The Heroic Gangster_The Story of Monk Eastman, From the Streets of New York to the Battlefields of Europe and Back

by Neil Hanson

  9–10 “DAPPER” PAUL KELLY, “EXQUISITELY SCENTED,” and “WHICH THE BOWERY ACCEPTS” Lewis J. Valentine, Night Stick, 126; Richard Harding Davis, “The Defeat of the Underworld,” 11; The Sun, October 11, 1903.

  11 HE SPOKE FOUR LANGUAGES and “ONE OF THE FLASHIEST” Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 254–55.

  12 PERCHED ON TOP and “FLABBY AND EPICENE” Valentine, Night Stick, 125; Borges, A Universal History, 32–33.

  13 “MONK HADN’T A REAL” and “A SOFT EASY-GOING” New York Times, December 29, 1920; Alvin Harlow, Old Bowery Days, 501–5.

  14 “PEGGY” … DONOVAN Also sometimes described as “Piggy” Donovan, cf. New York Times, September 9, 1923.

  15 “PEGGY DONOVAN, WITHOUT WARNING” New York Times, April 15, 1901.

  16 “TWO MEN GRABBED ME” New York Times, April 14, 1901.

  17 “THE DONOVANS WERE HEARD” and “DIED IN THE GOUVERNEUR” New York Times, April 14, 15, 1901.

  18 A FIVE POINTER WAS DECOYED and “MONK GOT HIS MAN” Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 259; New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920.

  19 “A JAGGED CONFLUENCE” and MONK WAS SET UPON New York City Guide, 117; Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 259.

  20 “A VERITABLE WILD WEST” New York Times, September 30, 1902; New York Daily Tribune, April 26, 1903.

  21 NIGGER MIKE’S Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 258; Stephen Jenkins, The Greatest Street in the World, Asbury papers, box 8.

  22 CHINESE CRIMINAL GANGS cf. Moses King’s Guidebook, quoted in Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, 1,131; Herbert Asbury, Chinatown, Asbury papers, manuscripts box 1, 1.

  23 THOMAS COMINSKY New York Times, April 22, 1902.

  24–25 “SAID TO BE OF THE EASTMAN,” “LOOKING FOR THE ENEMY,” and “POUNCING ON THE KNOTS” New York Times, September 30, 1902.

  26 THIRTY-FIVE MEMBERS New York Times, October 5, 1902.

  27 “A DISGRACE TO THE CITY” New York Times, October 6, 1902.

  28 “BIG DAVE” BERNSTEIN, EXCHANGE OF SHOTS, and “ANYWAY, I’LL SETTLE” New York Daily Tribune, April 26, 1903; New York Times, March 9, 1903; The Sun, June 20, 1920.

  29 “NO ONE KNOWS” and JOHN “MUGSY” BAYARD New York Times, August 18, 19, 1903; New York Daily Tribune, April 26, 1903; New York Herald, August 18, 1903.

  30 “A FRIEND OF MONK,” “THE WICKEDEST STREET,” and “PRESSED A REVOLVER” New York Times, August 8, 1903; New York Herald, August 8, 1903.

  31 FEMME FATALE and “LAID VIOLENT HANDS” New York Times, June 9, 1912; New York Daily Tribune, April 26, 1903.

  32 THIRTY-THREE MEN and “A LABYRINTH” New York Times, March 28, 1903.

  33 A CONFERENCE BETWEEN New York Times, October 12, 1902.

  34 “THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THESE” and “THE GANG REACHED THE OLD” New York Times, October 6, 12, 1902.

  7 THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

  1 “I’M PAID FOR DRIVING” New York Times, May, 5, July 29, 11, 13, 1903.

  2 A FEW DRINKS The World, October 14, 1903.

  3 FOUR BURLY MEN The Monmouth Democrat, September 3, 1903.

  4 ON JULY 9, 1903 The Sun, October 13, 1903; New York Herald, October 13, 1903; The Monmouth Democrat, September 3, 1903; New York Times, July 10, 1903; The Freehold Transcript, July 31, 1903.

  5 “ARREST ME, WILL YER?” The Freehold Transcript, July 31, 1903; New York Herald, July 29, 1903; New York Times, August 2, 1903, June 21, 1909; George Kibbe Turner, “Tammany’s Control of New York by Professional Criminals,” 123; The Monmouth Democrat, October 15, 1903.

