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The Dead Rabbits was the name of an Irish American criminal street gang active in Lower Manhattan in the 1830s to 1850s. The Dead Rabbits were so named after a dead rabbit was thrown into the center of the room during a gang meeting, prompting some members to treat this as an omen, withdraw, and form an independent gang. Their battle symbol was a dead rabbit on a pike. They often clashed with Nativist political groups who viewed Irish Catholics as a threatening and criminal subculture. The Dead Rabbits were given the nicknames of "Mulberry Boys" and the "Mulberry Street Boys" by the New York City Police Department because they were known to have operated along Mulberry Street in the Five Points.
The Kerryonians were the second oldest criminal street gang in New York City but may have been the first gang in the city. The members were made up of recent Irish immigrants from County Kerry, Ireland. There was also a 19th-century Philadelphia gang of the same name. Beginning in the 1820s, the Kerryonians were part of the first wave of the early New York gangs, following behind the first and oldest gang in the city, the Forty Thieves, to occupy the Five Points area. The Kerryonians were particularly fond of targeting New Yorkers who were of British descent. The Kerryonians also fought a gang named the "Pelters". They are most known however for disrupting British actor William Charles Macready's performance at Astor Place around 1825. The Kerryonians were eventually absorbed into the growing street gangs of Five Points such as the Dead Rabbits, Roach Guards, and Chichesters.
Herbert Asbury was an American journalist and writer best known for his books detailing crime during the 19th and early-20th centuries, such as Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld, The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld, Sucker's Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America and The Gangs of New York.
Big Sue or Sue, the Turtle was the pseudonym of a 19th-century African-American saloon and brothelkeeper in the notorious Arch Block, which ran between Grand Street and Broome Street in New York's 4th Ward. She was thought to also be involved in criminal activities.
William "Mush" Riley was an American businessman, saloonkeeper and underworld figure in Manhattan, New York during the late 19th century. The owner of a Centre Street dive, he was a longtime Five Points personality and associated with many noted criminals of the era. Riley was said to have acquired his name for his fondness of eating corn meal mush dipped in hot brandy. His saloon was located near other Five Points characters such as English-born pickpocket Tommy Taylor, bare-knuckle boxer Jack McManus and Boiled Oysters Malloy, who owned the popular basement resort known as The Ruins just a few doors from Riley's place.
John Daly was an American sportsman, professional gambler and underworld figure in New York during the late 19th century. A protégé of John Morrissey, he was involved in illegal gambling on Broadway and in Midtown Manhattan for over thirty years. He was also among the principal rivals of "Honest" John Kelly up until the turn of the 20th century and was considered one of the most successful and wealthiest gamblers in New York at the time of his death.
Reed C. Waddell was an American swindler, confidence man and underworld figure in New York during the mid- to late 19th century. He was one of the most successful men of his trade making nearly a quarter of a million dollars using his "gold brick" swindle, a con game which he invented and introduced to New York in 1880, and from which the term "goldbricker" originated.
Reuben Parsons was an American gambler and underworld figure in New York during the early-to mid 19th century. He was the first man, along with partner John Frink, to establish illegal gambling and policy banks. Parsons was considered the top gambler, known as the "Great American Faro Banker", and held control over illegal gambling in the city for more than two decades. His operations are considered the first major criminal organization, although neither centralized nor having a corporate-like structure, its system remaining in place for well over a century and surviving in various forms up until as late as the late 1980s.
Captain Isaiah Rynders was an American businessman, sportsman, underworld figure and political organizer for Tammany Hall. Founder of the Empire Club, a powerful political organization in New York during the mid-19th century, his "sluggers" committed voter intimidation and election fraud on behalf of Tammany Hall throughout the 1840s and 1850s before Tammany became an exclusively Irish-dominated institution.
The Bowe Brothers were a criminal family in New York City during the early-to-mid-19th century. The gang was headed by Martin Bowe, owner of the Catherine Slip sailors' home Glass House, and included Jack, Jim and Bill Bowe. All were well-known shooters, cutters and thieves in New York's Fourth Ward and often led waterfront thugs in raids on dockyards and ships anchored in the East River. The brothers were also fences and disposed of money obtained by other waterfront gangs.
Rosanna Peers (?-1840) was an American criminal fence and underworld figure in New York City during the early-to mid 19th century. She is the earliest known business owner to begin actively dealing with the city's emerging underworld and whose Centre Street grocery store and dive bar, established in 1825 just south of Anthony Street, was used as the longtime headquarters of the Forty Thieves upon their formation by Edward Coleman in 1826.
