Joseph Bruno's Blog, page 86

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Mayor Fernando Wood and the Police Riots of 1857

In 1857, it was chaotic times in New York City as the city's two adverse police forces battled over the right to arrest people, and to accept graft from anyone willing and able to pay them.

In 1853, under Democratic Mayor Harper, the first uniformed police force in New York City was created. Their uniform consisted of a blue coat with brass buttons, a blue cap and gray pants. Led by Police Chief George G. Matsell, the police were generally more crooked than the crooks, taking bribes not to arrest people, and sometimes taking bribes to arrest people. The citizens of New York City complained that their police force, called the Municipal Police, was "the worse in the world."

Fernando Wood was a millionaire in the real estate business by the age of thirty-seven. Buying votes through his wealth, on January 1, 1855, Wood became Mayor of New York City. Wood immediately inserted himself as head of the police graft-gravy-train, charging new police captains $200 a year for a promotion to their $1000-a-year job. Of course, to make up the shortfall, the police captains received $40 a year from each patrolman under their command. The policemen, in turn, shook down honest citizens and protected dishonest citizens, so everyone on the public law enforcement dole was quite happy to keep things just the way they were.

The New York State Legislature would have none of this. In 1857, they passed an act creating a new Metropolitan Police Force, with Fredrick Talmage named as Superintendent of the force. The legislature also ordered Wood to immediately disband his 1100 member Municipal Police Force. Wood refused, saying the creation of the new police force was unconstitutional. Thus the court battle began over which police force would be the one to patrol New York City. The Supreme Court soon voted the creation of the new police force was indeed constitutional. Yet Wood, with the backing of Police Chief Matsell, steadfastly refused to cooperate. 800 men, all aligned with the Democratic Party, stayed with Wood and Matsell. But 300 men, under respected Police Captain George W. Walling, defected and comprised the new Metropolitan Police Force, which was backed by the Republican Party.

On June 16, 1857, the issue came to a head. The street commissioner Joseph Taylor had died, and Wood, for the sum of $50,000, appointed Charles Devlin as the new street commissioner. On the same day, Republican Governor John A. King appointed Daniel Conover to the same position. As Conover entered City Hall to assume his new post, Wood had his Municipal Police throw Conover out of the building. Conover immediately went to a Republican judge, who swore out two warrants for Wood's arrest; one for assault and one for inciting to riot. Captain Walling strode to City Hall to arrest Wood on the assault charge, but he was met by a contingent of 500 Municipals. He was allowed to enter the building and Wood's office. But when Captain Walling told Wood he was under arrest for assault, Wood refused to recognize the legality of the arrest warrant.

Captain Walling grabbed Wood's arm to lead him out of the building, but he was immediately swarmed by twenty Municipals and thrown out of City Hall himself. Captain Walling repeatedly tried to go back up the steps of City Hall, but he was beaten back every time.

Suddenly, a contingent of 100 Metropolitan Police, wearing their new uniforms of frock coats and plug hats, arrived to serve the second arrest warrant on Wood. Instead of wearing the gold badges of the Municipals, the Mets wore copper badges, which gave birth to the term "coppers," then "cops." The Metropolitan Police were described by essayist G.T. Strong as, "a miscellaneous assortment of suckers, soaplocks, Irishmen and Plug-Uglies (an Irish Street Gang)."

Thus began a horrendous half-hour battle between the two New York City Police Departments. The Mets were vastly outnumber by the Municipals, and when the fight was over, some Mets were lucky enough to be able to flee unharmed. Still, 53 Mets were injured, 12 were hurt seriously and one was crippled for life.

While the fighting was intensifying, Captain Walling rushed over the office of Sheriff J.J.V. Westervelt, and implored the sheriff to arrest Mayor Wood. After consulting with a state attorney, Captain Walling, Sheriff Westervelt, and the state attorney marched to City Hall and pushed their way into Wood's office. When the three men informed Wood he was indeed under arrest, he shouted at them, "I will never let you arrest me!"

At the same time, a beaten contingent of Mets spotted the Seventh Regiment of the National Guard boarding a boat for Boston. The Mets convinced the National Guard that they were needed to police a state matter. Recognizing the severity of the situation, Major General Charles Sandford marched his men to City Hall. As his troops stood guard, Sandford strode up the steps of City Hall and into Wood's office, where he announced to Wood that he was under arrest. Wood looked out the window and spotted the National Guard. Realizing his men were no match for the military troops, Wood finally submitted to the arrest.

Yet, this was only the beginning of a long strife. For the rest of the summer, the two police forces constantly conflicted. When a Met cop arrested a crook, a Municipal would step in and set the man free. And visa versa. On numerous occasions, contingents of policemen would raid the other's station house and free all the prisoners. In the meantime, the criminals of New York City were having a fine time indeed. While the two police forces battled each other all hours of the day and night, honest citizens were robbed while they walked the streets. Murders were committed with impunity. And still, all the two police forces were interested in was fighting each other.

This total indifference by the two New York City police departments led to a two-day riot on July 4th and 5th, of 1857, when the Bowery Boys and the Dead Rabbits street gangs squared off with fists, knives, stones and pistols. As many as 1000 gang members were involved. Hundreds were injured and several gang members killed. The riots also led to the indiscriminate looting of stores, in the Five Points and Bowery areas, and as far north as 14th Street.

Finally, in the fall of 1857, the Court of Appeals upheld the Supreme Court's ruling that the Metropolitan Police was the only legitimate police force in town. The Municipals were disbanded, and although Mayor Wood had been arrested, he was released on bond and never tried.

The Mets, who were injured in the June 16th fight, sued Mayor Wood for personal damages. They were awarded $250 apiece by the courts, but Mayor Wood refused to pay a single dime. Finally, the city of New York was forced to pay the damages from the city treasury, including the injured Mets' legal costs.

Wood was defeated in the 1858 Mayoral race by Daniel F. Tiemann. Yet, in 1862, the rotten Wood was somehow re-elected mayor of New York City until 1862. After the Civil Ward started, Wood floated a trail balloon, whereby New York City would secede itself from the state of New York, which was run by Republicans, and become a free city. Wood's proposal was shot down, and New York Tribune's Horace Greeley, wrote in an editorial, "Fernando Wood evidently wants to be a traitor. It is lack of courage only that makes him content with being a blackguard."

In 1867, Wood found his true calling, in the United States House of Representatives, where he served, not too admirably, until his death on February 14, 1881.

Year later, statesman and author John Bigelow, who knew Wood well, said that Wood was, "The most corrupt man who ever sat in the mayor's chair (of New York City)."

