List of identities in The Gangs of New York (book)

This is a list of historical criminals of New York City including underworld figures, gang members and others of the Old New York-era from 1825 to 1925, many of whom were later the subject of Herbert Asbury's "The Gangs of New York" as well as some who were later portrayed in Martin Scorsese's 2002 film Gangs of New York.

Gang Members

Bowery Boys

Chuck Connors (1852-1913)
Mose the Fireboy (1840s-1850s)
Charlie Lozier, associte of the Bowery Boys and brother-in-law of Bill Poole.
William Poole, "Bill The Butcher" (d. 1855)
Reddy The Blacksmith (1870s)
Syksey (1840s-1850s)

Car Barn Gang

Bill Lingley, "Big Bill" (d. 1911)
Freddie Muchfeldt, "The Kid" (d. 1911)

Charlton Street Gang

Sadie The Goat (1860s-1870s)

Corcoran’s Roosters

Tommy Corcoran (1910s)

Crazy Butch Gang

Crazy Butch (1890s)
Darby Kid (1890s), shoplifter and girlfriend of Crazy Butch
Jack Zelig, "Big Jack" (1882-1912)

Daybreak Boys

William Howlett (1834-1853)
Nicholas Saul (1833-1853)
Bill Johnson (1850s)
Sow Madden (1850s)
Sam McCarthy, "Cow Legged Sam" (1850s)
Slobbery Jim (1850s)
Patsy The Barber (d. 1855)
Molly Maher (1850s), associate of the Daybreak Boys and girlfriend of Bill Lowrie

Dead Rabbits

Dutch Mob

Mike Kurtz, "Sheeny Mike" (1870s)
Little Freddie (1870s)
Johnny Irving (d. 1883)
Billy Porter (d. 1883)
Gilbert Yost (1870s)

Eastman Gang

Monk Eastman (1880-1920)
Jack Zelig, "Big Jack" (1882-1912)
Red Phil Davidson (1910s)
Tommy Dykes (1900s)
Richie Fitzpatrick (1880-1905)
Vach Lewis, "Cyclone Louis" (1882-1908)
Charles Livin, "Ike the Blood" (1900s)
Chick Tricker (1910s)
Max Zwerbach, "Kid Twist" (d. 1908)
Kid Dahl (1900s)
Jack Sirocco (1900s-1910s)
Chris Wallace (1900s)
Charley Torti (1910s)
Julie Morrell (d. 1911)
Diamond Charley, Bowery drug peddler who organized and later monopolized the selling of chloral and morphine.
Carroll Terry, Coney Island dancing girl and girlfriend of Kid Twist

Five Points Gang

Paul Kelly (1876-1926/1936)
Nathan Kaplan, "Kid Dropper" (d. 1923)
James T. Ellison, "Biff" (1900s)
Pat Hogan, “Rough House Hogan” (1900s)
Jack McManus, "Eat 'Em Up" (1900s)
Louis Pioggi, "Louie the Lump" (1900s)
John McCarthy (1900s)
Bill Harrington (d. 1908)
Joe Hickman, "Itsky Joe"
Cora the Blonde (1910s), popular New Brighton showgirl and girlfriend of Paul Kelly.

James Street Gang

John Torrio, "Terrible John" (1882-1957)
Al Capone (1899-1947)
Charles Luciano, "Lucky Luciano" (1896-1962)
Frankie Yale (1893-1928)

Forty Thieves

Edward Coleman (d. 1839)

Forty Little Thieves

Magie Carson, "Wild Magie" (1850s)

Gas House Gang

Tommy Lynch (d. 1913)
William Jones, "Willie" (1900s)

Gopher Gang

Marty Brennan (1900s)
One Lung Curran (d. 1917)
Edward Egan, "Eddie" (1910s)
Razor Riley (1900s)
Newburg Gallagher (1900s)
Chick Hyland (1900s)
Owney Madden, "Owney the Killer" (1892-1964)
Stumpy Malarkey (1900s)
Johnny McArdle (1910s)
Jack Mulraney, "Happy Jack" (1900s)
Battle Annie, "Queen of Hell's Kitchen" (1900s)
Art Biedler (1910s)
William Mott, "Willie the Sailor" (1910s)
Buck O'Brian (1910s)
Tony Romanello (1900s)
Bill Tammany (1900s)
Margaret Everdeane, associate of the Gophers and girlfriend of William Mott.
Freda Horner, associte of the Gophers and girlfriend of Owney Madden.
Ida The Goose (1900s)
Paddy The Priest

Grady Gang

John D. Grady, "Travelling Mike" (1860s-1870s)
Pet Anderson, "Boston"
William Burke, "Billy the Kid"
Eddie Pettingill
Jake Rand, "Greedy Jake"
Hod Ennis

Jimmy Curley Gang

James Cariggio, "Gold Mine Jimmy" (1892-1914)

Hell's Kitchen Gang

Dutch Heinrichs (1860s-1870s)

Hook Gang

Hudson Dusters

Humpty Jackson Gang

Italian Dave Gang

Jack Mahaney

Lenox Avenue Gang

Harry Horowitz, "Gyp the Blood" (1889-1914)
Frank Cirofici, "Dago Frank" (d. 1914)
Louis Rosenberg, "Lefty Louis" (d. 1914)
Jacob Siedenschier, "Whitey Lewis" (d. 1914)

Leslie Gang

George Leonidas Leslie (d. 1884)
Abe Coakley, bank robber
Jimmy Hope (1840-18??)
Bill Kelly
Red Leary
Johnny Dobbs (d. 1892)
Pete Emerson, "Banjo Pete"
Sam Perris, "Worcester Sam"
Patrick Shevlin, "Patty" (c. 1808-18??)
Gilbert Yost (1870s)
Babe Irving (1880s), sister of Johnny Irving and girlfriend of George Leslie.

Little Auggies

Mandelbaum Gang

Fredericka Mandelbaum, "Marm"
Big Mary (1860s)
Ellen Clegg (1870s-1880s)
Kid Glove Rosey
Lena Kleinschmidt, "Black Lena"
Sophie Lyons
Queen Liz, thief

Other associates

Marginals

Tanner Smith (d. 1919)

Molasses Gang

Nineteenth Street Gang

Little Mike

Pansies

Rags Riley

Patsy Conroy Gang

Potashes

Red Shay Meehan

Slaughter House Gang

George Leese, "Snatchem"

Squab Wheelman Gang

Tenth Avenue Gang

Ike Marsh

Tub of Blood Bunch

Walsh Gang

Johnny Walsh, "Johnny the Mick" (d. 1883)

White Hand Gang

Richard Lonergan, "Peg Leg" (d. 1925)
Bill Lovett, "Wild Bill" (d. 1923)
Dinny Meehan (d. 1920)

Whyos

Yakey Yakes

Yakey Yake Brady

Yiddish Black Hand

Johnny Levinsky
Joseph Toplinsky
Charles Vitoffsky, "Charley the Cripple"

Independent leaders and others

Joe Baker, East Side Gang leader.
Big Nose Bunker, Independent gang leader.
Ralph Daniello, "Ralph the Barber" and labor racketeer.
Benjamin Fein "Dopey Benny", labor racketeer.
Abie Fisher, independent gang leader and labor racketeer.
Porkie Flaherty, Lower East Side Gang leader and labor racketeer.
Jimmy Haggerty "Wild Jimmy" (d. 1871)
Pickles Laydon, Independent gang leader.
Billy Lustig, independent gang leader and labor racketeer.
Punk Madden, independent gang leader and labor racketeer.
Al Rooney, Fourteenth Street Gang leader.
Joseph Rosenzweig, labor racketeer.
Philip Paul "Pinchy" (d. 1914), independent gang leader and labor racketeer.
Joseph Quinn (1861-1887), alledged gangster and rival of Whyos leader Danny Lyons.
Abe Roach "Little Rhody", independent gang leader and labor racketeer.
Frank Salvatore, "Mike the Dago"
Kid Shanahan, gangster and river pirate.
Tom The Mick, gangster.

City Officials

Police

Captain Anthony J. Allaire
Sergeant Francis J. Banfield (d. 1883), member of the "Steamboat Squad".
Detective Charles Becker (1869-1915)
Street Commissioner Jacob Brown
Sergeant Burdick
Inspector Thomas F. Byrnes (1842-1910)
Captain John Cameron (1807-1873)
Captain Jim Churchill
Street Commissioner Daniel D. Conover
Sergeant Theron S. Copeland
Sergeant John D. Coughlin
Captain T.J. Creedon
Captain William S. Devery
Detective John M. Dorcy
Deputy Commissioner George S. Dougherty
Commissioner Richard E. Enright
Inspector Joseph A. Faurot
Inspector John S. Folk (d. 1885)
Captain George W. Gastlin
Captain William H. "Big Bill" Hodgins
Chief George W. Matsell
Inspector George McCluskey
Sergeant McCredie
Captain John H. McCullagh
Captain Charles McDonnell
Commissioner Douglas I. McCay
Sergeant O'Connell
Joseph Petrosino
Captain Porter
Captain Max F. Schmittberger
Captain Slot
Sergeant Smith
Captain Francis C. Speight
Captain Thomas S. Steers
Patrolman Dennis Sullivan
Captain Thomas Woolsey Thorne (1823-1885)
Sergeant Van Orden
Sergeant Warlow
Alexander S. Williams
Cornelius Willemse
Sergeant Wolfe
Arthur Woods

Draft Riots

Military

Police

Commissioner Thomas C. Acton
Commissioner John C. Bergen
Commissioner Simeon Draper
Superintendant John A. Kennedy
Chief Engineer John Decker
Inspector Daniel C. Carpenter
Captain James Z. Bogart
Captain Brower
Captain John F. Dickson
Captain George W. Dilks
Captain A.C. Devoursney, one of the officers who defended the New York Tribune during the New York draft riots.
Captain Joel B. Erhardt
Captain John Jourdan
Captain George W. Walling
Sergeant Ellison
Sergeant John Mangin
Sergeant Wade

Politicians

Peter Cooper
Richard Croker
Tom Foley
Warren W. Foster
William J. Gaynor
Henry George
Hugh J. Grant
Jonathan H. Grant
Abram S. Hewitt
Henry Hilton
Max Hochstein
Bill Howe, "Big Bill" (d. 1906)
Abe Hummell, "Little Abe" (d. 1926)
John Kelly, "Honest John"
Dan Kerrigan
George Law
John Purroy Mitchel
George Opdyke
Charles A. Perkins
Horatio Seymour
Alfred E. Smith
Charles S. Solomon, "Silver Dollar Smith"
Tim Sullivan, "Big Tim"
Tim Sullivan, "Little Tim"
Edward Swann
Robert Van Wyck
Charles S. Whitman
Fernando Wood

Tammany Hall sluggers

Criminals

Mike Abrams, "Big Mike" (d. 1898)
Ah Hoon (d. 1909)
Ah Ken (1850s-1870s)
John Allen (c. 1830-19??)
Theodore Allen, "The Dive Keeper" (1880s)
George Appo (1858-1930)
Leon L. J. Bernard, embezzler
Big Sue (1860s)
Boiled Oysters Malloy, thief
Mike Byrnes, burglar
Dan The Dude, saloon keeper and underworld figure involved in illegal gambling and political "fixer". (1900s-1910s)
Joe Erich, fence
Kate Flannery
Jack Frenchy, "Jack the Ripper"
Barney Friery, thief
Larry Griffen, burglar
Hester Jane Haskins, "Jane the Grabber"
Albert E. Hicks (d. 1860)
Izzy Lazarus, "London Izzy"
Joseph Lewis, "Hungry Joe"
Little Annie (1870s)
Ludwig The Bloodsucker
Gallus Mag (1850s-1870s)
Charles P. Miller, banco man
Dan Noble, burglar
John Nugent (1870s)
Tom O'Brien, banco man
Old Flaherty, river pirate
Old Mother Hubbard
Old Unger, fence
Rosanna Peers, fence
Red Light Lizzie, procuress
Mme. Restell, "Madam Killer"
Henry G. Romaine, grave robber
Peter Sawyer, thief
Mark Shinburn (c. 1838-1915), burglar
Ephriam Snow, fence
Mary Varly, shoplifter
Reed Waddell (1859-1895), confidence man
Bridgie Webber (1910s)
Pete Williams, a dive keeper based in Slaughter House Point. (1850s)

Other personalities

Gamblers

Industrialists

Barnett Baff (d. 1914), businessman and "poultry king" killed by Gaetano Reina and other Sicilian mafiosi.
Jim Churchill (1910s), businessmen and restaurant owner.
Harris Cohen, businessmen who owned a chain of successful stores in Baxter Street.
Joe Howard, Jr.
David Lamar, "Wolf of Wall Street"
Rufus L. Lord
Anthony Rutger, industrialist
Alexander T. Stewart

Prostitutes

Crazy Lou
Kate Bunty
Beezy Garrity
Gentle Maggie
Hoochie-Coochie Mary
Lizzie The Dove
Kitty McGowan, "Pretty Kitty"
Old Shakespeare (d. 1891), Bowery prostitute and alledged murder victim of Jack the Ripper.

