Richard Joseph "Peg Leg" Lonergan (January 16, 1900 - December 26, 1925) was an American underworld figure and labor racketeer. He was a high-ranking member and the final leader of the

White Hand Gang The White Hand Gang was a collection of various Irish American gangs on the New York City, Brooklyn, and Red Hook waterfronts from the early 1900s to 1925 who organized against the growing influence of Italian gangsters. Their name was chosen in re ...

. He succeeded Bill Lovett after his murder in 1923 and, under his leadership, led a two-year campaign against

Frankie Yale Francesco Ioele (; January 22, 1893 – July 1, 1928), known as Frankie Yale or Frankie Uale, was an Italian-American gangster based in Brooklyn and second employer of Al Capone. Early life Yale was born in Longobucco, Italy, on January 22, ...

over the New York waterfront until he and five of his lieutenants were killed in

South Brooklyn South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn – now the New York City borough of Brooklyn – encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor Ter ...

during a

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

celebration at the

Adonis Social Club Joseph Anthony Doto (born Giuseppe Antonio Doto, ; November 22, 1902 – November 26, 1971), known as Joe Adonis, was an Italian-American mobster who was an important participant in the formation of the modern Cosa Nostra crime families in New Yo ...

in 1925.

Biography

Richard Lonergan was one of fifteen children, among them being Anna Lonergan known as "Queen of the Irishtown docks", born to local

prize fighter Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

and bare knuckle boxer John Lonergan. Raised in Irishtown, an

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

enclave between the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

waterfront, he later lost his right leg in a

trolley car A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

accident as a child from which his underworld nickname "Peg Leg" originated. A childhood friend and later brother-in-law of Bill Lovett, Lonergan had earned a fearsome reputation in Irishtown and on the Brooklyn waterfront as a vicious street brawler after killing a Sicilian drug dealer in a Navy Street bike shop. Believed by authorities to have been involved in at least a dozen murders during his criminal career, he was reportedly well known for his hatred of

Italian-Americans Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

and would occasionally lead " ginzo hunting" expeditions in

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francisc ...

and

dive bar A dive bar is typically a small, unglamorous, eclectic, old-style drinking establishment with inexpensive drinks; it may feature dim lighting, shabby or dated decor, neon beer signs, packaged beer sales, cash-only service, and a local clientele ...

s along the waterfront. He became the leader of the

shortly after the murder of its leader Bill Lovett in 1923. Lonergan spent the next two years battling

over control of the New York waterfront.Bergreen, Laurence. ''Capone: The Man and the Era''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996. (pg. 156-158) Johnson, Curt and R. Craig Sautter. ''The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone''. New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. (pg. 203-204) English, T.J. ''Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster''. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. (pg. 158-159) Parr, Amanda J. ''The True and Complete Story of 'Machine Gun' Jack McGurn: Chief Bodyguard and Hit Man to Chicago's Most Infamous Crime Czar Al Capone and Mastermind of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre''. Leicester: Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2005. (pg. 125-129) On the night of December 25, 1925, Lonergan and five of his men entered the

during a

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

celebration. Lonergan and the other White handers, according to witnesses, were intoxicated and being unruly to other patrons. Lonergan himself loudly and openly called nearby customers "

wop ''Wop'' is a pejorative slur for Italians or people of Italian descent. Etymology The Merriam-Webster dictionary states wop's first known use was in the United States in 1908, and that it originates from the Southern Italian dialectal term ''gu ...

s", "

dago Dago may refer to: Places * Dagö/Dagø, the Swedish/Danish name of Hiiumaa, Estonia * Dago, Ghana, a village * Dago, Bandung, an area in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia * Dago Creek, Alaska * The Hill, St. Louis, in St. Louis, Missouri, was r ...

s" and other

ethnic slurs The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...

. When three local Irish girls entered the club escorted by their Italian dates, Lonergan chased them out supposedly yelling at them to "Come back with white men, fer chrissake!" It was at that moment that the lights went out and gunfire was heard. Customers rushed for the exits in a panic as glass was shattered as well as tables and chairs being overturned. As police arrived, they found one of Lonergan's men, his best friend Aaron Harms, dead in the street and they followed a blood trail into the club where they found Lonergan and drug addict Cornelius "Needles" Ferry on the dance floor near a

player piano A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern im ...

shot execution style. A fourth member, James Hart, managed to escape, having been found a few blocks away crawling on the sidewalk after being shot in the thigh and leg. He was taken to the Cumberland Street Hospital where he eventually recovered but refused to cooperate with police. He denied being at the club claiming he had been shot by a stray bullet from a passing car. The two other members, Joseph "Ragtime Joe" Howard and Patrick "Happy" Maloney, were apparently unaccounted for leaving no witnesses willing to testify.Kobler, John. ''Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. (pg. 163-164) Although seven men had been arrested in connection to the shooting, including a visiting Al Capone, all the men were released on bail ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 and the case was eventually dismissed. Anna Lonergan publicly blamed the gangland shooting on "foreigners" commenting "You can bet it was no Irish American like ourselves who would stage a mean murder like this on Christmas Day". The killings are generally attributed to Capone, in partnership with Frankie Yale, although these often colorful accounts are sometimes vague and inconsistent but allege that the incident was prearranged. It is with the death of Lonergan however that the White Hand Gang disappeared from the Brooklyn waterfront allowing Frankie Yale and eventually the

Five Families The Five Families refers to five major New York City organized crime families of the Italian American Mafia formed in 1931 by Salvatore Maranzano following his victory in the Castellammarese War. Maranzano reorganized the Italian American gangs ...

to take control.Toomey, Jeanne. ''Assignment Homicide: Behind the Headlines''. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 2006. (pg. 53)

Biography

References

Further reading