Solomon "Sol" Girsch was a career criminal who part of a numbers running-policy ring that was managed by bootlegger Dutch Schultz. With the aid of Tammany Hall leaders the Schultz ring was dissolved after Dutch was slain in a Newark chop house in 1935. Girsch was in trouble for assault and horse theft long before his association with Schultz. An intricate numbers racket, the Schultz-Tammany ruse ensured that few ticket buyers would win. For example, the crooks made sure that if a particular number was being played too often, it wouldn't win.