Jack Sieman was prominent in the West Coast underworld from the 1920s to the 1950s
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Jack Sieman was no Al Capone. But in 1929 and 1930, the Canadian “dope peddler” was front-page news in Vancouver and San Francisco for his misdeeds.
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Sieman was busted in San Francisco on April 1, 1929, after undercover agents purchased $50,000 in cocaine and morphine off Sieman and his cohorts, Phil Cohen and Mario Balisteri.
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“A federal officer whipped out a revolver and covered Sieman just as the alleged smuggler reached for his own gun in a shoulder holster,” said a story in the April 2, 1939, San Francisco Bulletin.
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Sieman was released after posting $10,000 in bail. But when Balisteri was sentenced to 12 years in jail, Sieman fled across the border.
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The chief of the San Francisco narcotics bureau alleged that Sieman was a cohort of the notorious New York gangster Arnold Rothstein, who had been murdered a few months earlier.
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A story in the May 22, 1929, San Francisco Examiner said the narc squad believed Sieman “had been operating on the (west) coast for at least 12 years and did a business of a million dollars a year.”
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Sieman was a rival of another big-time dope peddler, “Black Tony” Parmagini. The police believed Black Tony had hijacked $30,000 worth of drugs off Sieman, which led to the Rothstein gang sending Phil Cohen to San Francisco to be Sieman’s bodyguard.
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Sieman was arrested in Vancouver on Jan. 20, 1930 and fought extradition to the U.S. He tried to escape from the Vancouver city jail on April 29, 1930, using a saw that had been smuggled in, and with a 22-year-old accomplice, to try to cut through four bars on a window.
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But they had to jump down two storeys to escape, and the 42-year-old Sieman was injured, captured, and taken to Oakalla Prison. His extradition fight was rejected May 17, 1930, and he was handed over to U.S. authorities at the border.
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He arrived in San Francisco under heavy guard May 19, 1930.
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“Reports that an attempt would be made to rescue Sieman from his guards caused (the police) to take extra precautions,” said the San Francisco Call Bulletin.
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Four days later, Sieman entered a surprise guilty plea, “demanding at the same time that he be sentenced immediately” by a judge who was unfamiliar with his case.
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U.S. Attorney George Hatfield objected, “on the ground Sieman obviously had pled guilty on a chance that the judge would give him a light sentence.”
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The judge agreed, the case was moved back, and Sieman was sentenced to 10 years in prison on June 30, 1930. He did time at Alcatraz.
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When he got out of jail, Sieman came back to Vancouver, where he got up to his old tricks.
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On Feb. 12, 1944, the RCMP and American federal agents claimed they had “upset an international drug-smuggling ring operating in Vancouver, California and Mexico” with the arrest of several people, including Sieman.
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The RCMP seized $10,400 in cash that was in Sieman’s safety deposit box at a local bank, and another $2,500 that Sieman had on him when he was arrested.