Joe Bruno on the Mob – The New York City Flour Riots of 1837

The problem started with the 1835 Great New York City Fire, which destroyed 700 downtown buildings. Almost the entire city's financial center, including the city's lifeblood — the banks, were burned to the ground. Unable to obtain loans, owners of factories and other businesses were not able to rebuild, putting thousands of New Yorkers out of work.

By 1837, New York City had sunk to the depths of a recession. With no jobs and no money, people's diets sometimes consisted of little more than simple buttered or jammed bread. The poor of the city began to panic, when they discovered that flour, needed to make their daily bread, would become so expensive, they wouldn't be able to afford to buy it.

Matters were made worse when reports from Virginia and other wheat producing states, said there was a scarcity of wheat from which flour was made, and a rise in price was inevitable. At the beginning of January, 1837, wheat started at $5.62 cents a barrel. Within days, it had risen to $7 a barrel, then to $12 a barrel. There were rumors that in a few weeks, wheat would go to an incredible $20 a gallon.

The hardest hit were the poor people who lived in the slums of the Five Points, Bowery and the Fourth Ward areas on the Lower East Side. Besides the increase in the price of wheat, meat prices had doubled, and coal to heat their hovels rose to $10 a ton. People became desperate, and poor souls who were not normally crooks, felt they had no choice but to commit petty crimes in order to put food on their family's table.

On February 1, 1837, news circulated that New York City had only four weeks supply of flour available, and that the large flour and grain depot in Troy, New York, contained only four thousand barrels of flour, rather than the usual thirty thousand barrels. The newspapers began sensationalizing the issue, when they stated in their editorials that certain merchants were hoarding wheat and flour in anticipation of the rising prices.

The Tammany Hall politicians were adept in causing unrest between the poor Irish, who populated the slums of Manhattan, and anyone with either money or prestige. Never letting a crisis go to waste, Tammany Hall began spreading unfounded rumors that England was refusing to send any flour to the United States. The message was compounded by the untruth that the Old Mother Country's intension was to starve the poor Irish in America, as a repayment for the rancor between Ireland and England that had existed for centuries.

On February 10, 1837, a crowd of nearly six thousand slum-dwellers, from the Five Points, Fourth Ward and Bowery areas, met at City Hall Park. Running the meeting from atop the steps of City Hall were Tammany Hall titans like Moses Johnson, Paul Hedle, Warden Hayward and Alexander Ming Jr. There it was decided that two businesses in particular; Hart and Company on Washington Street, and SH. Herrick & Company on Coenties Slip, were packed with both flour and wheat, and were holding back distribution, hoping for future monetary gain when the prices rose.

One of the speakers said, "Fellow citizens, Mr. Eli Hart has fifty-three thousand barrels of flour in his store. Let us go there and offer him $8 a barrel, and if he does not take it……" The speaker stopped in mid sentence, but his implication was clear.

When the talking was over, the crowd stampeded from City Hall Park and headed down Broadway, west on Cortland and onto Washington Street. When the watchmen protecting Hart's Store saw the surging mob, they quickly ran inside and locked the three huge iron doors, but they forgot to insert the inside bar on the center door. Eli Hart was watching the scene from a safe distance, and he immediately ran to City Hall, asking for police protection. Twenty policemen rushed to the scene, but they were beaten back by the rioters, and their clubs taken away from them. The newly elected mayor of New York City, Aaron Clark, rushed up the steps of the store and tried to quell the angry mob. But after he was showered with stones and bricks, he was forced to run for this life.

The rioters then rushed the building and wrenched one of the iron doors from it hinges. Using it as a battering ram, the bashed down the other two iron doors, then they rushed inside. Once inside, the mob entered the storerooms, then rolled approximately one thousand bushels of wheat and five hundred barrels of flour into the street. They smashed the bushel and barrels, until thousands of rioters were knee deep in the flour and wheat. People stared to sing, "Here goes flour at eight dollars a barrel!" Woman filled their apron and skirts with flour, while men used their hats and pockets to pilfer the goods. Even young children got into the act, scooping up what they could carry on their frail bodies.

Suddenly, the 27th Regiment of the National Guard arrived and confronted the rioters. Using bayonets and clubs, the Guard stabbed and clubbed as many rioters as they could. Eventually they captured scores of the worst offenders and started to march them to the Tombs Prison. But before they got very far, more rioters attacked them and rescued dozens of prisoners, and in the process, tore the police commissioner's coat right off his back. Forty rioters were finally hustled to the Tombs, where they were tired and convicted, and sent to Sing Sing Prison.

While rioters carted off their dead and wounded from in front of Hart's store, another contingent headed to the store of S.H. Herrick & Company. There they smashed the doors and windows with stones and bats, and within ten minutes, they were able to destroy an additional thirty barrels of flour and a hundred bushels of grain.

Then without any apparent reason, the mob suddenly disbursed and headed back to their slums, their thirst for destruction finally sated. The very next day, the price of flour increased one dollar more.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Bristol Bill The Burglar – The Most Celebrated Bank Robber and Burglar of the 1840′s

He escaped from a British prison in Australia and made his way to New York City. In the 1840′s, the Police Gazette wrote that Bristol Bill the Burglar was "the most celebrated bank robber and burglar of our time."

The London police knew his name but they never revealed it, but we do know the following about Bristol Bill. He was born in the early 1800 to an aristocratic family, the son of a Bristol MP. When Bristol Bill was in his second year at Eton College, his family adopted a 16-year old orphaned daughter of a poor cleric. Bristol Bill was the handsomest of men, almost 6 feet tall, with piecing brown eyes and a broad forehead. In no time, he seduced the young girl and got her pregnant. His father was so outraged when he found out about the young girl's delicate condition, he beat his son to a pulp, then banished the girl from his home. His father sent Bristol Bill back to Eton, but Bristol Bill soon located his love and they both absconded to London.

The child was born, and to pay the bills, Bristol Bill got job in a local locksmith. Soon Bristol Bill was so adept at key, lock and tool making, he started selling his wares to a London Gang called the Blue Boys. The Blue Boys were so successful at burglarizing and bank robbing, they soon make Bristol Bill their leader. This went on for half a dozen years until Bristol Bill accumulated approximately 200,000 dollars. With his newfound riches, and with the police nipping at his heels, Bristol Bill abandoned his wife and child, and headed to Liverpool, where he hoped to hop a ship to America. But a certain London policeman was on his trail, and he arrested Bristol Bill in Liverpool. This same policeman would pay a big part in Bristol Bill's life on the other side of the Pond.

