Organized crime in the 1880s.

1880

Events

  • With resentment toward Europeans at an all-time high, Chinese triads reach their peak numbering over 3,600 although many of the groups are limited to local villages or clans.[1]
  • Early Cantonese criminals, who will eventually form the first of the New York Tongs, soon began arriving in the city after the success of the Cantonese gambler Wah Kee, who had been operating illegal gambling parlors and opium dens since the 1870s, in the New York district of what will later be known as Chinatown. The Chinese population steadily begins to climb to several hundred, compared to only 12 as of 1872, as the predominantly German and smaller Irish population slowly become driven out of the neighborhoods of Doyers, Mott, and Pell Streets as a result of the large immigration of Chinese immigrants which by 1910 will number more than 10,000.[2]
  • January 13 - Robert Suffrage, a 19-year-old carpenter and member of the Stable Gang, is sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment at New York State Prison for stealing the gold watch of a Dennis McGuinness the previous October. While being taken to The Tombs, Suffrage attacked the arresting officer and was immediately taken back to the courtroom where he was indicted of assault in less than ten minutes.[3]
  • February 10 – Edward and John Brady (criminal), leaders of the Brady Gang, are arrested along with four others including Hugh Brady (or John Osborne) and Thomas Brady (or Thomas Halligan), Edward Carrol, Michael Hammel and Harmond Clark (the latter two suspected of running moonshine from New York to the Palisades) and for operating an illegal distillery. With the exception of Clark who was acquitted due to lack of evidence, the remaining members were convicted and given a suspended sentence as they had been held in custody for the past ten months.[4]
  • February 29 – New York police officer Thomas M. Stone is severely beaten by members of the Smoky Hollow Gang while attempting to arrest a gang member loitering on Columbia Street. Surrounded by several gang members, Stone was relieved of his billy club and repeatedly kicked and assaulted, with some of the members going so far as to jump on his body after the officer had lost consciousness, until bystanders interfered after one member was stopped from attempting to use a heavy piece of paving stone to crush the officers skull in. Although later apprehended and held at Raymond Street Jail, Stone later died of his injuries while at Long Island College Hospital on the evening of April 1 and was speculated in the press that the gang members would receive leniency due to their political connections to Democratic politicians in the Brooklyn's Sixth Ward.[5]
  • April 26 – Several weeks after the death of police officer Thomas Stone, a Sgt. Walsh is attacked by members of the Smoky Hollow Gang while attempting to arrest Edward Glynn for disorderly conduct. While initially outnumbered, several bystanders including his uncle Frank Walsh came to his assistance and arrested another of his assailants John Mungerford. Mungerford, a brother of the gang member officer Stone had attempted to arrest, was charged as an accomplice in the patrolman's murder.[6]
  • May 5 – John "Little Andy" Anderson, a former member of the Dutch Mob, is arrested by a police detective on the corner of Prince Street and The Bowery. Although he attempted to fire a revolver at the arresting officer, he was disarmed and taken into custody on suspicion of a recent robbery which had taken place at the Michell, Myers & Co. on Second Avenue six days earlier. While over $1,500 in jewellery is found in his possession, he denied his involvement in the robbery claiming the jewelry had been given to him and is released under a $5,000 bail following his arraignment at the Tombs Police Court. The money and jewelry which had claimed was his property including a diamond pin, an amethyst ring, $65 in cash and his revolver were returned to him upon his release.[7]
  • July 15 – A brawl between rival members of the Eightieth and Ninetieth Street Gangs along the traverse road in Central Park near 85th Street is broken up by police. Although officers from the Central Park Police, the 31st Precinct and the 88th Street Stationhouse were preparing to apprehend the nearly 200 gang members in attendance, a local patrolman accidentally stumbled across the fight and blew his whistle before officers were in place. With the crowd alerted to the presence of police, only nine men were taken into custody including William Olive, Jeremiah Collins, William Swan, John Lahey, John McNamara, John Lynch, Bernard McHugh, Peter Murray and Coneilius Sullivan who were held in custody at the 23rd Precinct Police Station.[8]
  • August 11 – John Collins and John Murphy, members of the Portland Street Gang, are arrested by two police officers after a hard chase. Taken into custody, they are both charged with robbing a Daniel Reardon of Eastport, Maine.[9]
  • September 30 – The body of John D. "Travelling Mike" Grady is found in his Sixth Avenue office. Several relatives suspect foul play, as he was recovering from an attack of pneumonia lasting some months; however an autopsy report confirms he died of cardiac congestion.[10]

