father would give him envelopes stuffed with $10,000 in cash—something that the average working middle-class American has never seen. Steinhardt has even implied that his own education at the prestigious Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania may have also been funded by his father’s organized crime activities. In any event, Steinhardt is now an immensely wealthy man who is known for his devotion to Jewish causes, perhaps best exemplified by his funding of the hard-line pro-Israel daily, The New York Sun, which is “neoconservative” in its outlook.This scion of crime is also a board member of the Foundation for the Defense of the Democracies, which he has actively funded. This is the project of Clifford May, an ex-journalist-turned-profes- sional propagandist for the global Jewish agenda. Steinhardt is also past chairman of the so-called “centrist” Democratic Leadership Council. He has also chaired his own Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life and also Taglit Birthright Israel, which funds travel to Israel by young Jewish Americans. Today Steinhardt is chairman of Wisdom Tree Investments which manages some $5 billion and was said to be growing by some 10 percent a month.
ARTHUR OCHS SULZBERGER, JR. Born in 1951, Sulzberger is the publisher of the New York Times and chairman of The New York Times Company, heir to the Sulzberger family which made the Times the foremost daily newspaper in America. Traditionally liberal, the Times is likewise the premier voice—perhaps in the world—for the interests of Jews in general and of the Rothschild Empire and its global concerns. To say more about the influence of this newspaper empire and its family would belabor matters.
LAURENCE TISCH AND PRESTON TISCH, the founders of the modern dynasty, were part owners of the Loew’s Entertainment Corporation. Preston was actually postmaster general of the United States from 1986 to 1988. The Tisch brothers were also key figures in the CBS entertainment empire and their heirs remain prominent players in global Jewish affairs.
SANFORD I.WEILL is not a household name but he is one of the major Jewish financiers. At one point he served as chairman and CEO of City Group, Inc. which are American satellites of the Rothschild-controlled banking institutions in “The City” of London. (See elsewhere in these pages for a detailed analysis of “The City.”) Those American banking groups with the preface “City” in their names were always extensions of Rothschild banks in London.Weill rose to power in the mid-1960s and 1970s when he merged his own firm with other firms to establish Shearson-Loeb-Rhodes, a modern incarnation of the old German-Jewish (so-called “Our Crowd”) New Yorkbased Loeb banking enterprise (not to be confused, incidentally, with Kuhn- Loeb, another of the “Our Crowd” network). In the early 1980s,Weill sold Shearson-Loeb-Rhodes to American Express but in 1993 he reacquired his old company, now known as Shearson-Lehman (and Lehman, of course, was the name of yet another New York-based “Our Crowd” banking institution in the sphere of the Rothschild Empire). In 1997 he assumed control of Salomon Inc., the parent company of the famed Jewish banking Salomon Brothers firm. Weill called his new company Shearson-Lehman-The Travelers Group which then merged with CitiCorp, which is how Weill came to assume management of that concern. Weill, said to be worth $1.9 billion, was also named a“Class A”director of the Federal Reserve Bank of NewYork City. He is, beyond question, a key administrator of the Rothschild Empire.
SAMUEL ZELL, said to be worth $6 billion and the 52nd richest American began his rise to influence in real estate. At one point, his company Equity Residential was the largest owner of apartments in the United States; a related company was the largest owner of office space in the nation. He also was a major player in the mobile home industry, through his corporation, Manufactured Home Communities. This son of Jewish immigrants from Poland has also moved into media and he is now a key player in Anixter International which is the world’s largest distributor of communications products and electronic wire and cable.What is most notable is that, in 2007,Zell grabbed control of theTribune Company, publisher of such august American newspapers as the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and New York’s Newsday. He also owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team (which is owned by the Tribune Company). The foul-mouthed Zell has been described by the distinguished Jewish weekly, Forward, as a “committed Zionist” and he has made many multimillion dollar donations to Israeli academic institutions and has been funding the Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress which is considered to be “right wing.” Not surprisingly, Zell has also been a financial backer of the hardline right wing American Jewish Committee and he has been known for a tendency toward making political donations to Republican Party interests. However, like all Jewish power brokers, he is open to making donations to the Democratic Party as well. Recently it was announced that Zell was taking the Tribune Company into bankruptcy, having devastated that American institution. His employees apparently will face the loss of much of their pension funds.
KHEDORI ZILKHA was, for many years, the modern-day patriarch of this family of Jews who trace their origins back to Babylon.They were among the Jewish princes who reigned in Babylon and remained there after the end of their exile there. Zilkha was described by the Judeo-centric New York Sun newspaper (owned in part by Jewish crime syndicate heir, Michael Steinhardt—See MICHAEL STEINHARDT) as being “a towering figure who bestrode the financial landscape of the Middle East, Europe, America and Asia and became an important player in international banking.” Yet, how many Americans have ever heard of the Zilkha family? The dynasty is ruled today by Ezra Zilkha who said, “My family were proud members of the Jewish community that Nebuchadnezzar established. When the Babylonian captivity ended and many Jews returned to Jerusalem, my ancestors stayed behind. I am always conscious of history. My sensibilities are rooted in antiquity.” This family are among those most powerful and wealthy forces within the Rothschild Empire, loyal to their Talmudic roots and the Talmud’s dream of worldwide Jewish domination. The New York Sun has even described Ezra Zilkha himself as “a living legend.”
MORTIMER ZUCKERMAN. This character, a key figure in the Jewish power network, has risen to supreme influence by virtue of his position as a former president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. That alone makes him a significant power, not only within the “Zionist” movement, but within the entire Jewish community in the United States and, consequently, in the whole world. However, he has extended his role and influence through his involvement in the mass media in America. Zuckerman, of course, is best known as the publisher of US News & World Report, one of the venerable and once-traditionally conservative voices in the American press, long considered the “conservative alternative” to the liberal Time and Newsweek, although many honest media critics would raise the question as to how truly “liberal” Time and Newsweek really ever were. In any case, under Zuckerman’s influence, US News & World Report, particularly in the commentaries by Zuckerman that appear in its pages, has become a hardline voice for Israel and its international aims. Zuckerman began as a builder and real estate operator in Boston in early partnership with elements circling in the sphere of the Bronfman family of Canada and it was through this that he accumulated his initial fortune. Today Zuckerman controls such other American institutions as the New York Daily News and he did, until recently,own the Atlantic. Zuckerman has been ranked as the 188th wealthiest American. He has been active in the “NewYork office” of the Rothschild Empire’s Royal Institute of International Affairs known as the Council on Foreign Relations and in the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. True to the tradition of the Rothschild Empire, Zuckerman has helped seed other Jewish fortunes, most notably that of his special protege, Daniel Snyder, best known as owner of the Washington Redskins football team. Snyder is a remarkable case study. Backed by Zuckerman and through his Snyder Communications, a small family enterprise, young Snyder set up “boiler room” operations all over the United States gathering the names of Spanish-surnamed Americans (legal and illegal), compiling lists of those names, and then marketing calling cards, longdistance programs, mortgages, car loans and credit card offers to them.This was probably the first-ever such name-gathering operation of its kind, vis-a-vis the burgeoning Latino population in the U.S. and it not only enriched Snyder (making him a billionaire!) and the Rothschild Empire but also set in place a special degree of influence over this demographic entity which is increasingly powerful by virtue of its numbers.This is not something widely known, not even to the Latinos, but something they do need to know. So these are the “Dukes and Duchesses”—the highest ranks—of the Rothschild Court. Let us now examine the“third”tier—the“lords and ladies” who are part of the Rothschild dynasty’s royal court.
[cliquez pour agrandir l'image - click to see larger picture]
The rare French lithograph from the mid-1880s portrays the Jew as standing at the top of the French social, political and economic pyramid, outranking the king, the nobility, the clergy, the military, the beggars and the peasantry. (Lithograph from the private collection of Michael Collins Piper.)
CHAPTER TWELVE
The “Lords and Ladies”
of the American Jewish Aristocracy:
The Third Tier of the Rothschild Court Families
The “Lords and Ladies”
of the American Jewish Aristocracy:
The Third Tier of the Rothschild Court Families
The information that follows is based largely on profiles of roughly 180 specifically named (and many of them inter-connected) Jewish families that appeared in a “special tribute issue” (dated 1997-1998, Vol. 21, No. 10) of the NewYork-based Avenue magazine—a“society” journal with little circulation outside the realm of those who thrive on reading about the fashions and foibles of the power elite.
That special issue, titled “Portraits of Family Achievement in the American Jewish Community,” highlighted the names and ventures of American Jewish families, focusing on those who have been active in the Jewish community and its multiple philanthropic and political enterprises. Now, please note that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Jewish community organizations and other entities, both local and national. Although there are a handful of Jewish groups such as the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B’nai B’rith that frequently appear in the mainstream media, largely in the context of “political”news, there are many more such entities that are rarely ever mentioned except in Jewish community newspapers which, of course, are not “everyday” reading for the average American.
And as far as the term “philanthropic”—as used here—is concerned, the term is used quite loosely, for many—if not most—of the Jewish families are largely philanthropic only toward specifically Jewish charities, although there are exceptions.
The Avenue list—as rendered here—does not reference many of the multiple charities, both here in the United States (both Jewish and non-Jewish in orientation) and in Israel, that the named families have funded to much acclaim. Only where one particular family is closely associated with a particular “cause” have we included that information.
Note, too, that most of the named families seem—based on the Avenue report—to have established one closely held family foundation or another, utilizing those foundations to support a variety of causes. Most—but not all—of those causes are Jewish in nature and, quite often, connected to the state of Israel and various agencies and institutions in that country. And a few of the names—it might be noted—have already been referenced, in fact, in the summary list in the previous chapter.
Thus, needless to say–with perhaps only a handful of exceptions—the names listed here constitute the “wealthiest of the wealthy” (and therefore most powerful) among the American Jewish elite, but this is not to suggest that the names that appear here do indeed constitute a formal list of “the richest Jews in America.” Far from it! In fact, there are many other quite well-to-do enterprisers, so to speak, of Jewish origin who do not make the headlines.There are many wealthy Jewish crime figures, for example, who prefer a low profile and do not seek to publicize themselves or their donations to Jewish philanthropies. And, in that regard, it’s unlikely that Avenue magazine would be prepared to laud the “accomplishments” of a Jewish crime figure. So the Avenue list is incomplete in that regard.
Now, in regard to the list, note that you will not find Henry Kissinger, for example, on the list. Certainly wealthy and powerful, Kissinger’s wealth and power has always come as a result of his having moved in the sphere of wealthy and powerful people. Kissinger is a political figure and, as such, is nothing more than a well-paid functionary of the Rothschild Dynasty. Kissinger’s fame and “accomplishments” are a creation of the Jewish controlled media, in many respects, but unlike many who do appear on the Avenue list, he is not one of the media’s owners, per se. And that may be just enough of a distinction for Kissinger not to be included. Although Kissinger serves on many corporate boards—including media entities—he has always been more of a public figure (who happens to be Jewish) who acts as a facilitator for the powers behind the scenes rather than a genuine “mover and shaker” on his own.Without the patronage of powerful sponsors, Kissinger would be nothing more than just another colorful Jewish academic. In addition, for the reader’s consideration, there’s another factor that might be noted: Henry Kissinger’s rise to fame came in the immediate sphere of the Rockefeller family which has always essentially been operating as a satellite of the Rothschild Empire, despite occasionally having independent interests of its own at stake.
