Kaleel, of Arab descent. His first arrest was for vagrancy in 1931 at the age of eighteen. He became associated with organized crime in California as a "Card Cheat", he would frequent mob backed gambling houses and sometimes split his earnings with partners. In 1947, on one such occasion, Kaleel went to a Beverly Hills gambling house run by Los Angeles crime family capo Jimmy "the weasel" Fratianno. Fratianno agreed to let Kaleel cheat in his card room in exchange for a percentage of his earnings. Kaleel reportedly won $2,900 but refused to pay Fratianno, arguing that he owed his then boss Mickey Cohen $10,000 and had given it all to him to cover his debt. Fratianno then proceeded to beat Kaleel unconscious with a blackjack. The matter later had to be resolved with Cohen to avoid further c