Births

Deaths

1881

Events

  • The Genyosha (Dark Ocean Society), an ultra-nationalist political organization is established by yakuza.
  • The Vigilance Committee is organized as a reform movement to fight crime and corruption in New Orleans.
  • July 5 – Months after his arrival in New Orleans from Sicily, Black Hand leader Giuseppe Esposito is quickly arrested by Police Chief David C. Hennessy and his cousin Detective Mike Hennessy. Esposito, wanted by Italian authorities on a number of murder and kidnapping charges, is soon deported to Italy. Esposito's organization is brought under control of Charles and Antonio Matranga.
  • July 16 – New Orleans hoodlum Anthony Labrusio (or Labruzzo) is killed by Black Hand assassin Giutano Ardota on behalf of Sicilian fugitive Giuseppe Esposito, on whom Labrusio has been informing.[11]

Births

Deaths

  • July – Anthony Labrusio, (New Orleans) Black Hand member

1882

Events

Births

1883

Events

Deaths

1884

Events

  • "Yellow" Henry Stewart and three gang members are convicted of armed robbery and imprisoned. Stewart later dies in prison of malaria in 1886.
  • Johnny Torrio emigrates with his mother Maria Carlucci Torrio to the United States arriving in New York from Osara, Italy.
  • March 1 – Two members of the Whyos, recently sentenced to six months imprisonment for vagrancy, escape from Hart's Island after swimming to a boat anchored in the Sound. Suspicious of the circumstances surrounding their escape, two prison guards are dismissed from their posts.[13]
  • June 4 – The body of George Leonidas Leslie, a.k.a. George Howard, former leader of the Leslie Gang, is found by an NYPD Mounted Patrolman at the bottom of Tramps' Rock on the border of Westchester County and the Bronx River.[14]
  • July 22 – New York fence Marm Mandelbaum is charged with several counts of grand larceny and receiving stolen goods by the recently appointed District Attorney Peter B. Olney. While the trial was scheduled in December, Mandelbaum skipped bail, fleeing to Canada where she would reside for the rest of her life.[15]
  • October 21 – James Reilly, along with his Whyos accomplices John Belfield and James Brown, are tried and convicted of assaulting and robbing an Englishman, Henry Stanley, of $26 after Reilly lured him to a Pell Street saloon.[16]
  • October 26 – Suspected members of the Mulberry Street Gang including James McCardell, John Lary, Charles McManus and ex-con George Lee are taken into custody by police officers of the Sixth Precinct Station House after August Lenk and John Burke reported being assaulted on the corner of Grand and Mulberry Streets by unidentified assailants who stole their gold watches. During their trial at the Tombs Police Court One of those charged, James McCardell, was identified by Lenk as one of his attackers while Burke claimed to recognize George Lee as the who had distracted him while the other two men attacked. McCardell is held in custody at $1,000 bail, the others were remanded.[17]
  • December 25 – Dennis Cocoran, formerly of the New Orleans City Hall Department of Improvements and leader of the Poydras Market Gang, stabbed Deputy Sheriff Daniel Haugherty on the corner of Poydras and Liberty Streets after an altercation only hours before. Taken to Charity Hospital, he died of his wounds at around one o'clock the following morning.[18]

Births

1885

Events

  • July 4 – John Kelly and John Clinton, members of the Whyos, are tried at Essex Market Street Court and convicted of assaulting Naty Glashiem and stealing his gold watch and chain.[19]
  • August 10 – Several members of the 74th Street Gang, including William "Red" Carroll, James Fitzpatrick, James Beatty, Louis Gavious (or Fitzpatrick) and John "Noble" Hughes, are arrested by a Capt. Gunner of the 28th Precinct after the death of one of their victims, Nawclaw Kalat, who dies of his injuries earlier that day. Kalat, who had been fighting with another Bohemian immigrant on Avenue A, had been severely injured when members of the gang joined in the fight.[20]
  • November 26 – Patrick O'Brien and Michael Flannagan, both members of the Whyos, are arrested and charged with the assault and robbery of fireman William Clark on the night of November 25. O'Brien's brother, having been present at the court house at the time of Patrick O'Brien's arrest, left with another gang member to get a lawyer for his brother. However, in an attempt to raise enough money for a lawyer, he was caught attempting to steal a gold watch from a visiting businessman Ebenezer S. Willis. As he was being brought into custody, he assaulted an acquaintance John Gagin who had agreed to testify against O'Brien having witnessed the theft.[21]

Births

1886

Events

  • July 10 - Former leader of the Yellow Henry Gang, "Yellow" Henry Stewart dies of malaria while serving a prison sentence for armed robbery.[22]
  • September 29 - Michael Hennessy, a cousin of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy, is murdered, possibly by a Black Hand assassin, in Houston, TX.[23]
  • October 2 – After an altercation at Bill Swan's Fireproof Coffee House saloon, Matt O'Brian wounds his brother and fellow co-leader of the Live Oak Boys, Hugh O'Brian on Gallatin Street. Arrested for the assault, despite Hugh fleeing New Orleans in an effort to avoid testifying against his brother, Matt O'Brian is convicted of "assault less than mayhem" and imprisoned, ending the Live Oak Boys' presence in the New Orleans' underworld.

