William Rubin Zivotofsky, was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1903. His father, Rubin, left for New York in 1905, and the Zivotofskys of Ukraine became the Zevons of Brooklyn. He was of Russian Jewish origin and lived in Chicago, Illinois where he was allegedly involved in gambling with Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana. He was married to Beverly Cope Simmons. Zevon moved to California and became a bookie who handled volume bets and dice games for notorious Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen. Zevon worked for years in Cohen's Combination, where he was known as Stumpy Zevon, and was best man at Cohen's first marriage. Zevon's police record showed arrests for gambling, burglary, receiving stolen property, robbery and violation of prohibition liquor laws.