Arlyne Brickman

Arlyne Brickman (born 1934) is a former mafia informant.[1][2]

Arlyne Brickman
Born1934 (age 86–87)
Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York, United States
OccupationFormer informant and prostitute
Children1

Biography

Brickman was born in New York's Lower East Side in 1934. When growing up in New York City's Lower East Side, Brickman chose as her role model Virginia Hill, girlfriend of gangster Bugsy Siegel. Brickman said of Hill, "here was a broad that really made it good."[2] As a teenager Brickman became involved with Italian mobsters, hanging out in mafia nightclubs, seducing them in Cadillacs, and in later years running drugs.[2] At 35, Brickman was beaten and raped by gangsters and learned none of her mafia friends would help since she was a woman and Jewish.[2]

According to Brickman, she turned on the mob eight years later when a loan shark threatened to hurt her eighteen-year-old only daughter, unless Brickman paid off a loan.[2] Brickman contacted the FBI, agreeing to wear a wire, hiding the microphone in her brassiere or purse.[2] In return the government paid her debts and gave her a plea bargain.[2] Over the next decade, Brickman worked as an informant and in 1986 her testimony helped convict gangster Anthony Scarpati of the Colombo crime family and several others of racketeering conspiracy.[2]

After the Scarpati trial, Brickman refused to participate in the Witness Protection Program because, in her words, "That's the quickest way to get killed."[2] Brickman now resides in Florida.[2] Brickman was the subject of the non-fiction book Mob Girl: A Woman's Life in the Underworld by Teresa Carpenter, published by Simon & Schuster.[3][4][5]

References
  1. Sponsor in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 1, 2013 12:00 PM (2013-03-01). "From The Cocaine Godmother To "Sister" Snakehead: Notorious Female Gangsters". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 2013-03-05. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  2. Goodman, Mark. "Divorced from the Mob". People.com. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  3. "In Love With Crime - Chicago Tribune". Articles.chicagotribune.com. 1992-03-22. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  4. "Mob Girl's Story Falls Short Of Why - Hartford Courant". Articles.courant.com. 1992-03-08. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  5. "Accessory During the Fact : MOB GIRL: A Woman's Life in the Underworld, By Teresa Carpenter (Simon & Schuster: $21; 274 pp.) - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 2003-03-23. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
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