Bill Lovett

William J. "Wild Bill" Lovett (July 15, 1894 – November 1, 1923) was an Irish American gangster in early 20th century New York.

Beginnings

Lovett was brought to New York City as a child and first fell in with the local Irish gangs around the Brooklyn waterfront as a teenager. The day after America's entry into World War I, Lovett enlisted in the United States Army. He was assigned to Company C, 13th Machine Gun Battalion, 77th Infantry Division. During fierce combat on the Western Front, Lovett was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery. Upon his return to Brooklyn, he resumed his place as head of the Jay Street Gang, a group of toughs who sparred with Dinny Meehan's rival White Hand Gang for control of Brooklyn's lucrative waterfront rackets.

Rise to prominence

Lovett was labeled by the media as the new "leader" of the White Hand Gang after he took control of the waterfront rackets upon the killing of Dinny Meehan, who was shot while sleeping at his home with his wife at his side on the afternoon of the 31st of March, 1920 (the press lumped both Lovett's and Meehan's gang together). While Italian gangster Frankie Yale is long thought to have arranged the murder, Meehan's killers casually entered his apartment in broad daylight, even stopping to chat with his young son, something rival Italian mobsters were unlikely to have done. Police at the time, in fact, believed that Meehan was probably killed by his arch-rival, Bill Lovett.

Despite being well-educated and articulate, Wild Bill was a temperamental alcoholic who made even his own men nervous (he shot one of them for pulling a cat's tail; Lovett loved animals and couldn't stand to see them suffer). Rather than move his gang into the new business of bootlegging, Lovett's main income came from dockside extortion, burglary, and other crimes. Although Bill is long thought by urban legend to have fought a desperate gang war with Italian mobster Frankie Yale, the greatest threat to Lovett's power was from rival Irish gangsters who wanted a bigger piece of the waterfront action. Bill was suspected by police of killing Samuel DeAngelo in September 1919 and Dan Gillen in September 1920; in both cases, he beat the rap.

While walking after a court appearance in late 1921, a gunman darted from an alley and tried unsuccessfully to shoot Lovett. The alleged attacker, Meehan gangster Garry Barry, was found stabbed to death on a Brooklyn street corner not long after. Bill came close to death on the 3rd of January, 1923, when he was shot three times in the chest and dangerously wounded. When police questioned him as to who shot him, Wild Bill replied, "I got mine. Don't ask any questions." Later he added, "Don't try to pump me. It's give and take. When we get it, we take it and say nothing." Soon after his recovery, Lovett's alleged attacker, Eddie Hughes, was found shot to death. Bill was suspected in the murder but never charged.

Lovett was next suspected of luring the Quilty brothers, James and Timmy, to Thomas Sand's saloon on the 3rd of May, 1923. During the subsequent attack, Timmy Quilty was killed and James severely injured. A few weeks later, on May 21, Lovett mobster Frank Healy was murdered at Jay and Plymouth streets in retaliation. Just five days later, Healy's alleged shooter, Frank Byrne, was walking near Nassau and Gold streets with James Martin when they were ambushed. Byrne managed to escape but Martin was killed. Bill and several of his men were arrested, but no one was charged.

Retirement and death

After the failed attempt on his life and the subsequent gang violence attached to it, Lovett began courting Anna Lonergan, sister of his top lieutenant Richard "Pegleg" Lonergan. After their marriage on June 26, 1923, Lovett vowed to his wife that he would not only quit drinking but quit the criminal rackets as well. Wild Bill turned over command of the gang to new brother-in-law Pegleg Lonergan and bought a new house in Little Ferry, New Jersey), the police investigation indicated that Lovett was most probably killed by fellow Irish gangsters for one reason or another, just as his old adversary Dinny Meehan had been.Downey, pg. 129-30

References

Further reading

*Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of New York''. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1927.
*English, T.J. ''Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster''. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2005.
*Downey, Patrick. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900–1935. Barricade Books, 2004.

External links

Gangster City Profiles: Wild Bill Lovett


a collection of news articles including the New York Times and the Brooklyn Eagle

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovett, Bill
1894 births
1923 deaths
American gangsters
Murdered American gangsters of Irish descent
Criminals from Brooklyn
People from Little Ferry, New Jersey
Gang members of New York City
Gangsters from New York City
People murdered in New York City
Burials at Cypress Hills National Cemetery
Prohibition-era gangsters
American crime bosses
United States Army personnel of World War I
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
Deaths by firearm in Brooklyn
Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923)