Jack Sirocco (1882–1954) was a

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 L ...

gangster involved in labor

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...

and

strikebreaking A strikebreaker (sometimes called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite a strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company before the trade union dispute but hired after or during the st ...

. Originally a lieutenant in Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang, where he was the immediate boss of

Johnny Torrio John Donato Torrio (born Donato Torrio, ; January 20, 1882 – April 16, 1957) was an Italian born-American mobster who helped build the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s later inherited by his protégé Al Capone. Torrio proposed a National Crime Sy ...

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Sirocco defected to the rival Eastman Gang, which he led in its last days.

Biography

Sirocco, known as the main rival of gangster "Dopey"

Benny Fein Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein (c. 1889–1962) was an early Jewish American gangster who dominated New York labor racketeering in the 1910s. With a criminal record dating back to 1900, Fein's arrest record included thirty charges from petty theft an ...

, was an early member of the Five Points Gang, but later defected to the Monk Eastman Gang during the gang war in the mid-1900s. Sirocco remained with the gang as manager of the Pearl House dance hall with

and the satellite James Street Gang, until 1911 when he and Chick Tricker left wounded Eastman leader Jack Zelig behind during a failed robbery. Attempting to gain control of the gang both he and Tricker refused to post

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countrie ...

for Zelig. However, due to Zelig's political connections, the charges against him were later dropped. Upon Zelig's release Sirocco and Tricker planned Zelig's death, sending Eastman member Jules Morrello (or Julie Morrell) to murder Zelig. Zelig, however, was informed of the attempt by Ike the Plug and killed Morrello during a party at the Stuyvesant Casino Hall on December 2, 191

This would begin a

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

between the two Eastman factions that would last for nearly a year until Zelig's death in 1912. Sirocco and Tricker tried to lead the Eastman Gang after Monk Eastman briefly returned to lead the Eastmans, but by that time the civil war had destroyed what was left of the gang. Sirocco later formed another gang, hiring out to

strikebreakers A strikebreaker (sometimes called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite a strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company before the trade union dispute but hired after or during the str ...

and labor sluggers, competing with rival "Dopey" Benny Fein as the two struggled for control of labor slugging in New York's East Side during the early 1910s. In November 1913 the two gangs clashed as Sirocco's gang, hired by the Feldman Hat Company as strikebreakers against union workers protected by Benny Fein's gang, quickly escalated into a major gunfight in which Fein lieutenant Max Greenwalt was killed (most likely by Sirocco member Red Murray although other sources state that Greenwalt was killed by Johnnie Dike in a gunfight on Broome Street). Benny Fein planned an ambush to eliminate the Sirocco gang as they were attending a local dance at Arlington Hall on January 9, 1914. However the ambush turned into a major battle lasting several hours and, while neither gang suffered any casualties, Deputy Court Clerk Frederick Strauss, apparently investigating the battle, was killed in the crossfir

In the ensuing scandal and the police crackdown, Sirocco disappeared from New York's underworld soon after the incident.

References

* Herbert Asbury, Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sirocco, Jack 1882 births 1954 deaths American gangsters of Italian descent Five Points Gang Eastman Gang

Biography

Further reading

References