After his arrest, Bristol Bill's money was confiscated and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison at a penal colony in Botany Bay, Australia. After serving 10 years, Bristol Bill escaped by swimming four miles to an American whaler. He first landed in Bedford, Massachusetts, but then he made his way to New York City, where at the time almost all the professional thieves were of British extraction. Bristol Bill's mission was to hook up with a robbery gang that was called "the most extensive association of burglars, counterfeiters, and swindlers that the Western world has ever seen." The London contingent consisted of such noted "crossmen" (a London term for thieves), as Billy Fish, Billy Hoppy, "Cupid" Downer, Bill Parkinson, Bob Whelan, Jim Honeyman and Dick Collard. They were joined by two New Yorkers, Joe Ashley and "One-eye" Thompson.

The brains of the operation was a shady character named Samuel Drury, who was known as a banker and a financier, but was in fact a counterfeiter of great renown, and a fence of stolen goods. Whatever his gang robbed, Drury would buy and sell, and keep the major portion himself.

Bristol Bill met a girl named Catherine Davenport, who was an expert sneak-thief and pickpocket, but she also worked for Drury as a "koneyacker," or a passer of counterfeit cash. Davenport informed Drury that the famous Bristol Bill was in New York City, and that he wanted to join their operation. When Bristol Bill first met Drury, he thought he looked familiar.

"Were you ever a policeman in London?" Bristol Bill asked Drury. Drury admitted he was. "I knew it," Bristol Bill said. "You're the same hound that tracked me to Liverpool and had me pinched for 14 years."

Drury told Bristol Bill that he was caught stealing himself and had to leave London for New York City. Drury told Bristol Bill, "If you have any grudge against me, you must forget it. I can make you a fortune in this country."

Bristol Bill worked with Drury and his crew for a full four years, robbing banks, valuables and jewelry from various states, as far away as New Orleans. He even traveled to Montreal to steal a large quantity of silver plate from the home of the Governor-General of Canada. Bristol Bill's specialty was making his own burglary tools, and he was the best lock-picker in the entire United States. He once escaped from jail with a key he made from silver oak. Another time he opened his cell door with a key he fashioned from a piece of stove pipe. Bristol Bill's biggest heist was the robbery of the barge "The Clinton." After opening the ship's safe with a key he had made from a wax impression, Bristol Bill walked away with $32,000 in cash. He kept $10,000 for himself and sold the rest to Drury for $7000, which Drury disposed of little by little from a bank he owned in upstate New York.

By 1849, Bristol Bill had earned over $400,000 in America, which he spent mostly on this three "wives," one in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn and one in New Jersey. The three woman were fast friends, and they usually accompanied Bristol Bill on his out-of-town robberies; one posing as his wife and the other two as his sisters. There is no record of how he picked and chose which lady to play which role for each separate occasion.

Living the lush life, Bristol Bill thought it was finally time to exact his revenge on Drury. Bristol Bill knew that Drury had bombed the home of a lawyer with whom he had quarreled. Not needing Drury as a fence anymore, Bristol Bill, at the request of the Police Gazette, provided information to the police about Drury's involvement with the explosion. While Drury and his son, along with One-Eyed Thompson, were in jail awaiting arraignment, the police raided Drury's mansion in Astoria and found counterfeit plates and thousands of dollar in counterfeit cash.

For his help in nailing Drury, the New York City police gave Bristol Bill a pass. Knowing New York City was not safe for him, Bristol Bill traveled to Vermont with his current squeeze, a former opera singer known only as "Gookin' Peg." He was also accompanied by a counterfeiter named Christian Meadows and a London crook named English Jim. They leased a cottage in Groton, near the Canadian boarder and got ready to engage in what they did best. Acting on information supplied by the New York Herald and the Police Gazette, the Vermont police raided the cottage in the spring of 1850. They found Bristol Bill's home-made burglary tools, a counterfeit machine and freshly made bills. In addition, there were several diagrams of banks Bristol Bill planned to rob.

Faced with insurmountable evidence, Bristol Bill and Meadows were arrested. English Jim was not at the cottage when the police arrived, and for some reason "Gookin' Peg" was not charged. Bristol Bill and Meadows were sentenced to ten years at Windsor State Prison. When Bristol Bill was released, he was almost 60 years old, and he disappeared from the American crime scene. Some said he went back to London. Others said he died broke in America.

While he was in prison, Bristol Bill confided to fellow inmates, that the biggest mistake he ever made in life was inventing an unpickable lock in his early locksmith days in London, that was sold widely in the United States. He said there were many times when he encountered his invention on bank vaults and on the front doors of homes, which made his mission of breaking, entering and stealing, almost impossible.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – The New York City Anti-Abolition Riots of 1834

It started as a peaceful service at the Chatham Street Chapel by a black minister, but soon turned into four days of riots, that transformed the streets of New York City into an evil cauldron of hatred.

In the early 1800′s, there was a vibrant movement in the United States to end slavery. Yet, there was no place in the country that incited more animosity against black slaves than the streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Abolitionist Movement (to abolish slavery) was spearheaded by men like William Lloyd Garrison, and bothers Arthur and Lewis Tappan. Yet the hatred for black slaves permeated the streets of New York City and was incited by the ruling Irish faction of Tammany Hall. This hatred was punctuated by atrocities committed against slaves by the Irish Five Points street gangs, that Tammany Hall so overtly protected from prosecution for their numerous crimes.

In 1833, aided by the fiery speeches made by William Lloyd Garrison, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. Many of the British living in America spoke out vociferously against slavery and this did not go over too well with the powers that be at Tammany Hall, which convinced the Irish street gangs that the Abolitionists were looking to transform America back into a British colony. Anti-Abolitionist James Watson Webb inciting the Irish gangs even further when he printed in his Courier and Enquirer that, "Abolitionists had told their daughters to marry blacks, black dandies in search of white wives were promenading Broadway on horseback, and Arthur Tappan had divorced his wife and married a negress." All lies, but believed by the rabble nevertheless.

On July 7, 1834, a group of black slaves gathered at the Chatham Street Chapel to hear a sermon by a black minister. In the audience lending his support. was Arthur Tappan. The sermon had just begun, when members of the New York Sacred Music Society broke in, claiming they had rented the place for the evening. The blacks, who had paid for the use of the chapel, refused to leave. The street gangs, with members of the Plug Uglies, Forty Thieves and Roach Guards banding together, attacked the blacks with leaded canes, seriously injuring several of them.

An angry mob formed outside the chapel, and as the police arrived to try to quell the disturbance, Tappan hurried from the scene to his house on Rose Street, which is now the site of the New York City Municipal Building. Knowing he was an avowed abolitionist, a crowd followed him and pelted his home with rocks as he rushed inside.

Webb's paper predictably lied again when he described the event as a "Negro riot," owing to "Arthur Tappan's mad impertinence." The Commercial Advertiser, another pro-slavery rag, said that "gangs of blacks were preparing to set the city ablaze."

