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Gangster Morris Roisner Biography-3

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Morris Roisner & His Elgin / Wurlitzer Money Clip 

Upon his release from Leavenworth in 1940, Morris was hired by an ex-con named Sam Taran (bank robbery / income tax evasion / etc.) to help run the Mayflower Distribution Company in St. Paul.  Mayflower sold vending machines, including Wurlitzer Juke Boxes, to fellow mobsters in the upper Midwest. The October 1941 Advertising Age magazine has an article about Mayflower, including a photo of Morris Roisner & associates.

In 1941, Wurlitzer ordered custom 10k gold-filled money clips from the Elgin watch company (at $33 each – around $570 today) for Mayflower. They were embossed with the Wurlitzer logo; Morris Roisner’s was beautifully engraved for his own personal use (and to hold his illegal cash?????)

Morris died peacefully of a heart attack in the St. Paul home he shared with his brother on December 12, 1952.

It wasn't until 1958 -- six years after Morris Roisner's death -- that a Senate Racketeering Committees (which included Sen John F. Kennedy) began to investigate Mayflower. 

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Book no.1
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