And in all fairness to the numerous American Jewish millionaires—and perhaps billionaires—who have not been honored by Avenue’s list of “family achievement,”and who are not necessarily involved in criminal misdeeds, it should be noted that many of those achievers have accumulated a great deal of wealth but have not sought public acclaim, recognition in society magazines or honors from their own Jewish community.
So, there are certainly many more Jewish fortunes that have gone unmentioned in the list compiled by Avenue. But the list that Avenue did compile is extensive indeed and certainly as far as being a record of the major players—finance-wise—in Jewish “high society” the Avenue list is a valuable record. (This author, frankly, has never seen anything so complete.) It is probably safe to say that although Jewish names make up a considerable portion of the annual Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest families in America, a secondary list of what one might call “the Forbes 800”—that is, a list of the next group of 400 wealthy families following the initial 400— would undoubtedly include virtually all of the names that appear on the Avenue list summarized here. In short, although there is a great deal of Jewish wealth accumulated at the very top, there is an even greater accumulation in the much wider “middle ground” of wealthy American families. All of this having been said, let us review the “lords and ladies” of the Jewish aristocracy—the “third tier” (so to speak) of the Rothschild Court:
ABESS. Miami, Florida. Control the City National Bank of Florida. Members include Leonard Abess and Allan Abess, Jr.
ALTHEIM. New York City. Philip and Barbara Altheim control Forest Electric, a subsidiary of EMCOR and the largest electric construction company in the world. Sons and daughters include Marc, Jill and Gary.
ANNENBERG. Philadelphia. Long headed by the late Walter Annenberg, who served as US Ambassador to England, appointed by Richard Nixon. Triangle Publications empire. Published TV Guide and Philadelphia Inquirer.
ARISON. Miami. Israeli-born Theodore “Ted” Arison founded the Carnival Cruise Lines. Ted’s son Micky now controls the family empire which includes the cruise line, hotels, resorts and Miami Heat basketball team. Ted Arison returned to Israel.
ARNOW-WEILER. Boston. Russian-born Jack Weiler partnered with Benjamin Swig in commercial development, grabbing more than seven million square feet. Daughter Joan and husband Robert Arnow and their son David now rule the empire.They have a son, Noah.
BARNETT. Fort Worth, Texas. Operated Hilton Hotels in Israel. Louis Barnett and his wife Madlyn (nee Brachman.See BRACHMAN) have son Eliot who is involved in shopping center development. Family also involved in real estate, pharmaceuticals and oil. Family funds Barnett Institute of Biotechnology at Northeastern University.
BELFER. New York. Refugees from Poland, Arthur and Rochelle Belfer founded the family now headed by Robert Belfer and daughters Selma Ruben and Anita Saltz. Arthur Belfer was involved in oil and natural gas which later evolved into the infamous Enron corporation. [For more on Enron’s “Jewish Connection” see The New Jerusalem by Michael Collins Piper.] Son Robert was on Enron executive committee but escaped media attention.
BELZ. Memphis. Belz Enterprises and the Peabody Hotel (Memphis) Group are part of the family’s holdings established by Philip Belz who dabbled in real estate and management. His son Jack Belz and wife Marilyn maintain the family’s affairs. Their daughter Jan, married to Andrew Groveman, is coming into her own, active in Soviet Jewish emigration.
BELZBERG. Canada-New York-Israel. Sam Belzberg heads Gibralter Capital corporation.Wife: Frances. Daughter Wendy (an editor at the influential Jewish newspaper, Forward, is married to Strauss Zelnick, head of BMG Records. Daughter Lisa is married to Matthew Bronfman (See BRONFMAN). The family are original financial backers of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Their former rabbi, Marvin Heir, left Canada to go to Los Angeles where Heir set up the Center.
BENARD-CUTLER. Boston. Along with his partners—Sheldon Adelson, Irwin Chafetz and Dr. Jordan Shapiro—Ted Benard-Cutler runs the Interface Group, developer of Comdex, a global trade show for computers and communications industries. Comdex was sold to the Japanese Softbank Corporation in 1995. Benard-Cutler and Chafetz now are heading GWV International which sets up tour packages for New England. Benard-Cutler and his wife Joan have sons Joel and Robert and daughter Ellen Colmas.
BERNHEIM. New York. Stockbroker Leonard Bernheim was outshone socially by his wife Elinor Kridel Bernheim who was active in New York Jewish affairs as are their sons Charles and Leonard.
BINSWANGER. Philadelphia. Isidore Binswanger was founder of Maimonides College, the first rabbinical college on American shores. Son Frank established a giant international real estate company with 20 offices throughout the U.S. and Canada.Also active in Japan and elsewhere in Asia and Europe. Frank Jr. and John Binswanger are active in the family company. Son Robert heads the graduate school of education at Dartmouth.
BLACK. New York. Leon Black is a former managing director of Drexel Burnham Lambert and now president of Apollo Advisors LP and its affiliate Lion Advisor, LP.Wife Debra is prominent in Jewish affairs.
BLAUSTEIN. Baltimore. Louis Blaustein started off as a kerosene peddler, branching out to found American Oil Company (AMOCO). Son and heir Jacob was once called “the titular head of the American Jewish community” and was a major player in the early years of the United Nations. Sisters Fanny Thalheimer and Ruth Rosenberg. Other family members include David Hirschhorn, Barbara Hirschhorn, Mary Jane Blaustein, Arthur Roswell, Elizabeth Roswell, Jeanne Blaustein Borko, Susan Blaustein Berlow.
BLOCK. New York. Alexander Block founded Block Drugs that came to manufacture Polident, Nytol and Sensodyne. His son Leonard, grandson Thomas, and granddaughter Peggy Danziger (wife of Richard Danziger) are active in the family’s corporation.
BLOOMBERG. New York. Elected mayor of New York City in 2001, Michael Bloomberg started out at Salomon Brothers and went on to establish a multimedia empire providing stories to newspapers and a 24-hour direct satellite television network.
BLUMENTHAL.Charlotte, North Carolina. Herman Blumenthal heads the Radiator Speciality Company than produces some 4,000 automotive products. With wife Anita, has three sons Alan, Philip and Samuel who are active in family’s corporate and “philanthropic” affairs.
BRACHMAN. Fort Worth. Family founder Leon Brachman launched chemical manufacturing business and branched out to set up Computerized Business Systems, designing programs for small businesses. Son Marshall is associated with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington. Daughter Wendy lives in Israel. Family member Madlyn married into Barnett family of Ft.Worth (See BARNETT).
BRAMAN. Miami. Norman Braman started off in Philadelphia where he established the Keystone Discount Stores (38 locations). He and wife Irma retired to Miami where he operates a chain of automobile dealerships.A former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles team.
BROAD. Los Angeles. Eli Broad founded SunAmerica, Inc., a financial services firm. A co-owner of the Sacramento Kings and well known as a collector of contemporary art.
BUTTENWIESER. New York. The late Benjamin Buttenwieser was a partner in the Kuhn-Loeb banking empire and served as assistant U.S. high commissioner in Germany following World War II. His wife, Helen, was a member of the Lehman Brothers banking family. Their son Lawrence is a partner at the New York law firm of Rosenman & Colin. Son Peter was a high school principal in Philadelphia and is connected to the activities of the (non-Jewish) Ford and Danforth foundations. Son Paul is a psychiatrist and novelist in Belmont, Massachusetts.
CARDIN. The wealth of Israeli-born Shoshana Cardin’s late husband, real estate tycoon Jerome Cardin, made it possible for her to rise in the Jewish community as the first female president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and as chair of the United Israel Appeal. Daughter Nina is one of the first women admitted as a Conservative rabbi. Son Sandy runs the Schusterman Foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
CARTER.Victor Carter is said to have “specialized in the turnaround of ailing companies” but is best known for heading the United Way, City of Hope and Israel Bonds. His wife Andrea has been involved in—of all things—the Country Music Commission.
CHANIN. New York. Irwin and Henry Chanin, brothers,were major real estate developers in early 20th century New York. Irwin’s son, Marcy, and wife Leona Feifer Chanin (senior vice president of the American Jewish Congress) have children: two of whom are attorneys, James Chanin of Oakland California and Ann Glazer of Los Angeles. Another daughter, Nancy Sneider, resides in Boca Raton, Florida. Irwin’s son, Paul Chanin, is based in Aspen, Colorado, where the family foundation operates. He runs the famous Pinon’s restaurant as a sideline.
COHEN. New Orleans. Rosalie Cohen, daughter of Universal Furniture founder Leon Palter, is a major player in the powerful Jewish community in the Crescent City.
CONE. A large Southern Jewish family (descended from 13 original children of Herman Cone) which gained its wealth through the Cone Mills, the largest manufacturer of denim in the world.
CORWIN. Los Angeles. Bruce C. Corwin is president of the Metropolitan Theatres Corporation which owns movie theaters and popcorn concessions. Funders of “conservative” Pepperdine University in Malibu.
CROWN. Chicago. The late Henry Crown was closely connected to organized crime in Chicago and built up a major real estate empire based in the Material Service Corp. a building supply firm. In 1959 the family gained control of major defense contractor General Dynamics. The Crown family were major players in helping finance Israel’s secret nuclear arms development program. Son Lester now heads the family. Son Dan operates Crown theaters.
CUMMINGS. Chicago. Nathan Cummings founded the food production conglomerate best known for “Sara Lee” products. His three children and ten grandchildren are maintaining the family foundation.
DAVIDSON. Detroit. William Davidson took over his uncle’s windshield business which evolved into Guardian Industries, the fifth largest glass manufacturer in the world. Owner of the Detroit Pistons team. The Davidson-funded William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan’s School of Business Administration has been interfering in the newly developing economies of Eastern Europe.
DEUTSCH. Santa Monica. Carl Deutsch operates the family’s real estate and management services. Carl and Roberta Deutsch Foundation.
DURST. NewYork. Joseph Durst and his three sons, Seymour, David and Royal, and grandchildren Douglas, Robert, Jonathan and Joshua have developed large areas of Third Avenue and New York’s West Side.
EISNER. Los Angeles. Michael Eisner engineered the merger between Capital Cities, owner of ABC and other properties. Took over Walt Disney Company in 1984.The grandson of the co-founder of the American Safety Razor Co.
EPPLER. Cleveland-Palm Beach. German-born Heinz Eppler took over Miller-Whol and expanded the company to 420 women’s apparel stores sold in 1984 to Petrie Stores Corporation. Son David is based in Washington, D.C.
