George Morton Levy

George Morton Levy (June 26, 1888 – July 19, 1977) was an American lawyer and promoter of harness racing who founded the Roosevelt Raceway. He was inducted into the United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1967.

George Morton Levy was born in 1888 in Seaford, New York, United States.^[1] He was the son of Adolph and Anna Katz Levy.^[2]

When he was one year old, his family moved to Freeport, New York in 1889. At Freeport High School, he excelled as a shortstop in baseball. He also joined the Freeport High School football team and, despite his size, became the team's star quarterback and captain. He went on to graduate cum laude from New York University.^[2]

In 1911, George Morton Levy was admitted to the bar and began practicing law.^[3] His first legal office opened in Freeport in 1912.^[4] Impatient from the lack of clients, he entered real estate, then tried his hand at criminal law in the Nassau County courthouses.^[2]

He served as defense counsel in Florence Carman's second trial for the 1914 murder of a patient of her husband, Dr. Edwin C. Carman, resulting in her acquittal on May 8, 1915.^[5]

During the 1930s, Levy worked with Judge Samuel Seabury on a probe into the Tammany Hall administration, ultimately targeting Mayor Jimmy Walker.^[6]

Serving as Lucky Luciano's lead trial lawyer in 1936, George Morton Levy, together with Francis W. H. Adams, challenged the high-profile forced prostitution case brought by Thomas E. Dewey, the future Governor of New York.^[2] Levy also represented crime boss Arnold Rothstein with George Z. Medalie.^[7]

Levy entered into a law partnership known as Littleton & Levy with former DA Martin W. Littleton by 1937.^[8]

He took on a venture outside the field of law following passage of an enabling act for parimutuel betting he supported in Albany, New York. Together with a group of investors, he leased an abandoned track once part of the Roosevelt Field in 1939 and hired Al Saunders, then secretary of the Hambletonian Stakes.^[9]

George Morton Levy served as an attorney of the Old Country Trotting Association, Inc. In September 1940, he opened Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York.^[1] Levy created the initial concept and gradually built upon it. The track hosted races at night, and in 1946, Levy approved and financed the introduction of the rolling starting gate by Steve Phillips.^[10] He came to be regarded as the father of modern harness racing.^[11]

By the mid-1940s, the State Racing Commission threatened that if the track were not cleared of bookmakers, its license would be withdrawn. From 1946 to 1949, Levy asked for the assistance of Frank Costello, paying $15,000 annually, to have Costello keep rival bookies away from the Long Island trotting track.^[12] On March 12, 1951, Levy was summoned before the United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce. The inquiry, televised across the country, was led by the late Senator Estes Kefauver.^[2] He admitted ties to Frank Costello through legal work and golf outings at the Pomonok Country Club with Frank Erickson and Joseph Schoenbaum but denied discussing business or knowing Costello's occupation beyond gambling connections.^[13] Even with a formal exoneration and apologies from all committee members recorded in the Congressional Record, Levy's reputation suffered for years after his testimony.^[2]

Levy transferred his 7% stake to the San Juan Racing Association for $3.5 million in 1966, but stayed on as the track's director until his death.^[2]

Between 1919 and 1949, Levy married four times: first to Frances Hendrickson, then to Beatrice Baldwin (mother of his son), third to Margaret Kinsella (later wife of Richard Arlen), and finally to Elise Huelle, daughter of Rockville Centre attorney Herman C. Huelle.^[14]

He was a member of the Freeport Elks Lodge in the 1940s.^[15]

Following a heart attack, George Morton Levy died at age 89 at the Nassau Hospital in Mineola, New York, on July 19, 1977.^[1] His funeral was attended by 800 people.^[11]

Levy, remembered for his philanthropy, donated to Long Island hospitals and colleges and significantly backed the United Cerebral Palsy Association center in Roosevelt, New York.^[16]

On July 5, 1967, he was inducted into the United States Harness Racing Hall of Fame. The honor was voted on by the United States Harness Writers' Association (USHWA).^[1]

At the time of his death, Alan N. Cohen, then president of Madison Square Garden, remarked, "Mr. Levy was an extraordinary person. He was special people. The world, at least my world, was better because of George Morton Levy. He was a meaningful director of the corporation. He was irreplaceable at Roosevelt Raceway."^[17]

The George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series, a major race launched in 1978, was named in his honor.^[18]