Eastman Gang
The Eastman Gang was one of the last historical street gangs in New York City , which ruled the streets in Manhattan and Coney Island from the 1890s to 1908/12 , and was mainly composed of so-called Kosher Nostras .
history
The gang was founded by Monk Eastman , who had initially prevailed against the Irish Whyos , who had ruled the streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan since the 1860s. In addition to illegal activities such as prostitution and gambling, the gang was supported by politicians from Tammany Hall , who secured influence and muscles of the gang and also tried to keep control of the gang activities.
Monk Eastman had developed a real price list, a brawl was for 15 attacks with knife insert (Engl. "Stabbing") for 25 and a murder carried out for 50 US dollars. Ambulance drivers named an incident caused by gang activity "Eastman Ward". Eastman probably laid the foundations for the later Murder, Inc. , in which later, like the Eastman Gang , mainly Kosher Nostras carried out the murder as a business.
The conflict with the Five Pointers should have started around 1901, in any case Monk Eastman was gunned down by Five Pointers that year . He was hit in the abdomen but survived, and an Italian died in retaliation. The conflict became apparent to the general public in 1903 with a huge shooting on Rivington Street with over 100 participants. Two men died and dozens of passers-by were injured.
Monk Eastman was considered a charismatic leader, his arrest in 1904 therefore initially represented a considerable weakening of his gang. In an internal dispute over the position of the leader that followed Eastman's arrest, Max Zwerbach prevailed, who on November 1, 1904 Richie Had Fitzpatrick murdered.
The clashes with the Italians continued and Zwerbach's deputy Vach Lewis was alleged to have been implicated in the murder of a gamer and fivepointer known as "The Bottler" who was on Suffolk Street surrounded by twenty Eyewitness was shot.
On May 14, 1908, Lewis and his boss Zwerbach got into an argument with the five-pointer Louis "The Lump" Pioggi in a bar in Manhattan , where he was finally thrown out the window or more or less voluntarily jumped through to escape, whereby he broke his ankle.
Nevertheless, Pioggi managed to return to the headquarters of the Fivepointers. Together with the boss Paul Kelly , some gang members left that night to catch the Eastmans. They tracked down Zwerbach and Lewis in a bar on Coney Island . When the two left the bar, they were apparently shot by Pioggi.
The end
After the deaths of the two, the gang split into three parts; the largest part gathered under the command of Jack Zelig . The argument with the Five Pointers continued and on October 5, 1912, Zelig was shot either by Charles Torti , a friend of Pioggi, or by "Red Phil" Davidson .
Even the release of Monk Eastman in 1909 could not stop the fragmentation of the gang, since he was no longer accepted as a leader. In any case, his arrest on February 3, 1904 can be seen as an attempt to pacify Tammany Hall after the great shooting in 1903. Up to this point, both gangs enjoyed political protection, which can be interpreted as police immunity. Presumably afterwards, however, the Italians, with their control over the Unione Siciliana and the resulting secure Italian votes in elections, had more to offer politically in the long run. In addition, the elegant five-pointer Paul Kelly , who easily passed as an honest businessman during his appearances, was apparently better accepted in the Tammany Hall than the coarse-looking Monk Eastman, who was shot in 1920.
The two smaller parts of the original Eastman Gang were under the control of Jack Siroco and Chick Tricker , who were involved in numerous shootings within the city. After Zelig's death, they each tried to win over his followers. As early as 1911, both had apparently tried to eliminate Zelig with the help of Julie Morrell , an independent killer associated with the gang.
As in the case of the Five Pointers, at the latest with prohibition in the United States, the dissolution or restructuring of the old gang structures in New York City began. Many members are likely to have continued their criminal careers from 1921 with the so-called Bugs and Meyer Mob of Meyer Lansky and Dutch Schultz .
Members
| Surname | birth | death | Nickname | annotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dahl, Harris | Kid | Richard Fitzpatrick's murderer ; active in push gambling | ||
| Davidson, Philip | 1882 | 19 ?? | Red Phil | presumed murderer of Jack Zelig |
| Dykes, Tommy | ||||
| Eastman, Monk | 1873, at | 1920 | ||
| Morelli, Jules | 1911 | aka Julie Morell | ||
| Fitzpatrick, Richard | 1880 | 1904 | Richie | previously Five Points Gang , murdered by Kid Dahl |
| Livin, Charles | Ike the Blood | |||
| Lewis, Vach | 1882 | 1908 | Cyclone Louis | Bodyguard from Max Zwerbach |
| Rosenberg, Louis | Lefty Loiue | |||
| Siroco, Jack | 1882 | 1954 | previously Five Points Gang | |
| Torti, Charles | Charly | |||
| Tricker, chick | Imprisoned for murder in 1914 | |||
| Wallace, Chris | ||||
| Zelig, Jack | 1888 | 1912 | Big jack | 1912: 286 Broome Street |
| Zwerbach, Max | 1884 | 1908 | Kid twist |
See also
literature
- Herbert Asbury: The Gangs of New York . New York 1928, Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 978-1-56025-275-7
- Tosches Nick: King of the Jews: The Greatest Mob Story Never Told , New York 2005, HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 978-0-06-621118-3
Web links
- Gangs of Manhattan ( Memento from December 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Mafia-International - The Five Points & Eastman Gangs (Early Gangland in New York) ( Memento from June 11, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b "The Eastmans" ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.mobsters.8m.com (English)
- ↑ "Five Points Gang" ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.mobsters.8m.com (English)
