The Labor Sluggers War was a 15-year period of gang wars among

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 ...

labor sluggers for control of 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 of ...

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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the emergence of

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s in the late nineteenth century and into the early 1900s, street gangs began to be hired by companies as

strikebreaker 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 ...

s 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 backgrounds often sided with unions of their compatriots, but also were quick to exploit the lucrative opportunities for labor racketeering.

Labor Slugger War: 1913-1917

By 1912 two major gangs, one led by "Dopey" Benny Fein and another by Joe "The Greaser" Rosenzweig, dominated labor slugging in New York. The various remaining gangs, who had been largely rendered powerless by Fein and Rosenzweig's brutal tactics, united in a loose alliance in an attempt to break the monopoly held by the two gang leaders. Declaring war, a major gunfight was fought on

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

and

Forsyth Street Forsyth Street runs from Houston Street south to Henry Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street was named in 1817 for Lt. Colonel Benjamin Forsyth. Forsyth Street's southernmost portion, south of Canal Street, runs parall ...

s in late-1913 between Fein and Rosenzweig against several gangs, including

Billy Lustig William Lustig (died August 16, 1913) was an American gang leader and labor racketeer. He was one of several independent gang leaders operating in Manhattan's Lower East Side and, along with Abe "Little Rhodey" Roch and Philip "Pinchy" Paul, le ...

, Philip Paul, Little Rhody,

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. Ar ...

(not to be confused with

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

gangster

Owney Madden Owen Vincent "Owney" Madden (December 18, 1891 – April 24, 1965) was a British-born gangster of Irish ancestry who became a leading underworld figure in New York during Prohibition. Nicknamed "The Killer", he garnered a brutal reputation within ...

), and Moe Jewbach. While there were no casualties on either side, gang leader Paul was later killed by Rosenzweig gunman

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 ...

. Later arrested by police, Snyder confessed to the murder and agreed to testify against Rosenzweig, who also later testified against the gang. Although Fein and Rosenzweig defeated the gangs eventually, Rosenzweig's conviction in 1915, as well as Fein's arrest on a separate murder charge soon after, would see Fein also testify against his organization as an investigation was launched on labor slugging activities. Eleven gangsters and twenty-three union officials were arrested.

Second Labor Sluggers War: 1918-1919

The subsequent investigations and imprisonment of labor sluggers Benny Fein and Joseph Rosenzweig had effectively ended labor slugging and other labor-related racketeering until the release of "Kid Dropper"

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 ea ...

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 ...

in 1917. Former rivals, Kaplan and Spanish formed a gang made up mostly of ex-

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 It ...

members that soon dominated labor slugging in New York virtually unchallenged. However infighting between Kaplan and Spanish began again, with Spanish leaving the gang in late 1918. The two factions began fighting for several months until Spanish was killed, supposedly by Kaplan, on July 29, 1919.

Third Labor Sluggers War of 1923

With the death of Johnny Spanish, Kaplan completely controlled labor slugging operations for over four years. In the early 1920s, however, Kaplan began to face competition from rival

Jacob Orgen Jacob "Little Augie" Orgen (January 1893 – October 16, 1927) was a New York gangster involved in bootlegging and labor racketeering during Prohibition. Biography Born to a middle-class Orthodox Jewish family from Austria as Jacob Orgenstein, ...

's "Little Augies", including Jack Diamond,

Louis Buchalter Louis Buchalter, known as Louis Lepke or Lepke Buchalter, (February 6, 1897March 4, 1944) was an American mobster and head of the Mafia hit squad Murder, Inc., during the 1930s. Buchalter was one of the premier labor racketeers in New York City ...

, and Gurrah Shapiro. In early 1923 war broke out between Kaplan and Orgen over striking "wet wash" laundry workers. Violent gunfights were fought throughout the city until Kaplan's death by Orgen gunman

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" Buchalte ...

while in police custody for a concealed weapons charge in August 1923.

Fourth Labor Slugger War of 1927

Orgen, now in complete control of labor racketeering, began expanding into bootlegging. However, city officials began investigations into labor racketeering, putting pressure on labor slugging in particular. Advised by

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 ...

to instead infiltrate the unions, Orgen refused, continuing labor slugging operations. In October 1927 Orgen was killed by former associates Buchalter and Shapiro, who also wounded Orgen's bodyguard Jack Diamond, in a drive-by shooting. As Buchalter took over as the principal labor racketeer in New York City he began to focus on control of labor unions and extortion, while offering his services to others in organized crime, eventually becoming head of

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 ...

, as labor racketeering was divided among members into the

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 ...

in the 1930s.

References