# Casper Holstein

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/people/casper-holstein/

A Harlem figure whose kidnapping in September 1928 was reported across the country. The records filed here are newspaper pages from 1928 to 1930. They call him a wealthy sportsman, clubman and philanthropist and an Elks leader; one Seattle paper calls him a "reputed ace of Harlem gamblers." None of them is a court or federal record.

No birth or death date, family or role is set. The records filed here are newspaper pages, and none of them states that he ran a numbers or policy business. The only gambling statements are the Seattle Enterprise's label "reputed ace of Harlem gamblers" and its second-hand report of what a New York paper "is reported to have alleged," which this archive reports and does not adopt. In the same coverage, Rudolph Brown told police he had been Bernstein's partner in "numbers" banking; that statement concerns Brown and Bernstein, not Holstein ([Gary American, 28 December 1928](/clippings/clip-gary-american-1928-12-28-p1/)).

The 1928 papers disagree on the number of kidnappers, the ransom, the abduction address and the bail figures; the [Harlem numbers](/harlem/) page sets out the differences. No court record of the kidnapping case has been opened. The only photograph is the uncredited newspaper portrait on the [Seattle Enterprise page](/clippings/clip-seattle-enterprise-1928-10-04-p1/), and it is not used as this page's image. The newspapers' words "negro," "colored" and "sporting king" are theirs.

## Sources

- Library of Congress, Chronicling America: The Savannah Tribune, 27 September 1928: https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020323/1928-09-27/ed-1/?sp=1