Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable if taken with a grain of salt.
Review: Having lived in the section of Brooklyn where the story takes place (East New York and Brownsville) for more than twenty five years I was disturbed by Mr. Cohen's inaccuracy as to street locations. Several times he states that the hangout of Abie Reles as being on Livonia Ave. just off Pitkin Ave. These two avenues run parallel to each other and are separated by at least six other avenues. I have to wonder what other details are inaccurate. Mr. Cohen tends to forgive the gangster for the evil deeds and is very critical of law enforcement official's tactics, especially Thomas Dewey. Cohen feels Luciano was "railroaded" by Dewey. ("I'm not saying Luciano was innocent....I just don't think he was convicted for the crimes he committed; he was convicted for being considered a criminal.") With reference to a picture taken of Luciano in court. Cohen states, "Cameras understood the gangsters in a way the cops never could--the camera knew these were the brightest men in the room, shedding light as they walked." Tough Jews is an easy and somewhat enjoyable read but not to be taken as the "emmis" (Jewish for truth).
Rating: 
Summary: Go with the flow....
Review: I came across this book in London, England, and not being Jewish myself the subject matter intrigued me. This account of Jewish life is written in a savvy street-cred prose, which I liked, and has the feel and mood of a nostalgic narrative - sentimental at times rather than passionate, and it is really a personal oddessy fo the author.
The author depicts the gangsters in a "idealized" fashion, like a painting by Claude Lorraine: it's romanticized, stylized, and I think if this was translated into a novel it wouldn't work as well. This is clearly a journalist at work, albeitit with some measure of imagination to create a mood.
I would agree with another review that the book is somewhat disorganised and patched together, like a collection of essays or reminiscences. Perhaps, that is part of its appeal, that you can simply dip in to it without worrying too much about plot or continuity. After all, it's not a novel, but rather an account expressed as a mood of a time that shaped the gangsters who themselves shaped (and exploited) their time. If you will, it's a kind of Gatsby for real - only a lot more violent.
I would recommend the book; and wish the author well.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: I happened to see the author on the Larry King program on the evening of May 15, 1999. I had already read, and loved, this fine book. When I say the program, however, I was shocked that the author was so young and so handsome. Knowing these facts, I now appreciate the book even more. This young man's book demonstrates both a depth of knowledge about a world now gone and an empathy and love for his father that is quite moving. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially older folks of my generation whose sons and daughters are now coming of age. Although I don't know Rich Cohen or his family, I imagine his parents are quite proud.
Rating: 
Summary: Arnold Rothstein was not a great man, Rich!
Review: I know Jewish people often (with usually good justification) like their own but he just flat out goes way too far in a sick, deranged direction in describing gangster, cheat, pathological liar, and drug smuggler Arnold Rothstein as a great man in this book. Also, Rothstein defies the idea of Rich's that the Jew needed to turn to crime to get ahead when Rothstein's honest hardworking daddy was already a rich man. And Rothstein's main anger (and motive to do no good) in life was his jealousy of his older, beloved upright brother not Rothstein's marriage to a girl who wasn't practicing Judaism. Furthermore, I don't believe for a second that Rothstein made the average gangster a more classy looking fellow than he was before. There were lots of gangsters in NY and Chicago before him and with no help from him who knew how to look and act spiffy in public. Skip this nonsense, sorry Rich but that's what it is.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: I loved this book. It's about the little-known stories of Jewish gangsters, who in the '20s and '30s were in league with the Sicilians and in many ways just as powerful. But it's much more than just a story of organized crime; the author connects the myths and dreams of Jewish kids growing up among those mobsters to the value system of his father and his friends, and how their beliefs about "Tough Jews" gave them an alternative to the stereotypical roles allowed them by America at large. In its own strange, violent way it's a brilliant, beautiful account of the eastern European Jewish immigrant experience in America.
Rating:
Summary: how can anybody not love this book
Review: i picked this book up because, frankly, i thought the title was funny. but from the moment i opened it, i was rapt. this is boys own stuff. somehow cohen manages to glamorize these gangsters in a way that's even more exciting and compelling than most mob movies. some people here have marked this book down because of some factual errors. big fat hairy deal! if you want facts on this subject, read "but he was good to his mother" by rockaway -- one of the most tedious and ineptly written books ever written on any subject. this is a book about having heroes and boyish fantasies. and it's a damn good one.
Rating:
Summary: Ignore the Yutz Below; This is a Winner
Review: I read the book. It is excellent. The stories are uproariously funny and the material fascinating. I don't understand the reviewer who claims that the book is a "pathetic rehashing" and that "more skilled authors" have dealt with the material in a better fashion. First, the book does not purport to contain all new material. Rather, it is one guys take on the gangsters that his father and father's friends found exciting and an explanation of why this might be so. Second, I wish the yutz who wrote that review would name some of those "more skilled authors" and their books. I myself think there is a real dearth of good books in this area. Finally, I could do without the ad hominum attacks that appear below; they reveal more about the reviewer and his twisted little world than they do about the author and his excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: A great day at the beach
Review: I read this book at the lake on the fourth. For some reason, it seemed perfect for the holiday, as if these gangsters represented that part of American history that you don't hear so much about and yet are as much the story as the founding fathers. Who knows? Maybe I am thinking too much. Anyway, I found it great fun.
Rating:
Summary: Tough Jews are Everywhere
Review: If the idea of jewish thugs, jewish crime bosses, jewish killers and street soldiers sounds ridiculous to you, then this book is right for you. If you live in Brooklyn, then this book is for you again. If you are a jew immigrated from Eastern Europe to New York, then you don't want to miss this book either.This is a great book that uncovers another page of hidden and "carefully" forgotten history.
Rating:
Summary: Close, but no cigar.
Review: In "Tough Jews," Rich Cohen evokes the era of Jewish gangsters with veneration and awe--his discovery of guns in his ethnic closet is so wide-eyed as to suggest Hugh Hefner's discovery of the breast. Mr. Cohen writes with great panache and verve, and his frequent references to his father's crowd and their reminiscences of gangster-era Brooklyn show a young man fascinated and reverent over an important and colorful part of his heritage. Nonetheless, it has all been said before, and said more accurately. Mr. Cohen commits a large number of genuinely silly errors that seriously diminish his work (for example, he has Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel helping Al Capone take it on the lam from Brooklyn to Chicago in 1919--a prodigious feat for a 13-year-old, since Siegel was born in 1906). Enthusiasm should not triumph over scholarship. Mr. Cohen believes Jewish gangsterdom mostly disappeared after WWII, falling victim to education, suburbanism and respectability. Evidently his writ doesn't extend to Las Vegas, where he would have encountered Moe Dalitz, Gus Greenbaum, Moe Sedway, Lefty Rosenthal and other esteemed Jews who ran the casinos for the Mormons while the Mafia took the lumps (see "The Black Book and the Mob" by Ronald A. Farrell and Carole Case). The photos are swell.
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