Who is Michael B. Mukasey?
By Christopher Bollyn President George W. Bush has appointed Michael B. Mukasey to be the next attorney general of the United States. This is a very important appointment. If Mukasey is confirmed by the Senate, this man will become the top law enforcement officer of the United States, yet very little is known about him - at least publicly.
It seems very odd that the U.S. media would have so little information or interest in the background of the man who has been nominated to one of the most powerful positions in the nation. USA Today offers its readers more than most newspapers with this biographical description of Mukasey:
THE MUKASEY FILE From USA Today Age: 66; born July 28, 1941, in New York City.
Education: Bachelor's degree, Columbia University, 1963. Law degree,
Yale Law School, 1967 Source: USA TODAY research You will note that USA Today does not provide the names of Mukasey's parents. How very odd. When Bernard Kerik was appointed to be the Secretary of Homeland Security, the media dug up all the dirt they could find on his mother. It was pretty clear that the Kerik nomination was meant to fail and that Michael Chertoff was waiting in the wings, ready to be appointed. When Chertoff, an Israeli-American was appointed, the media completely ignored the rather conspicuous fact that his mother was a former Israeli intelligence agent.
Why have Michael Chertoff and Michael Mukasey been treated so
differently by the media?
Why would the mass media in the United States have so little
information and ask so few questions about the man who is expected
to become the head of the Dept. of Justice? Is there something that
needs to be hidden?
It certainly looks that way.
MUKASEY'S ROOTS I
have been looking into Mukasey's background since the news broke
that he would be appointed. I have written two articles about his
unusual religious and political background. We know that Mukasey is
an Orthodox Jew and that he is a dedicated Zionist, i.e. a person
dedicated to supporting the State of Israel.
Mukasey is clearly a man with a foreign loyalty, just like Michael
Chertoff and Alvin K. Hellerstein. A person cannot serve two
masters; a citizen cannot be loyal to two nations.
Mukasey's loyalty to Israel should automatically disqualify him as a
nominee for attorney general. How can the American people allow
their highest law enforcement official to be openly committed to a
foreign state? Is this not the most serious of conflicts of
interest?
WHO IS MUKASEY?
But who really is Michael Bernard Mukasey - the man? Because this is
such an important nomination for the United States and because so
little information is being provided about him by the media, I am
providing the material (with sources) that I have found about
Mukasey with the hope that my fellow Americans will look more deeply
into who this odd-looking fellow with a foreign agenda really is.
Michael Mukasey, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern
District of New York, married Susan Bernstock Saroff, a divorcee
with two children. Rabbi Judah Nadich married the two in the home of
Mr. and Mrs. William Bernstock, Susan's parents. (Source: NYT July
15, 1974 "Susan Saroff Bride of M.B. Mukasey")
Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato (R-NY), an ethically challenged and very
pro-Israeli senator, recommended Mukasey, then a 45-year-old partner
in the law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, to President
Ronald Reagen who nominated Mukasey to become a Federal district
judge in Manhattan on July 23, 1987. ("Reagan Picks Ex-Prosecutor
For a Judgeship in New York," NYT July 24, 1987)
HIS ANCESTORS
We know that Mukasey was born July 28, 1941. His parents are listed
as Albert Mukasey and Mae Fischer Mukasey. His father, Albert Mukasey, was born September 5, 1902, probably in or near the Yiddish-speaking shtetl (ghetto) of Lyakhovichi (Lachowichi, Lachowicze) in the Russian Pale of Settlement, in what is today Belarus.
Yiddish Funeral in Lyakhovichi
A Yiddish Grave in Lyakhovichi's Graveyard Note the use of Hebrew text on the stone
There are quite a few Mukaseys (with this spelling and a variety of
other spellings) who lived in Lyakhovichi, in the Baranovichi
District of the region of Brest-Litovsk. This is located in the
northern section of Belarus, near Lithuania.
Source: JewishGen ShtetLinks: Lyakhovichi
Albert Mukasey became a naturalized American citizen in 1928 in the
District Court in Brooklyn, according to a passenger list from the
"Queen of Bermuda," which he traveled on with his wife Mae in May of
1933. This was probably their honeymoon, or wedding trip. At the
time, the Mukasey's lived at 120 Vermilyea Ave. in the Bronx. Albert
Mukasey died on or about September 17, 1972.
These sisters would be the paternal aunts of Michael Mukasey, the
nominee.
Of this rather large Mukasey family, however, only two U.S. Census
records appear with the Mukasey name through 1930: Bella Mukasey in
1910; and Freida Mukasey in 1920.
In both cases the Mukasey girls are listed as "sister-in-law" living
with the family of their sister, Rose [Hinda] and her husband, Oscar
Freund.
