Leonard Patrick

Leonard "Lenny" Patrick (October 6, 1913 – March 1, 2006) was Jewish-American organized crime figure affiliated with the Italian-American Chicago Outfit. Patrick was involved in bookmaking and extortion and later a government informant.

Leonard Patrick
Born	(1913-10-06)October 6, 1913 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	March 1, 2006(2006-03-01) (aged 92)

Emigrating with his family from England. Patrick grew up in the Jewish neighborhood of Lincoln Park, in Chicago's Near North Side and during Prohibition, eventually becoming an associate and later partner of Greek-American loanshark, extortionist, and political fixer Gus Alex.

Patrick was imprisoned on June 28, 1933 for robbing a bank in Culver, Indiana, and was suspected of participation in six gangland slayings. Patrick was paroled on March 11, 1940, and he continued working for the Chicago Outfit and, by the 1950s, his Westside restaurant hosted one of the biggest illegal sport betting operations in the city. He also expanded into legitimate front businesses, primarily laundry companies, for illegal gambling, loansharking and extortion activities.

In 1946 Patrick and David Yaras were indicted for the murder of James Ragen. However after two key witnesses were murdered and two more refused to testify, the charges were dropped.^[1] He is also suspected of involvement in the 1947 murder of Bugsy Siegel.^[2]

In 1992, Patrick agreed to become a government witness following his indictment for racketeering charges. His testimony would result in the conviction of Gus Alex and several other key figures involved in the city's extortion rackets.^[3]

Patrick had an acquaintance with Jack Ruby, the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald. He claimed that "I never was what you would call running around with him or anything like that. I knew of him. I knew him when he was a kid. He lived in the next block from me".^[4] However the House Select Committee on Assassinations determined that Ruby had called Patrick in the summer of 1963.^[5] Patrick was called to testify before the Warren Commission in 1964, he told the commission that Ruby had no significant links to organized crime. Patrick's statement was among the evidence the Commission cited for its assertion that "the evidence does not establish a significant link between Ruby and organized crime".^[6]