Oral history interview with Hope, 1980

Biographical Note

Hope was born on April 22, 1912 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. She was one of six siblings born to Polish Jewish immigrants. Hope stopped attending school at fourteen years of age after having struggled with her education for many years. She got a job working at a candy store, and began smoking opium with her neighborhood friends. She soon transitioned to taking raw opium orally, and became addicted. In 1928, at sixteen years of age, Hope used heroin for the first time, and in 1930, stopped using opium and began using heroin exclusively. In the early 1930s, Hope began selling heroin, and in 1941 she was arrested and served two years at Alderson Federal Prison Camp where she detoxed from drugs. After being released from jail she worked at the Parliament tobacco facility on Cherry Street in the East side of Manhattan, and as a telephone solicitor at a furniture store. In the late 1960s and early 1970s when the price of heroin skyrocketed, Hope began to purchase Dolophine and Dilaudid on the street. She was arrested in the early 1970s for redeeming forged prescriptions and served eighteen months at the Women's House of Detention. Hope joined a methadone program in 1974. Hope was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Hope discusses her life in New York, with special attention towards her drug use. She describes her introduction to opium use and her eventual transition to heroin. She describes how the increasing price of drugs served as an incentive for addicts to begin dealing drugs in lieu of their legitimate jobs, because they could no longer afford to maintain their drug use on their salaries. She discusses the different groups which played key roles in the drug scene in New York in the early to mid 20th century including the Italian Mafia and Jewish crime syndicates. She compares her observations of addicts pre and post World War II. Hope also explains how many businesses in the Lower East Side such as bars, restaurants, and candy stores served as fronts for drug commerce in the early 20th century. She discusses the business aspects of the drug trade in great detail. She also describes aspects of drug enforcement, her own incarceration, and obtaining prescription drugs

Subjects

• Courtwright, David T., 1952- interviewer.
• Crime--New York (State)--New York.
• Drug abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Drug addicts--United States.
• Drug control--United States--History--20th century.
• Drugs--Prescribing.
• Drug traffic--United States--History--20th century.
• Heroin abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Hope,--Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Jewish criminals--New York (State)--New York.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Mafia--United States.
• Opium abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Organized crime--United States--History--20th century.

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright