Joe Bruno's Mobsters - Six Volume Set
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Joe Bruno’s Mobsters - Six Volume Set
By Joe Bruno
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What people are saying about “Joe Bruno’s Mobster – Six Volume Set” :
A MUST FOR THE TRUE GRUE COLLECTOR!! By RJ Parker – “Best Selling Author/Book Reviewer
JOE BRUNO'S MOBSTERS - SIX VOLUME SET is a collection of three Mobster's books and with just under 700 pages, a true history book of murder and mayhem. I love Mr. Bruno's books. He is the go to guy when you want information on gangs and mobs. A must have for the true crime collector.
Five-Star Book and a Bargain to Boot! By GinaBeena “Gina”
Joe Bruno's Mobsters - Six Volume Set" is a definitive history of American mobsters, dating as far back as the early 1820's and continuing until the mid-1900's.
The first three books "Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks and Other Creeps - Volumes 1, 2 and 3" contain bios of scores of gangsters, both male and female. These three books also include famous murders (The Murder of Sanford White) and disasters like the General Slocum Paddleboat Fire.
The fourth book - "The Wrong Man: Who Ordered the Murder of Gambler Herman Rosenthal and Why" details a famous murder than took place 100 years ago. Bruno maintains the wrong man, NY City Police Lieut. Charles Becker, was executed, while the real killers testified against Becker and walked away free men.
"Murder and Mayhem in the Big Apple" focuses on the exploits of the murderous Black Hand, The Boys from Brownsville, and Murder incorporated.
And Finally "Mob Wives - Fuhgeddaboudit!" is Bruno's way of saying that the TV program "Mob Wives" is such an embarrassing abomination, no intelligent person should ever watch the show. And I wholeheartedly agree.
All in all, $2.99 is a cheap price to pay for so much information in one six-volume book.
A great value for under 3 bucks!! By JldB
When I saw it was only $2.99 for six books in a boxed set on 'Mobsters', I was first skeptical that the quality would not be great. But, boy was I wrong! The entire book is well-written and quite informative. Highly recommended!
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MOBSTERS, GANGS, CROOKS, AND OTHER CREEPS – VOLUME 1 – NEW YORK CITY
By Joe Bruno
PUBLISHED BY:
Knickerbocker Literary Services
EDITED BY:
Marc A. Maturo and Lawrence Venturato
Copyright 2011 by Knickerbocker Literary Services
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What people are saying about “Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 1 – New York City.”
Great Books for a true crime fix!!! - RJ Parker- Best Selling Author/Publicist
If you're a mobster fan, this is the book for you! - Desmond Gill
Great Read!!!!! Short and informed information about early NY. Criminals and history -- Efrain Perez
I absolutely loved this book. In fact I could not put it down. As the title describes, when I finished it I really felt as if I just took an introductory course on this subject - Eponym
A very interesting book with even more colorful characters - Mrs. Brady
If you liked "Gangs of New York, if you liked “The Godfather,” you must read all three books - Rony Barbery.
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Product Information
I have been a criminal defense lawyer for 34 years, specializing in organized crime cases. Like Joe Bruno, I was born in New York City's Little Italy. My first residence was 146 Mulberry Street on top of Angelo's Restaurant. At the age of six, I moved a mile south to the Lower East Side to a place called Knickerbocker Village, which borders the East River, and is located between the historic Manhattan Bridge and the majestic world-famous Brooklyn Bridge.
Like Joe Bruno, I lived in Knickerbocker Village for more than three decades. Our neighborhood was filled with unforgettable characters, most of whom were criminals, and many of whom were in the Mafia. Joe got to meet and see many famous criminals during his years in Little Italy, and in Knickerbocker Village. It is no surprise to me that he was fascinated not only with the mafia characters, but with the entire history of Lower Manhattan, and New York City in general.
