Thomas "Shang" Draper (1839–1883) was a

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

shanghaier, saloon keeper, and criminal gang leader in

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 ...

along the city waterfront.

Criminal career

Shang Draper ran a waterfront saloon in his native New York City, where he performed a

confidence scam A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust (emotion), trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, Moral responsibility, irresponsib ...

using an underage girl to lure a

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

to a dark hotel room (which Draper owned) only to rob him. Draper acquired his distinctive nickname "Shang" from the "shanghaiing" trick he used to play on his unsuspecting patrons. Draper would drug a bar patron with

laudanum Laudanum is a tincture of opium containing approximately 10% powdered opium by weight (the equivalent of 1% morphine). Laudanum is prepared by dissolving extracts from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum Linnaeus'') in alcohol (ethanol). Red ...

and by the time the fellow awoke, he would have been pressed into merchant marine or naval service, sometimes for a foreign land. Draper was a contemporary of Frederika Mandelbaum, a notorious gangleader in her own right, also based in his native New York City. Mandlebaum installed Draper, one of her trusted lieutenants, in a

bank robbery Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank- ...

gang fronted by George Leslie. Draper in hiding caught by detectives

Death

Thomas Draper died in 1883 in New York City.

References

1839 births 1883 deaths Gang members of New York City {{US-crime-bio-stub