  6 “WHOSE REAL NAME IS WILLIAM,” 93 SOUTH THIRD STREET, and “TAKE THAT FELLOW” New York Times, July 29, 1903; Lain’s Brooklyn City Directory; Uppington’s General Directory of Brooklyn; New York Herald, August 1, 1903.

  7 “WHO IS THIS MAN” and “SPOKE BITTERLY” New York Daily Tribune, August 1, 1903; New York Herald, August 1, 1903.

  8 CONTRADICTED BY A BARMAN The Freehold Transcript, July 31, 1903.

  9 “A FOUR-FLUSHER” and “LICKSPITTLE” New York Times, July 30, 1903; William S. Devery, quoted in New York Times, November 2, 1903; New York Herald, August 2, 1903.

  10 “ARE YOU NOT AN EX-CONVICT?” New York Times, August 2, 1903.

  11 “IT WAS THOUGHT BETTER” New York Daily Tribune, August 2, 1903.

  12 “MUCH ELATED” and A FISHING EXCURSION New York Times, August 1, 2, 1903; The World, August 6, 1903.

  13 “STRENUOUS EFFORTS” and “AT PRIMARY ELECTIONS” New York Daily Tribune, August 1, 1903; New York Times, July 29, August 4, 1903.

  14 “WHEN I GET OUT” New York Daily Tribune, August 1, 1903; New York Times, August 4, 1903; New York Herald, August 7, 1903.

  15–16 THE PRISONERS WOULD “SQUEAL” and “THEY ARE THE FELLOWS” The Sun, August 7, 1903; New York Herald, August 7, 1903; The Freehold Transcript, August 7, 1903; New York Daily Tribune, August 2, 1903; New York Times, August 1, 1903.

  17 CELL NUMBER 1 and SHOOT ANYBODY SCALING The Freehold Transcript, August 7, 14, 1903; New York Herald, August 8, 1903.

  18 A FRESH ALARM and “THE CASES ARE BAILABLE” New York Herald, August 8, 1903; The Sun, August 8, 1903; The Monmouth Democrat, August 13, 1903.

  19 “THE GREAT MONK EASTMAN” New York Times, July 31, August 10, 1903.

  20 “PACKED IN THE CELLS” and “EASTMAN IS THE ONLY” New York Times, August 9, 1903; New York Daily Tribune, August 8, 1903.

  21–22 “I GUESS IT DIDN’T,” “ORGANIZED SPECIFICALLY,” and “THE ARREST OF THESE” New York Times, August 9, 1903; New York Herald, August 9, 1903.

  23 “I WOULD NOT HAVE WALKED” and “SCOURED FOR LUXURIES” The Freehold Transcript, August 14, 1903; New York Herald, August 8, 1903.

  24–25 “MERELY A BUSINESS” New York Herald, August 15, 1903; The Monmouth Democrat, August 20, 1903. THE DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920; New York Times, February 3, 1904; Court of General Sessions, People of the State of New York versus William Delaney, alias Monk Eastman, 255–56.

  26–27 “LEG BAIL” and “IT IS DIFFICULT” New York Times, September 4, 1903; The Monmouth Democrat, September 3, 1903.

  28 “A PRECAUTION UNUSUAL,” “NEWLY CLIPPED,” and “NERVOUS, THIS MAN WHO” New York Herald, October 13, 1903; New York Times, October 13, 1903; The World, October 14, 1903.

  29 “HAD TO GET THE BOYS” The Sun, October 15, 1903.

  30 “I AM ALWAYS INTERESTED” Ibid.

  31 WANTED A RICH and “ ‘LEAVE IT ALL TO ME’ ” The Freehold Transcript, October 16, 1903; The Sun, October 15, 1903.

  32 JUSTICE WALTER BRINLEY The Freehold Transcript, October 16, 1903; The Monmouth Democrat, October 15, 1903.

  33 “NEVER” and COULDN’T READ The Sun, October 14, 15, 1903.

  34–35 “NO, I NEVER CARRY” and “ANYONE CAN TELL A DETECTIVE” The Sun, October 15, 1903; The World, October 14, 1903.

  36 “DOVETAILED WITH CONSIDERABLE” New York Times, October 17, 1903; The Sun, October 15, 1903.

  37 “IF YOU HAVE NO” The Sun, October 17, 1903; New York Herald, October 17, 1903.

  38 “THERE MAY BE ONE” and ACCEPT THE VERDICT The World, October 14, 1903; New York Times, October 17, 1903.

  39 “HONEST MONMOUTH COUNTY” The Sun, October 17, 1903.