Yet this was just the beginning. The next night a huge mob of gang members broke down the door of the Chatham Street Chapel, and while they held an impromptu meeting inside, W.W. Wilder yelled, "To the Bowery Theater!"

The reason for their attack on the Bowery Theater was because it's manager and British actor George P. Farren, another avowed abolitionist, had recently said of the pro-slavery crowd, "Damn the Yankees; they are a damn set of jackasses and fit to be gulled." Farren had also just fired an American actor, and as a result, anti-abolitionists had posted handbills detailing Farren's actions all around New York City.

An estimated 4000 rioters broke down the doors of the Bowery Theater, interrupting the performance of beloved American actor Edwin Forrest, who was a favorite of the Five Point gangs. Forrest tried to quiet the angry mob, but they insisted on knowing the whereabouts of Farren, who was hiding somewhere on the premises. Before they could take the place apart looking for Ferren and subsequently hang him, a large contingent of police arrived and drove the mob from the theater with billy clubs.

Yet the mob was not through. They yelled, "To Arthur Tappan's house!" And that's where they went.

Tappan and his family had escaped before the mob arrived. But when the mob did arrive, they tore his house down, board by board. They pilled Tappan's furniture on the street and set it on fire, until there was nothing left but a painting of George Washington. As one rioter tried to throw the painting into the fire, another one ripped it from his hands saying, "It's George Washington! For God's sake, don't burn Washington!"

The mob rampaged though the city, torturing and raping black slaves, and even gouging out the eyes of an Englishman, after they ripped off his ears. The worst rioting was in the Five Points area where dozens of houses, including St. Phillip's Church were burned to the ground. Several English sailors and black slaves were captured and mutilated. Word soon went out that every house would be burned down in the Five Points that did not have a candle burning in the window. In minutes, candles appeared in almost every window, saving the neighborhood from destruction at the hands of the out-of-control mob.

On the afternoon of July 11, Mayor Cornelius Lawrence issued a proclamation asking all good citizens to band together to stop the rioting. He also told Major General Shadfor to call in the 27th Regiment of the National Guard Infantry. At 9 pm that night, around 300 Five Point Gang members assembled before the Laight Street Church, which was run by vocal abolitionist Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox. The church was guarded by several New York City policemen, but the mob charged anyway, forcing the out-manned policemen to run for their lives.

As the mob destroyed the Church, Mayor Lawrence ordered the infantry into action. Armed with clubs, bayonets, muskets and pistols, the infantry drove the rioters from several downtown churches and the surrounding streets, back into the Five Points area.

The next day, armed soldiers and policemen scoured the Five Points looking for known mob members. They rounded up and arrested 150 Five Points gang members, but then Tammany Hall stepped in and released almost all of them. Only 20 gang members, out of the thousands who pillaged the streets of New York City in July of 1834, were ever tried and convicted.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – The New York City Anti-Abolition Riots of 1934

It started as a peaceful service at the Chatham Street Chapel by a black minister, but soon turned into four days of riots, that transformed the streets of New York City into an evil cauldron of hatred.

In the early 1800′s, there was a vibrant movement in the United States to end slavery. Yet, there was no place in the country that incited more animosity against black slaves than the streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Abolitionist Movement (to abolish slavery) was spearheaded by men like William Lloyd Garrison, and bothers Arthur and Lewis Tappan. Yet the hatred for black slaves permeated the streets of New York City and was incited by the ruling Irish faction of Tammany Hall. This hatred was punctuated by atrocities committed against slaves by the Irish Five Points street gangs, that Tammany Hall so overtly protected from prosecution for their numerous crimes.

In 1833, aided by the fiery speeches made by William Lloyd Garrison, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. Many of the British living in America spoke out vociferously against slavery and this did not go over too well with the powers that be at Tammany Hall, which convinced the Irish street gangs that the Abolitionists were looking to transform America back into a British colony. Anti-Abolitionist James Watson Webb inciting the Irish gangs even further when he printed in his Courier and Enquirer that, "Abolitionists had told their daughters to marry blacks, black dandies in search of white wives were promenading Broadway on horseback, and Arthur Tappan had divorced his wife and married a negress." All lies, but believed by the rabble nevertheless.

On July 7, 1834, a group of black slaves gathered at the Chatham Street Chapel to hear a sermon by a black minister. In the audience lending his support. was Arthur Tappan. The sermon had just begun, when members of the New York Sacred Music Society broke in, claiming they had rented the place for the evening. The blacks, who had paid for the use of the chapel, refused to leave. The street gangs, with members of the Plug Uglies, Forty Thieves and Roach Guards banding together, attacked the blacks with leaded canes, seriously injuring several of them.

An angry mob formed outside the chapel, and as the police arrived to try to quell the disturbance, Tappan hurried from the scene to his house on Rose Street, which is now the site of the New York City Municipal Building. Knowing he was an avowed abolitionist, a crowd followed him and pelted his home with rocks as he rushed inside.

Webb's paper predictably lied again when he described the event as a "Negro riot," owing to "Arthur Tappan's mad impertinence." The Commercial Advertiser, another pro-slavery rag, said that "gangs of blacks were preparing to set the city ablaze."

Yet this was just the beginning. The next night a huge mob of gang members broke down the door of the Chatham Street Chapel, and while they held an impromptu meeting inside, W.W. Wilder yelled, "To the Bowery Theater!"

The reason for their attack on the Bowery Theater was because it's manager and British actor George P. Farren, another avowed abolitionist, had recently said of the pro-slavery crowd, "Damn the Yankees; they are a damn set of jackasses and fit to be gulled." Farren had also just fired an American actor, and as a result, anti-abolitionists had posted handbills detailing Farren's actions all around New York City.

An estimated 4000 rioters broke down the doors of the Bowery Theater, interrupting the performance of beloved American actor Edwin Forrest, who was a favorite of the Five Point gangs. Forrest tried to quiet the angry mob, but they insisted on knowing the whereabouts of Farren, who was hiding somewhere on the premises. Before they could take the place apart looking for Ferren and subsequently hang him, a large contingent of police arrived and drove the mob from the theater with billy clubs.

Yet the mob was not through. They yelled, "To Arthur Tappan's house!" And that's where they went.

Tappan and his family had escaped before the mob arrived. But when the mob did arrive, they tore his house down, board by board. They pilled Tappan's furniture on the street and set it on fire, until there was nothing left but a painting of George Washington. As one rioter tried to throw the painting into the fire, another one ripped it from his hands saying, "It's George Washington! For God's sake, don't burn Washington!"

