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A camel hair blazer from the American fashion label Bill Blass, 2009.

Camel hair is, variously, the hair of a camel; a type of cloth made from camel hair; or a substitute for authentic camel hair; and is classified as a specialty hair fibre. When woven into haircloth, using the outer protective fur called guard hair, camel hair is coarse and inflexible. However, other varieties of camel hair cloth—especially those that blend camel hair with wool— or from the pure under coat are soft and plush. Pure camel hair, frequently used for coats, is gathered when camels molt in warmer seasons. This undercoat is very soft, and is separated from the dense, coarse guard hair for cloth use.

Source and geographic origin[link]

Camel hair is collected from the two-humped Bactrian camel, found from Turkey east to China and north to Siberia. Significant supplier countries of camel hair are: Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, China, and Australia.

Gathering process[link]

A camel can produce around 5 pounds of hair a year. The specialty animal fibre is collected by a number of methods including combing, shearing, and collecting the hair shed naturally during the moulting season. During the moulting season the hair falls off first from the neck, then the mane and lastly the body hair. The moulting season occurs in late spring and is a process that takes six to eight weeks.

Production[link]

There are five primary steps to the production of camel hair; collection, sorting, dehairing, spinning, and weaving or knitting. After collecting the hair either through shearing or collecting during the moulting season the hair goes through a sorting method. In this process the coarse hair is separated from the fine, soft hairs. The fibres are then washed to remove any dirt or debris obtained from the collection process. The sorted and washed hair is then dehaired. This process removes the coarse hair and any dandruff or vegetable matter before it is sent to be spun into yarn and used for either weaving or knitting.

Natural qualities[link]

The color of camel is primarily golden tan with a variance of red to light brown tones. Camel's hair is also a fibre that supplies warmth without added weight. The hair contains thermostatic properties which can protect and insulate the camel from the extreme cold conditions as well as keeping them cool in the desert. The same properties and characteristics are transferred when making fabrics woven from camel hair.

Common end-uses of camel hair[link]

The fine fur of the camel hair are often blended with fine wool to create fabrics for men's and women's coats, jackets and blazers, skirts, hosiery, sweaters, gloves, scarves, mufflers, and caps and robes. The long coarser hair removed in the dehairing process is also used which can be made into carpet backing as well as waterproof coats that are very warm for colder climates.

Textile analysis[link]

Although most camel hair is left as its natural tones, the hair can be dyed in a multiple range of colors and accepts the dye equally compared to that of wool fibres. The best blends of camel hair in textiles are pure camel hair or blended with wool only. It is also commonly blended with nylon to make hosiery and other knitted products. Products containing camel hair should be dry cleaned or handwashed.

Natural paintbrush bristles are derived either from the hairs of horses, squirrels, goats, sheep, bears, sables, hogs, or some combination of these. As a result, the texture, absorbency, and other properties of "camel hair" brushes vary markedly. Wooly camel hair is unsuitable for brush bristles.

See also[link]

• Cameline

v t e Fibers Natural Animal Alpaca Angora Byssus Camel hair Cashmere Catgut Chiengora Guanaco Llama Mohair Pashmina Qiviut Rabbit Silk Sinew Spider silk Wool Vicuña Yak Vegetable Abacá Bagasse Bamboo Coir Cotton Flax Linen Hemp Jute Kapok Kenaf Piña Raffia Ramie Sisal Wood Mineral Asbestos Synthetic Cellulose Acetate Triacetate Art silk Bamboo Lyocell Rayon Modal Rayon Rayon Mineral Glass Carbon Tenax Basalt Metallic Polymer Acrylic Aramid Twaron Kevlar Technora Nomex Microfiber Modacrylic Nylon Olefin Polyester Polyethylene Dyneema Spectra Spandex Vinylon Vinyon Zylon

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Mickey Cohen
Mickey Cohen mugshot
Born	Meyer Harris Cohen (1913-09-04)September 4, 1913 Brooklyn, New York
Died	July 29, 1976(1976-07-29) (aged 62) Los Angeles, California
Cause of death	Natural Causes
Nationality	United States
Known for	Mob Activity
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Spouse	Lavonne Weaver (1940 - 1951)

Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen (September 4, 1913 – July 29, 1976) was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, and also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.