His book, “ Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks and Other Creeps-Volume 1- New York City" is a composite of characters and events, that weaves the denizens of the underworld with the rich history of New York City, from the early 1800's, through the early 1900's. Although Italian-American criminals are covered, this is not just another mafia book. The book covers the Jewish gangsters as well (who truly were the pioneers of organized crime) and the Irish gangs, who were one of the first ethnic groups to run the New York City rackets. Joe even presents a few "lady gangsters" too.
Most of all, “ Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks and Other Creeps-Volume 1- New York City" is easy to read. The short-chapter format is a stroke of genius. It is interesting, informative, entertaining, and to the point. You won't be bored reading it.
Joe Bruno has hit the mark in presenting Old New York the way it really was. Rough and bloody!
- Mathew J. Mari, http://www.mathewmarilaw.com/
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Ah Hoon - The Murder of Chinese Comedian Ah Hoon
Sometimes a comedian can be dead funny, but after one of his onstage performances, Chinese comedian Ah Hoon turned up quite dead instead.
The Tong Wars started in Chinatown in 1899, with the powerful On Leong Tong dominating the gambling and drug interests in downtown Manhattan. The smaller Hip Sing and the Four Brothers Tongs joined forces and engaged in violent confrontations with the On Leong Tong, over the rights to control Chinatown's illegal activities. Almost daily, dead bodies littered the streets of Chinatown, which at the time only consisted of Mott Street, Pell Street, Chatham Square, and Doyers Street.
Ah Hoon was a famous Chinese comedian, who was featured often at the Chinese Theater at 5-7 Doyers Street, right in the middle of the Tong War Zone. The Chinese Theater was a venue, not only for the Chinese, but for English speaking audiences who were brave enough to venture into an area where gunpowder permeated the air. Ah Hoon was an associate of the On Leong Tong, and the content of his jokes, in which he constantly disparaged the Hip Sing and Four Brothers Tongs, made it seem like he thought he was bullet-proof.
Things started to get hairy for Ah Hoon, when the Reverend Huie Kim, the pastor of the Christian Morning Star Mission on Doyers Street, warned Ah Hoon that his jokes were not too funny with certain people. The good reverend also told Ah Hoon that Ah Hoon could get badly hurt if he kept telling his jokes on stage, where hundreds of people could hear the many indignities he spewed disparaging the Hip Sing and Four Brothers Tongs.
Ah Hoon thumbed his nose at the Reverend Huie Kim, and as a result, the Hip Sing and Four Brothers Tongs formerly declared war on the On Leong Tong. Instead of holding back, Ah Hoon stepped up the frequency and the ferocity of his jokes on stage. This thoroughly annoyed the Hip Sing and Four Brothers Tongs, so they announced publicly that they were going to kill Ah Hoon. To make sure Ah Hoon got the message, they sent an emissary to Ah Hoon, giving him the exact time and date he was going to be murdered.
Ah Hoon took the threat with a shrug. But it was Hoochy-Coochy Mary, who lived on the floor below Ah Hoon, in a boarding house on Chatham Square, who ran to the police and begged them to protect the comedian. On December 30, 1909, Police Sergeant John D. Coughlin and two patrolmen accompanied Ah Hoon to his performance at the Chinese Theater. Word had spread quickly on the streets of Chinatown that Ah Hoon was scheduled to be murdered, and as a result, the theater was packed with people hoping to see a live execution for the price of a simple theater admission. Standing-room-only tickets were also sold out, and there was a huge
crowd outside, not too happy at being turned away from witnessing Ah Hoon's dramatic demise.
Seeing the police presence, inside and outside the theater, the Hip Sing Tong decided to back away from their word, and at the end of the show, Ah Hoon, to the chagrin of the crowd, was still alive and joking. Sergeant Coughlin and his two underlings hustled Ah Hoon out of the theater, though a hidden underground tunnel, to his dwelling on Chatham Square. Ah Hoon climbed the stairs of his building, entered his room and locked the door. A group of heavily-armed On Leong bodyguards stood guard outside Ah Hoon's door, while dozens milled in the street outside his building looking for any impending attack. Ah Hoon went to sleep that night, but he did not wake up the following morning.
