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Labor Slugger Wars
The Labor Sluggers War was a 15-year period of gang wars among New York City labor sluggers for control of labor racketeering from 1911 to 1927. This began in 1911 with the first war between "Dopey" Benny Fein and Joe "The Greaser" Rosenzweig against a coalition of smaller gangs and continuing on and off until the murder of Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen by Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Gurrah Shapiro in 1927. Origin With the industrialization of the United States and the emergence of labor unions in the late nineteenth century and into the early 1900s, street gangs began to be hired by companies as strikebreakers and to discourage union activity. Unions themselves would also hire labor sluggers primarily as protection from these strikebreakers, to attack scabs, and to recruit, by force if necessary, new union members. Many of these workers were recently arriving immigrants, particularly Jewish and Italians, in New York's East Side. Gangs made up of immigrants from similar backgro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Punk Madden
Peter "Punk" Madden ( fl. 1910–1914) was an American thief, gang leader and labor racketeer allied with Philip "Pinchy" Paul during the first "Labor Slugger War" against Joseph "Joe the Greaser" Rosenzweig and Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein. Arrest In June 1914, Madden was arrested for his suspected involvement in a street mugging. His arrest taking place shortly after midnight, he successfully escaped custody twice before finally being returned in the prison attached to the Yorkville Court at the end of the day. It was during one of these escapes that he visited the office of District Attorney Charles S. Whitman in which he claimed he was not being given a ''"square deal"'' by police and asked for protection. He made another, and this time successful, escape attempt from The Tombs three months later. Escape On June 17, 1914, Madden was arrested for complicity in the mugging of a Mrs. Artha Ingram, a collector for the Phips Model Tenements, near her office at East 31st Street. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Crime Syndicate
The National Crime Syndicate was the name given by the press to the multi-ethnic, loosely connected, American confederation of several criminal organizations. It mostly consisted of and was led by the closely interconnected Italian-American Mafia and Jewish mob; to a lesser extent, it also involved other criminal organizations such as the Irish Mob and African-American organized crime groups. Hundreds of murders were committed by Murder, Inc. on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and 1940s. History According to writers on organized crime, the Syndicate was an idea of Johnny Torrio, and was founded or established at a May 1929 conference in Atlantic City. It was attended by leading underworld figures throughout the United States, including Torrio, Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Frank Costello, Joe Adonis, Dutch Schultz, Abner "Longie" Zwillman, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, Gambino crime family head Vincent Mangano, Atlantic City Crime Synd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder, Inc
Murder, Inc. (Murder, Incorporated) was an organized crime group, active from 1929 to 1941, that acted as the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicatea closely connected criminal organization that included the Italian-American Mafia, the Jewish Mob, and other criminal organizations in New York City and elsewhere. Murder, Inc. was composed of Jewish and Italian-American gangsters, and members were mainly recruited from poor and working-class Jewish and Italian neighborhoods in Manhattan (primarily the Lower East Side) and Brooklyn (primarily the neighborhoods of Brownsville, East New York, and Ocean Hill). It was initially headed by Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and later by Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia. Murder, Inc. was believed to be responsible for between 400 and 1,000 contract killings, until the group was exposed in 1941 by former group member Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. In the trials that followed, many members were convicted and executed, and Abe Reles himself died ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States. A member of the Jewish mob, Lansky developed a gambling empire that stretched around the world. He was said to own points (percentages) in casinos in Las Vegas, Cuba, The Bahamas and London. Lansky additionally had a strong influence with the Italian-American Mafia and played a large role in the consolidation of the criminal underworld. The full extent of this role has been the subject of some debate, as Lansky himself denied many of the accusations against him. Despite nearly 50 years as a member/participant in organized crime, Lansky was never found guilty of anything more serious than illegal gambling. He has a legacy of being one of the most financially successful gangsters in American hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rum-running
Rum-running or bootlegging is the illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling usually takes place to circumvent taxation or prohibition laws within a particular jurisdiction. The term ''rum-running'' is more commonly applied to smuggling over water; ''bootlegging'' is applied to smuggling over land. It is believed that the term ''bootlegging'' originated during the American Civil War, when soldiers would sneak liquor into army camps by concealing pint bottles within their boots or beneath their trouser legs. Also, according to the PBS documentary ''Prohibition'', the term ''bootlegging'' was popularized when thousands of city dwellers sold liquor from flasks they kept in their boot legs all across major cities and rural areas. The term ''rum-running'' was current by 1916, and was used during the Prohibition era in the United States (1920–1933), when ships from Bimini in the western Bahamas transported cheap Caribbea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Kushner
