Max Zwerbach

Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach actually Maxwell Zwerbach or two-fold (born March 14, 1884 in Austria ; † May 14, 1908 on Coney Island , New York City ) was an American mobster who is now part of the Kosher Nostra . He was a major leader of the Eastman Gang .

Life

Early years

His Jewish father Adolf had married the Italian Anna in Austria ; the family went in 1886 to New York City to the anti-Semitism to escape to Austria. They lived in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn , on the right bank of the Williamsburg Bridge on Delancey St. Zwerbach's father had hoped Max Zwerbach would continue the family tradition of tailoring , but he became a well-known thief when he was a teenager .

On 17 September 1903 was held at the Rivington Str. A great shootout between the Eastman Gang and the Five Pointers held that as "Rivington Street Gun Battle" went down in history. When Monk Eastman was imprisoned in New Jersey following the incident , Max Zwerbach planned to free his boss, but the gang's cooler minds dismissed that plan.

When Eastman was pulled out of circulation by the judiciary for theft the following year, Zwerbach suddenly found himself exposed to an argument as Richie Fitzpatrick claimed the leadership of the gang for himself. During a discussion on November 1, 1904 in the Sheriff Street Saloon , Fitzpatrick was shot dead by Harris "Kid" Dahl .

Boss of the Eastman Gang

The new boss's most important helper was Vach Lewis ; Assassin Kid Dahl became a partner in the Suffolk Street shock activities . There Dahl clashed with a Five Pointer who everyone only knew as "The Bottler". With the help of Zwerbach and Co, the bottlers were able to be cornered.

However, this entrenched himself in his venue in order to continue his push activities. The following night, Vach Lewis , who was completely unknown in the Lower East Side at the time , managed to shoot the bottler despite the presence of around twenty players. Max Zwerbach had got himself an alibi for the time of the murder by going to a police station; Kid Dahl was in a restaurant at the same time, complaining loudly about the food.

Decline

Although Zwerbach was married and had one child with his wife, he was known as a womanizer . So he had z. B. Carroll Terry , a Canadian dancer, a lover, but who also maintained contact with the Five Pointers Louie "the Lump" Pioggi .

When Pioggi met the dancer in a dance hall on Coney Island on May 14, 1908 , the dispute escalated because she kicked Pioggi . He then went to a bar on Surf Avenue , where he began to get drunk. There are also held Zwerbach with Vach Louie on. Ultimately, the Five Pointers flew through the windshield, or more or less voluntarily jumped through it in order to escape, breaking his ankle.

However, he returned and surprised the two Eastmans , whom he had lured out of the bar on the pretext that Caroll Terry would be waiting outside. Max Zwerbach was shot in the head and Vach Louie was hit five times as well. Both died at the site of the murder. Caroll Terry arriving at the scene was also gunned down by Pioggio; During the escape, the helmet of a police officer was shot off the head.

estate

After Zwerbach's death , the Eastman Gang split into three groups. The largest faction was led by Jack Zelig , a protégé of Zwerbach. The arguments with the Fivepointers continued. Louis Pioggi was arrested for the shooting at Zwerbach and Lewis and had to spend a year in the maximum security Elmira Correctional Facility because he had successfully pleaded for some kind of self-defense. In 1912 Pioggi probably instigated his friend Charley Torti to murder Jack Zelig .

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.

Abe Reles was nicknamed "Kid Twist" by Zwerbach long after his death.

literature

• Herbert Asbury: The Gangs of New York . New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1927.
• Robert J. Kelly: Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States . Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
• Museum of the American Gangster, www.moagnyc.org, NYC
• Cral Sifakis:
  1. The Mafia Encyclopedia . New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005 ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
  2. The Encyclopedia of American Crime . New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "The Eastmans" ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically 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) 
2. ↑ "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)