The mob rampaged though the city, torturing and raping black slaves, and even gouging out the eyes of an Englishman, after they ripped off his ears. The worst rioting was in the Five Points area where dozens of houses, including St. Phillip's Church were burned to the ground. Several English sailors and black slaves were captured and mutilated. Word soon went out that every house would be burned down in the Five Points that did not have a candle burning in the window. In minutes, candles appeared in almost every window, saving the neighborhood from destruction at the hands of the out-of-control mob.

On the afternoon of July 11, Mayor Cornelius Lawrence issued a proclamation asking all good citizens to band together to stop the rioting. He also told Major General Shadfor to call in the 27th Regiment of the National Guard Infantry. At 9 pm that night, around 300 Five Point Gang members assembled before the Laight Street Church, which was run by vocal abolitionist Rev. Samuel Hanson Cox. The church was guarded by several New York City policemen, but the mob charged anyway, forcing the out-manned policemen to run for their lives.

As the mob destroyed the Church, Mayor Lawrence ordered the infantry into action. Armed with clubs, bayonets, muskets and pistols, the infantry drove the rioters from several downtown churches and the surrounding streets, back into the Five Points area.

The next day, armed soldiers and policemen scoured the Five Points looking for known mob members. They rounded up and arrested 150 Five Points gang members, but then Tammany Hall stepped in and released almost all of them. Only 20 gang members, out of the thousands who pillaged the streets of New York City in July of 1834, were ever tried and convicted.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Charlie "The Bug" Workman – The Man Who Killed Dutch Schultz

Charlie "The Bug" Workman was the strong silent type, who killed as many as 20 people for Louie "Lepke" Buchalter's Murder Incorporated. But Workman's claim to fame was being the man who shot Dutch Schultz to death.

Charles Workman was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1908, the second of six children born to Samuel and Anna Workman. Workman quit school in the 9th grade, and began roaming the streets of the Lower East Side, looking for trouble. When he was 18, Workman was arrested for the first time, for stealing a $12 bundle of cotton thread from a truck parked on Broadway. Since it was his first offense, Workman got of with simple probation. The following year Workman was arrested for shooting a man behind the ear over who-owed-who $20. By this time, Workman's reputation on the streets was such, the man he shot refused to testify against him, and even said he couldn't truthfully identify Workman as the shooter. Miffed, the cops pulled up his file and decided Workman had violated his parole on the cotton theft. As a result, Workman was sent to the New York State Reformatory. For the next few years, Workman was in and out of prison, for such parole violations as associating with "questionable characters" and failure to get a job.

In 1926, Workman hooked on as a freelance leg breaker, or schlammer, for Lepke's union strike breaking activities. Workman did such a good job, Lepke put him on his permanent payroll at $125 a week, as a killer for Lepke's Murder Incorporated. Lepke liked Workman's cool demeanor, and after Workman performed a few exceptional "hits" for Lepke, Lepke gave him the nickname "The Bug," because a person had to be crazy to kill with the calm detachment Workman displayed when performing his gruesome duties. Workman's other nickname "Handsome Charlie," was given to him by members of the opposite sex.

For the next few years Workman was in and out of trouble with the law. In 1932, he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. In 1933, he was arrested again for decking an off-duty police officer after a minor traffic dust-up. All the while, his specialty was killing whomever Lepke said needed to be killed. After a hit was done, Workman enjoyed the fringe benefit of "sweeping out the pockets" of his victims. Most of the times, Workman earned himself an extra thousand dollars or so for his efforts, and one time he even found a ten thousand dollar bonus in the pants pocket of some poor sucker he had just whacked.

In 1935, orders came down from up top that maniac gangster Dutch Schultz had to go. Lepke decided that Workman was the man for the job. On Oct. 23, 1935, Lepke sent Workman and Lepke's second-in-charge Mendy Weiss to the Palace Chophouse in Newark, New Jersey, in a car driven by a man known as "Piggy." While Weiss stood near the bar, Workman walked into the men's room to make sure there would be no witnesses. Standing in the men's room was a startled Dutch Schultz. Workman plugged Schultz once in the torso, piercing his stomach, large intestine, gall badder and liver. Workman then exited the bathroom, and he and Weiss entered the back room of the restaurant, where three of Schultz' henchmen, Lulu Rosencrantz, Abe Landau and Abbadabba Berman, were enjoying their last supper together. Weiss and Workmen kept shooting until their guns were empty, and their prey were dead on the floor.

Weiss headed for the front door, but Workman turned and headed back to the bathroom, expecting to find a big bundle of cash in Schultz' pockets. The first surprise for Workman was when he found not a dime in Schultz' possession. The second surprise was when he walked outside expecting to find Weiss and Piggy in a waiting getaway car, and found nothing, except the sound of police sirens hurrying to the scene.

Workman sprinted into a swamp behind the chophouse, where he dumped his blood-stained overcoat, and started hiking in the direction of Manhattan, his shoes and pants wet, and smoke coming out of his ears, at the thought of being left for dead after an important hit. Workman found a set of railroad tracks and followed them all night long. The tracks led to a tunnel that went under the Hudson River, and Workman emerged at the break of dawn in downtown Manhattan. He went to a Lower East Side coffee shop, favored by thugs like him, and was mortified when he discovered the Scultz killing was all over the newspapers, and the word on the street, was that Weiss was the lone shooter.

Workman went to a friend's house in Chelsea for a few hours of sleep, and when he woke up, he phoned Lepke and said he wanted to kill Weiss, for ditching him after the Scultz hit. Lepke called for a sit-down a few days later at Weiss' home at 400 Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn. Workman told his tale first. When it was Weiss turn to defend himself he said, "I claim hitting the Dutchman was mob business. And I stayed until hitting the Dutch was over. But then the Bug went back in the toilet to give the Dutchman a heist. I claim that was not mob business anymore. It was personal business."

Lepke ruled in favor of Weiss and told Workman, if he were smart, he'd drop the matter completely and never mention it again, under the treat of maybe getting hit himself. Lepke sent Workman to Miami to cool off, and there Workman met Lucky Luciano, who was part of a nine-man National Crime Syndicate, along with Lepke. Workman need to borrow some cash to lay low, and when he started to mention Weiss' actions on the night of the Schultz hit, Luciano cut him off, saying, "Here's the money. Now stop talking about that other thing."

In 1940, Workman was arrested in Brighton Beach on a change of "vagrancy." Workman's pinch was orchestrated by Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, who was on a mission to arrest, try, convict and execute every member of Murder Incorporated he could get his hands on. By this time Murder Incorporated killer Abe "Kid Twist" Reles had already turned rat, and had told Dewey that Workman had done the Schultz job. This was confirmed by Allie Tannenbaum, maybe Workman's closest friend in the mob, who had also turned canary.

