White Hand Gang
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The White Hand Gang was a collection of various
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 ...
gangs on the
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,
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, and Red Hook waterfronts from the early 1900s to 1925 who organized against the growing influence of Italian gangsters. Their name was chosen in response to the Sicilian
Black Hand Black Hand or The Black Hand may refer to: Extortionists and underground groups * Black Hand (anarchism) (''La Mano Negra''), a presumed secret, anarchist organization based in the Andalusian region of Spain during the early 1880s * Black Hand (e ...
gangs and carried the implication that the Irish gang was the "white" counter to the growing presence of what they considered "non-white" Italian gangsters and Italian immigrants. They were known to be virulently anti-Italian and particularly violent, with members killing each other, contributing to the unstable leadership which led to the gang's demise.


History

The gang was founded by Dinny Meehan, who was shot and killed while sleeping in his home with his wife at his side. His successor, Bill Lovett, aggressively confronted the Italian gangs until his death on November 1, 1923. The most known story of his death goes like this: While passed out at a bar, Lovett was shot several times before Sicilian assassin
Willie "Two-Knife" Altieri Willie "Two-Knife" Altieri (dates unknown) also called Willie "two gun" Altieri... was an American gangster who served as the chief enforcer for Frankie Yale's Italian-American " Black-Hand" gang, one of the most powerful criminal organizations ...
killed him with a
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. However, this is unproven. The facts are that Lovett drunkenly stumbled into the back room of an abandoned store with an old gang associate and fell asleep. Police believe sometime during the night two men entered and Lovett was beaten in the head with a blunt instrument and then shot 3 times in the head. When questioned, his associate told police he had conveniently awoken at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and returned home. The police believe that the true murderers were probably connected with Lovett's own gang, or a rival Irish gang. Lovett's brother-in-law
Richard Lonergan 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. He succeeded Bill Lovett after his murder i ...
, who had become leader before Lovett was killed, began an even more aggressive attack against
Vincent Mangano Vincent Mangano (born Vincenzo Giovanni Mangano; ; March 28, 1888 – disappeared April 19, 1951, declared dead October 30, 1961) was an Italian-born mobster also known as "Vincent The Executioner" as named in a Brooklyn newspaper, and the head of ...
,
Albert Anastasia Umberto "Albert" Anastasia (, ; ; September 26, 1902 – October 25, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster, hitman, and crime boss. One of the founders of the modern American Mafia, and a co-founder and later boss of the Murder, Inc. organizat ...
, and
Joe Adonis 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 ...
, who had begun moving in on the waterfront. On the night of December 25, 1925, Lonergan and five of his men (Aaron Harms, James "Ragtime" Howard, Paddy Maloney, Cornielius Ferry, and James Hart) entered 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 ...
, a
Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
-owned
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, during a
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celebration. Lonergan and the other White Handers, according to witnesses, were intoxicated and being unruly with the Italian 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", "
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s" and other
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. 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. When the lights came on Lonergan, Harms, and Ferry lay shot to death on the dance floor. Police suspected visiting
Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
, who had been forced to leave New York in 1921 after an altercation with a White Hand gang member, but there was no evidence and the case was dropped. Without strong leadership, the White Hand disappeared, and by 1928, the Mafia completely controlled the waterfront.


Further reading

*Pietrusza, David. ''Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series''. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. *Schoenberg, Robert J. ''Mr. Capone''. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. *Downey, Patrick. ''Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld, 1900-1935''. Barricade Books, 2004. {{Organized crime groups in New York City Former gangs in New York City Brooklyn Irish-American gangs Irish-American culture in New York City