Births

Deaths

  • July 10 - Henry Stewart, Yellow Henry Gang leader
  • September 29 - Michael Hennessy, American law enforcement officer

1887

Events

  • Chinese triads the Big Sword Society and the Shandong-based White Lotus Society are suspected of instigating attacks on Christian missionaries (including Chinese converts) and foreigners. By the end of the decade they have more than 1,000 followers carrying out attacks on isolated missions and trading posts.
  • Joseph Pinzolo, Lucchese crime family boss, is born.
  • August 13 – Daniel Lyons, who succeeded Danny Driscoll as leader of the Whyos, suffers a gunshot wound to the head by saloon keeper David Murphy and died the following day while at Chambers Street Hospital. Lyons, not to be confused with former leader Danny Lyons, had been tearing up Murphy's saloon along with the nephew of Jerry Hartigan when Murphy shot him. Although immediately turning himself over to police claiming self-defense, he was held in custody at The Tombs.[24]
  • Chicago Police Chief William McGarigle, in the pay of Chicago crime lord Michael Cassius McDonald, is indicted for graft later fleeing to Canada.

1888

Events

  • Frank Lyons, a member of the Yellow Henry Gang, escapes from prison and reorganizes the gang before being recaptured later that year.
  • January 23 – Danny Driscoll, co-leader of the Whyos street gang, is executed for the death of New York prostitute Breezy Garrity during a gunfight between Driscoll and Five Points Gang member Johnny McCarthy.
  • July 5 – Danny Lyons kills rival pimp Joseph Quinn in a gunfight over prostitute Kitty McGown.
  • August 21 – Danny Lyons, leader of the Whyos street gang, is executed for the murder of Joseph Quinn.

Births

Deaths

1889

Births

References

  1. ↑ Martin Booth (August 2000). The dragon syndicates: the global phenomenon of the triads. Carroll & Graf Pub. ISBN 0-7867-0735-6.
  2. ↑ Herbert Asbury (1990). The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. Basic Books (AZ). ISBN 978-1-56025-275-7.
  3. ↑ Kicking An Officer.; A Prisoner's Revenue—Indicted Within Ten Minutes. New York Times. 14 January 1880
  4. ↑ Illicit Distilling Checked.; The Notorious Brady Gang Broken Up-- Six of the Seven Indicted "Moonshiners" Convicted. New York Times. 11 February 1880
  5. ↑ Officer Stone's Death.; Will Political Influence In Brooklyn Save The Murderers?. New York Times. 2 April 1880
  6. ↑ Brooklyn's Gang Of Murderers. New York Times. 27 April 1880
  7. ↑ A Pupil Of Porter And Irving. New York Times. 7 May 1880
  8. ↑ East Side Pugilists.; A Fight In The Road—Nine Transverse Roughs Arrested. New York Times 16 July 1880
  9. ↑ Stabbing Affair at the West End. Boston Daily Globe 11 August 1880
  10. ↑ Banker Of The Burglars; Death Of John D. Grady, Receiver Of Stolen Goods. New York Times. 4 October 1880
  11. ↑ Chandler, David (1975). Brothers in Blood. New York: E.P. Dutton Co., Inc. pp. 46–49. ISBN 0-525-07185-7.
  12. ↑ "A Criminal Feud Ended," The New York Times, October 17, 1883.
  13. ↑ "The Escape Of The "Whyos," The New York Times, 06 March 1884
  14. ↑ "An Eventful Career of Crime," The New York Times, 17 June 1878
  15. ↑ "Mother Mandblebaum Trapped; Arrested By Private Detectives And Held In Heavy Bail," The New York Times, 23 July 1884
  16. ↑ "Three 'Whyos' Convicted," The New York Times, 22 October 1884
  17. ↑ "Thieves Quick In Their Work," The New York Times, 28 October 1884
  18. ↑ "Office-Holding Rowdies; One Stabs And Kills Another In The Streets Of New-Orleans," The New York Times, 27 December 1884
  19. ↑ "Two Whyos In Trouble," The New York Times, 05 July 1885
  20. ↑ "Dying From A Fractured Skull," The New York Times, 11 August 1885
  21. ↑ "Three 'Whyos' Locked Up," The New York Times, 27 November 1885
  22. ↑ "A Noted Criminal; Reported Death in the Penitentiary of Yellow Henry, the Burgler," The Daily Picayune, July 13, 1886.
  23. ↑ "Mike Hennessey Killed," The Times-Democrat, September 30, 1886.
  24. ↑ "Warring Whyos; The Leader of a Notorious Gang Shot," Boston Daily Globe, 15 Aug. 1887
  25. ↑ Tucker, Kenneth (2000). Eliot Ness and The Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions. McFarland. p. 38. ISBN 9780786407729.
  26. ↑ Schoenberg, page 245
  • Schoenberg, Robert. Mr. Capone. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
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