Early Life[link]

Mickey Cohen was born on September 4, 1913, of a Jewish family. His mother Fanny had immigrated to the U.S. from Kiev, Ukraine. At age six, Cohen was selling newspapers on the street; his brothers Louie or Harry would drop him off at his regular corner, Soto and Brooklyn Streets. Soon Cohen and his brothers became involved in crime (Cohen's brother Sam, an Orthodox Jew, was an exception). In 1923, at age nine, Cohen was delivering alcohol to customers from a gin mill operated by his older brother in the drug store. Cohen was arrested that same year for this activity, but avoided prosecution due to his brother's connections.

As a teenager, Cohen began boxing in illegal prizefights in Los Angeles. He eventually moved to the East Coast to train as a professional boxer, doing fights in the Midwest along the way. His first professional boxing match was on April 8, 1930 against Patsy Farr in Cleveland, Ohio. This was one of the preliminary fights on the card for the Paul Pirrone/Jimmy Goodrich feature event. On April 11, 1933 he fought against Chalky Wright in Los Angeles, California. Wright won the match and Meyer was incorrectly identified as "Mickey Cohen from Denver, Colorado" in the Los Angeles Times sports page report. His last fight was on on May 14, 1933 against Baby Arizmendi in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. On June 12, 1931 Cohen fought and lost a match against World Featherweight Champion Tommy Paul, having been knocked out cold after 2:20 into the first round. It was during this round he earned the moniker "Gangster Mickey Cohen". Cohen lived first in Cleveland, where he met Lou Rothkopf, an associate of Moe Dalitz. Cohen moved later to New York, where he became associates with Tommy Dioguardi, the brother of labor racketeer Johnny Dio, and with Owney Madden. Finally, Cohen went to Chicago, where he ran a gambling operation for the Chicago Outfit, Al Capone's powerful criminal organization.

Prohibition and the Chicago Outfit[link]

During Prohibition, Cohen moved to Chicago and became involved in organized crime working as an enforcer for the Chicago Outfit, where he briefly met Al Capone. During this period Cohen was arrested for his role in the deaths of several gangsters in a card game that went wrong.

After a brief time in prison, Cohen was released and began running card games and other illegal gambling operations. He later became an associate of Mattie Capone, Al's younger brother. While working for Jake Guzik, Cohen was forced to flee Chicago after an argument with a rival gambler.

In Cleveland, Cohen again worked for Lou (Louis) Rothkopf, an associate of Meyer Lansky and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. However, there was little work available for Cohen in Cleveland, so Rothkopf arranged for him to work with Siegel in California.

From syndicate bodyguard to Sunset kingpin[link]

Mickey Cohen was sent to Los Angeles by Meyer Lansky and Lou Rothkopf to watch Bugsy Siegel. During their association, Mickey helped set up the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and ran its sports book operation. He also was instrumental in setting up the race wire, which was essential to Vegas betting, a Nevada attraction perhaps only second to the Hoover Dam. In 1947, the crime families ordered the murder of Siegel due to his mismanagement of the Flamingo Hotel, most likely because Siegel or his girlfriend Virginia Hill was skimming money. According to one account which does not appear in newspapers, Cohen reacted violently to Siegel's murder. Entering the Hotel Roosevelt, where he believed the killers were staying, Cohen fired rounds from his two .45 caliber semi-automatic handguns into the lobby ceiling and demanded that the assassins meet him outside in ten minutes. However, no one appeared and Cohen was forced to flee when the cops arrived.

Cohen's violent methods came to the attention of state and federal authorities investigating the Dragna operations. During this time, Cohen faced many attempts on his life, including the bombing of his home on posh Moreno Avenue in Brentwood. Cohen soon converted his house into a fortress, installing floodlights, alarm systems, and a well-equipped arsenal kept, as he often joked, next to his 200 tailor-made suits. Cohen also briefly hired bodyguard Johnny Stompanato before his killing by actress Lana Turner's daughter. Cohen bought a cheap coffin for Stompanato's funeral and then sold Lana Turner's love letters to Stompanato to the press.

Stompanato ran a sexual extortion ring as well as a jewelry store. He was one of the most popular playboys in Hollywood. Singer Frank Sinatra once visited Cohen at his home and begged him to tell Stompanato to stop dating Sinatra's friend and ex-wife, actress Ava Gardner.

