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RAGTIME AMERICA
Ian Whitcomb’s “Irving Berlin & Ragtime America,” continues:
Salter had long-established connections with the underworld, politicians and the police and all those parties were to find his saloon a pleasant lair in which to do business or simply relax.
Mike often had to act as honest broker in their eruptions but he also cultivated a reputation as a shady character himself. When he was drunk he would claim to have heisted many a bank and sometimes he would proceed to rob his own till. But when he was sober he could be a pussycat, paying for mobsters’ funerals, slipping the widow a pint of rye in church and letting needy fat girls work in his back room brothel.
It was at dead of night that Nigger Mike’s came alive — swarming with underworld types both flashy and fishy. Some shone with an unnatural glow and some were self-proclaiming dope fiends. Not a few were posing as reprobates. Mike encouraged all this local color, as it was very good for business.
THE POLITICAL FIXER
“As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin,” by Laurence Bergreen, also described Mike Salter:
