- Last name pronounce re-ZELL.
- The son of Nathan Riesel, the leader of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), Local 66, which served the Garment District and Lower East Side. Both father and son were vocal opponents of Communist and Mafia infiltration of all unions.
- At about 3 a.m. on 5 April 1956, Riesel was walking north on Broadway with his secretary and a friend when, outside the Mark Hellinger Theatre, a man suspected to be Abe Telvi threw acid in Riesel's eyes. According to witnesses, Telvi stood there for a moment to assess his work, then "ambled away". (Telvi would be found dead with a bullet to the head on 28 July.) It was believed that the attack was ordered by the Genovese crime family in retaliation to Riesel's "clean union" advocacy, which included a radio broadcast he made earlier that evening criticizing the corruption of the Long Island local of the International Union of Operating Engineers. As a result of the attack, Riesel was permanently blinded.
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