EVERETT. Described as “successful private investors,” Henry and Edith Everett are active in a variety of Jewish philanthropies. Son David is also active in Jewish affairs.
FEINBERG. Chicago. Rueben Feinberg is president of Jefferson State Bank in Chicago.
FELDBERG. Boston. Sumner and Stanley Feldberg, cousins, founded the T.J. Maxx stores (than 500 outlets), Hit or Miss stores (with 500 outlets) and the Chadwick’s catalog operation.
FELDMAN. Dallas. The late Jacob “Jake” Feldman founded Commercial Metals, a major NewYork stock exchange company. His son and heir Robert has been active in the Dallas Jewish community.
FEUERSTEIN. Westport, Connecticut-Newport Beach, California-Los Angeles-New York City. Heirs of Aaron Feurstein of the Malden Mills textile empire which produced Polartec fabric from the recycling of plastic bottles. Aaron’s brother, Moses, was a leading figure in U.S. Orthodox Judaism. Moses’s son, Morty, leads the Orthodox community in Vancouver, Canada.
FISHER. New York. Founded by Zachary and Lawrence Fisher, this is a major NewYork real estate development family.
MAX FISHER. Detroit. A major oil industrialist and top-level player in Republican Party affairs, Max Fisher maintained long-standing business ties to Israel and to Israeli intelligence. Once described by the National Police Gazette (December 1974) as one of the powerful “mystery men” who told Michigan-based Republican politician Gerald Ford (later U.S. president) “what to do and when to do it.” (In Final Judgment, this author’s study of the JFK assassination conspiracy,we outlined the Ford-Fisher connection— and Fisher’s ties to Israeli intelligence—in light of Ford’s role on theWarren Commission which ostensibly “investigated” the JFK assassination,but which effectively functioned as a cover-up of the long-secret Israeli link to the president’s murder.)
FRIEDMAN. Mill Valley, California. Eleanor Friedman—one of several heirs to the Levi Strauss billions—and her husband, Jonathan Cohen, are founders of the New Israel Fund, which is considered one of the “liberal” foundations advancing left-wing causes in Israel, including women’s rights, religious pluralism and better relations with native Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
GERBER. Chicago. Max Gerber established the Gerber Plumbing Fixtures Company which is now controlled by daughter Harriet Gerber Lewis and her children, Alan and Ila.
GIDWITZ. Chicago. Gerald Gidwitz chairs Helene Curtis, the personal care products company. His son Ronald is president of the firm, which was acquired by Unilever in 1996. The family also owns Continental Materials Corporation, producers of heating and cooling equipment.
GODCHAUX. New Orleans. Heirs to Godchaux Sugar, once Louisiana’s largest sugar producer, and to the famous Godchaux’s department store of New Orleans. Family members are spread throughout the United States.
GOLD. Los Angeles. Stanley Gold heads Shamrock Holdings, a diversified investment company associated with the Disney heirs.A major investor in Koor Industries, Israel’s largest industrial company.Gold has son Charles and daughter Jennifer.
GOLDSMITH. New York. Several children of stock broker Horace Goldsmith’s wife Grace—James, William and Thomas Slaughter—control the foundation established with Goldsmith’s largess. Richard and Robert Menschel—both Goldman Sachs bankers who are cousins—are also involved in the family’s enterprises.
GOLDENBERG. Philadelphia. Heirs to confectionery and candy bar fortune which produces the Goldenberg Peanut Chew—the firm’s only product. Family members include Carl and Ed and David.
GOTTSTEIN. Alaska. Barney Gottstein. Heads Anchorage-based Carr Gottstein Foods, the largest Alaska-based company, involved in supermarkets, wholesale groceries and real estate. Served as national vice president of the Israeli lobby group,AIPAC, and on the Democratic National Committee. Son Robert has been working closely with pro-Israel Christian evangelist Pat Robertson in promoting Jewish causes.
GRASS. Scranton, Pennsylvania. Alex Grass took the Thrift Discount Center of small Keystone City state big time and established more than 2,700 Rite Aid Pharmacies in 23 states, with subsidiaries including Auto Palace auto parts, Concord Custom Cleaners, Encore Books and Sera-Tec Biologicals. Served as chairman of Israel’s Hebrew University. Children include sons Martin and Roger.
ALAN GREENBERG. New York. Alan “Ace” Greenberg chaired Bear Stearns and has been active in numerous Jewish causes.
MAURICE GREENBERG. New York. Known as “Hank” Greenberg, this insurance baron took over American International (AIG) and has been active in the Far East. Plays a prominent role in the influential Council on Foreign Relations. Children include Jeffrey, Evan, Lawrence “Scott,” and daughter Cathleen.
GRUSS. NewYork. Joseph Gruss was active in oil and gas exploration in Texas, Oklahoma and Wyoming and founded Gruss And Company, involved in oil and gas mergers and acquisitions. Daughter Evelyn’s husband, Kenneth Lipper, an attorney, is an investment banker and former New York City deputy mayor for finance. His son Martin is involved in horse racing.
GUMENICK. Miami. Nathan Gumenick built and owned 10,000 apartments and 500 houses in Miami, the first high-rise apartment developer in the Jewish retirement mecca. He was among the major supporters of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in its developmental period.Son Jerome is active in the Jewish community in Richmond,Virginia.
HAAS.The combined members of this immensely wealthy family are the heirs to the Levi-Strauss garment fortune. Altogether the combined wealth of the various members of the family places them beyond any question in the highest ranks of the nation’s wealthiest families.
HALPERN. Sam Halpern and his brother Arie—Polish-born immigrants who came to America—have been heavily involved in construction of resort hotels in Israel. Evidently the Halperns accumulated their wealth in the black market in the Soviet Union and later in the construction industry in the United States.
HASSENFELD. New York-Rhode Island. Heirs to the Hasbro toy manufacturing empire, producers of Mr. Potato Head and GI Joe and the world’s largest toy company. Family members include Alan and Harold.
HASTEN. Indianapolis, Indiana. Hart and Mark Hasten developed a chain of 1,500 convalescent centers and have been involved in banking and real estate, including the family holding company, Hasten Bancshares, Inc. Hart is close to the Likud bloc in Israel.
HECHINGER/ENGLAND. Washington, D.C. Spawned from the Hechinger hardware store chain in the nation’s capital region, John Hechinger and Ross Hechinger. Richard England married into the Hechinger family. His son Richard has served on the executive committee of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
GOTTESFELD HELLER. Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, widow of investor Joseph Heller, claims her fame by virtue of not only her husband’s largess, which she distributes to Jewish causes, but also as a result of having written a widely touted memoir of her years as a Ukraine-born“Holocaust survivor.”
HEYMAN. New York-Connecticut. Sam Heyman and his wife Ronnie (both graduates ofYale and Harvard) won their riches through Sam’s involvement with the GAF Corporation, a major building materials and chemicals manufacturing company. In 1991 Sam spun off the chemicals division which is now a publicly-traded corporation known as International Specialty Products. Mrs. Heyman (nee Feuerstein, See FEUERSTEIN) was a law school classmate of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
HOCHBERG. New York and Chicago. Heirs of Joseph Hochberg who ran Children’s Bargaintown USA. Son Larry is chairman of Sportmart, a sporting goods chain.
HOFFMAN. Dallas, Texas. Edmund Hoffman made his fortune as the leading (Dallas-based) Coca-Cola bottler and distributor in Southwest Texas. Son Richard is a well-known physician in Colorado. Son Robert was one of the founders of the National Lampoon humor magazine.
That special issue, titled “Portraits of Family Achievement in the American Jewish Community,” highlighted the names and ventures of American Jewish families, focusing on those who have been active in the Jewish community and its multiple philanthropic and political enterprises. Now, please note that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Jewish community organizations and other entities, both local and national. Although there are a handful of Jewish groups such as the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B’nai B’rith that frequently appear in the mainstream media, largely in the context of “political”news, there are many more such entities that are rarely ever mentioned except in Jewish community newspapers which, of course, are not “everyday” reading for the average American.
And as far as the term “philanthropic”—as used here—is concerned, the term is used quite loosely, for many—if not most—of the Jewish families are largely philanthropic only toward specifically Jewish charities, although there are exceptions.
The Avenue list—as rendered here—does not reference many of the multiple charities, both here in the United States (both Jewish and non-Jewish in orientation) and in Israel, that the named families have funded to much acclaim. Only where one particular family is closely associated with a particular “cause” have we included that information.
Note, too, that most of the named families seem—based on the Avenue report—to have established one closely held family foundation or another, utilizing those foundations to support a variety of causes. Most—but not all—of those causes are Jewish in nature and, quite often, connected to the state of Israel and various agencies and institutions in that country. And a few of the names—it might be noted—have already been referenced, in fact, in the summary list in the previous chapter.
Thus, needless to say–with perhaps only a handful of exceptions—the names listed here constitute the “wealthiest of the wealthy” (and therefore most powerful) among the American Jewish elite, but this is not to suggest that the names that appear here do indeed constitute a formal list of “the richest Jews in America.” Far from it! In fact, there are many other quite well-to-do enterprisers, so to speak, of Jewish origin who do not make the headlines.There are many wealthy Jewish crime figures, for example, who prefer a low profile and do not seek to publicize themselves or their donations to Jewish philanthropies. And, in that regard, it’s unlikely that Avenue magazine would be prepared to laud the “accomplishments” of a Jewish crime figure. So the Avenue list is incomplete in that regard.
Now, in regard to the list, note that you will not find Henry Kissinger, for example, on the list. Certainly wealthy and powerful, Kissinger’s wealth and power has always come as a result of his having moved in the sphere of wealthy and powerful people. Kissinger is a political figure and, as such, is nothing more than a well-paid functionary of the Rothschild Dynasty. Kissinger’s fame and “accomplishments” are a creation of the Jewish controlled media, in many respects, but unlike many who do appear on the Avenue list, he is not one of the media’s owners, per se. And that may be just enough of a distinction for Kissinger not to be included. Although Kissinger serves on many corporate boards—including media entities—he has always been more of a public figure (who happens to be Jewish) who acts as a facilitator for the powers behind the scenes rather than a genuine “mover and shaker” on his own.Without the patronage of powerful sponsors, Kissinger would be nothing more than just another colorful Jewish academic. In addition, for the reader’s consideration, there’s another factor that might be noted: Henry Kissinger’s rise to fame came in the immediate sphere of the Rockefeller family which has always essentially been operating as a satellite of the Rothschild Empire, despite occasionally having independent interests of its own at stake.
And in all fairness to the numerous American Jewish millionaires—and perhaps billionaires—who have not been honored by Avenue’s list of “family achievement,”and who are not necessarily involved in criminal misdeeds, it should be noted that many of those achievers have accumulated a great deal of wealth but have not sought public acclaim, recognition in society magazines or honors from their own Jewish community.