In 1910, Bella is 19 years old (born in 1891) and is living in
Manhattan, at 174 Third Street, with her 24-year-old sister "Rose"
and her husband Oscar Freund. Rose and Oscar have a 1-year-old son,
Max. Bella is registered as an "operator" in a "waist factory." She
probably worked as a seamstress in a "sweatshop" clothing factory.
Bella is listed as having immigrated in 1906, as is her sister Rose.
Bella must have been about 15 when she came to America. Oscar, Rose,
and Bella are all listed as having been born in Russia and speaking
Yiddish. Oscar is listed as a Thread Dealer.
Rose was probably born in 1886 and came to the United State at age
20. She and Oscar are listed as having been married in 1908.
In 1920, Frieda is registered as living with her sister's family,
which has now moved to the Bronx. Bella is no longer listed as
living with the Freunds.
The Freund family is now living at 1977 Prospect Avenue, in Number
105. Oscar is now 41 and Rose must be 34, although she is listed as
23, which is also given for the age of Frieda. Rose now has Max, 10,
and Saul, 7.
Frieda works as an "operator" on dresses while Oscar is a wholesaler
of "trimmings." It is interesting to note that the 1920 census no
longer mentions the family as having been Yiddish-speaking; they are
now all listed as being Russian-speaking. There appears to have been
a desire to conceal their Yiddish roots.
In 1928, Oscar Freund of 1977 Prospect Avenue, New York, is also
running the Orient Theatre in Jersey City, which he leased in
October 1924. This makes the news because he is paying a $25 a week
kick-back to Joseph Bernstein, reportedly to keep his operation open
on Sundays. (Source: NYT Sept. 18, 1928)
The Mukasey girls, like other immigrants from Lyakhovichi, most
likely had very unusual sounding Yiddish names, which they
apparently changed as they adopted more American sounding names.
We know that Albert Mukasey married Mae Fischer, who was the mother
of two children: Rhoda (Eckstein) and Michael. When Mae Fischer died
in February 1975, her obituary in the New York Times mentioned that
she was the mother-in-law of Norbert Eckstein and Susan Mukasey.
(Source: NYT Feb. 13, 1975)
Norbert Eckstein and Rhoda, Michael's sister, are listed as living
in Maryland. They have, or had, residences in Gaithersburg,
Rockville, and Ocean City. The Eckstein name rings a bell to those
who may have heard Sam Danner's version of what he said he saw and
did on the Pentagon lawn on 9-11.
Danner said something about a man named Eckstein, who was wearing an
FBI jacket and directing the clean-up of the small pieces of debris
from the lawn of the Pentagon.
Norbert (a.k.a. Norm) and Rhoda Eckstein have two children in their
late 40s, David J. and Debbie J. Eckstein. (The credibility of
Danner's testimony has been disputed.)
On May 17, 1933, Albert Mukasey and Mae Mukasey sailed from Bermuda
on the "Queen of Bermuda" to New York City. The passenger list
indicates that Albert was a naturalized alien married to a
24-year-old American, Mae, who was listed as having been born in New
York in 1909.
The record of Mae's death, however, indicates that she was born in
November 1899, which would have made her several years older than
Albert. Did she lie about her age when she was married? It appears
that may have been the case.
In any case, Albert and Mae were listed as living at 120 Vermilyea
Ave. in 1933. This is where things get rather interesting.
It appears that this immigrant family had come into quite a bit of
money for people who worked in the sweatshops of Manhattan and the
Bronx. Because I am no expert on how these transfers, extensions,
and mortgages worked, or the kinds of schemes that may have been at
play, I am providing the listings as they appear in the New York
Times.
It certainly appears that the Mukasey family engaged in real estate
deals that would seem to have been far beyond a family of their
modest means. This may be a clue into how Michael Mukasey's family
made its way in the New World.
Manhatten Transfers:
1. Sickles Street, 14-28, 200 by 170 feet; Beefred Realty
Corporation to Ruth Mukasey, 20 Sickles Street; mortgage $378,750.
(Source: NYT October 16, 1930)
2. 125th Street, north side, 425 feet east of Broadway, 58.9 by
99.11; Ernest Guettinger to Ruth Mukasey, mortgages $8,100. (Source:
NYT July 31, 1931)
Transfers:
3. Colgate Ave (14-3737), e s 760 n of Watson Ave, 38x100; Key
Realty Corp to Mae Mukasey, 120 Vermilyea Ave. (Source: NYT January
11, 1938)
Extensions:
4. 85th st. 10 E; extends two mtgs agg. $31,000 to Sept. 1, 1944 at
6%; Master Management Corp. to Bella Levin, 120 Vermilyea Ave.
(Source: NYT September 10, 1942)
Mortgages: 5. Vermilyea Ave. 120-124; Cole Operating Corp. (Max Mukasey, pres) to Lebras Holding Corp. 1475 Bway; p m mtg (pr mtg $357,315), 5 years, 5%; $65,000. (Source: NYT August 11, 1945) Christopher Bollyn is an
independent journalist
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