Albert "Al" Rooney (1892-?) was an American

gang leader ''Gang Leader'' is a 1991 Indian Telugu-language action crime film written and directed by Vijaya Bapineedu, and produced by Maganti Ravindranath Chowdary. The film stars Chiranjeevi and Vijayashanti, while Rao Gopal Rao, Anandaraj, Murali Mo ...

and founder of the Fourteenth Street Gang. One of the independent gangs allied with

Monk Eastman Edward "Monk" Eastman (1875 – December 26, 1920) was a New York City gangster who founded and led the Eastman Gang in the late 19th and early 20th century; it became one of the most powerful street gangs in the city. His aliases included Jos ...

, most of them former members of the Humpty Jackson gang, Rooney led the group from the mid-to late 1900s (decade) until the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

launched a four-year citywide campaign to break up the countless street gangs operating in the city between 1910 and 1914. Rooney was one of the first gang leaders to be imprisoned and, with his conviction of

second degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

in 1911, is considered one of the last generation gang captains of the "

Gangs of New York ''Gangs of New York'' is a 2002 American epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan, based on Herbert Asbury's 1927 book '' The Gangs of New York''. The film stars Le ...

" period. In June 1911, he was tried for the murder of a Dominick Martello with whom he had gotten into an altercation with at a dance at the Stuyvessant Casino held by the Harry J. Callahan Association three months earlier. Martello was alleged to have assaulted him and Rooney left to get a revolver. He returned a short time later and ambushed him in the hallway of the casino shooting him three times in the back. One of the bullets severed Martello's spinal cord, however he later died from his wounds. Rooney was one of several criminals to be prosecuted by District Attorney's Frank Moss and Edward R. O'Malley with William Jones, Biff Ellison and

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 inv ...

being tried that same week. He was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to serve between twenty years and life imprisonment in

Sing Sing Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north of ...

. His sentence was later commuted to eight years by Governor Al Smith due to the recommendation of District Attorney Charles D. Newton on account of Rooney's age at the time of his conviction. He was officially released on parole on June 27, 1919.State of New York. ''Public Papers of Alfred E. Smith, Governor 1919''. Albany: J.B. Lyon Company, 1920. (pg. 690)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooney, Albert 1892 births Year of death missing 1911 murders in the United States Gang members of New York City Recipients of American gubernatorial clemency