So, there are certainly many more Jewish fortunes that have gone unmentioned in the list compiled by Avenue. But the list that Avenue did compile is extensive indeed and certainly as far as being a record of the major players—finance-wise—in Jewish “high society” the Avenue list is a valuable record. (This author, frankly, has never seen anything so complete.) It is probably safe to say that although Jewish names make up a considerable portion of the annual Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest families in America, a secondary list of what one might call “the Forbes 800”—that is, a list of the next group of 400 wealthy families following the initial 400— would undoubtedly include virtually all of the names that appear on the Avenue list summarized here. In short, although there is a great deal of Jewish wealth accumulated at the very top, there is an even greater accumulation in the much wider “middle ground” of wealthy American families. All of this having been said, let us review the “lords and ladies” of the Jewish aristocracy—the “third tier” (so to speak) of the Rothschild Court:
ABESS. Miami, Florida. Control the City National Bank of Florida. Members include Leonard Abess and Allan Abess, Jr.
ALTHEIM. New York City. Philip and Barbara Altheim control Forest Electric, a subsidiary of EMCOR and the largest electric construction company in the world. Sons and daughters include Marc, Jill and Gary.
ANNENBERG. Philadelphia. Long headed by the late Walter Annenberg, who served as US Ambassador to England, appointed by Richard Nixon. Triangle Publications empire. Published TV Guide and Philadelphia Inquirer.
ARISON. Miami. Israeli-born Theodore “Ted” Arison founded the Carnival Cruise Lines. Ted’s son Micky now controls the family empire which includes the cruise line, hotels, resorts and Miami Heat basketball team. Ted Arison returned to Israel.
ARNOW-WEILER. Boston. Russian-born Jack Weiler partnered with Benjamin Swig in commercial development, grabbing more than seven million square feet. Daughter Joan and husband Robert Arnow and their son David now rule the empire.They have a son, Noah.
BARNETT. Fort Worth, Texas. Operated Hilton Hotels in Israel. Louis Barnett and his wife Madlyn (nee Brachman.See BRACHMAN) have son Eliot who is involved in shopping center development. Family also involved in real estate, pharmaceuticals and oil. Family funds Barnett Institute of Biotechnology at Northeastern University.
BELFER. New York. Refugees from Poland, Arthur and Rochelle Belfer founded the family now headed by Robert Belfer and daughters Selma Ruben and Anita Saltz. Arthur Belfer was involved in oil and natural gas which later evolved into the infamous Enron corporation. [For more on Enron’s “Jewish Connection” see The New Jerusalem by Michael Collins Piper.] Son Robert was on Enron executive committee but escaped media attention.
BELZ. Memphis. Belz Enterprises and the Peabody Hotel (Memphis) Group are part of the family’s holdings established by Philip Belz who dabbled in real estate and management. His son Jack Belz and wife Marilyn maintain the family’s affairs. Their daughter Jan, married to Andrew Groveman, is coming into her own, active in Soviet Jewish emigration.
BELZBERG. Canada-New York-Israel. Sam Belzberg heads Gibralter Capital corporation.Wife: Frances. Daughter Wendy (an editor at the influential Jewish newspaper, Forward, is married to Strauss Zelnick, head of BMG Records. Daughter Lisa is married to Matthew Bronfman (See BRONFMAN). The family are original financial backers of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Their former rabbi, Marvin Heir, left Canada to go to Los Angeles where Heir set up the Center.
BENARD-CUTLER. Boston. Along with his partners—Sheldon Adelson, Irwin Chafetz and Dr. Jordan Shapiro—Ted Benard-Cutler runs the Interface Group, developer of Comdex, a global trade show for computers and communications industries. Comdex was sold to the Japanese Softbank Corporation in 1995. Benard-Cutler and Chafetz now are heading GWV International which sets up tour packages for New England. Benard-Cutler and his wife Joan have sons Joel and Robert and daughter Ellen Colmas.
BERNHEIM. New York. Stockbroker Leonard Bernheim was outshone socially by his wife Elinor Kridel Bernheim who was active in New York Jewish affairs as are their sons Charles and Leonard.
BINSWANGER. Philadelphia. Isidore Binswanger was founder of Maimonides College, the first rabbinical college on American shores. Son Frank established a giant international real estate company with 20 offices throughout the U.S. and Canada.Also active in Japan and elsewhere in Asia and Europe. Frank Jr. and John Binswanger are active in the family company. Son Robert heads the graduate school of education at Dartmouth.
BLACK. New York. Leon Black is a former managing director of Drexel Burnham Lambert and now president of Apollo Advisors LP and its affiliate Lion Advisor, LP.Wife Debra is prominent in Jewish affairs.
BLAUSTEIN. Baltimore. Louis Blaustein started off as a kerosene peddler, branching out to found American Oil Company (AMOCO). Son and heir Jacob was once called “the titular head of the American Jewish community” and was a major player in the early years of the United Nations. Sisters Fanny Thalheimer and Ruth Rosenberg. Other family members include David Hirschhorn, Barbara Hirschhorn, Mary Jane Blaustein, Arthur Roswell, Elizabeth Roswell, Jeanne Blaustein Borko, Susan Blaustein Berlow.
BLOCK. New York. Alexander Block founded Block Drugs that came to manufacture Polident, Nytol and Sensodyne. His son Leonard, grandson Thomas, and granddaughter Peggy Danziger (wife of Richard Danziger) are active in the family’s corporation.
BLOOMBERG. New York. Elected mayor of New York City in 2001, Michael Bloomberg started out at Salomon Brothers and went on to establish a multimedia empire providing stories to newspapers and a 24-hour direct satellite television network.
BLUMENTHAL.Charlotte, North Carolina. Herman Blumenthal heads the Radiator Speciality Company than produces some 4,000 automotive products. With wife Anita, has three sons Alan, Philip and Samuel who are active in family’s corporate and “philanthropic” affairs.
BRACHMAN. Fort Worth. Family founder Leon Brachman launched chemical manufacturing business and branched out to set up Computerized Business Systems, designing programs for small businesses. Son Marshall is associated with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington. Daughter Wendy lives in Israel. Family member Madlyn married into Barnett family of Ft.Worth (See BARNETT).
BRAMAN. Miami. Norman Braman started off in Philadelphia where he established the Keystone Discount Stores (38 locations). He and wife Irma retired to Miami where he operates a chain of automobile dealerships.A former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles team.
BROAD. Los Angeles. Eli Broad founded SunAmerica, Inc., a financial services firm. A co-owner of the Sacramento Kings and well known as a collector of contemporary art.
BUTTENWIESER. New York. The late Benjamin Buttenwieser was a partner in the Kuhn-Loeb banking empire and served as assistant U.S. high commissioner in Germany following World War II. His wife, Helen, was a member of the Lehman Brothers banking family. Their son Lawrence is a partner at the New York law firm of Rosenman & Colin. Son Peter was a high school principal in Philadelphia and is connected to the activities of the (non-Jewish) Ford and Danforth foundations. Son Paul is a psychiatrist and novelist in Belmont, Massachusetts.
CARDIN. The wealth of Israeli-born Shoshana Cardin’s late husband, real estate tycoon Jerome Cardin, made it possible for her to rise in the Jewish community as the first female president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and as chair of the United Israel Appeal. Daughter Nina is one of the first women admitted as a Conservative rabbi. Son Sandy runs the Schusterman Foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
CARTER.Victor Carter is said to have “specialized in the turnaround of ailing companies” but is best known for heading the United Way, City of Hope and Israel Bonds. His wife Andrea has been involved in—of all things—the Country Music Commission.
CHANIN. New York. Irwin and Henry Chanin, brothers,were major real estate developers in early 20th century New York. Irwin’s son, Marcy, and wife Leona Feifer Chanin (senior vice president of the American Jewish Congress) have children: two of whom are attorneys, James Chanin of Oakland California and Ann Glazer of Los Angeles. Another daughter, Nancy Sneider, resides in Boca Raton, Florida. Irwin’s son, Paul Chanin, is based in Aspen, Colorado, where the family foundation operates. He runs the famous Pinon’s restaurant as a sideline.
COHEN. New Orleans. Rosalie Cohen, daughter of Universal Furniture founder Leon Palter, is a major player in the powerful Jewish community in the Crescent City.
CONE. A large Southern Jewish family (descended from 13 original children of Herman Cone) which gained its wealth through the Cone Mills, the largest manufacturer of denim in the world.
CORWIN. Los Angeles. Bruce C. Corwin is president of the Metropolitan Theatres Corporation which owns movie theaters and popcorn concessions. Funders of “conservative” Pepperdine University in Malibu.
CROWN. Chicago. The late Henry Crown was closely connected to organized crime in Chicago and built up a major real estate empire based in the Material Service Corp. a building supply firm. In 1959 the family gained control of major defense contractor General Dynamics. The Crown family were major players in helping finance Israel’s secret nuclear arms development program. Son Lester now heads the family. Son Dan operates Crown theaters.
CUMMINGS. Chicago. Nathan Cummings founded the food production conglomerate best known for “Sara Lee” products. His three children and ten grandchildren are maintaining the family foundation.
DAVIDSON. Detroit. William Davidson took over his uncle’s windshield business which evolved into Guardian Industries, the fifth largest glass manufacturer in the world. Owner of the Detroit Pistons team. The Davidson-funded William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan’s School of Business Administration has been interfering in the newly developing economies of Eastern Europe.
DEUTSCH. Santa Monica. Carl Deutsch operates the family’s real estate and management services. Carl and Roberta Deutsch Foundation.
DURST. NewYork. Joseph Durst and his three sons, Seymour, David and Royal, and grandchildren Douglas, Robert, Jonathan and Joshua have developed large areas of Third Avenue and New York’s West Side.
EISNER. Los Angeles. Michael Eisner engineered the merger between Capital Cities, owner of ABC and other properties. Took over Walt Disney Company in 1984.The grandson of the co-founder of the American Safety Razor Co.
EPPLER. Cleveland-Palm Beach. German-born Heinz Eppler took over Miller-Whol and expanded the company to 420 women’s apparel stores sold in 1984 to Petrie Stores Corporation. Son David is based in Washington, D.C.
EVERETT. Described as “successful private investors,” Henry and Edith Everett are active in a variety of Jewish philanthropies. Son David is also active in Jewish affairs.
FEINBERG. Chicago. Rueben Feinberg is president of Jefferson State Bank in Chicago.
FELDBERG. Boston. Sumner and Stanley Feldberg, cousins, founded the T.J. Maxx stores (than 500 outlets), Hit or Miss stores (with 500 outlets) and the Chadwick’s catalog operation.
FELDMAN. Dallas. The late Jacob “Jake” Feldman founded Commercial Metals, a major NewYork stock exchange company. His son and heir Robert has been active in the Dallas Jewish community.
FEUERSTEIN. Westport, Connecticut-Newport Beach, California-Los Angeles-New York City. Heirs of Aaron Feurstein of the Malden Mills textile empire which produced Polartec fabric from the recycling of plastic bottles. Aaron’s brother, Moses, was a leading figure in U.S. Orthodox Judaism. Moses’s son, Morty, leads the Orthodox community in Vancouver, Canada.
