Benjamin "Benny" Snyder or Schneider (fl. 1900 – 1915) was an American criminal, union organizer and thug for hire during the turn of the century. A veteran gunman for New York labor racketeer Joseph "Joe the Greaser" Rosenzweig, his murder of Rosenzweig's rival Philip "Pinchy" Paul ended the first of the so-called "Labor Slugger Wars", which would continue on and off for well over a decade.

Snyder's eventual arrest for Paul's murder would result in his turning state's evidence and revealing to police the existence of "labor sluggers" used by businesses and unions alike during the early 1900s. His testimony would lead not only to the conviction Rosenzweig but of virtually every major labor racketeer in Manhattan's Lower East Side and eliminated "labor slugging" in the city for over two years.

This was one of the first instances of a criminal figure providing information on organized crime during the early 20th century. Similar cases would include Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, a former hitman for Murder, Inc., whose testimony resulted in the conviction (and later execution) of Louis Buchalter in 1941, and Genovese crime family mobster Joe Valachi, who appeared before the McClelland Committee in 1963 to expose the modern-day Cosa Nostra.

A well-known "starker" or strong arm man, Snyder was employed by labor racketeer Joseph "Joe the Greaser" Rosenzweig who controlled what was then known as "labor slugging" with Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein prior to the Labor Slugger War. Snyder recalled being recruited as a union organizer for the "Bakers' Union",

I was always a fellow that had been knocking around. So a lot of them bakers got a liking to me, and one time they were supposed to take a shop from the bakers, so they took me along.... When I got down there they said they had some work for me.... So they got a liking to me when they seen that I was good for it; that I stick. So everyone got me.

Snyder was hired out to various racketeers over the next decade. He later claimed that he received $10 for every man he hired to assault strikebreakers, paying each man $7.50 and pocketing the rest for himself. By early 1914, he had become Rosenzweig's main "starker" for the "Furriers' Union". He later committed a serious assault for Rosenzweig, knifing a man by the name of Jewbach at Rivington and Norfolk Street, slashing him twice before being arrested. According to one account, Rosenzweig and half a dozen henchmen found Jewbach before the trial and had his men hold him down while the gang leader cut out a large piece of his lower lip. When the victim failed to appear at the Essex Market Court, Snyder was acquitted.

In May 1914, he was called by Rosenzweig to kill a rival labor racketeer and one of his former associates Philip "Pinchy" Paul. Paul had recently been opposing Rosenzweig and threatened to unite various independent sluggers in an effort to break the Rosenzweig–Fein monopoly. Snyder, who apparently blamed Paul for taking his job as a "starker" at the Bakers' Union, agreed to kill Paul for the sum of $5 and immediately carried out the order gunning down Paul on Norfolk Street. Committed in full view of half a dozen witnesses, Snyder was quickly arrested for the shooting. He pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He continued to be on Rosenzweig's payroll while a convict and, in a visit from Rosenzweig, he was paid the $5 he was owed. Although authorities believed that he had been hired to kill Paul, Snyder maintained that he had acted alone. Held at The Tombs for several months, Snyder eventually agreed to talk to the District Attorney's office.

At a meeting with Assistant District Attorney Royal H. Weller, which was arranged by reform lawyer William Travers Jerome, Snyder made a full and remarkably detailed confession of both his criminal career and outlined labor racketeering activities in a series of conferences taking place during late 1914. Snyder described these activities in a crude but straightforward manner of "beating up scabs" which included, but not limited to, knifing or "bumping him over the head with a pipe". He reportedly even handed the $5 bill he received from Rosenzweig as further proof of his claims.