In 1941, Workman was tried for the Scultz murder. During the trail, when Workman realized he had little chance of acquittal, he changed his plea to "no defense." Judge Daniel Brennan accepted the plea and sentenced Workman to life in prison.

As Workman was being led from the courtroom, the guards let him speak with his brother Abe. Workman told Abe, "Whatever you do, live honestly. If you make 20 cents a day, make it do for you. If you can't make an honest living, make the government support you. Keep away from the gangs and don't be a wise guy. Take care of Mama and Papa and watch 'Itchy'( his younger brother). He needs watching."

Workman was sent to Trenton State Prison. In 1942, Workman offered his services to the United States Navy to go on a suicide mission to hit Japan and avenge Pearl Harbor. His request was denied. In 1952, Workman was transferred to Rahway State Prison Farm and he worked there at hard labor until he was paroled in 1964, after almost 23 years in prison. After his release, Workman went straight, getting a job as a salesman in the Garment Center, which was once ruled by his boss Lepke.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson – The Godfather of Harlem

Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson was known as a murderous policy numbers baron in Harlem during the 1930′s, but he was, in fact, the conduit between the Italian Mob and the Harlem rackets for almost three decades.

Ellsworth Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina on October 31, 1905. He got the nickname "Bumpy" because he had a huge dump on the back of his head. Johnson was said to be a brilliant child, and by the time he was eight years old, he had already skipped two grades. When Johnson was ten years old, his brother Willie was accused of killing a white man. Afraid of a lynch mob for Willie, Johnson's parents sent Willie to live up north. Bumpy Johnson was a proud black man, who was defiant of the segregation and violence perpetrated on the blacks in the deep south. Johnson's parents were worried Johnson, who had a violent temper, would follow in his brother Willie's footsteps, so in 1919, they sent Johnson to Harlem to stay with his Aunt Mabel.

After graduating from Boys High in Brooklyn and attending City College for a few semesters, Johnson got involved with a wild element in Harlem. As a result, he made several trips to prison for such crimes as armed robbery and burglary. In a 10-year stretch of prison life, Johnson, because of his penchant for violence, spent a full three years in solitary confinement. When he was released in 1932, he had spent more that half his years on earth behind bars.

Back on the streets causing mayhem, Johnson caught the eye of Stephanie St. Clair, called "Madame Queen" in Harlem. Johnson became chief lieutenant to St. Clair, but it was rumored they were also lovers, even though St. Clair was 20 years older than Johnson.

St. Clair was a numbers baron who was being squeezed out of the rackets by crazed gangster Dutch Schultz. Schultz used every trick in the book to drive St. Clair out of Harlem, including killing her numbers runners and paying the cops, much more that St. Clair was paying the cops, to arrest her numbers runners on sight. Johnson, knowing Schultz was not a reasonable man, went to Italian mob boss Lucky Luciano and asked Luciano to intercede in St. Clair's behalf. Luciano was impressed with Johnson gumption and intelligence, but he told Johnson there was not much he could do as far as Schultz was concerned, since they were partners in several other illegal endeavors. Johnson decided to take the war to Schultz, and for the next three years, both gangs shot each other on sight, resulting in numerous casualties on both sides.

Johnson and St. Clair caught a break, when in 1935, Luciano, tired of the murderous Schultz' unpredictable violence, had Schultz gunned down in a New Jersey steakhouse. Luciano gave Schultz' numbers rackets to "Trigger" Mike Coppola, a captain in what was later to be called the Genovese Crime Family. But Luciano, remembering Johnson's capabilities, cut a deal with Johnson, allowing Johnson and St. Clair to keep their independent Harlem numbers business in tact. This made Johnson an instant hero in Harlem to the black people, and it also gave Johnson respect and credibility with the Italian mob. Soon, St. Clair opted for retirement, and she turned over her number operations to Johnson.

With the backing of the Italian mob, Johnson became "The Man" in Harlem. He rubbed elbows with several Harlem celebrities, including Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lena Horne, Billie Holiday and World Middleweight Champion Sugar Ray Robinson. He was also the uncrowned Crime Boss of Harlem, and no one could run an illegal operation in Harlem without clearing it with Johnson first and cutting him in for a piece of the pie.

From 1940 until 1968, Johnson acted as a "middleman" between the Genovese Crime Family, who operated out of Italian Harlem, which was the area surrounding East 116th Street, and the black gangsters operating out of the main section of Harlem. Johnson brokered numerous drug deals between black dealers and the Italian suppliers, who were importing the drugs from overseas. Johnson was also known as a "persuader," or a high-level gangster who could settle mob disputes before they erupted into violence. It is estimated that during the time he was in power in Harlem, Johnson brokered deals, mostly drug affairs, involving tens of millions of dollars, with the Genovese Crime Family.

In 1952, Johnson was indicted for conspiracy to sell heroin and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. While he was at Alcatraz, it was rumored he helped three fellow inmates escape. Although he stood put himself, Johnson was said to have arranged to have a boat pick up the three escapees, once they sneaked out of prison and made it to the San Francisco Bay.

Johnson was released from prison in 1963, and when he returned to Harlem, the local folk threw him a ticker tape parade. In December 1965, Johnson led a sit-down strike in a police station, refusing to leave, as a protest against the cops conducting unreasonable surveillances on his crew. Johnson was charged with "refusal to leave a police station," but at trial he was found not guilty.

On July 7, 1968, Johnson, under indictment by the Feds for drug conspiracy, was at Wells Restaurant in Harlem at 2 am, munching on a meal of chicken legs and hominy grits, washed down by coffee. When suddenly, he grabbed his chest and fell to the floor. With two-lifelong friends at his side, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson died of a death attack at the age of 63, forever to be known as the "Harlem Godfather."

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Caspar Holstein – The Harlem Policy King

He was considered a genius; a compassionate man who gave freely to the poor. But Caspar Holstein made his fortune in the Harlem numbers policy game, which he helped invent.

Casper Holstein was born on December 7, 1876, in St. Croix, Danish West Indies. His parents were of mixed African and Danish descent, and his father's father was a Danish officer in the Danish West Indies Colonial militia. The Holstein family moved to New York City in 1894. Holstein, an extremely bright boy, graduated from high school in Brooklyn, which was no mean accomplishment for a black man before the turn of the century. After graduation, he enlisted in the Navy, and during World Ward I, he visited his homeland, which by then was known as the West Virgin Islands.

When Holstein was discharged from the Navy, he worked at various odd jobs, including being a doorman in an Upper East Side building. He also became a personal assistant to a wealthy white couple, and years later after he made his fortune, and they had lost theirs, Holstein supported this couple, then paid for their funeral.