FISHER. New York. Founded by Zachary and Lawrence Fisher, this is a major NewYork real estate development family.
MAX FISHER. Detroit. A major oil industrialist and top-level player in Republican Party affairs, Max Fisher maintained long-standing business ties to Israel and to Israeli intelligence. Once described by the National Police Gazette (December 1974) as one of the powerful “mystery men” who told Michigan-based Republican politician Gerald Ford (later U.S. president) “what to do and when to do it.” (In Final Judgment, this author’s study of the JFK assassination conspiracy,we outlined the Ford-Fisher connection— and Fisher’s ties to Israeli intelligence—in light of Ford’s role on theWarren Commission which ostensibly “investigated” the JFK assassination,but which effectively functioned as a cover-up of the long-secret Israeli link to the president’s murder.)
FRIEDMAN. Mill Valley, California. Eleanor Friedman—one of several heirs to the Levi Strauss billions—and her husband, Jonathan Cohen, are founders of the New Israel Fund, which is considered one of the “liberal” foundations advancing left-wing causes in Israel, including women’s rights, religious pluralism and better relations with native Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
GERBER. Chicago. Max Gerber established the Gerber Plumbing Fixtures Company which is now controlled by daughter Harriet Gerber Lewis and her children, Alan and Ila.
GIDWITZ. Chicago. Gerald Gidwitz chairs Helene Curtis, the personal care products company. His son Ronald is president of the firm, which was acquired by Unilever in 1996. The family also owns Continental Materials Corporation, producers of heating and cooling equipment.
GODCHAUX. New Orleans. Heirs to Godchaux Sugar, once Louisiana’s largest sugar producer, and to the famous Godchaux’s department store of New Orleans. Family members are spread throughout the United States.
GOLD. Los Angeles. Stanley Gold heads Shamrock Holdings, a diversified investment company associated with the Disney heirs.A major investor in Koor Industries, Israel’s largest industrial company.Gold has son Charles and daughter Jennifer.
GOLDSMITH. New York. Several children of stock broker Horace Goldsmith’s wife Grace—James, William and Thomas Slaughter—control the foundation established with Goldsmith’s largess. Richard and Robert Menschel—both Goldman Sachs bankers who are cousins—are also involved in the family’s enterprises.
GOLDENBERG. Philadelphia. Heirs to confectionery and candy bar fortune which produces the Goldenberg Peanut Chew—the firm’s only product. Family members include Carl and Ed and David.
GOTTSTEIN. Alaska. Barney Gottstein. Heads Anchorage-based Carr Gottstein Foods, the largest Alaska-based company, involved in supermarkets, wholesale groceries and real estate. Served as national vice president of the Israeli lobby group,AIPAC, and on the Democratic National Committee. Son Robert has been working closely with pro-Israel Christian evangelist Pat Robertson in promoting Jewish causes.
GRASS. Scranton, Pennsylvania. Alex Grass took the Thrift Discount Center of small Keystone City state big time and established more than 2,700 Rite Aid Pharmacies in 23 states, with subsidiaries including Auto Palace auto parts, Concord Custom Cleaners, Encore Books and Sera-Tec Biologicals. Served as chairman of Israel’s Hebrew University. Children include sons Martin and Roger.
ALAN GREENBERG. New York. Alan “Ace” Greenberg chaired Bear Stearns and has been active in numerous Jewish causes.
MAURICE GREENBERG. New York. Known as “Hank” Greenberg, this insurance baron took over American International (AIG) and has been active in the Far East. Plays a prominent role in the influential Council on Foreign Relations. Children include Jeffrey, Evan, Lawrence “Scott,” and daughter Cathleen.
GRUSS. NewYork. Joseph Gruss was active in oil and gas exploration in Texas, Oklahoma and Wyoming and founded Gruss And Company, involved in oil and gas mergers and acquisitions. Daughter Evelyn’s husband, Kenneth Lipper, an attorney, is an investment banker and former New York City deputy mayor for finance. His son Martin is involved in horse racing.
GUMENICK. Miami. Nathan Gumenick built and owned 10,000 apartments and 500 houses in Miami, the first high-rise apartment developer in the Jewish retirement mecca. He was among the major supporters of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in its developmental period.Son Jerome is active in the Jewish community in Richmond,Virginia.
HAAS.The combined members of this immensely wealthy family are the heirs to the Levi-Strauss garment fortune. Altogether the combined wealth of the various members of the family places them beyond any question in the highest ranks of the nation’s wealthiest families.
HALPERN. Sam Halpern and his brother Arie—Polish-born immigrants who came to America—have been heavily involved in construction of resort hotels in Israel. Evidently the Halperns accumulated their wealth in the black market in the Soviet Union and later in the construction industry in the United States.
HASSENFELD. New York-Rhode Island. Heirs to the Hasbro toy manufacturing empire, producers of Mr. Potato Head and GI Joe and the world’s largest toy company. Family members include Alan and Harold.
HASTEN. Indianapolis, Indiana. Hart and Mark Hasten developed a chain of 1,500 convalescent centers and have been involved in banking and real estate, including the family holding company, Hasten Bancshares, Inc. Hart is close to the Likud bloc in Israel.
HECHINGER/ENGLAND. Washington, D.C. Spawned from the Hechinger hardware store chain in the nation’s capital region, John Hechinger and Ross Hechinger. Richard England married into the Hechinger family. His son Richard has served on the executive committee of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
GOTTESFELD HELLER. Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, widow of investor Joseph Heller, claims her fame by virtue of not only her husband’s largess, which she distributes to Jewish causes, but also as a result of having written a widely touted memoir of her years as a Ukraine-born“Holocaust survivor.”
HEYMAN. New York-Connecticut. Sam Heyman and his wife Ronnie (both graduates ofYale and Harvard) won their riches through Sam’s involvement with the GAF Corporation, a major building materials and chemicals manufacturing company. In 1991 Sam spun off the chemicals division which is now a publicly-traded corporation known as International Specialty Products. Mrs. Heyman (nee Feuerstein, See FEUERSTEIN) was a law school classmate of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
HOCHBERG. New York and Chicago. Heirs of Joseph Hochberg who ran Children’s Bargaintown USA. Son Larry is chairman of Sportmart, a sporting goods chain.
HOFFMAN. Dallas, Texas. Edmund Hoffman made his fortune as the leading (Dallas-based) Coca-Cola bottler and distributor in Southwest Texas. Son Richard is a well-known physician in Colorado. Son Robert was one of the founders of the National Lampoon humor magazine.
JESSELSON. New York. Michael, Daniel and Benjamin are the heirs of Ludwig Jesselson, who had risen to become CEO of the Philipp Brothers firm, one of the world’s largest markets of more than 150 raw materials including steel, crude oil, chemicals and cement. The firm was later acquired by Salomon Brothers, Inc., the international banking house.
KAPLAN. New York. Stanley Kaplan is the “educational” wizard who spawned the popular SAT-training courses that high school students use to study for the college entrance examinations. Stanley says he is particularly concerned with grooming “leaders” in the Black and Hispanic communities, which means—to grassroots Black and Hispanic leaders—grooming Black and Hispanic figures who will do the bidding of America’s Jewish elite.
KEKST. NewYork. Gershon Kekst is the head of the corporate and financial communications firm, Kekst and Company. His son is David, and his wife is Carol.
KLINGENSTEIN. New York. Heirs of Dr. Percy Klingenstein who was chief of surgery of the Third General Hospital of the United States Army, include Frederick Klingenstein, an investment banker, and John Klingenstein.
KRAFT. Boston. An owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft made his fortune as founder of International Forest Products, one of the largest privately held paper and packaging companies in the country.
KRAVIS. Tulsa.The family fortune was spawned by Raymond Kravis, an oil and gas consultant who included Joseph P. Kennedy and the Rockefeller-controlled Chase Bank among his clients. His sons Henry and George teamed up with their cousin, George Roberts, and brought international fame and fortune to their firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts And Company in the leveraged buyout racket of the 1980s.They acquired some 36 companies including RJR Nabisco. The Kohlberg-Kravis team were closely identified with Republican politics during the era.
KRIPKE. Omaha. Talk about good connections! Myer Kripke was a rabbi in Omaha, Nebraska whose wife, Dorothy, wrote children’s books. The wife of legendary (non-Jewish) Omaha-based billionaire investor Warren Buffet liked Mrs. Kripke’s books, and the two women became friends. As a result, the Kripkes were invited to become “modest investors” in Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway company and made a great big bundle. Son Paul is a philosophy professor at Yale.
LAUDER. New York. Leonard and Ronald Lauder are the heirs to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune. Ronald also served as U.S. ambassador to Austria and as president of the Jewish National Fund and made a bid for mayor of NewYork on the Republican ticket in 1989.
THOMAS H. LEE. Boston. A leveraged buyout operator, Thomas H. Lee, made a mint when he sold his Snapple soft drink company to Quaker Oats. Now, like all Jewish boys made good, he’s a philanthropist.
LEHMAN. Skokie, Illinois. Not to be confused with the German-Jewish “Our Crowd” international banking family of New York, this Lehman family—headed by Kenneth Lehman—made their money through a family business, Fel-Pro Incorporated, an automotive supply manufacturer. To his credit, Lehman is no slave driver. His company offers vast benefits to its employees and all manner of financial gifts and scholarships.
LENDER. Connecticut. Marvin and Murray Lender are frozen bagel tycoons who sold their enterprise and devote their wealth to Jewish causes.
LEVENTHAL AND SIDMAN. Boston. Partners in Beacon Properties, the largest real estate investment trust in the United States, Edwin Sidman and Alan Leventhal took their company public in 1994 and have expanded their interests on a national scale. Leventhal has been closely associated with the political endeavors of Bill Clinton.
LEVIN. New York. Gerald Levin, who rose to become CEO of the Bronfman family-controlled Time Warner empire, started out as a lieutenant of Lewis Strauss, the Jewish chief of the Atomic Energy Commission. Although there’s nothing in the public record to suggest such, it’s a good bet that Levin and Strauss had a hand in “helping” Israel achieve atomic weapons. Today Levin is a member of the Rothschild-controlled Council on Foreign Relations. A major media figure indeed.
LEVINSON. New York. Morris Levinson’s widow, Barbara, has become a leading Jewish community figure through the distribution of the largess of Morris’s wealth accumulated as a food and cosmetics conglomerate that merged with Nabisco. Morris was also a founder of the Center for Democratic Studies which has been described as “the first ‘think’ tank.” Son Adam is based in Tallahassee, Florida but active in Jewish affairs nationwide. Son Joshua is a professor at Hebrew University. Daughter Judy is married to one John Oppenheimer.
LEVY. Dallas, Texas. Irving, Milton and Lester Levy—brothers—control the NCH Corp., which produces and distributes maintenance products to hotels, government agencies and industrial corporations.Their four sons are also in the family business.
