Billy Lustig

Last updated
Billy Lustig
Born
William Lustig
Died(1913-08-16)August 16, 1913
Manhattan, New York, United States
Cause of death Murdered
Nationality American
Known forNew York gang leader and labor racketeer; ally of Philip "Pinchy" Paul during the first Labor Slugger War.

William Lustig (died August 16, 1913) was an American gang leader and labor racketeer. He was one of several independent gang leaders operating in Manhattan's Lower East Side and, along with Abe "Little Rhodey" Roch and Philip "Pinchy" Paul, [1] [2] led a small coalition of gangs to break the monopoly held by Joseph "Joe the Greaser" Rosenzweig and Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein during the first "Labor Slugger War". [3] Lustig was also employed as a clerk and whose brother was a detective attached to the office of District Attorney Charles S. Whitman. [4]

Biography

On the night of August 4, 1913, Lustig was followed by four unidentified men in a car while walking down Third Avenue. Lustig did not notice his pursuers and, upon reaching 14th Street, he walked into a coffee house owned by Humpty Jackson. Two of the gunmen followed Lustig into the establishment where, seeing Lustig at a table, they fired five times at him. Only two of their shots hit Lustig who fell to the ground with a bullet in his shoulder and stomach. The gunmen then returned outside and ran to 12th Street where their accomplices were already waiting, with the motor running, and sped off towards the North River. A crowd had already gathered in front of Jackson's place as soon as the first shots were heard and a few bystanders managed to chase the car all the way to Cooper Street before losing sight of them. One man was able to copy the license plate but police were unable to find a match in the state motor car records. [4]

Upon questioning witnesses at the scene, one man claimed that Lustig and the other two men had been quarreling over a girl. Another version told to police was that Lustig had been lured to the coffee house by a telephone message from a young woman. Three pistols were found on the sidewalk outside. Police officials at the time suspected that the shooting was linked the murder of gambler Rosenthal murder case the previous year due to the similarities of both the method and escape as well as the car's description, a Shapiro's grey auto, with the noted exception of the license plates. [4]

Lustig was found unconscious by officers arriving on the scene and was brought to Bellevue Hospital where he underwent surgery. Doctors initially stated that there was little hope of recovery, however Lustig was able to pull through and it was announced he was out of danger a day later. Lustig was questioned by Deputy Police Commissioner George Samuel Dougherty and his team of detectives, who were investigating the rising violence in the East Side, but Lustig refused to identify his attackers responding only that he would settle it on his own. [5]

Of the two bullets, the one lodged near his spine was removed from his stomach upon his arrival at the hospital. The other bullet under the collarbone was to have been taken out later that week. On August 14, he left the hospital where he stayed at his mother's house. [6] Two days after being discharged, Lustig was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen outside the same cafe owned by Humpty Jackson on August 16, 1913. [7]

Following the initial shooting, police concentrated their efforts in tracking down the woman who supposedly lured Lustig to the restaurant. The body of an unidentified woman found in Inwood days later was thought to have been that person. It was speculated that she had been killed when those behind Lustig's killing feared she might inform police under interrogation. [8] On August 22, police detectives Emile Klinger and Paul Kaiser arrested a woman in Scranton, Pennsylvania believed to know the whereabouts of a key witness, Rose Harris, who was able to identify the four gunmen. [9]

Related Research Articles

Joe Masseria Italian-American Mafia boss (1886–1931)

Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was an early Italian-American Mafia boss in New York City. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York City Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 to 1931. In 1930, he battled in the Castellammarese War to take over the criminal activities in New York City. The war ended with his murder on April 15, 1931, in a hit ordered by his own lieutenant, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, in an agreement with rival faction head Salvatore Maranzano.

Dutch Schultz American mobster (1901–1935)

Dutch Schultz was an American mobster. Based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, he made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the numbers racket. Weakened by two tax evasion trials led by prosecutor Thomas Dewey, Schultz's rackets were also threatened by fellow mobster Lucky Luciano. In an attempt to avert his conviction, Schultz asked the Commission for permission to kill Dewey, which they refused. When Schultz disobeyed them and made an attempt to kill Dewey, the Commission ordered his murder in 1935.

Mad Dog Coll American mobster during depression-era

Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll was an Irish-American mob hitman in the 1920s and early 1930s in New York City. Coll gained notoriety for the allegedly accidental killing of a young child during a mob kidnap attempt.

Hymie Weiss

Earl J. "Hymie" Weiss, was a Polish-American mob boss who became a leader of the Prohibition-era North Side Gang and a bitter rival of Al Capone. He was known as "the only man Al Capone feared".

Frankie Yale Italian-American mob boss

Francesco Ioele, known as Frankie Yale or Frankie Uale, was an Italian-American gangster based in Brooklyn and second employer of Al Capone.

Legs Diamond American gangster (1897–1931)

Jack "Legs" Diamond, also known as Gentleman Jack, was an Irish American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during the Prohibition era. A bootlegger and close associate of gambler Arnold Rothstein, Diamond survived a number of attempts on his life between 1916 and 1931, causing him to be known as the "clay pigeon of the underworld". In 1930, Diamond's nemesis Dutch Schultz remarked to his own gang, "Ain't there nobody that can shoot this guy so he don't bounce back?"

Jack Zelig American gangster

"Big" Jack Zelig was an American gangster and one of the last leaders of the Eastman Gang.

The North Side Gang, also known as the North Side Mob, was an Irish-Polish-American criminal organization within Chicago during the Prohibition era from the early 1920s to the mid-1930s. It was the principal rival of the South Side Gang, also known as the Chicago Outfit, the crime syndicate of Italian-Americans Johnny Torrio and Al Capone.