Later years[link]

In 1950, Mickey Cohen was investigated along with numerous other underworld figures by a US Senate committee known as the Kefauver Commission. As a result of this investigation, Cohen was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to prison for four years

When he was released, he started again, and became an international celebrity. He sold more newspapers than anyone else in the country, according to author Brad Lewis. His appearance on television with Mike Wallace in the late 1950s rocked the media establishment. He ran floral shops, paint stores, nightclubs, casinos, gas stations, a men's haberdashery, and even an ice cream parlor on San Vicente Blvd. in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, according to author Richard Lamparski.

In 1957 Time magazine wrote a brief^[1] about Mickey Cohen meeting with Billy Graham. Cohen said, "I am very high on the Christian way of life. Billy came up, and before we had food he said—What do you call it. that thing they say before food? Grace? Yeah, grace. Then we talked a lot about Christianity and stuff." Allegedly when Mickey did not change his lifestyle, he was confronted by some Christian acquaintances. His response: "Christian football players, Christian cowboys, Christian politicians; why not a Christian gangster?"

In 1961, Cohen was again convicted of tax evasion and sent to Alcatraz. His heavily armored Cadillac from this period was confiscated by Los Angeles Police Department and is now on display at the Southward Car Museum in New Zealand.^[2] During his time on "the Rock," another inmate attempted to kill Cohen with a lead pipe. In 1972, Cohen was released from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, where he had spoken out against prison abuse. He had been misdiagnosed with an ulcer, which turned out to be stomach cancer. After undergoing surgery, he continued touring the U.S., including television appearances, once with Ramsey Clark.

Cohen's girlfriend Liz Renay herself spent three years in prison for refusing to inform on him. One of his many other girlfriends, Candy Barr, served prison time for marijuana possession. Two of his other favorites were Tempest Storm and Beverly Hills, the former having her breasts insured with Lloyd's of London.

Mickey Cohen died in his sleep in 1976 and is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Cohen's extended family number many cousins who today reside in New Jersey, New York, Florida, Washington and Vermont.

Popular culture[link]

• In the film Bugsy, Mickey Cohen is portrayed by actor Harvey Keitel. Keitel received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
• In the film L.A. Confidential, Mickey Cohen is portrayed by actor Paul Guilfoyle.
• Patrick Fischler plays Mickey Cohen in the 2011 video game L.A. Noire. ^[3][4]
• In the upcoming film Gangster Squad, Cohen will be played by Sean Penn.

See also[link]

Biography portal

• Lloyd G. Davies, Los Angeles City Council member, 1943–51, questioned police wiretaps on Mickey Cohen

References[link]

• Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
• Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod. Cops, Crooks, and Criminologists: An International Biographical Dictionary of Law Enforcement, Updated Edition. New York: Checkmark Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8160-3016-2
• Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8180-5694-3
• Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0

Further reading[link]

• Ed Clark, "Trouble in Los Angeles", Life, 1950
• Mickey Cohen and John Peer Nugent, In My Own Words (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1975)
• Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood, King of the Sunset Strip: Hangin' With Mickey Cohen and the Hollywood Mob (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006)
• F. Murray, "The Charmed Life of M. Cohen", Front Page Detective, 1966, 30(3):44–45, 63.
• George A. Day, JUANITA DALE SLUSHER alias CANDY BARR (ERBE Publishing Company, 2008 ISBN 978-0-9818220-0-6)
• Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
• Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod. Cops, Crooks, and Criminologists: An International Biographical Dictionary of Law Enforcement, Updated Edition. New York: Checkmark Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8160-3016-2
• Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8180-5694-3
• United States Treasury Department, Bureau of Narcotics, Mafia: The Government's Secret File on Organized Crime. (Skyhorse Publishing, 2009) ISBN 978-1-60239-668-5
• Lewis, Brad. Hollywood's Celebrity Gangster: The Incredible Life and Times of Mickey Cohen. New York: Enigma Books, 2007. ISBN 1929631650, ISBN 9781929631650.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mickey Cohen

• Benny's Shadow: All about Mickey Cohen by Mark Gribben
• Recollections of Mickey Cohen on the Los Angeles Times' Daily Mirror blog
• Mickey Cohen—The Biography Channel
• Mickey Cohen—Mugshots.com
• Time, April 15, 1957