  40 “MANIFESTED CHILDISH” New York Times, October 17, 1903.

  41–42 “WELL, PERSONS WHO HAVE” and “NOT NECESSARILY A CONFESSION” The Sun, October 17, 1903; The Freehold Transcript, October 23, 1903.

  43 SINISTER RUMORS and “AS IF A GAME” New York Herald, October 17, 1903; New York Times, October 17, 1903.

  44 “NO MORE GUNS” New York Herald, October 17, 1903.

  45 “THE REIGN OF TERROR” and “WHEN I SAY” Ibid.

  8 THE BATTLE OF RIVINGTON STREET

  1 TYPICAL BOWERY TOUGHS and THE FURIOUS LAST FUSILLADE New York Times, September 17, 1903.

  2 STUSS A card game, also known as “Jewish faro.”

  3 “FIFTY FOOT CREVASSE” New York Times, Jan
uary 5, 1928.

  4 PERPETUAL SHADOW cf. the photograph in the New York Daily Tribune, April 26, 1903.

  5 A HUNDRED WOMEN ON EVERY The American Hebrew, March 8, 1929, quoted in Jenna Joselit, Our Gang, 46.

  6–7 FIFTY MEN ALREADY INVOLVED, “THEIR PARAPETS OF IRON,” and “A LOT OF THE GUYS” New York Herald, September 17, 1903; Jorge Luis Borges, A Universal History of Iniquity, 35; Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 261.

  8 MEN ON THE ROOFTOPS New York Daily Tribune, September 17, 1903.

  9 A SQUARE MILE OF TERRITORY New York Herald, September 17, 1903.

  10 MICHAEL DONOVAN and JOHN CARROLL New York Times, September 17, 1903; New York Daily Tribune, September 17, 1903.

  11 JOSEPH MORRIS New York Times, September 17, 1903.

  12 ITS CHAMBERS WERE STILL and DETECTIVE MCCOY Ibid.; New York Daily Tribune, September 17, 1903.

  13 “ALONG THE LINE OF THE FIGHTING” New York Times, September 17, 1903.

  14 “LOLLY” “Lally” in some versions.

  15 MEYERS New York Times, September 18, October 17, 1903.

  16 “EACH GANG DANCED WITH” The Sun, June 11, 20, 1909.

  17 POLICE COMMISSIONER FRANCIS V. GREENE New York Times, September 18, 24, 1903.

  18 WE MOURN and “THERE WAS NO CEREMONY …” New York Times, September 20, 1903.

  19 “THIS MEETING IS” and “I THINK WE HAVE SUCCEEDED” Ibid.

  20 A SCORE OF POLICEMEN New York Daily Tribune, September 22, 1903.

  21 “TO GET A DOSE” The World, September 22, 21, 1903; New York Times, September 23, 1903.

  22 “AS RECKLESS AND DESPERATE” and “THIS BRIGHT FACED” New York Herald, October 2, 1903; Kansas City Star, October 3, 1903.

  23–24 “TESTIFIED THAT SHE WAS INCORRIGIBLE,” “ABUSED HER IN SUCH,” and “BARELY FIVE FEET” New York Times, September 27, 1903; Kansas City Star, October 3, 1903.

  25 “GLORIED IN HER WICKEDNESS” Kansas City Star, October 3, 1903.

  26 “SHE CARRIES A GUN, JUDGE” New York Times, September 27, 1903.

  27 “A KIND OF SPARROW” M. B. Levick, “Tough Girl of New York Remains Only a Memory.”

  28 GERRY SOCIETY Now known as the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

  29 BEDFORD REFORMATORY Now the Bedford Correctional Facility.

  30 “BIG FELLOWS IN POLITICS” New York Times, October 5, 1903.

  31 “YOU’SE GO TO ENTIRELY” and “A SURPRISE TO THE GROUP” New York Times, October 5, 1903; New York Herald, October 6, 1903.

  32 “RIGHT BOWER” The name for the jack of the trump suit, the second-highest card in the game of euchre.

  33 “THE REDOUBTABLE KING EASTMAN” and BANNED IN EVERY STATE The Sun, October 11, 1903; Dennis Brailsford, Bareknuckles, 8.

  34 “HELLO YOU RUNT” The Sun, October 3, 1903.

  35 “SHIMSKY OPENED” Ibid.

  36 “WIPE UP DE EARTH” Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 264.

  37 “TOUGHS IN COCKED DERBY HATS” Borges, Universal History, 35–36.

