Today is the birthday of Max Hassel (April 24, 1900-April 12, 1933), who was nicknamed the “Beer Baron of Berks County,” which is where I grew up. That alone, get’s him a mention here, since he has quite the interesting, if short, history in the beer world. He was born in Lithuania, and at age 11 emigrated to the U.S. through New York with his family. By 1920, he was living in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he appears to have entered a life of crime, centering around beer and bootlegging. Here’s a short history, from Go Reading Berks, detailing several notorious local figures.

The Pioneer: Max Hassel (Reign: ~1923–1933)

Reading’s journey into organized crime began in earnest with the opportunities of Prohibition, and no one capitalized on it better than Max Hassel. While others, including a young Abe Minker, were small-time bootleggers, Hassel quickly elevated the game. By 1923, he had become a veritable “beer baron,” amassing a fortune by acquiring interests in breweries along the East Coast.

Hassel’s method was more business than brutality. Known as a “master briber” rather than a violent gangster, he used political corruption and well-paid lawyers to protect his vast enterprise. His influence was so profound that upon his murder by New York mobsters in 1933, an estimated ten thousand mourners flooded the streets of Reading for his funeral—a testament to the city’s complicated acceptance of its vice lords. Hassel’s death marked the end of Prohibition’s reign and created a power vacuum in the local underworld.

After he got started, he quickly focused on beer, which made him a millionaire by the time he was 25 years old. He was apparently trying to go legit after the repeal of Prohibition, and was in talks to buy the Harrison Brewery of Harrison, New Jersey. Unfortunately, he was unable to complete the deal when he was murdered, shot to death, just five days after the Cullen-Harrison Act took effect allowing the sale of 3.2 beer, on April 12, 1933. It is believed he was murdered by New York mobsters. According to one account, “his funeral [was] a massive event in Reading, with an estimated ten thousand mourners, indicating the city’s complex attitude toward its vice figures.” Curiously, he’s buried in cemetery in Shillington, the small town where I lived.

Several people and websites have written more extensive accounts of his career as a bootlegger. To read more about his exploits, check out these from the Berks History Center, by Edward A. Taggert, Brewery Aficionado, Hassel’s Find-a-Grave page, written by Tom Raub, and Go Reading Berks. These accounts also indicate he had links to between one and two dozen breweries in the area.

Taggert even wrote a book about Hassel, entitled “Bootlegger: Max Hassel, The Millionaire Newsboy,” published in 2003.