LEON LEVY. New York. A leader of America’s Sephardic Jewish elite (commemorated by Stephen Birmingham in his book, The Grandees), Leon Levy made a fortune as CEO of Urban Substructures, Inc. which was involved in the construction and engineering of many leading properties in New York City. Levy also served as chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Children include Mark, Mimi, Judy and Janet. His wife Elsi is a professional musician.
LIPPERT. New York. Albert and Felice Lippert made their millions helping millions of people lose weight. Teaming up with Jean Nidetch, a stout Jewish homemaker who had set up dieting support groups, they formed Weight Watchers International and sold the thriving enterprise to Heinz foods in 1978. Sons Keith and Randy.
LIST. NewYork. Albert List made a success in distributing appliances and then branched out and grabbed control of Hudson Coal Company, assembling a conglomerate that included the RKO theater chain.
LOEB. New York. The late Carl Morris Loeb made his millions with American Metal Co.and later went on to found Loeb Rhoades (which is now Shearon Lehman/American Express). Carl’s son John married the daughter of Arthur Lehman of the Lehman Brothers banking house. John Loeb has two sons Arthur and John Jr. (who was a U.S. ambassador to Denmark) and his daughter Ann was married to Edgar Bronfman and produced Edgar Bronfman, Jr. as a son.This intermarriage of Jewish family fortunes illustrates the manner in which the Jewish elite have kept their wealth “in the tribe,”so to speak. Incidentally, this Loeb family is not to be confused with the Loeb family of the Rothschild-allied Kuhn Loeb banking empire—another substantial Jewish fortune altogether.
LOWENBERG. San Francisco. Holocaust survivor William Lowenberg, head of the Lowenberg Corporation, is a major real estate developer in San Francisco, a major outpost of Jewish wealth in America. His son David carries in the family name and involvement in Jewish affairs.
MACK. New York. H. Bert Mack started out in demolition and was responsible for major operations at the sites where the United Nations, the New York World’s Fair and the Triboro Bridge were built. The Mack Company is now a major real estate developer. Sons include Earl, Bill, David and Fred.
MANDEL. Cleveland. Morton, Jack and Joseph Mandel launched Premier Industrial Corporation which is today a major player in the production of electronic products. They merged Premier with Farnell Electronics, a British firm, to form Premier Farnell PLC.
MARCUS. Dallas. This is the family of the famed Nieman-Marcus Department Store. Although the company was sold in 1969, Stanley Marcus remained on the board for several years. He also served as chairman of the American Retail Federation.
BERNARD MARCUS. Atlanta. The Home Depot home supply empire—the largest in the country—is the brainchild of Bernard Marcus whose children, Fred, Morris and Suzanne are the heirs to the fortune.
MERKIN. New York. Hermann Merkin set up the Merkin And Co. investment banking firm that includes his son Sol and his son in-law Andrew Mendes. Daughter Daphne was a New York Times columnist.
MEYERHOFF. Baltimore. Construction and shopping center tycoon Harvey Meyerhoff was first chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and also chairman of the United Way. His son Joseph Meyerhoff II is a major Baltimore figure as are his daughter Terry Rubenstein and Zoh Hieronimus, a radio talk show host of some repute.
MEYERSON. Dallas. Mort Meyerson’s claim to fame is his association with Ross Perot, said to be his “right hand man” serving as president of Electronic Data Systems and then as CEO of Perot Systems Corporation.
MILKEN. New York-Los Angeles. The infamous Milken brothers—Michael and Lowell—came to prominence in the financial scandals in the 1980s but they nonetheless remain major figures in the worldwide Jewish community and respected among “conservatives” who admire Milken-style piracy.
MILLSTEIN. New York. Ira Millstein is a partner in the influential New York law firm of Weil Gotshal And Menges and has taught at theYale School of Management and the New York University School of Law. He has served on numerous government commissions and on the National Association of Corporate Directors.
KAPLAN. New York. Stanley Kaplan is the “educational” wizard who spawned the popular SAT-training courses that high school students use to study for the college entrance examinations. Stanley says he is particularly concerned with grooming “leaders” in the Black and Hispanic communities, which means—to grassroots Black and Hispanic leaders—grooming Black and Hispanic figures who will do the bidding of America’s Jewish elite.
KEKST. NewYork. Gershon Kekst is the head of the corporate and financial communications firm, Kekst and Company. His son is David, and his wife is Carol.
KLINGENSTEIN. New York. Heirs of Dr. Percy Klingenstein who was chief of surgery of the Third General Hospital of the United States Army, include Frederick Klingenstein, an investment banker, and John Klingenstein.
KRAFT. Boston. An owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft made his fortune as founder of International Forest Products, one of the largest privately held paper and packaging companies in the country.
KRAVIS. Tulsa.The family fortune was spawned by Raymond Kravis, an oil and gas consultant who included Joseph P. Kennedy and the Rockefeller-controlled Chase Bank among his clients. His sons Henry and George teamed up with their cousin, George Roberts, and brought international fame and fortune to their firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts And Company in the leveraged buyout racket of the 1980s.They acquired some 36 companies including RJR Nabisco. The Kohlberg-Kravis team were closely identified with Republican politics during the era.
KRIPKE. Omaha. Talk about good connections! Myer Kripke was a rabbi in Omaha, Nebraska whose wife, Dorothy, wrote children’s books. The wife of legendary (non-Jewish) Omaha-based billionaire investor Warren Buffet liked Mrs. Kripke’s books, and the two women became friends. As a result, the Kripkes were invited to become “modest investors” in Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway company and made a great big bundle. Son Paul is a philosophy professor at Yale.
LAUDER. New York. Leonard and Ronald Lauder are the heirs to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune. Ronald also served as U.S. ambassador to Austria and as president of the Jewish National Fund and made a bid for mayor of NewYork on the Republican ticket in 1989.
THOMAS H. LEE. Boston. A leveraged buyout operator, Thomas H. Lee, made a mint when he sold his Snapple soft drink company to Quaker Oats. Now, like all Jewish boys made good, he’s a philanthropist.
LEHMAN. Skokie, Illinois. Not to be confused with the German-Jewish “Our Crowd” international banking family of New York, this Lehman family—headed by Kenneth Lehman—made their money through a family business, Fel-Pro Incorporated, an automotive supply manufacturer. To his credit, Lehman is no slave driver. His company offers vast benefits to its employees and all manner of financial gifts and scholarships.
LENDER. Connecticut. Marvin and Murray Lender are frozen bagel tycoons who sold their enterprise and devote their wealth to Jewish causes.
LEVENTHAL AND SIDMAN. Boston. Partners in Beacon Properties, the largest real estate investment trust in the United States, Edwin Sidman and Alan Leventhal took their company public in 1994 and have expanded their interests on a national scale. Leventhal has been closely associated with the political endeavors of Bill Clinton.
LEVIN. New York. Gerald Levin, who rose to become CEO of the Bronfman family-controlled Time Warner empire, started out as a lieutenant of Lewis Strauss, the Jewish chief of the Atomic Energy Commission. Although there’s nothing in the public record to suggest such, it’s a good bet that Levin and Strauss had a hand in “helping” Israel achieve atomic weapons. Today Levin is a member of the Rothschild-controlled Council on Foreign Relations. A major media figure indeed.
LEVINSON. New York. Morris Levinson’s widow, Barbara, has become a leading Jewish community figure through the distribution of the largess of Morris’s wealth accumulated as a food and cosmetics conglomerate that merged with Nabisco. Morris was also a founder of the Center for Democratic Studies which has been described as “the first ‘think’ tank.” Son Adam is based in Tallahassee, Florida but active in Jewish affairs nationwide. Son Joshua is a professor at Hebrew University. Daughter Judy is married to one John Oppenheimer.
LEVY. Dallas, Texas. Irving, Milton and Lester Levy—brothers—control the NCH Corp., which produces and distributes maintenance products to hotels, government agencies and industrial corporations.Their four sons are also in the family business.
LEON LEVY. New York. A leader of America’s Sephardic Jewish elite (commemorated by Stephen Birmingham in his book, The Grandees), Leon Levy made a fortune as CEO of Urban Substructures, Inc. which was involved in the construction and engineering of many leading properties in New York City. Levy also served as chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Children include Mark, Mimi, Judy and Janet. His wife Elsi is a professional musician.
LIPPERT. New York. Albert and Felice Lippert made their millions helping millions of people lose weight. Teaming up with Jean Nidetch, a stout Jewish homemaker who had set up dieting support groups, they formed Weight Watchers International and sold the thriving enterprise to Heinz foods in 1978. Sons Keith and Randy.
LIST. NewYork. Albert List made a success in distributing appliances and then branched out and grabbed control of Hudson Coal Company, assembling a conglomerate that included the RKO theater chain.
LOEB. New York. The late Carl Morris Loeb made his millions with American Metal Co.and later went on to found Loeb Rhoades (which is now Shearon Lehman/American Express). Carl’s son John married the daughter of Arthur Lehman of the Lehman Brothers banking house. John Loeb has two sons Arthur and John Jr. (who was a U.S. ambassador to Denmark) and his daughter Ann was married to Edgar Bronfman and produced Edgar Bronfman, Jr. as a son.This intermarriage of Jewish family fortunes illustrates the manner in which the Jewish elite have kept their wealth “in the tribe,”so to speak. Incidentally, this Loeb family is not to be confused with the Loeb family of the Rothschild-allied Kuhn Loeb banking empire—another substantial Jewish fortune altogether.
LOWENBERG. San Francisco. Holocaust survivor William Lowenberg, head of the Lowenberg Corporation, is a major real estate developer in San Francisco, a major outpost of Jewish wealth in America. His son David carries in the family name and involvement in Jewish affairs.
MACK. New York. H. Bert Mack started out in demolition and was responsible for major operations at the sites where the United Nations, the New York World’s Fair and the Triboro Bridge were built. The Mack Company is now a major real estate developer. Sons include Earl, Bill, David and Fred.
MANDEL. Cleveland. Morton, Jack and Joseph Mandel launched Premier Industrial Corporation which is today a major player in the production of electronic products. They merged Premier with Farnell Electronics, a British firm, to form Premier Farnell PLC.
MARCUS. Dallas. This is the family of the famed Nieman-Marcus Department Store. Although the company was sold in 1969, Stanley Marcus remained on the board for several years. He also served as chairman of the American Retail Federation.
BERNARD MARCUS. Atlanta. The Home Depot home supply empire—the largest in the country—is the brainchild of Bernard Marcus whose children, Fred, Morris and Suzanne are the heirs to the fortune.
MERKIN. New York. Hermann Merkin set up the Merkin And Co. investment banking firm that includes his son Sol and his son in-law Andrew Mendes. Daughter Daphne was a New York Times columnist.
MEYERHOFF. Baltimore. Construction and shopping center tycoon Harvey Meyerhoff was first chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and also chairman of the United Way. His son Joseph Meyerhoff II is a major Baltimore figure as are his daughter Terry Rubenstein and Zoh Hieronimus, a radio talk show host of some repute.
