The Marginals, also called the "''Paddy Irish''" gang, was a New York street gang during the early 1900s which, under stevedore Thomas F. "Tanner" Smith, succeeded the longtime
Hudson Dusters
The Hudson Dusters was a New York City street gang during the early twentieth century.
Formation
Formed in the late 1890s by "Circular Jack", "Kid Yorke", and "Goo Goo Knox", the gang began operating from an apartment house on Hudson Str ...
in their territory of New York's
Lower West Side.
Based between
Tenth and
Ninth
In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second.
Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...
Avenues, the gang emerged around the turn of the century involved in extortion and labor slugging.
During police crackdowns on the city's street gangs during the early 1910s, eight members of the ''Tanner Smiths'' were apprehended along with members of the
Gas House and
Car Barn Gangs in September 1910. Five members would receive prison sentences with the other three fined $10.
On the night of June 18, 1914, Smith was arrested by police, who were investigating reports of four gunshots. Smith was witnessed pursuing a member of the Hudson Dusters with a revolver in his hand. Although the two arresting patrolman were confronted by members of the gang, they were able to take him into custody and charged with felonious assault.
After driving out the rival Hudson Dusters and the
Pearl Buttons, the Marginals enjoyed a brief reign ruling over the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
until the death of Tanner, who was killed by George "Chicky" Lewis (although other newspaper accounts credit Rubber Shaw) at the Marginal Club on
Eighth Avenue on July 26, 1919. His murder was one of several gangland slayings, as Rubber Shaw of the Hudson Dusters was gunned down in
Hoboken on July 24 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 ...
who was ambushed while entering a
Second Avenue restaurant on July 29.
References
"Crusade Against Gangs, Twenty-Five Hoodlums Arrested With a Week Severely Dealt With" ''The New York Times''. September 12, 1910. p. 4.
"Gangster Fights Police, Tanner Smith Is Arrested After Shooting In A Gang Feud" ''The New York Times'', June 19, 1914. p. 5.
{{Organized crime groups in New York City
Former gangs in New York City
Irish-American culture in New York City