Looking to better himself, Holstein wandered down to Wall Street, where he got a job, first as a messenger, then head messenger, for a commodities brokerage firm on Wall Street. Holstein became enamored of gambling, especially the horses, but he also dabbled in the stock market, perusing daily figures from the Boston and the New York City Clearing Houses. One day, an idea came to Holstein that would improve his lot dramatically. He knew that people in black neighborhoods, such as Harlem, loved to gamble, but most didn't have enough spare cash to do so. When he had saved enough money to start his endeavor, Holstein devised a scheme where people could bet as little as a dime on a random set of three digits numbers, that would appear daily in the New York City newspapers.

Using the Boston and New York City Clearing House figures, Holstein took two middle digits from the New York number and one middle digit from the Boston number. So if the two clearing house totals were 9,456,131 and 7, 456,253 respectively, the winning number would be 566; the "56" being the two digits before the last comma of the first figure, and the "6" being the last digit before the last comma of the second figure. This system was so random, it could not be manipulated, like it would be later, when gangster Dutch Schultz muscled in on the Harlem numbers racket, and began using race track figures, which indeed he did manipulate. By the early 1920′s, Holstein's system was the rage in Harlem. Holstein became known as the "Bolita King", earning an estimated $5000 a day.

Using his newfound wealth, Holstein contributed generously to worthwhile causes. He gave huge amounts of cash to the the St. Vincent Sanitarium, the nationalist Garvey Movement, and he funded prizes for Opportunity Magazine's literary awards, which discovered much of Harlem's young talent. Holstein built dormitories at black colleges, and he financed many of Harlem's artists, writers and poets. He also helped start a Baptist school in Liberia and he established a hurricane relief fund for his native Virgin Islands. The New York Times said that Holstein was, "Harlem's favorite hero, because of his wealth, his sporting proclivities and his philanthropies among the people of his race."

Seeing how Holstein and Stephanie St. Clair had turned Harlem into a financial bonanza due to their numbers rackets, gangster Dutch Schultz barged in and took over their games. Just like that. Schultz had big politicians, including the disgraced Jimmy Himes in his back pocket. Schultz also bought off the cops, and killed black numbers runners in droves. Schultz eventually forced St. Clair to work for him, but Holstein refused Schultz' offers to consolidate their number rackets.

In 1928, Holstein was kidnapped for $50,000 ransom, by five white gangsters, whom were presumed by the Harlem public to be goons sent by Schultz. The news of Holstein's kidnapping made national headlines. The New York Times reported that Holstein had been seen at Belmont Racetrack just days before his abduction, betting more that $30,000 on the ponies. Holstein was released after three days in custody, insisting he had paid no ransom. His explanation was that his captors had felt sorry for him and had released him with $3 cab fare.

Yet Holstein's tale carried little weight, when he soon cut down on his policy activities. A few years later, Holstein completely stopped his street operations and operated only as a lay-off better. In 1935, despite the fact that he was barely in the game, Holstein was arrested for illegal gambling. He was tried and convicted, and spent one year in prison. Holstein claimed he was framed, possibly by Schultz, but he did his time in jail uneventfully. When he was released from prison, Holstein got involved in the real estate business, and he provided mortgages for people in Harlem, whom the regular banks shunned.

Casper Holstein died on April 5, 1944, at the age of 68. More than 2,000 people attended his funeral at Harlem's Memorial Baptist Church. A scholarship at the University of the Virgin Islands and a housing development in St. Croix are named in Holstein's memory.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Stephanie St. Clair – The Queen of the Harlem Numbers Rackets

She was chased out of the Harlem numbers rackets by Dutch Schultz, but when Schultz lay dying from a bullet wound, Stephanie St. Clair had the last laugh.

Stephanie St. Clair was born in 1886, in Marseilles, an island in the East Caribbean. At the age of 26 she immigrated to New York City and settled in Harlem. Almost immediately, she hooked up with the Forty Thieves, a white gang who were in existence since the 1850′s. There is no record of what St. Clair did for the next ten years, but it's safe to say, considering her ties to the Forty Thieves, a notorious shake-down gang, what she did was anything but legal.

In 1922, St. Clair used $10,000 of her own money and started Harlem's first numbers rackets. St. Clair was known for having a violent temper and often cursed her underlings out in several languages. When people questioned her about her heritage, she snapped that she was born in "European France," and that she spoke flawless French, unlike the French-speaking rabble from the Caribbean. In Harlem they called her Madame St. Clair, but in the rest of the city, she was known as just plain "Queenie."

In the mid 1920′s, known bootlegger and stone killer Dutch Schultz decided he wanted to take over all the policy rackets in Harlem. Schultz did not ask St. Clair to back away too nicely, resulting in the deaths of dozens of St. Clair's numbers runners. St. Claire enlisted the help of Bumpy Johnson, an ex-con with a hair-trigger temper, to take care of the Schultz situation. Johnson went downtown and visited Italian mob boss Lucky Luciano. He asked Luciano to talk some sense into Schultz. But there was not much Luciano could do, since at the time, he was one of Schultz' partners. Luciano suggested that St. Clair and Johnson throw in with Schultz, making them, in effect, a sub-division of Schultz's numbers business. This did not sit too well with St. Clair, and even though Johnson tried to convince her this was the smart move, she turned down Luciano's offer.

Then out of nowhere, St. Clair began having trouble with the police, whom she was paying off to look the other way. This was the work of Schultz, who through his connections with Tammany Hall, had several politicians in his back pocket, as well half the police force in New York City. While Schultz' number runners worked the streets of Harlem with impunity, St. Clair's runners, when they were not being killed by Schultz' men, were being arrested by the police.

St. Clair decided to fight back with the power of the press. In December 1930, St. Clair took several ads in Harlem newspapers, accusing the police of graft, shakedowns and corruption. That did not go over too well with the local fuzz, and they immediately arrested St. Clair for illegal gambling. St. Clair was convicted and sentenced to eight months hard labor on Welfare Island. Upon her release, she appeared before the Seabury Committee, which was investigating graft in the Bronx and Manhattan Magistrates Courts. St. Clair testified that from 1923-1926, she had paid the police in Harlem $6000 to protect her runners from arrest, and that the police had taken her money and arrested her number runners anyway. Schultz must have had a good laugh over that one, since $6000 was less than he paid monthly to keep the cops happy in New York City.

Nothing came from her testimony before the Seabury Committee, so St. Clair decided to plead her case to New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker, who was almost as crooked as Schultz. St. Clair told Walker that Schultz was pressuring her to join his gang, or else. Walker, who was being investigated by the Seabury Committee himself, answered St. Clair by quitting his job as Mayor and relocating to Europe for the next few years.