MEYERSON. Dallas. Mort Meyerson’s claim to fame is his association with Ross Perot, said to be his “right hand man” serving as president of Electronic Data Systems and then as CEO of Perot Systems Corporation.
MILKEN. New York-Los Angeles. The infamous Milken brothers—Michael and Lowell—came to prominence in the financial scandals in the 1980s but they nonetheless remain major figures in the worldwide Jewish community and respected among “conservatives” who admire Milken-style piracy.
MILLSTEIN. New York. Ira Millstein is a partner in the influential New York law firm of Weil Gotshal And Menges and has taught at theYale School of Management and the New York University School of Law. He has served on numerous government commissions and on the National Association of Corporate Directors.
MILSTEIN. New York. The Circle Floor Company, founded by Morris Milstein, laid the floors in Rockefeller Center and the United Nations, but Morris’s sons Seymour and Paul developed the family firm, Milstein Properties, into a major real estate enterprise, owning hotels, offices and apartments. They also controlled the international United Brands empire for a period and in 1986 bought the Emigrant Savings Bank. Family members Howard and Edward control Douglas Elliman, a building management and brokerage concern, and the Liberty Cable Television Company.
MUSHER. New York. Sidney Musher was a pharmaceuticals executive who was a major player in opening the American market for Israeli products. His sons David and Daniel are doctors.
NAGEL. Los Angeles. The Nagel Construction Company funds the affairs of Jack and Gitta Nagel—both Holocaust survivors. Their children include Ronnie, David, Careena—based in Los Angeles. Daughter Esther lives in Englewood, New Jersey.
NASH. New York. With his partner, Leon Levy (See LEON LEVY), Jack Nash was a founder of the hotly successful private money fund, Odyssey Partners. His son-in-law is investor George Rohr. Jack’s wife, Helen, is the sophisticated author of kosher cookbooks.
NASHER. Dallas. Another of the elite Jewish rulers of Texas, Raymond Nasher was a major mall developer, including the famous NorthPark, among his success stories.
OFFIT. New York. A former manager at Salomon Brothers, Morris Offit went on to launch his own investment bank, Offitbank, and his own investment advisory firm, Offit Associates.
PEARLE. Dallas. Dr. Stanley Pearle, an optometrist, made his fortune in the famous Pearle Vision Centers, the world’s largest eyeglass dealers.
PECK. New York. Stephen and Judith Peck are Jewish socialites of high order. He chaired the board of famed Mt. Sinai Hospital and she chaired the board of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation. Daughter-in-law, Stephanie Rein, and their son, Emmanuel, are big names in New York Jewish affairs.
PERELMAN. New York. Born in Philadelphia, the heir to Belmont Industries, a metal fabricating enterprise that become a holding company for several other businesses in the region, Ronald Perelman now controls more than 44 companies through the MacAndrew & Forbes empire. Among his best known holdings are Revlon, the cosmetics giant, the Coleman Co. (which makes camping equipment), California Federal Bank, and Consolidated Cigar (which produces multiple cigar brands). His son Steven is involved in the family’s business affairs.
POLK. Chicago. Sam and Sol Polk created the Polk Brothers department stores which were a major force in the Chicago metropolitan area until they closed up in 1992, but the family remains wealthy. Family members include Howard Polk, a stockbroker, Roberta Lewis and Bruce Bachmann, a real estate executive.
PRITZKER. Chicago. Hyatt hotels, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Continental and Braniff Airlines, McCall’s magazine, and the Ticketmaster entertainment octopus have all been part of the Pritzker family’s gigantic fortune.The family founder Nicholas was an immigrant from Kiev who established a law firm that he used to launch his climb to wealth and power. His sons Harry, Jack and Abraham and the latter’s sons, Jay, Robert and Donald, have been the “big”names in the family. Their Marmon Group“specializes in buying and restructuring troubled companies.”
RATNER. Cleveland-New York. The Ratner family’s Cleveland-based Buckeye Material Company evolved into Forest City Enterprises (now Forest City Ratner Companies), which is a major real estate developer in their hometown and in New York. They were involved in the 42nd Street redevelopment. Family members include Charles, James, Ronald, Albert, Leonard and Max, who was the founder of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce. Mark Ratner is a professor of chemistry at Northwestern University.
REDSTONE. New York. Born “Rothstein,”Sumner Redstone took over his father’s movie theater chain and expanded it to nearly 900 affiliates. In 1987 he orchestrated the leveraged buyout of Viacom, Inc., which is one of the major global media enterprises, controlling Paramount Studios, Blockbuster Video, Simon & Schuster,Nickelodeon and MTV. His daughter Shari Redstone is increasingly involved in her father’s empire.
RESNICK. New York. Jack and Pearl Resnick and their son Burton have made a vast fortune in NewYork real estate, dealing in office property purchase and renovation. Daughter Marilyn is married to Stanley Katz and active in Jewish affairs both in the U.S. and Israel.
RIFKIND. New York. A well-known attorney and a partner in the influential and most elite firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind Wharton And Garrison, Simon Rifkind was an“advisor” to General Dwight Eisenhower on issues such as the disposition of uprooted Holocaust survivors and was a major player in lobbying on behalf of the formation of Israel. His son Robert, a partner in the equally elite law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, was president of the American Jewish Committee.
ROSE. New York. Born in Jerusalem, David Rose came to NewYork and set up a wide-ranging and powerful real estate firm, Rose Associates, that has built, owned and/or managed properties in New York as well as Washington, D.C., Boston, Florida and Connecticut. His sons Frederick, Daniel and Elihu and grandchildren Adam and Jonathan are now in charge of the Rose empire’s affairs.
ROSENWALD. Chicago-New Orleans. Julius Rosenwald made his fortune by seizing control of Sears And Roebuck, the catalog giant. His son Lessing, however, upset many in the American Jewish community by being a major supporter of anti-Zionist causes. Daughter Edith, who was a major supporter of “civil rights” causes in the South, operating out of a fabulous mansion in New Orleans modeled after “Tara” in Gone With the Wind, married into the Stern family. Her family ran the WDSU media empire in New Orleans and were close personal friends of Clay Shaw, prosecuted by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, for involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. (See Final Judgment by this author, Michael Collins Piper, for further details about the strange role of the Stern family in the affairs surrounding Shaw and accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald). The family is quite large and remains active in real estate and cable television.
RUDIN. New York. Jack and Lewis Rudin and their children, including sons William and Eric, are the rulers of Rudin Management which operates New York-based office and residential buildings.
SAFRA. New York-Monte Carlo. Although Syrian-born Jew Edmond Safra died several years in Monte Carlo in a mysterious fire (with allegations of involvement by Russian Jewish organized crime in his death), there is no mystery about the fact that his global banking empire, based in the Republic New York Corp. and the Swiss-based Trade Development (which merged with American Express) were quite powerful in the shadowy world of international finance.The family empire is now controlled by his brothers Joseph and Moise and their heirs.
SAUL. New York. Joseph Saul founded the Brooks Fashion chain which he sold at great profit in 1984. He is now churning his profits into many Jewish causes, Israeli interests in particular.
SAUNDERS. Boston. The Saunders Real Estate Corp. of Donald Saunders owns the Park Plaza hotel in Boston, together with a host of other commercial properties in the Bay State. His daughters Lisa and Pamela are seen as heirs to the fortune. Saunders is married to actress Liv Ullman.
SCHEUER. New York. A gas and coal company and New York real estate provided the foundation for this family’s wealth. One family member, James, served in Congress. Walter is an investment manager and documentary producer. Steven is a media critic. Amy is a psychotherapist. Richard has chaired the board of governors of Hebrew Union College and finances archeological digs in Palestine.
SCHOTTENSTEIN. Columbus, Ohio. This retail and real estate empire is known for Schottenstein Stores Corporation, Value City Department Stores, Value City Furniture and American Eagle Outfitters. Jay Schottenstein is now head of the family’s empire.
SCHUSTERMAN. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Charles Schusterman heads Samson Investment Company, the largest independent gas producer, headquartered in Oklahoma. Daughter Stacy is involved in the family business. Son Jay lives in Colorado. Son Hal lives in Israel.
SELIG. Atlanta. Heir to Ben Massell, a real estate developer, S. Stephen Selig is a major Atlanta developer in his own right, through Selig Enterprises. His daughter is Mindy Selig Shoulberg, a major player in the city’s Jewish community.
SILVERSTEIN. New York. The son of a real estate broker who rose to become a major high-rise office building developer, Larry Silverstein is probably best known today as the Jewish operator who gained control of the leases of the World Trade Center shortly before the 9-11 tragedy, a subject that has been covered in some detail by journalists writing in American Free Press, the national populist newsweekly based in Washington, D.C. Rumors connecting Silverstein to both the CIA and organized crime activities have circulated for some time.
SIMON. Indianapolis. One of the five biggest shopping mall empires in the country—the second largest, in fact—is the basis of the fortune of brothers Melvin and Howard Simon who developed 62 malls and 55 shopping centers. In 1996 their holdings grew even larger when they merged with the (non-Jewish) DeBartolo Realty Corp. Mel co-owns the Pacers basketball team and has produced “trash” films such as Porky’s. His son David,who had been an investment banker at CS First Boston and Wasserstein, Perella, is now assuming a role in the family business which includes the famous Mall of America in Minneapolis, at one time certainly the largest mall in America.
SKIRBALL. Los Angeles. Jack Skirball was a rabbi, a real estate developer and a film producer—three professions of interest to all good Jewish boys, it seems. His wealthy family remains active in Jewish affairs in California.
SLIFKA. New York. The Halcyon/Alan B. Slifka Management Company provides this family the money they need to remain active in Jewish affairs in NewYork.
CHARLES E. SMITH. Washington, D.C. Don’t be fooled by the name. He’s Jewish and he was one of the biggest real estate developers in the Washington, D.C. area. Robert Smith and brother-in-law Robert Kogod now run the empire which includes the Crystal City apartment complex in Arlington,Virginia, and Skyline City in Virginia.
RICHARD SMITH. Boston. Based in New England, the General Cinema movie chain expanded to take control of Neiman-Marcus (the Dallas-based department store) along with Harcourt Brace Publishing (now Harcourt General). General Cinema is now known as GC Cos. Robert Smith, son of Richard, has taken over the family’s affairs. The family is described as “very low profile.”
SONNABEND. Boston. Robert, Paul and Stephanie Sonnabend are the principals in the Sonesta International Hotels Corporation. They have some 19 properties, including even in Cairo, Egypt.
SPERTUS. Chicago. Brothers Herman and Maurice, founded a picture frame manufacturing company—through Metalcraft Corporation (later Intercraft Industries Corporation)—and made the family fortune.
SPIELBERG. Los Angeles. Everyone knows Stephen Spielberg, the movie legend responsible for a wide array of films, including the Schindler’s List Holocaust extravaganza. His primary company is Dreamworks SKG. Amblin Entertainment is another part of the Spielberg empire.
