Irving (Blackie) Horowitz – Brooklyn’s Unknown Labor Criminal

Irving (Blackie) Horowitz was born in Brooklyn around 1906. He was a very sharp and intelligent young man who turned to the labor movement early in his underworld career. But he was also sharp enough to understand the importance of making friends in high places, both underworld and above.

This insight into how things worked led him to build lifelong ties with New York’s most powerful Mafia network, the Vito Genovese crime family, and to strengthen his ties with key Brooklyn political groups and, by extension, powerful local politicians.

By the early 1950s, Irving Horowitz, or “Blackie” as he was called by his underworld friends, had become one of the most influential labor leaders in all of Brooklyn and, for that matter, in all of New York City.

Irving Horowitz’s power stemmed from his appointment as “International President” of the International Production, Service, and Sales Employees Union (Independent) (IPSSEU).