Harry Grey
American writer (1901-1980)
Herschel Goldberg (November 2, 1901 – October 1, 1980), better known as Harry Grey, was a Russian Jewish-American criminal and writer. His first book, The Hoods (1952), was the model for the 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America by Sergio Leone, where his part was played by Robert De Niro. The memoir—partially factual, and partially fictional—was written when Goldberg was incarcerated at Sing-Sing.
After The Hoods, Grey published two more books, Call Me Duke (1955) and Portrait of a Mobster (1958), also based on his experience as a gangster, but these were far less successful and as a consequence the conclusion to The Hoods contained in Call Me Duke went largely unnoticed. A "Golden Palm Star", part of the Palm Springs Walk of Stars, was dedicated to Grey in 1999.
Biography
Born in Odessa (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1901, son of Israel and Celia Goldberg, Goldberg emigrated to the United States in 1905, dropping out of school in the seventh grade. He was the brother of Hyman Goldberg, a syndicated columnist and food critic for the New York Post and author of several books including "Our Man in the Kitchen", a compilation of recipes from his column as Prudence Penny.
In 1912, Goldberg's father became seriously ill and required a medical operation. During his stay in hospital, his wife began cooking meals for men in the neighborhood who were saving money to bring their families to America. When Israel came out of hospital he found that Celia had a flourishing business and Israel started a restaurant.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Harry Grey” is american writer (1901-1980). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Harry, Grey and American, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “american writer (1901-1980)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q649790. VIAF identifies the subject as 12299923. The Library of Congress control number is no2010163415. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1901, 1980, 1952 and 1984.
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This entry incorporates text from “Harry Grey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.