Reformers

Rev. A. C. Arnold
Daniel Drew
Oliver Dyer
Richard K. Fox, New York publisher and editor of the Police Gazette.
James W. Gerard
George W. Goff, judge
Jonathan H. Green
Archbishop John Hughes
Kim Huie
William Travers Jerome
Jerry McAuley
Rev. Charles Henry Parkhurst
Rev. Lewis Morris Pease
Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage (1870s)
Lewis Tappan, abolitionist

Saloon keepers

Sportsmen

Other residents

Grand Duke Alexis (1850-1908), Russian noble who reportedly discovered a destitute Russian countess working as a waitress at Bismark Hall whom he brought back to Russia.
Bow Kun (d. 1909), Chinese slave girl, also known as "Sweet Flower", whose murder caused a major gang war among the Tongs of New York's Chinatown.
Chin Yin, artist and calligrapher who helped design the Chinese theater in Chinatown.
Jack Dempsey, Bowery panhandler and resident of the infamous "Dump".
Jim Farrell, a prominent Bowery panhandler who, becoming blind from excessive drinking, was said to been carried out of John Kelly's dive and died in an alcoholics ward in Bellevue Hospital soon after.
Edward Forrest, actor whose performance at the Bowery Theater was interupted by a riot between Whig and Tammany Hall supporters in July 1834.
Tom Frizzell, known as “King of the Panhandlers”, Frizzell was a well-known character in the Bowery.
Ha Oi, adopted daughter of Mock Duck.
William Henshaw, clerk killed by Owney Madden over a girl.
Henry Hilton, prominent lawyer who negotiated on behalf of the widow of Alexander T. Stewart for the return of his body stolen by George Leonidas Leslie and his gang.
Raymond Hitchcock, turn of the century actor who owned the Chinese Theater in Chinatown during the Tong wars.
Hom Ling, Chinese tragician who performed with comic Ah Hoon at the Chinese Theater.
Jack The Rat, Bowery character and son-in-law of Dead Rabbits leader Kit Burns who took bets at Sportsman Hall to bite the head off of a mouse for ten cents and decapitate a rat for a quarter.
Dr. James Littlefield, early Broadway resident and first chiropodist to practice in New York.
William Charles Macready, British-born actor who instigated the Astor Place Riot in 1849 when he was chased off the stage of the Astor Place Opera House by an Irish-American mob.
Mark Maguire, sports writer and first "King of the Newsboys".
Richard Mansfield, actor and honorary member of the Chuck Conners Club.
Roy L. McCardell, journalist and associate of Chuck Conners.
Walt B. McDougal, cartoonist and honorary member of the Chuck Conners Club.
Frank Moss, lawyer and council for Rev. Charles Henry Parkhurst.
Gustavus Myers, author
Nellie Noonan, actress known as "Queen of the Seventh Ward" and associate of Chuck Conners.
Frank Ward O'Malley, journalist and associate of Chuck Conners.
Henry J. Raymond, journalist and writer for the New York Times who extensively covered the New York Draft Riots.
John L. Stevens, author of Stevens' Travels whose description of Egyptian masusoliums would later be used in the construction of The Tombs.
Whitey Sullivan, Bowery panhandler later sent to the electric chair.
Tai Yu, wife of Mock Duck.

References

Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927. ISBN 1-56025-275-8
Asbury, Herbert. All Around the Town: Murder, Scandel and Riot in Old New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. ISBN 1-56025-521-8
Byrnes, Thomas. 1886 Professional Criminals of America. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1969.
Hyde, Stephen and Geno Zanetti (ed.) Players: Con Men, Hustlers, Gamblers and Scam Artists. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002. ISBN 1-56025-380-0
Luis, Alfred Henry. The Apaches of New York. New York: G.W. Dillingham Company, 1912.
Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod. Cops, Crooks, and Criminologists: An International Biographical Dictionary of Law Enforcement Updated Edition. New York: Checkmark Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8160-3016-2
Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0
Walling, George W. Recollections of a New York Chief of Police: An Official Record of Thiry-eight Years as Patrolman, Detective, Captain, Inspector and Chief of the New York Police. New York: Caxton Book Concern, 1887.

External links

1829 Gangs of New York