Apaches of New York

by Alfred Henry Lewis

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Hardcover

First published November 27, 2009

About the author

American investigative journalist, lawyer, Western novel writer, editor, and short story writer.

During the late 19th century, he wrote muckraker articles for Cosmopolitan. As an investigative journalist, Lewis wrote extensively about corruption in New York politics.

He also wrote biographies about Richard Croker and Andrew Jackson.

As a writer of genre fiction, his most successful works were in his Wolfville series of Western fiction.

1857-1914

Reviews

[Walt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lewis writes a set of stories illustrating New York's gangland ca. 1911. Each story comes alive with a recurring cast speaking in the dialect of the gangs and the era. At times the cast become philosophical when discussing Tammany, William Jennings Bryon, and Julius Caesar. These prolonged discussions give the appearance of more fact than fiction even though each story is supposedly true and based on Lewis' friends in the police department. The color of the people and the era shines through.

Readers familiar with Herbert Asbury's Gangs of New York (or Martin Scorsese's cinematic adaptation of the book) will recognize the type of people and the era. Even though Lewis is writing almost 50 years after the Dead Rabbit Riots, the poverty, crime, corruption, and simpleness of the people is the same. Lewis does write more memorably and less sensationally than Asbury. There is more fiction and less muckracking. The opening chapter follows one of New York's leading gangsters for a night on the city. Inside the notorious New Brighton Dance Hall, he has an unpleasant encounter with the "sheriff" - we would call him the bouncer. The two men meet later that night in a thrilling gun fight. Not long after the "sheriff" is killed by someone who sneaks up behind him and clubs him with a lead pipe. The scene is beautifully recreated even if bloody.

Subsequent chapters are not as memorable; but the same characters make cameos in each chapter. It is probably historical fiction with Lewis creating several characters, like Ike the Blood, Slimey, Old Johnny, and Big Mike Abrams to offer him a means of showcasing the gangsters in their natural habitat and using their language to discuss their world. It is artful and clever if a bit repetitive and at times boring. After the excitement of the first two chapters, the book settles into more sedate stories probably with the philosophical discussions intended to highlight the lives of the underworld men and women.

The characters are memorable. Brave "Eat 'em Up Jack" McManus dies a cowardly death. Readers later on meet his killer, Sardinia Frank. Johnny Spanish is one of the better known early New York gangsters. Lewis presents him as a bumbling brute. Possibly, his story and fame took off after Lewis reiterates the story of Spanish shooting the fingers off a baby. Chick Tricker, Kid Twist, Cyclone Louis, and Biff Ellison were all famous gangsters brought to life in these brief stories. Each of them are more memorable. More difficult to discern are Ike the Blood and Big Mike Abrams, who may have been based on real people. However, their stories represent the ideals of the era much like Morte d'Arthur represents the ideal knight regardless of the reality. Gangsters may have seen themselves like Ike the Blood; but were in fact loathsome thugs like Johnny Spanish.

Overall, this book reminds me of a Quentin Tarantino film: excellent images surrounded by filler. The death of Jack McManus in the snow; the baby with three fingers reaching for Lewis; the Chinese hatchet men in the street waiting to kill Big Mike. All of these scene are very impressive and memorable. Surrounding these scenes is a complex and difficult dialogue that is sometimes easy to understand, and sometimes impossible. I think of this book more in line with fiction than fact; but readers can judge for themselves.

[Alana Cash · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the gangs of New York at the time it was written 1919. Similar names appear in Scorcese's film. The Five Points Gang, Eastside Gang, etc. The writing is in the slang of the gang members and their names are all nicknames - Slimmy, Indian Louie, Big Mike, Kid Under, Johnny the Mock and that becomes confusing because although the book is a series of short stories, the names continue to pop up. It is an interesting look at the Lower East Side of Manhattan in that time period and the gangs include a lot of murderers aside from pickpockets, burglars, enforcers and the like.

While I enjoyed reading the first half of the book, it became tedious because there was no one character to pull the book together nor a continuous plot. It is written by a journalist and it a series of journalistic stories.

[Frank McAdam · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining read for those who enjoyed Asbury's Gangs of New York and Luc Sante's Lowlife, though Lewis romanticizes his subject past the point of credibility. His ruffians certainly never discoursed on politics so learnedly but rather serve as mouthpieces for the author's own views. It's difficult to say if the various episodes and characters have any basis in fact, but Lewis does seem to know the Lower East Side haunts of the gangs fairly well.