St. Claire then pleaded with the other black policy number bankers in Harlem to join forces with her in a battle against Schultz. Knowing that Schultz had too much juice in the government, and too many shooters in his gang, they turned her down flat.

Bumpy Johnson soon found out that Schultz had put the word out on the streets that St. Clair was to be shot on sight. St. Clair then went into hiding, refusing to even go outside to see the light of day. On one occasion, Johnson had to hide St. Clair in a coal bin, under a mound of coal, to save her from Schultz' men. That was the final straw for St. Claire. She sent word to Schultz that she would agree to his demands. Schultz sent word back to her that she could remain alive, as long as she gave Schultz a majority share in her numbers rackets. St. Clair reluctantly agreed.

Schultz had his own run of bad luck, when he demanded that Luciano and his pals agree to the killing of Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, who was breathing down Schultz's neck. Schultz' proposition was turned down, and when he said he would kill Dewey himself, he was shot in the stomach in the bathroom of a New Jersey restaurant. Schultz lingered in a delirious state in a hospital for a few days before he died. As he was laying there mumbling inanities, a telegram arrived saying, "As ye sow, so shall you reap."

The telegram was sent by the Queen of Harlem — Stephanie St. Clair.

St. Clair eventually turned over her rackets to Bumpy Johnson. She faded into obscurity and died in her sleep in 1969.

In the 1997 movie "Hoodlum," Lawrence Fishburne played Bumpy Johnson, Tim Roth played Dutch Schultz, Andy Garcia played Lucky Luciano and Cicely Tyson played Stephanie St. Clair.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Waxey Gordon (Irving Wexler) – He Lived Like a King — But He Died Like a Crumb

Waxey Gordon was one of the richest, most powerful gangsters in New York City in the 1920′s. But after he was set up by his enemies for a fall, he was reduced to selling junk on the streets, like a common two-bit criminal.

Waxey Gorden was born Irving Wexler in 1889, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to Polish/Jewish parents. Not having great fondness for the New York City school system, he took to the streets and became the best pickpocket on the Lower East Side. Wexler was so good at his trade, he took the nickname "Waxey," because he was so "light fingered," he could pick someone's wallet, like his fingers and the wallet were coated with wax. Waxey Gorden sounded better than Waxey Wexler, so Waxey Gordon it was, from that point on.

Gordon did what most tough Jewish criminals did in those days. He got involved in the labor rackets, with the Dopey Fein gang, and soon he was schlamming, or breaking heads, with the best of them. He also did a little burglary and minor dope dealing to supplement his income. One of the men he cracked heads for was the legendary gambler Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein, who was known to do a little investing in illegal enterprises on the side. It was the beginning of Prohibition, and Gordon hooked up with small-time hood Max "Big Maxey" Greenberg, who had big ideas, but little money. Greenberg had left his home in St. Louis for the bright lights of Manhattan, because he heard there were certain people who might bankroll his dream of owning his own bootlegging business. Greenberg needed $175,000 to get started, and through Gordon's connection to Rothstein, Maxey and Waxey approached "The Brain" (on a Central Park bench, no less), about loaning them the cash they needed, in return for a piece of the action.

At first, Rothstein turned then down flat. But then, he had a change of heart, as well as a change of plans. Rothstein saw tremendous potential in the bootlegging business, but what Greenberg and Gordon were planning was strictly small time. Rothstein said he would loan them the money, but with some very specific conditions.

First, Rothstein would run the operation, with Greenberg and Gordon as his main men, using their street contacts as the secondary employees, who were needed for such a big operation. Secondly, instead on smuggling cheap hootch in boats from Canada, Rothstein saw more monetary potential in shipping in top-notch booze from England. Rothstein purchased six speedboats, and when the cargo ship he hired, carrying 20,000 cases of Scotch, arrived in American waters from England, it would stop several miles off the coast of Montauk, Long Island. There it would be met by the six Rothstein speedboats, each of which would carry nearly a thousand cases of booze back to shore. After the speedboats made three, or four trips from ship to shore, trucks would take the booze to a warehouse in Manhattan, where it would be stored, then distributed to thousands of speakeasies throughout the city.

This continuing operation, brought Gordon much wealth. It was estimated he earned between one and two millions dollars a year, pure profit for himself, With this dough he bought several office buildings in Manhattan, a string of speakeasies and illegal gambling houses, and eventually, after Rothstein was killed over a bad gambling debt, his own fleet of motor boats to keep the illegal flow of booze coming from across the pond. Gordon also bought a townhouse in Manhattan on Central Park West, and his own castle in New Jersey, complete with its very own moat.

Gordon soon formed bootlegging partnerships with the Italian gangs, headed by Lucky Luciano, who was himself was partnered with Jewish kingpin Meyer Lansky. By this time, Luciano was in the process of organizing Italian gangs under one umbrella, and Lansky was doing the same thing with Jewish gangs throughout the country.

The only problem was, Lansky and Gordon, both Jews, couldn't stand each other – wouldn't even sit at the same table together. Both accused the other of hijacking their bootlegging trucks and both were right in their assumptions. What transpired next was, what was known in the press as "The War of the Jews." Lansky killed Gordon's men and Gordon gleefully returned the favor. Luciano tried to step it to settle the dispute, but to no avail.

Gordon had now been declared Public Enemy Number One by the FBI, which put him right in the cross hairs of Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey. In 1930, It was Luciano's idea to feed Gordon to Dewey on an income tax rap, with Lansky's brother Jake leaking information to Dewey's investigators about Gordon's financial operations. Gordon was arrested and indited by Dewey. At Gordon's trial, Dewey was able to show that Gorden lived high on the hog, while raking in two million bucks a year, and only reporting an annual salary of $8,125. One hundred and fifty witnesses testified against Gorden, minutely explaining his illegal money-making activities. As a result, the jury took only 51 minutes to come back with a guilty verdict, which sent Gordon to the slammer on a ten-year sentence.

When Gordon was released from Leavenworth in 1940, all his properties had been seized by the government and his millions had somehow disappeared. He told reporters, "Waxey Gordon is dead. From now on it's Irving Wexler, salesman."

Gorden became a salesman alright, but not in the conventional manner. He moved out to California and began peddling dope in the streets. In 1951, he was arrested while delivering $6,300 of heroin to a federal narcotics informer. One of the cops who arrested Gordon was Sgt. John Cottone. Gordon started crying, as Cottone was putting the cuffs on him, "Please Johnny, don't arrest me. Don't take me in for junk. Let me run, then shoot me."

In December, 1951, Gordon, now 63 years old, was convicted of narcotics trafficking, and sentenced to 25 years in Alcatraz Prison. He died broke and a broken man, of a heart attack, six months later on June 24, 1952.