Hoochy-Coochy Mary heard a shot in the middle of the night, and she ran upstairs to alert the On Leong bodyguards. When they broke through the door, they found Ah Hoon dead on his bed with a bullet hole in his chest. What made the matter all the more vexing was that there was only one window in Ah Hoon's room and it faced a blank building wall five feet away.
The solution to Ah Hoon's death was quite simple and complicated at the same time.
So they wouldn't be seen by the On Leong bodyguards, the Hip Sing assassins had slipped into a tenement several buildings down from Ah Hoon's building. They climbed the stairs to the roof, then they jumped across three roofs to the roof of the building next to Ah Hoon's building. There they lowered the killer on a boatswain's chair tied to a rope, down the narrow alley, until he was parallel to Ah Hoon's window. The killer then quietly entered Ah Hoon's room and shot the Chinese comedian right through the heart. The deed being done, the killer exited the room in the same manner in which he had entered.
The Hip Sing Tong was so overjoyed at the success of their mission, they held a parade the next day in the streets of Chinatown, complete with fireworks, ancestral music, and the dancing of the mythical Chinese dragons.
On New Year's night 1910, two days after the murder of Ah Hoon, the Chinese Theater was packed to the rafters again. In the middle of the performance, someone threw several packs of lit firecrackers into the air. People panicked, and they fled the theater quickly; except for five On Leong Tong members, who were shot dead during the distraction of the fireworks.
No one was arrested for their murders, and the Tong Wars continued for another generation.
Allen, John
He was a con artist, a drunk, a murderer, and a pimp, and he ran one of the most obscene dance halls in the history of New York City. For all his vast transgressions, John Allen was dubbed “The Wickedest Man in New York City.”
John Allen, the youngest of eight sons, was born in 1823 in upstate New York. His father was a prominent Presbyterian minister, and two of Allen's brothers became Presbyterian ministers too, while a third became a Baptist minister. The rest of his brothers absconded to New York City and became burglars, crooks, and confidence men.
Allen's father sent him to the Union Theological Seminary, hoping young John would pick the righteous path rather than the wicked road his brothers had traveled in New York City. Allen studied religion for a few months. But wanting more out of life, he packed his bags and joined his evil siblings in downtown Manhattan.
Allen's brothers showed him the tricks of their trade, and in no time Allen became proficient at the crimes his brothers had taught him. One day, one of his brothers became suspicious of Allen, when he realized the police in the area seemed to know, in advance, what crime they were going to commit, and where and when they were going to commit it. His brothers accused Allen of being a stool-pigeon. Allen reluctantly admitted they were right, which induced his brothers to beat him to a pulp, then cast him out into the street, never again to return.
In 1855, after freelance thievery earned him a significant sum of cash, Allen met and married a known criminal named Little Suzie. Little Suzie's specialty was rolling drunks, after she seduced them with sex, and then put knockout drops in their drinks. While Little Suzie plied her trade in the waterfront district of the 4th Ward, which included Cherry, Water, Dover, and Catherine Streets, Allen got a job working for a waterfront crimp who ran a boarding house for sailors.
Allen's job was to entice sailors into the crimp's establishment, where they would get the sailor drunk, then drug his drink. When their mark was out cold, they robbed him of all his possessions. Then Allen and his boss would carry the unconscious sailor to an outgoing vessel, in which the sailor was shanghaied to faraway places, where he would spend several months, if not several years, in servitude.
One day, Allen was dumb enough to have a drink with his boss. And the next thing he knew, Allen was on a ship to South America, not to return to New York City for six months. After Allen's return, his former boss was soon found beaten to death, courtesy of an iron belaying-pin, which was a device used on ships to secure lines of rigging. Allen was the obvious suspect, but since the cops had no evidence, and also because the dead man was so intensely disliked by everyone on both sides of the law, no charges were ever brought against Allen.
Allen reconnected with Little Suzie, and they went to work for Hester Jane Haskins, called “Jane the Grabber,” a monster-of-a-woman, who ran several houses of ill-repute in the area surrounding Sixth Avenue and 30th Street, in the middle of what was called Satan’s Circus.
