Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Max G., 1981Biographical NoteMax G. was born on December 18, 1904 in Kiev, Ukraine. His family immigrated to New York City when he was four months old; when he was young they moved around from the East Village to Brooklyn to the Bronx. Max attended P.S. 64 through eighth grade, then left school and began to work as an errand boy at an embroidery shop. After two years there, he left and started working as a bellhop at Fleischmann's Bath. Max began using opium when he was twenty-one years of age, while he was working as an errand boy for members of Murder, Incorporated, such as Abe Reles, Arnold Rothstein, and Louis Lepke. At this time, Max was also regularly burglarizing houses for fur coats and selling them. In 1940, when opium became scarce he transitioned to heroin. In 1950, he transitioned from heroin to Dilaudid. Max spent a cumulative twelve years in jail from 1924 to 1945. Facilities included: Illinois State Penitentiary, Rikers Island, Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Clinton Correctional Facility (Dannemora), Manhattan Detention Complex (The Tombs). He got married at fifty years of age, and had a daughter. He detoxed from drugs at Lexington Kentucky Hospital and Manhattan General Hospital. In 1965, Max joined the Bellevue Hospital Methadone Treatment Program, was later transferred to the methadone program at St. Clare's Hospital & Health Center, and later detoxed from methadone completely. Max G. was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project
Scope and ContentsIn this interview, Max discusses his life in New York City with a focus on his drug use. He discusses his jobs as an errand boy at an embroidery shop and a bellhop at Fleischmann's Bath. He describes the union work he did for members of Murder, Incorporated such as Abe Reles, Arnold Rothstein, and Louis Lepke. He gives an overview of his drug use, describing how he used opium from 1921 to 1940, heroin from 1940 to 1950, and Dilaudid from 1950 until 1965 when he joined a methadone program. He describes the circumstances of his first time smoking opium, as well as its price fluctuation over the course of his usage. He describes how the opium was packaged and sold, as well as where he would buy it. Max explains his approach to obtaining Dilaudid prescriptions from doctors in the 1950s and 1960s. He discusses his arrests and time spent incarcerated. Facilities included: Illinois State Penitentiary, Rikers Island, Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Clinton Correctional Facility (Dannemora), Manhattan Detention Complex (The Tombs). He mentions his younger brother's use of heroin. He compares the effects of opium, heroin, Dilaudid, and methadone. He discusses his experience detoxing from drugs at Lexington Kentucky Hospital and Manhattan General Hospital. He delves into his experience at the Bellevue Hospital Methadone Treatment Program and the methadone program at St. Clare's Hospital & Health Center
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by David Courtwright
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