Charles P. Miller was an American gambler, confidence man and swindler. He was popularly known as "King of the Bunco Men", at times sharing that title with fellow tricksters Tom O'Brien and Joseph "Hungry Joe" Lewis, and ran one of the largest banco operations in the United States during the late 19th century.
Ludwig the Bloodsucker was an American mythical figure and possible urban legend in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. A longtime Bowery character, he was described as having vampire-like qualities. He was a "squat, swarthy German, with an enormous head crowned with a shock of bristly black hair. Huge bunches of hair grew out of his ears, and his unusual appearance was accentuated by another tuft which sprouted by the end of his nose" and supposedly had "hair growing out of every orifice". Ludwig was said to have preyed upon drunken customers of barroom brawls near Bismark Hall and the House of Commons and is claimed to have "quaffed human blood as if it were wine".
The Potashes were a 19th-century Irish-American street gang active in Greenwich Village and the New York waterfront during the early to mid-1890s. One of the many to rise in New York City during the "Gay Nineties"-period, the gang was led by Red Shay Meehan and based near the Babbit Soap Factory on Washington Street near present-day Rector Street.
Boiled (Biled) Oysters Malloy was the pseudonym of an American saloon keeper, thief and underworld figure in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. He was especially known in The Bowery where he ran a popular basement bar and underworld hangout, located on Centre Street near the Tombs, known as The Ruins where "three drops of terrible whiskey were sold for a dime". His establishment was one of several owned by popular Bowery characters, most notably Mush Riley, whose dive bar was located just a few doors away from The Ruins. Malloy's nickname was derived from "his love of boiled oysters", and, according to Frank Moss in The American Metropolis from Knickerbocker Days to the Present Time (1897), when his mother commented on his diamonds and fine clothes would respond "Arrah, mother, I've struck it. I'm living on biled oysters."
The Hole-in-the-Wall was a popular saloon and underworld hangout in what is now the South Street Seaport, Manhattan, New York City during the early- to mid-19th century. It has been described as the "most notorious" saloon in New York city during the 19th century. It was one of many dive bars and similar establishments in New York's infamous Fourth Ward, located at the corner of Water and Dover Streets. The saloon was owned by "One Armed" Charley Monell and featured notorious female criminals Kate Flannery and Gallus Mag as bouncers. Both women were employed by Monell as lieutenants in his local criminal organization, which included shanghaiing, and the latter woman supposedly kept a collection of human ears which she had bitten off from unruly customers in bar brawls. She displayed these as trophies on the bar in pickle jars. Sadie the Goat, the later leader of the Charlton Street Gang, was of the many victims who lost her ear in a brawl with Gallus Mag.
The Dump was a popular saloon and dive bar in New York City from the 1890s to about 1910. Owned by Jimmy Lee and Slim Reynolds, it was one of several establishments frequented by the underworld, most especially the Bowery Bums. It has been claimed that Tom Lee, head of the On Leong Tong, also ran the establishment at one time.
Tom Bray was an American saloon keeper and underworld figure in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. He was the owner of a downtown Manhattan dive bar, "Tom Bray's", located on Thompson Street, and which served as an underworld hangout for thieves and bank robbers. The saloon, according to author Frank Moss, was known for its violence as "several men were killed there and a number were badly cut and shot" during its forty years in operation.
Red Light Lizzie was the pseudonym of an American madam, procuress and underworld figure in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century.
Thomas Hadden was American saloon keeper, criminal and underworld figure in New York City's infamous Fourth Ward during the mid-to late 19th century. He was the owner of a Cherry Street dive bar, a popular underworld hangout located next to Dan Kerrigan's place, and co-led the Dead Rabbits with Kit Burns. For over 25 years, his Water Street boarding house was one of the most notorious "crimp houses" on the New York waterfront as thousands of sailors were shanghaied, robbed or murdered. Hadden, and contemporaries such as Bill Slocum or John Allen, exercised considerable political influence in the city and were generally able to receive protection from city officials throughout their criminal careers.
References
- ↑ Asbury, Herbert (1927-12-17). "When New York Was Really Wicked; III -- Downtown Dives". The New Yorker . NewYorker.com. p. 29. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- ↑ Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 174-175) ISBN 1-56025-275-8
- ↑ Sante, Lucy. Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003. (pg. 113) ISBN 0-374-52899-3