Allen’s and Suzie’s gig was to travel throughout the northeastern states and fetch young girls, with the promise of getting them well-paying jobs in New York City. Of course, when these poor girls were introduced to “Jane the Grabber,” Jane immediately beat them and drugged them, then forced them to work as prostitutes in her brothels.
This all went fine for Allen and Little Suzy until “Jane the Grabber” got greedy and started abducting women from prominent families, including the daughter of the Lieutenant-Governor of a New England state. Knowing heat from the police was inevitable, Allen and Little Suzie quit their jobs for “Jane the Grabber,” and headed back to the confines of the 4th Ward. That turned out to be good timing for them, since “Jane the Grabber” was soon arrested for her crimes and sent to prison for a very long time.
In 1858, the Allens opened John Allen's Dance Hall, at 304 Water Street, which became known as one of the most licentious establishments in New York City. Allen dressed his 20 or so “dance hall girls” in short skirts and red-topped boots, with sleigh-bells circling their ankles. All sorts of vices and sexual obscenities were performed in private rooms in the dive, and sometimes right out in the open. These actions were so visibly decadent, journalist Oliver Dyer wrote in Packard's Monthly, that John Allen was “The Wickedest Man in New York City.”
Allen was so proud of his new moniker he made up business cards, saying:
John Allen's Dance Hall
304 Water Street
Wickedest Man in New York:
Proprietor
John Allen's Dance Hall was so prosperous, in just 10 years Allen banked more than $100,000, making him the richest pimp in New York City.
Soon, Allen came up with a new angle to make even more money. Falling back on his seminary background, Allen decided to turn his dance hall into a semi-religious experience. In spite of the sexual romps that were going on nightly inside his joint, Allen placed a Bible in every room, and on Saturday nights he gave away copies of the New Testament, as souvenirs to his guests. In time, Allen held religious sing-a-longs, in which his scantily-clad girls would croon spiritual songs, while Allen read passages of the Bible. Showing no shame, Allen placed on every bench and table in his joint the popular hymn book, The Little Wanderer's Friend.
Yet, Allen's intended monetary windfall never materialized. His usual guests fled his premises and headed for other joints like The Haymarket, McGuirk's Suicide Hall, and Paresis Hall. So Allen decided to go with another gimmick.
Allen turned his dance hall into a place for local clergymen to hold marathon prayer meetings. Religious men, like the Reverend A.C. Arnold, paid Allen $350 a month to hold such meetings in Allen's establ
ishment. Allen even thickened the crowd by paying “newly reformed sinners” 25 cents a head to take part in the festivities. Allen was so certain he would hit the religious jackpot, he closed his dance hall and put a sign on the outside door saying, “This Dance Hall is Closed. No gentlemen admitted unless accompanied by their wives.”
Unfortunately, Allen had overlooked the power of the press. In a shocking expose', the New York Times ran a series of stories exposing Allen in the worst possible light. Immediately, the duped reverends stopped holding their prayer meetings at Allen's joint, causing his cash flow to disintegrate. Allen tried opening his bawdy dance hall again, but his previous customers chose to stay away. After a few months of bleeding money, Allen closed down his dance hall for good.
Allen disappeared from the public eye for a while. Then he resurfaced in late 1868, when Allen and Little Suzie were arraigned in the Tombs Police Court, for stealing $15 from a sailor. The Allens were released on $500 bail, which they promptly jumped, then fled to places unknown.
“The Wickedest Man In New York City” died from causes unknown in West Perth, Fulton County, New York, in October 1870.
After Allen's death, a New York Times reporter revealed for the first time Allen's true intentions when he appeared to go all pious. Years earlier, Allen had confessed to the reporter, “I duped them religious fellers because I thought I could make more money out of silly church folk, than I could out of bad sailors.”
Anti-Abolition Riots of 1834
It started as a peaceful service given by a black minister at the Chatham Street Chapel, but it transformed into four days of riots that turned the streets of New York City into a cauldron of hate.