Jacob the Bum Wellner Brooklyn Painters Union Extortionist

Jacob "the Bum" Wellner was a union official who was renowned for introducing gangsters into the Brooklyn Painters AFL Local 860. By the late 1920s Wellner's group was at odds with Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen. Little Augie's 1927 murder was followed by several mysterious bombings to homes where Wellner and other union men were living. Wellner was also a member of the Painters, Paperhangers and Decorators Union when it introduced a comprehensive plan to cover workers health care. He was dismissed from AFL Local 860 leadership on several occasions.