Richard Fitzpatrick (1880 – November 1, 1904) was a top gunman in the

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 ...

gang in New York City. He had defected from the

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 ...

in the early 1900s; he was active during the late 1890s until his murder in 1904. Fitzpatrick had joined the Five Points Gang under Paul Kelly (born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli) in the late 1890s. During the Kelly-Eastman gang war in 1903, Fitzpatrick defected to the

Eastman Gang The Eastman Gang was the last of New York's street gangs which dominated the city's underworld during the late 1890s until the early 1910s. Along with the Five Points Gang under Italian-American Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli, best known as Paul Kell ...

, along with "Kid Twist"

Max Zwerbach Max Zweifach born Maximillian Zweifach known as "Kid Twist" and occasionally referred to as Zwerbach (March 14, 1884 – May 14, 1908) was an American gangster active in the early 1900s. Early life Born Maximillian Zweifach in the Austria-Hunga ...

; they both became top lieutenants. After Monk Eastman was arrested and imprisoned in 1904, Fitzpatrick and Zwerbach began fighting over leadership of the Eastman gang, eventually splitting the gang into separate factions. On November 1, 1904, while attending a peace conference at a Sheriff Street saloon in the New York

Chrystie Street Chrystie Street is a street on Manhattan's Lower East Side and Chinatown, running as a continuation of Second Avenue from Houston Street, for seven blocks south to Canal Street. It is bounded on the east for its entirety by Sara Delano Roosev ...

neighborhood, Fitzpatrick was shot to death before the peace talks began. His killer was suspected of being Harris Dahl, aka Kid Dahl, friend of arch-rival Kid Twist. Several weeks later, "Kid Twist" lieutenant Vach "Cyclone Louie" Lewis led an attack that resulted in the murders of the remainder of the Fitzpatrick faction.

Popular culture

Fitzpatrick was said to use a strategy of ambushing opponents by setting up meetings and claiming to be ready to turn against his leader. After being searched, he would excuse himself to use the restroom, where he had stashed a gun. Returning to the main room, he would kill his opponent. Such a tactic was used by Al Pacino's character

Michael Corleone Michael Corleone is a fictional character and the protagonist of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel ''The Godfather''. In the three ''Godfather'' films, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael was portrayed by Al Pacino, for which he was twice-nominate ...

in ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...

''.

References

* Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. *English, T.J. ''Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster''. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. *Sifakis, Carl. ''The Encyclopedia of American Crime''. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001.

Popular culture

References

Further reading