Womanica

Best Of: Fredericka Mandelbaum

Episode Summary

Fredericka Mandelbaum (1825-1894) was one of the most well-connected illicit entrepreneurs and criminal financiers of her day.

Episode Notes

All month, we're revisiting our favorite episodes.  Tune in to hear the highlights of Womannicans past!

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know -- but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Leading Ladies, Activists, STEMinists,  Local Legends, and many more. Encyclopedia Womannica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Encyclopedia Womannica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard and Lindsey Kratochwill. Special thanks to Shira Atkins, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, and Sundus Hassan.

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Episode Transcription

Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.

Today’s story is about one of the most well-connected illicit entrepreneurs and criminal financiers of her day. She provided her Lower East Side community with opportunities to make money, employing women and children in her crime syndicate. She grew her business from the ground up  until it was one of the most successful criminal enterprises in the United States . Let’s talk about Fredericka Mandelbaum.

Friederike Weisner was born in Kassel, a city in modern-day Germany on March 28, 1825. She was one of seven children born to  a Jewish couple named Samuel and Regine Weisner. 

In her early twenties, Fredericka married Wolf Israel Mandelbaum. The couple worked as peddlers before emigrating to the United States in 1850. Fredericka and Wolf settled in New York City in an area of the Lower East Side known as Klein Deutschland or Little Germany.

Fredericka and Wolf began working as peddlers again on the Lower East Side. Every morning the couple would carry their merchandise  on their backs and set up on the street to sell. Vendors at the time would do anything they could to get attention from passersby but they weren’t always successful. The life of a peddler didn’t bring in nearly enough money to support Fredericka and Wolf’s family, which by then included four children.

During the financial Panic of 1857, hundreds of businesses failed, banks closed, and thousands of people lost their jobs. This had a profound impact on the deeply indigent communities living on the Lower East Side. In the aftermath, ever greater numbers of destitute children began to roam the street selling what they could. Eventually they graduated to  pickpocketing and looting street vendors. 

Rather than showing disdain towards the so-called street urchins, Fredericka had the idea to form business relationships  with these children. She would buy their stolen goods to resell for a profit. Fredericka also became a valued associate to adult thieves thanks to her ability to speak both English and German.

 Fredericka and Wolf used the money that they earned selling stolen goods to sign a lease on a building with a store on the ground floor. The front of the store operated as a dry goods store and the back of the store was used by Fredericka to conduct her fencing business. Fredericka soon became known as “Mother Mandelbaum”, “Marm” and “Queen of the Fences”

In accounts of her appearance, Fredericka was said to have had the eyes of a sparrow, the neck of a bear and fat cheeks. She was six feet tall and said to be between 200-300 pounds. She wore a feathered fascinator on top of her tightly rolled black hair. She spoke only when she had to and her favorite saying was, “It takes brains to be a real lady.”

 Throughout their marriage, Fredericka was the brains behind the family crime business while Wolf played the role of the silent husband. In 1875, Wolf died, leaving Fredericka to raise their four children on her own. In order to make ends meet, she decided to expand her circle of contacts.  She networked at her synagogue and at the neighborhood beer and oyster halls. She was a fixture at the Eight Ward Thieves exchange. Local politicians even stopped by her store in hopes that she would help rally the Jewish vote for them.

The newspapers at the time called Fredericka “ the greatest crime promoter of all time,” the person who “first put crime in America on a syndicated basis,” and “the nucleus and center of the whole organization of crime in New York City.” She could estimate the value of stolen goods with a quick look. It is said that a large portion of loot stolen during the Chicago Fire of 1871 ended in and out of Fredericka’s possession.

Fredericka began to employ more than just thieves as her business grew in size and sophistication. She hired engravers, cab drivers and defense attorneys Big Bill Howe and Little Abe Hummell. Fredericka paid their firm an annual retainer of $5,000. She also took one person into her confidence, a colleague  named Herman Stoude (Stout).

Fredericka had strict policies when buying goods. She demanded sellers stand in her sight during the deal. After the transaction, Stoude would take the goods to one of her warehouses where she had a series of hiding places. 

Fredericka would regularly recruit and train  new thieves as a way to expand her business and keep ahead of her primary competitor, John Grady of the Grady Gang. She allegedly opened a school of crime near police headquarters. At the school, named Marm’s Grand Street school, children could learn from professional pickpockets and thieves. More advanced students could learn the skills needed for burglary, safe blowing, confidence schemes and black mail. The institution thrived until it enrolled a prominent police official’s son. After that incident, Fredericka shut down the school for good.

.  Fredericka personally mentored a select number of highly qualified thieves. One of her best known mentees was famed international art thief Adam Worth. Fredericka alsohad a fondness for female crooks. Among the thieves  she mentored were big New York names like Big Mary, Queen Liz, Little Annie, Old Mother Hubbard, Kid Glove Rose and Sophie Lyons. Fredericka’s most favored associates had access to her Bureau for the Protection of Criminals, a fund that provided bail money and legal representation to members of her circle.  However, she did not show the same respect to the wives of thieves who were sent to prison. She refused to lend any money to them. She said most women were “wasting life being housekeepers.”

In the spring of 1884, a plan was made to bring Fredericka’s operation down. At the time, Fredericka was one of the most successful criminals in the United States. She handled an estimated $5 million to $10 million in stolen property. The New York District Attorney hired Detective Gustave Frank of the Pinkerton Detective Agency to infiltrate the crime family. After taking lessons from a silk merchant, Detective Frank was able to conduct business with Fredericka.  When police raided Fredericka’s warehouse, they discovered the silks Detective Frank sold her and enough stolen goods to put her away for life.   

Fredericka, her son Julius and Herman Stoude were arrested in July 1884. In December, Fredericka was released on bail and fled to Ontario, Canada with a million dollars. In Canada, she opened a store and lived a normal life away from crime.Allegedly, when her youngest daughter died, she snuck into New York one last time to attend the funeral.. She supposedly watched the procession from afar before returning to Ontario where she remained for the rest of her life.

 Fredericka died in 1894 at the age of 68. Her body was brought back to New York to be buried. It was reported that mourners who attended her funeral were pickpocketed.

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