In 1897, Louis Amberg was born in Brooklyn, New York. Louis, nicknamed “Pretty Amberg,” was the middle sibling of the three criminally-inclined Amberg brothers. Joseph was the eldest, while Herman, nicknamed “Hyman,” was the youngest brother. The Amberg brothers were …

Jacob Shapiro was born on May 5, 1899, in Odessa, Russia. His family emigrated to the United States, settling in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Shapiro began committing petty crimes in his teens, and met his future partner, Louis …