Casper Holstein
Encyclopedia
Casper Holstein was a prominent New York mobster involved in the Harlem
"numbers rackets
" during the Harlem Renaissance
. He, along with his occasional rival Stephanie St. Clair
, was responsible for bringing back illegal gambling to the neighborhood after an eight-year absence following the conviction of Peter H. Matthews
in 1915.
, Casper Holstein moved to New York City
with his mother in 1894.
His father was a landed person of color who was in turn the son of a Danish officer in the Danish West Indies Colonial militia. Attending high school in Brooklyn, he enlisted in the United States Navy
following his graduation. During World War I
, he was able to revisit his birthplace while stationed in what had become the United States Virgin Islands
. After the war, Holstein worked as janitor and doorman in Manhattan eventually becoming a messenger, and then head messenger, for a commodities brokerage on Wall Street.
daily share volume and leading horse race parimutuel betting
handle have all been used to set the daily number. This change permitted a larger number of gamblers to play the same game and with reduced fear of fixing. As the Prohibition began, Holstein's lottery system proved popular and soon Holstein became known as the "Bolita King
", going on to an estimated $2 million from his lotteries.
In 1932 Dixie Davis
, the court house attorney who provided service for the runners for many of the numbers operators, decided that he could make more money if he were to take over as central organizer. In order to enforce his seizure of power he brought in Dutch Schultz, who could see that Prohibition which had proved lucrative for him was reaching its end. Rather than accept a back seat however, he decided he wanted the central role. One by one various numbers operators were picked up by Schultz and told they would have to deal with him. Most complied but he was resisted by Madame St. Clair and Bumpy Johnson. Holstein saw himself as having a political mission which would be undermined by violence and dropped out of overseeing street collection. He continued as a wholesale lay off gambler for several years but was arrested in 1937.
. He bought the mortgage on the New York hall of the United Negro Improvement Association and allowed it to continue to be used as a Black function hall when the Marcus Garvey organization collapsed. He also helped establish a Baptist
school in Liberia
and established a hurricane relief fund for his native Virgin Islands
. He was a regular contributor of articles to the NAACP newspaper the Crisis.
claimed to have invented the way that "numbers game
s" choose the winning number, both claims have long been in dispute , he controlled a large scale numbers-running operation, as well as nightclubs and other legitimate business. His income may have been as high as $12,000 a day at its peak, and he was generous with his wealth. According to the New York Times, he was "Harlem's favorite hero, because of his wealth, his sporting proclivities and his philanthropies among the people of his race.
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
"numbers rackets
Numbers game
Numbers game, also known as a numbers racket, policy racket or Italian lottery, is an illegal lottery played mostly in poor neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day...
" during the Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
. He, along with his occasional rival Stephanie St. Clair
Stephanie St. Clair
Stephanie St. Clair was a bookmaker in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood.-Early life:Madam St. Clair was born of mixed French and African descent on Martinique. She immigrated to the United States via Marseilles in 1912 and ten years later took $10,000 of her own money and set up a numbers bank in...
, was responsible for bringing back illegal gambling to the neighborhood after an eight-year absence following the conviction of Peter H. Matthews
Peter H. Matthews
Peter H. Matthews was an operator of policy games in New York City.-Biography:In 1915, agents of Charles Henry Parkhurst's Society for the Prevention of Crime and 45 police officers raided his gambling operations and rounded up a number of persons connected with this crime. Many were known...
in 1915.
Early life
Born of mixed African and Danish descent in St. Croix, Danish West IndiesDanish West Indies
The Danish West Indies or "Danish Antilles", were a colony of Denmark-Norway and later Denmark in the Caribbean. They were sold to the United States in 1916 in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies and became the United States Virgin Islands in 1917...
, Casper Holstein moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with his mother in 1894.
His father was a landed person of color who was in turn the son of a Danish officer in the Danish West Indies Colonial militia. Attending high school in Brooklyn, he enlisted in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
following his graduation. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was able to revisit his birthplace while stationed in what had become the United States Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...
. After the war, Holstein worked as janitor and doorman in Manhattan eventually becoming a messenger, and then head messenger, for a commodities brokerage on Wall Street.
Rebirth of the Harlem numbers racket
During this time, he began to become familiar with the stock market and began studying the system and numbers. He was eventually able to devise a lottery system based on those principles. Previously under and before Matthews the number was set by a system in which a set of digits 0 to 9 were drawn out at random and posted in a club house. This however allowed for the organizer to cut losses by fixing the outcome. It also created limitations on disseminating the winning number out to the gamblers. There were unrelated statistical numbers published by the newspapers which Holstein found could be used by an organizer instead. At various times the US Customs House receipts, New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
daily share volume and leading horse race parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...
handle have all been used to set the daily number. This change permitted a larger number of gamblers to play the same game and with reduced fear of fixing. As the Prohibition began, Holstein's lottery system proved popular and soon Holstein became known as the "Bolita King
Bolita
Bolita , is a type of lottery which was popular in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida's working class Hispanic, Italian, and black population. In the basic bolita game, 100 small numbered balls are placed into a bag and mixed thoroughly, and bets are taken on which...
", going on to an estimated $2 million from his lotteries.
In 1932 Dixie Davis
Dixie Davis
J. Richard Davis , also known as Dixie Davis, was the lawyer for Dutch Schultz.-Biography:He was born in 1905. He attended Syracuse University Law School and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1927...
, the court house attorney who provided service for the runners for many of the numbers operators, decided that he could make more money if he were to take over as central organizer. In order to enforce his seizure of power he brought in Dutch Schultz, who could see that Prohibition which had proved lucrative for him was reaching its end. Rather than accept a back seat however, he decided he wanted the central role. One by one various numbers operators were picked up by Schultz and told they would have to deal with him. Most complied but he was resisted by Madame St. Clair and Bumpy Johnson. Holstein saw himself as having a political mission which would be undermined by violence and dropped out of overseeing street collection. He continued as a wholesale lay off gambler for several years but was arrested in 1937.
Political activism
He donated a great deal of his revenues towards charitable purposes such as building dormitories at Black colleges, as well as financing many of the neighorhood's artists, writers, and poets during the Harlem RenaissanceHarlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
. He bought the mortgage on the New York hall of the United Negro Improvement Association and allowed it to continue to be used as a Black function hall when the Marcus Garvey organization collapsed. He also helped establish a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
school in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
and established a hurricane relief fund for his native Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands are the western island group of the Leeward Islands, which are the northern part of the Lesser Antilles, which form the border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean...
. He was a regular contributor of articles to the NAACP newspaper the Crisis.
Prohibition and later years
By the end of the 1920s, Holstein had become a dominant figure among Harlem's numerous policy operators. Although both he and rival Stephanie St. ClairStephanie St. Clair
Stephanie St. Clair was a bookmaker in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood.-Early life:Madam St. Clair was born of mixed French and African descent on Martinique. She immigrated to the United States via Marseilles in 1912 and ten years later took $10,000 of her own money and set up a numbers bank in...
claimed to have invented the way that "numbers game
Numbers game
Numbers game, also known as a numbers racket, policy racket or Italian lottery, is an illegal lottery played mostly in poor neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day...
s" choose the winning number, both claims have long been in dispute , he controlled a large scale numbers-running operation, as well as nightclubs and other legitimate business. His income may have been as high as $12,000 a day at its peak, and he was generous with his wealth. According to the New York Times, he was "Harlem's favorite hero, because of his wealth, his sporting proclivities and his philanthropies among the people of his race.