  38 “COULD FACE THE SEARCHLIGHT” The Sun, December 30, 1903.

  39 “WHETTED THEIR APPETITES” Ibid.

  40 ARMED GANG MEMBERS New York Times, September 9, 1923.

  41 THEY REACHED 161ST The Sun, December 30, 1903.

  9 THE TOMBS

  1 TO BLACKJACK A MAN and STAGGERING OUT OF JACK’S Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 265; Court of General Sessions, People of the State of New York versus William Delaney, alias Monk Eastman, 6–7.

  2 TWO ROUGHLY DRESSED MEN Some versions, e.g., Asbury, Gangs of New York, 265–66, describe only one Pinkerton’s man, but the trial transcript makes clear that there were two.

  3 “THE WAYWARD SON” Court of General Sessions, People of the State of New York versus William Delaney, alias Monk Eastman, 6–7; New York Times, April 15, February 3, 1904.

  4 “SHOOT FIRST AND THEN” Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 266; New York Times, February 3, April 20, 1904.

  5 BRYAN LATER TESTIFIED Court of General Sessions, People of the State of New York versus William Delaney, alias Monk Eastman, 12.

  6 2060 SECOND AVENUE The Sun, June 20, 1920.

  7 “INCORRUPTIBLE” PINKERTON New York Daily Tribune, February 3, 1904; Richard Wilmer Rowan, The Pinkertons, 142.

  8 “ONE OF THE BEST” Wilmer Rowan, The Pinkertons, 142; The Sun, June 20, 1920.

  9–10 “WILLFULLY, FELONIOUSLY” and “UP THE RIVER” Court of General Sessions of the Peace, Case Number 45,672, February 4, 1904; New York Times, February 5, 1904.

  11 “MEETING THEIR EYES” Helen Campbell, Thomas W. Knox, and Thomas F. Byrnes, Darkness and Daylight, 337.

  12 SHYSTER LAWYERS Ibid., 347.

  13 “COLD-HEARTED, HUMORLESS” and “NOT ENOUGH GLOOM” Mike Dash, Satan’s Circus, 241, 252.

  14 PACKED WITH EAST SIDE TOUGHS New York Times, March 2, 1904.

  15 FIFTEEN OF HIS GANG MEMBERS New York Times, March, 30, April 2, 1904.

  16 TEN DAYS LATER New York Times, April 12, 1904.

  17 MONK’S SISTERS New York Times, March 5, 29, 1904; The Sun, April 13, 1904.

  18 DRESSED BETTER, “LET GO OF HIM YOU,” and “LIKE THE BARK” New York Times, April 13, 1904; The Sun, April 13, 1904.

  19 ELEVEN PAGES OF THE TRIAL TRANSCRIPT Court of General Sessions, People of the State of New York versus William Delaney, alias Monk Eastman, 260–70.

  20 “TWENTY GLASSES” Ibid., 250–55.

  21 “HELD WALLACE” Ibid.

  22 “WONDER AT THE NERVE” and POLICE CONSPIRACY New York Times, April 15, 1904; New York Herald, April 15, 1904.

  23 “NEVER IN MY EXPERIENCE” New York Times, April 15, 1904; New York Herald, April 15, 1904.

  24 MONK SEARCHED THEIR FACES, “IN THE LANGUAGE,” and “THANKS GENTS” New York Herald, April 15, 1904; New York Times, April 15, 20, 1904.

  25 “I HAVE ORDERED THE DEFENDANT” New York Times, April 20, 1904.

  26 “THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE” Ibid.

  27 “NOBODY BEGRUDGED THE MONK” New York Times, November 30, 1911.

  28 GEORGE COAN New York Daily Tribune, April 21, 1904.

  29 “WELL, I’M GOING” and “HOLY SMOKES!” New York Times, April 23, 1904; New York Daily Tribune, April 23, 1904.

  30 “THAT HOUR GOIN’ UP” and “BURIED HIS FACE” Quoted in Campbell, Knox, and Byrnes, Darkness and Daylight, 73; New York Daily Tribune, April 23, 1904.

  31 “WERE IT NOT FOR THE IRON BARS” and “NOTHING THAT IS HUMAN” Lewis E. Lawes, Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing, 209.

  32 “EXPERIENCED CONS ANSWERED” Ibid., 192, 201–2.