MARY ANN STEIN. Indianapolis. Mary Ann Stein, heir to bankers and businessmen, is active in liberal causes to the point that she became president of the New Israel Fund, an organization devoted to promoting “liberalism” in Israeli society, a cause that inflames hard-line Zionists, especially considering the New Israel Fund’s friendly gestures toward native Christian and Muslim Palestinians. (See also FRIEDMAN.)
SAM STEIN. Jacksonville, Florida.Sam Stein started the Steinmart Store in Mississippi and his son Jay developed a chain of 150 stores specializing in “upscale off-price merchandise” in 21 states. Jay’s wife Cynthia is an art teacher active in Jewish affairs in Jacksonville.
STEINBERG. New York. Saul Steinberg made a fortune through Leasco, a computer leasing firm, and then went big time with Reliance Insurance, which he purchased in 1968. His brother Robert and brother-in-law Bruce Sokoloff were heavily involved in family affairs. His daughter Laura is married to Jonathan Tisch of the powerful Tisch media empire (See TISCH.) His son Jonathan is owner of Financial Data which publishes Individual Investor magazine.
STEINHARDT. New York. The hedge-fund manager/tycoon Michael Steinhardt has a “passion,” it is said, for “Jewish continuity.” Even though he is “an avowed atheist” according to Avenue, Steinhardt is “yet one ofAmerica’s biggest supporters of Jewish and Israel causes.” He is a financier behind Forward, the influential NewYork-based Jewish weekly.
STERN AND LINDENBAUM. New York. Heir to the Hartz Mountain (pet supplies) fortune, Leonard Stern owns the “liberal” Village Voice newspaper and is engaged in a variety of real estate ventures. His son Emanuel operates the SoHo Grand Hotel and is married into the influential Peck family (See PECK).The wealth of Leonard’s stepmother, Ghity Amiel Lindenbaum, also contributes to the family fortune.
STONE. Cleveland. Irving, Morris and Harry Stone were heirs to the American Greetings (card) Corporation. The cartoon figure “Ziggy” is one of their contributions to popular culture.
STONEMAN. Boston. Samuel Stoneman was vice chairman of the board of General Cinema Corporation. His daughters are Jane Stein and Elizabeth Deknatel. They run the family’s foundation.
AARON STRAUS. Baltimore. The family fortune was based on the nationwide Reliable Stores Corporation. They are major contributors to “good” causes in the Baltimore region.
NATHAN AND OSCAR STRAUS. New York. Heirs to the R. H. Macy and Abraham And Straus department store fortunes. Oscar Straus II and Oscar Straus III are key family figures today.
STRAUSS. Dallas. Former Democratic Party National Chairman and U.S. Ambassador to Russia,Robert Strauss is a high-powered lawyer with the firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. The son of Charles, a merchant, Robert Strauss was a key player in the rise of Lyndon Johnson to the presidency. His brother Ted’s wife Annette formerly served as mayor of Dallas.
STRELITZ. Norfolk, Virginia. The Haynes home furnishing chain, based in Virginia, is the source of this family’s wealth. E. J. Strelitz is CEO. SWIG. San Francisco. This family owns the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and other Fairmonts across the country. The Plaza Hotel is one of their crown jewels. Benjamin Swig and his son Melvin opened up the first shopping mall in the United States. Ben was partnered with JackWeiler (See ARNOW-WEILER) in the commercial real estate business. Ben’s brother Richard, and Ben’s sons Kent, Robert and Steven, are involved in family foundation activities along with an in-law, Richard Dinner.
SYMS. New York. Sy Syms, head of the Syms Corp., a chain of 40 stores selling designer labels at discount prices, has brought his son Robert and daughter Marcy into the business. Marcy has been a vice president of the American Jewish Congress.The family has also branched out into real estate.
TAUBER. Detroit. Joel Tauber made a fortune in manufacturing: Key Fasteners, Key Plastics (automotive parts) Keywell Corporation (scrap metal) and Complex Tooling And Molding (computer parts). Son Brian is involved in the family business. Daughter Ellen Horing is a money manager in New York. Daughter, Julie McMahon, works with disadvantaged children.
TAUBMAN. New York. Developer of major shopping malls nationwide, Taubman had early business dealings with Max Fisher of Detroit (See MAX FISHER) and has been closely associated with Leslie Wexner (See WEXNER) of The Limited stores. Taubman was involved in the purchase and sale of the Irvine Ranch in Southern California. Taubman bought the Sotheby’s auction house and ended up being sentenced to a year in jail for price fixing. Vanity Fair reported in late 2002 that Taubman was a popular figure among his fellow inmates. Sons William and Robert are big players in the family empire.
TISCH. New York. Leading supporters of Israel, best known today for their control of the CBS broadcasting empire, Lawrence and Preston Tisch were among the most powerful Jews in America, although Lawrence recently died. Loews, CAN Financial, Lorillard and Bulova are all part of the Tisch empire. Lawrence had sons James, Daniel, Tom and Andrew, the latter involved in the executive committee of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Preston, who owns the Giants team, served as postmaster general of the United States. His son Steve is a film maker and his son Jonathan is the president of Loew’s hotels.
TISHMAN. New York. This construction family includes David, Norman, Paul, Louis and Alex. Numerous family members are highly active in Jewish affairs. Nina Tishman Alexander and her husband Richard Alexander and Bruce Diker, another family heir, are among the family members engaged in a variety of causes.
WASSERMAN. Los Angeles. The late Lou Wasserman, longtime head of MCA, the entertainment conglomerate, was—along with his partner, Jules Stein, a sponsor of the rise to fame (in films and in politics) of Ronald Reagan. He has been called the “king” of Hollywood.
WEILL. New York. As chairman and CEO of the Travelers Group, Sanford Weill is one of America’s wealthiest Jewish tycoons. His son Marc is ensconced at Travelers. His daughter Jessica Bibliowicz runs Smith Barney Mutual Funds.
WEINBERG. Baltimore-Hawaii. Harry Weinberg started off in the transit business in Baltimore and then branched out to Hawaii where he became a major player in the real estate business during the 1950s when air tourism to the islands boomed.
WEINER. New York. Chairman and CEO of Republic National Bank of New York and Republic New York Corporation—founded by Edmond Safra (See SAFRA)—Walter Weiner was a founding partner of Kronish, Lieb,Weiner And Hellman. His sons are John and Tom.
WEXNER. New York-Columbus, Ohio. Leslie Wexner seems to own it all: The Limited, Express, Lerners, Victoria’s Secret, Henry Bendel, Abercrombie And Fitch, Bath and BodyWorks, and Lane Bryant. He is particularly concerned with educating future Jewish leaders.
WINIK. New York. Elaine Winik was the first female president of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation and chair of the United Jewish Appeal. Her daughter Penny Goldsmith is a major figure in AIPAC and in the ADL. The Winik fortune was made in the production of handbags.
WINTER. Milwaukee. Elmer Winter started Manpower, the temporary employment agency that has 1,000 offices in some 32 countries. He’s also been active in expanding business between the United States and Israel and served as national director of the American Jewish Committee.
WOLFENSOHN. New York. Born in Australia and trained as a merchant banker in London, James Wolfensohn became an executive partner at Salomon Brothers in New York. In 1995 he was appointed head of the World Bank—truly a one-man Jewish powerhouse.
WOLFSON. Miami. The Wolfson-Meyer Theater Company became Wometco and in 1984 was acquired by Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts And Company after having established itself as a pioneer in motion picture and television broadcasting in the 1920s. The investment firms Wolfson Initiative Corporation and the Novecentro Corporation are part of the family empire. Family members include Louis III and Mitchell. The best-known Wolfson was the infamous Louis who became entangled in an unpleasant scandal involving former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas who was taking money from theWolfson family foundation.
ZABAN. Atlanta. Based on a janitorial supply firm, Mandle Zaban and his brother Sam and his son Erwin established Zep Manufacturing that ultimately evolved into National Service Industries, now ruled by Erwin who has been a director of the Anti-Defamation League.
ZALE. Texas. Morris Zale established one of the world’s largest jewelry chains, but the company was sold in 1987. Heirs David, Marjory, Stanley and Janet are active in Jewish affairs. The two sons still work in the jewelry business. (The jewelry business has always been particularly “Jewish.”)
ZARROW. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Henry and Jack Zarrow produce oil rigging parts and supplies through the Sooner Pipe and Supply Corporation.
ZILKHA. Truly a “global” Jewish family, the Zilkhas are heirs to the international Banque Zilkha which had been the largest privately-owned commercial bank in—yes—the Arab world. After the founding of Israel, the Baghdad-based French-speaking family moved west. Family chief Ezra has son Elias and daughters Donna Zilkha Krisel and Bettina-Louise. Major players in the small Sephardic Jewish elite in America and active in Israel.They have also branched out into arms manufacturing.
ZIMMERMAN. Boston-Atlanta-Palm Beach. Harriet Zimmerman, daughter of a Boston shoemaking tycoon, was vice president of AIPAC and bragged that “the biggest donor to Israel in the world is the U.S. Congress.” Son Robert operates in Connecticut. Daughter Claire Marx is active in Jewish affairs.
So there we have it—a grand overview of what are undoubtedly the most powerful Jewish families in America. By no means, as we have said, is the list complete.There are many other names that could be added to the list, usually “lesser fry” (so to speak) in some of the smaller cities and locales around the country. In addition, there are an increasing number of powerful and wealthy foreign Jewish families—from Israel, Iran, Russia and elsewhere—establishing their positions on American shores.
Although it would be convenient, as a colorful literary device, to be able to say that there are “200” or “300” or “400” particular families—in the style of some fanciful and contrived conspiracy-minded works or even in the style of Forbes and Fortune magazine, this would betray reality.
What we have assembled here for the reader, in easy-to-read format, based on a thoroughly “respectable” and sympathetic source, is a useful and revealing accounting of the vast array of wealth and power assembled in relatively few hands, a few families whose faces and names are largely unknown to the American (or world) public as a whole.
But rest assured that they are powerful and that persons behind the scenes (and those in political office) know very well who these elite power brokers are. They are able to make American presidents and politicians, and they are able to break them. They are truly Those Who Reign Supreme in America—or at least do everything in their considerable power to do so.
On a parting note that may horrify some sensitive readers, it’s probably no coincidence that Dr. Miriam Rothschild of the British branch of the family was an entomologist of international standing and it just so happens that fleas—and other parasites—were her specialty. In fact, she wrote a book entitled Fleas, Flukes and Cuckoos which the Rothschild Empire managed to turn into an unlikely bestseller. And it’s also probably no coincidence that David Rockefeller, the fading American front man for the Rothschild Empire, is also quite fascinated with—and is a relentless collector of—beetles, another parasite. (Although in fairness to beetles, most of them are non-parasitic!)
These Rothschilds and Rockefellers are truly parasites of a certain “human” order and swarming around them have been these powerful fellow parasites who want to consume the world.
But they can be stopped.