Humpty Jackson New York City gang boss

Thomas "Humpty" Jackson was a New York criminal and last of the independent gang leaders in New York's underworld during the early twentieth century. Reportedly well read, Jackson was said to be an admirer of such writers such as Voltaire, Charles Darwin, Leonard Huxley and Herbert Spencer as well as various Greek and Latin texts. He was, however, known to be a violent man who regularly carried three revolvers, including one in his derby hat and another secreted in a strange-looking small sweaty holster under his hunchback.

Gaetano Reina Italian-American mob boss

Gaetano Reina was an Italian-American gangster. He was an early American Mafia boss who was the founder of what has for many years been called the Lucchese crime family in New York City. He led the family until his murder on February 26, 1930, on the orders of Joe Masseria.

Frank McErlane

Frank McErlane (1894–1932) was a Prohibition-era Irish American gangster. He led the Saltis-McErlane Gang, allied with the Johnny Torrio-Al Capone Gang, against rival bootleggers, the Southside O'Donnell Brothers. He is credited with introducing the Thompson submachine gun to Chicago's underworld. The Illinois Crime Survey called him "the most brutal gunman who ever pulled a trigger in Chicago."

Louis William "Bridgie" Webber was an underworld figure in New York City and a former associate of gang leader Monk Eastman who later testified against police lieutenant Charles Becker during his murder trial in 1912.

Giovanni de Silvio or Jimmy Kelly was an American saloon keeper, political organizer and underworld figure in New York City during the start of the 20th century. He was the owner the Fourteenth Street saloon The Folly as well as the popular Mandarin Cafe in Chinatown, located in the notorious "Bloody Angle" along Doyers Street, and was a hangout for politicians, gang leaders and other noted criminals of the era. His cafe was also the scene of several violent incidents, especially during the Tong War, which included, in 1910, the fourth attempted suicide of Chinatown character John "Dippy" Rice and the 1912 murder of Hen Ken Yum, the latter a high-level member of the On Leong Tong and a lieutenant of Mock Duck.

Frank Moss (lawyer) American political activist and social reformer

Frank Moss was an American lawyer, reformer and author. He was involved in many of the reform movements in New York City shortly before the start of the 20th century up until his death. As a longtime assistant to District Attorney Charles S. Whitman, he was involved in several high-profile criminal cases such as the Rosenthal murder trial in which police detective Charles Becker was found guilty of murder and executed.

George S. Dougherty American detective and author

George Samuel Dougherty was an American law enforcement officer, private detective and writer. He was considered one of the leading detectives in the United States, first for the Pinkerton Detective Agency and then as a private investigator. Dougherty was responsible for the capture of many notorious criminals during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He also introduced the modern-day fingerprinting to the police force.

John Lewis, better known by his alias Indian or Spanish Louie (Lewis), was an American criminal and member of the Humpty Jackson Gang, serving as the gang leader's longtime lieutenant from around the turn of the 20th century until his murder in either 1900 or 1910. His death was the first recorded use of a drive by shooting as a means of gangland execution in New York City.

Rosenthal murder case Murder of Herman Rosenthal and subsequent trial

The Becker–Rosenthal trial was a 1912 trial in New York City for the murder of Herman Rosenthal, a bookmaker, by NYPD Lieutenant Charles Becker and members of the Lenox Avenue Gang. The trial ran from October 7 to October 30, 1912, and restarted on May 2 to May 22, 1914. Other procedural events took place in 1915.

Morris L. Kessler was an American mobster and member of Joseph Amberg's gang in Brooklyn during the early 1930s. As Amberg's personal chauffeur and bodyguard, Kessler was a close associate in his organization until he was killed alongside his boss at a Brownsville auto garage by members of Murder, Inc. in 1935. The gangland slayings of Kessler and Amberg were among the first major contract killings committed by Murder, Inc. and was one of the most publicized of the era.

Umberto "The Ghost" Valenti was a Sicilian-born New York City gangster and prominent member of the D'Aquila crime family during the 1910s. He is frequently confused with Rocco Valenti, a Camorra gunman of the same era.

References

  1. ↑ Fried, Albert. The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. (pg. 6) ISBN   0-231-09683-6
  2. ↑ Katcher, Leo. The Big Bankroll: The Life and Times of Arnold Rothstein. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994. (pg. 278) ISBN   0-306-80565-0
  3. ↑ Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 336, 339, 342) ISBN   1-56025-275-8
  4. 1 2 3 "Shoot The Brother Of Whitman Sleuth; Gangsters Trail Lustig to 'Humpty' Jackson's Saloon and Wound Him Mortally". New York Times. August 5, 1913
  5. ↑ "Gangster Refuses To Assist Police; William Lustig 'Doesn't Know' Who Shot Him and Will Settle His Own Feud". New York Times. August 6, 1913
  6. ↑ "Lustig Leaves Hospital; One of Gangsters' Bullets Removed, Other Still in Him". New York Times. August 13, 1913
  7. ↑ Bradley, J.H. "Crimes of Young Gangsters Laid to Lack of Moral Teaching". New York Times. Letter. August 18, 1913
  8. ↑ "Suspect Gang Plot In Girl's Murder; Police Recall a Woman Decoyed Lustig to 'Humpty' Jackson's to be Shot". New York Times. August 12, 1913
  9. ↑ "Hold Girl In Lustig Case; Whitman's Men Arrest Her to Get Clue to Rose Harris's Whereabouts". New York Times. August 23, 1913
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.