  33 TAR AND TIN ROOFER and “COMPLEXION DARK” New York State Archives, B0143, vol. 36, box 14, page 157.

  34 THE USUAL BATH and TWO LEGAL RIGHTS Lawes, Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing, 192–193.

  35 “UNFIT FOR THE HOUSING OF ANIMALS” Grand Jury Report, Westchester County, June 19, 1913, quoted in Denis Brian, Sing Sing, 75–77.

  36 “REPUGNANT AND DANGEROUS” Ibid.

  37 “THE WHOLE SYSTEM UNDER WHICH” New York Times, November 18, 1913.

  38 “THIS SITUATION IS AS DEPLORABLE” and KNOCK ON THE DOORS OF THE DARK CELLS Grand Jury Report, Westchester County, June 19, 1913, quoted in Brian, Sing Sing, 75–77; Dash, Satan’s Circus, 286.

  39 WHIPPINGS, “WATER CURES” http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/state/html/

  nyprisons.html.

  40 “IT’S THE LEATHER COLLAR” Gustavus Myers, History of Tammany Hall, 370–71.

  41 THIRTY-THREE MALE AND TWENTY FEMALE Lawes, Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing, 201–9.

  42 BRUSHES, MATTRESSES, PILLOWS Ibid.

  43 “AN ENDLESS LINE” Ibid.

  44 “ODIFEROUS APPEARANCE” and RABBI S. BRAVERMAN Ibid., 206–7; Brian, Sing Sing, 65.

  45 THE ELECTRIC CHAIR and “THE DANCE HALL” Mark Gado, Stone Upon Stone: Sing Sing Prison, chapter 4; Brian, Sing Sing, 63.

  46 “BURN IT DOWN!” New York
Times, May 31, 1914.

  47–48 “SOME ALARMED” and “DID SOME FIST WORK” New York Times, April 27, 1904.

  49 HARRIS STAHL and HAD FIVE MORE OF FITZPATRICK’S MEN New York Times, November 2, 1904; Jay Robert Nash, Bloodletters and Bad Men, 625.

  50 “OLD-TIMERS” and “THEN HOW DOES IT” New York Times, November 9, 1904.

  51 CELERY TONIC and DICK FITZGERALD George Kibbe Turner, “Tammany’s Control of New York,” 123.

  52 A SINGER IN THE IMPERIAL MUSIC HALL and FORCED HIM TO JUMP New York Times, June 9, 1912; Nash, Bloodletters and Bad Men, 625.

  53 “HELD SIX BULLETS” and “I WOULDN’T HAVE” New York Times, May 15, June 9, 1912.

  54–55 “THE SPECTACLE OF” and FIFTY TO A HUNDRED THOUSAND New York Times, June 9, 1912; Turner, “Tammany’s Control of New York,” 123.

  56 “EVIDENTLY THE GANG WANTED” and “EAT ’EM UP” New York Times, August 6, May 27, 1905.

  57 “LAST REPORTED AS RUNNING” and “A LURKING CAT” New York Times, June 9, 1911, November 24, 1905; Turner, “Tammany’s Control of New York,” 125.

  58 MEMBERS OF THE MORELLO FAMILY and INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN’S New York Times, September 20, 1912; Virgil W. Peterson, The Mob, 111; Craig Thompson and Allen Raymond, Gang Rule in New York, 361.

  10 A NAPOLEON RETURNED FROM ELBA

  1 TAMMANY PROTECTORS New York Times, June 20, 1909.

  2 “CONDUCTED HIMSELF ADMIRABLY” and “ONE OF HIS INTELLIGENCE” The Sun, June 20, 1909.

  3 “SOME INTERNAL TROUBLE” and “OH, I’VE BEEN” New York Times, September 16, 1909, June 21, October 8, 1910; New York Herald, October 8, 1910.

  4 “THE WILD AND WOOLY” and “A NAPOLEON RETURNED FROM ELBA” New York Times, September 16, 1909, October 8, 22, 1910; New York Daily Tribune, December 27, 1920.

  5–6 “STONE BROKE” and “MOST OF HIS OLD MOB” F. Raymond Daniell, “The Big Business of the Racketeer”; New York Times, June 21, 1909.

  7 A “LOBBYGOW” and “HE WON’T WANT TO SHOW” A Review of the World 5 (May 2, 1911):20–21; John R. Chamberlain, “Gangsters Have Lost Their Last Big Name”; New York Times, October 30, 1927.

  8 “CARVE GUYS UP” Jay Maeder, Big Town Biography, 27; Abraham H. Shoenfeld papers, P311768, 112.