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Jul. 7, 2026

Licensed in Illinois, untouchable in California: The extraordinary career of Sidney Korshak

Sidney Roy Korshak was an Illinois-licensed lawyer who never practiced in California yet became one of Los Angeles's most influential behind-the-scenes labor and business fixers, widely suspected by federal investigators of serving as a conduit between organized crime, corporate power and Hollywood elite despite never being indicted.

William M. Paparian

Email: bpaparian@aol.com

Southwestern Univ SOL; Los Angeles CA

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Licensed in Illinois, untouchable in California: The extraordinary career of Sidney Korshak
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Sidney Roy Korshak (1907-1996) never held a California law license. He maintained no office in Los Angeles and generated virtually no paper trail. Yet for decades he was one of the most powerful men in American business, labor, and Hollywood--operating from a reserved corner table at The Bistro in Beverly Hills.

"To his associates in Los Angeles, Sidney R. Korshak is a highly successful labor lawyer, an astute business adviser... [but] to fed...

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