Louis Cohen (Born Louis Kushner ''alias'' “Louis Kerzner” January 1, 1904 – January 28, 1939) was a New York mobster who murdered labor racketeer "Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan and was an associate of labor racketeer Louis "Lepke" Buchalter. He was killed along with Isadore Friedman, another Buchalter associate, who was believed to be an informant. It is not known whether Cohen was murdered for being a potential informant or whether he was accidentally killed during the shooting that was supposed to target Friedman. Biography Born Louis Kushner aka Kerzner, Cohen was a minor criminal in the employ of racketeer Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen when he was hired by lieutenants Louis Buchalter, Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro and Jack "Legs" Diamond to murder rival mobster Nathan Kaplan. He later killed him while under police escort outside the Essex Market Court House in lower Manhattan on August 28, 1923. Immediately arrested by police, he was subsequently convicted of Dropper's murder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Diamond (gangster)
Jack "Legs" Diamond (possibly born John Thomas Diamond, though disputed; July 10, 1897 – December 18, 1931), also known as Gentleman Jack, was an Irish American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during the Prohibition era. A bootlegger and close associate of gambler Arnold Rothstein, Diamond survived a number of attempts on his life between 1916 and 1931, causing him to be known as the " clay pigeon of the underworld". In 1930, Diamond's nemesis Dutch Schultz remarked to his own gang, "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?" Early life Diamond was born July 10, 1897, to Sara and John Moran, who emigrated from Ireland in 1891 to Philadelphia, USA. In 1899, Jack's younger brother Eddie Moran was born. Jack and Eddie both struggled through grade school, while Sara suffered from severe arthritis and other health problems. On December 24, 1913, Sara died from complications due to a bacterial infection and high fever. John Diamond, Sr. moved to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five Points Gang
The Five Points Gang was a criminal street gang of primarily Irish-American origins, based in the Five Points of Lower Manhattan, New York City, during the late 19th and early 20th century. Paul Kelly, born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli, was an Italian American who founded the Five Points Gang. It included some who later became prominent criminals in their own right, including Johnny Torrio, Al Capone and Lucky Luciano. Five Points The area of Manhattan where four streets – Anthony (now Worth), Cross (now Mosco), Orange (now Baxter), and Little Water (now nonexistent) – converged was known as "The Five Points". Mulberry, notorious for slum tenements, was one street down from the Five Points. This area, now the present-day location of Chinatown, lay between Broadway and the Bowery. By the 1820s, this district had been a center of settlement for poor immigrants and was considered a slum area of run-down wood frame and brick dwellings, warehouses and commercial enterprises ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Spanish
Johnny Spanish (1889 – July 29, 1919) was an American gangster who was a rival of former partner "Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan during a garment workers' strike which later become known as the Second Labor Sluggers War in 1919. He became involved in labor racketeering, holdups of saloons and other businesses, and murder before organizing his own gang. Biography Born in 1889 as Giovanni Mistretta on the Lower East Side, he claimed to be related to Valeriano Weyler, the last governor of Spanish-ruled Cuba. In reality, he was born to an Italian father and Spanish mother, anglicizing the name to John Mestrett. He became involved in labor racketeering and murder, allegedly involved in a killing at age seventeen, before organizing a crew of thugs allied with the Five Points Gang. Spanish soon became notorious for his daring holdups of saloons and other businesses, particularly in his robbery of a Norfolk Street saloon owned by Mersher the Strong Arm. Spanish, who had earlier boast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathan Kaplan
"Kid Dropper" Nathan Caplin or Kaplan (August 3, 1891 – August 28, 1923), also known as Jack the Dropper, was an American gangster who controlled labor racketeering and extortion in New York City during the post-World War I period into the early years of Prohibition in the early 1920s. Biography One of seven children, Kaplan was born in New York's Lower East Side on August 3, 1891. Kaplan began committing petty theft at an early age and later becoming a skilled sneak thief and pushcart extortionist, later becoming known for his skill with the " drop swindle". He was originally a member of the Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang. Around 1910, Kaplan had formed his own gang (associated with the Five Points Gang) briefly feuding with rival gang member Johnny Spanish until his arrest the following year for robbery for which he was sentenced to seven years in Sing Sing prison. Upon his release in 1918, Kaplan became involved in "labor slugging", providing muscle to either side in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benny Snyder
Benjamin "Benny" Snyder or SchneiderFried, Albert. ''The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. (p. 82) ( 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 provid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
