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 MANY OF MONK’S and BREAK THE BACK Chamberlain, “Gangsters Have Lost”; New York Times, October 30, 1927; Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 306.

  10 AN OLD MAN and USING OPIUM Albert Fried, The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America, 36; New York Times, June 9, 1912; The Sun, December 27, 1920.

  11 “A SEETHING REALM,” AN ESTIMATED NINE THOUSAND, and GROWN TO TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND Ronald Sanders, The Lower East Side Jews, 43; Jacob A. Riis, How the Other Half Lives, 71; Luc Sante, Low Life, 137.

  12 THE KNOWLEDGE THAT The Sun, December 27, 1920.

  13 A “WIDE-OPEN TOWN” and “A COMBINATION OF INTERESTS” Quoted in Virgil W. Peterson, The Mob, 103; William McAdoo, Guarding a Great City, 52.

  14 “I WAS HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT” Theodore A. Bingham, “The Organized Criminals of New York,” 62.

  15 “COMMON PATROLMEN” and “SENT TO DO CAPTAIN’S WORK” New York Times, April 20, 1907.

  16 “PERMIT THE POLICE TO CLUB” Herbert Asbury, “Gangland USA,” 16; New York Times, September 20, 1912.

  17 “REAL BAD CROOKS” Cornelius Willemse, Behind the Green Lights, 30.

  18 THE NOTORIOUS GOPHERS Asbury, The Gangs of New York, 235; New York Times, September 30, 1934.

  19 ELDRIDGE STREET STATION New York Times, June 21, 1909.

  20 MARRIED FOR THE SECOND TIME State of New York, Certificate and Record of Marriage 4106.

  21 THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT and A PERNICIOUS SUBSTANCE Peter Kwong, The New Chinatown, 13–14; Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham, 1,130.

  22 THE TRIGGER FOR THE VIOLENCE New York Times, June 9, 6, July 24, 1912.

  23 SPURRED TO ACTION New York Herald, July 24, 1912.

  24 BIG TIM COMPLAINED THAT New York Times, July 24, 1912.

  25 THE “KEHILLAH” Abraham H. Shoenfeld papers, P311758, 3.

  26–27 LOST $700,000, “ABSOLUTELY DOMINATED BY,” and THE CROWD OF SEVENTY-FIVE THOUSAND New York Times, September 20, 1912; Daniel Czitrom, “Underworld and Underdogs,” 557; New York Sun, September 16, 1913.

  28 ROSENTHAL’S KILLING See Mike Dash, Satan’s Circus, for a vivid and comprehensive account of the Becker affair.

  29 “NEW YORK CITY HAD EMERGED” Leo Katcher, The Big Bankroll, 95; Report of the Citizens Committee appointed at the Cooper Union meeting, August 12, 1913, 6–7, quoted in Gustavus Myers, History of Tammany Hall, 358–359.

  30 BLACKWELL’S ISLAND, STAY AWAY FROM NEW YORK and DRIVEN OUT OF TOWN Annotation, Sing Sing Admission Register, New York State Archives, B0143, page 157, vol. 36, box 14; Albany Times Union, May 8, 1919; New York Times, December 27, 1920; The Argus (Albany), May 18, 1915.

  31 “REPRESENTING” THE EMPLOYERS New York Times, January 4, 1921.

  32 MAKING HOT TRACKS The Argus (Albany), May 9, 1919.

  33 AT LEAST FIFTEEN THOUSAND New York Times, May 18, 1915.

  34–35 “WELL, IF IT ISN’T MONK,” “KNOWN TO THE POLICE IN THIS CITY,” and “WELL, YOU HAVE THE SILVER” Ibid.; The Argus (Albany), May 18, 1915.

  36 MARY WILLIAMS The Argus (Albany), May 18, 1915.

  37 “COMPLETE YEGG” The Argus (Albany), May 18, 21, 1915.

  38 “DO RIGHT HIMSELF” The Argus (Albany), May 18, 20, 1915.

  39 REFORM and NEVER AGAIN and NUMBER 12,151 New York Times, July 2, 1915; Physician’s Register, Clinton Prison, B0100, New York State Archives.

  40 “THE ETHIC OF RAW” Fried, The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster, 87.

  41 313,000 New York Bureau of Jewish Social Research, Jewish Communal Survey of Greater New York, 3–7, quoted in Fried, The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster, 87.

  42 “TWENTY-THIRD REGIMENT OF BROOKLYN” and SEPTEMBER 21, 1917 Colonel Frank H. Norton to Postmaster, April 13, 1917, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment, [NM-93] 2133 box 1642, NARA; Abstracts of WWI Military Service, New York State Archives, B0808.

  43–44 DEDUCTED FOUR YEARS and “SHOWED THAT THE QUALITY OF PATRIOTISM” New York Sun, May 9, 1919; Abstracts of WWI Military Service, New York State Archives, B0808.

  11 O’RYAN’S ROUGHNECKS

  1 CHILE, DENMARK Gary Mead, The Doughboys, 13.

  2 A COLLECTION OF REASONS and “I NEVER DID ANYTHING WORTHWHILE” Trench and Camp, November 1917.

  3 “POP” and SERIAL NUMBER Gas Attack, March 1918; Abstracts of WWI Military Service, New York State Archives, B0808.

  4 106TH INFANTRY The designation was changed from the old 23rd Regiment to the 106th Infantry on October 31, 1917; 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 1, NARA.

  5 “EVER SINCE CHILDHOOD” Physical Examination for Enlistment, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 53rd Brigade [NM-91] 254, box 369, NARA.

  6 13 UNION AVENUE and ALMOST ALL OF THE RECRUITS B1357, NY Bonus Card 235, NY State Archives, Albany; List of Occupations, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1638, NARA.

  7 “SLIGHT, SOLDIERLY” and “TRAINED DEPENDABILITY” Trench and Camp, March 1919; New York Times, September 11, 1917, December 15, 1918.

  8 “SPY FEVER” and “TO BRING TO ITS MEMBERS” New York Times, February 15, 1917, April 8, 11, 1917; Washington Post, April 8, 1917; Correspondence of Colonel Frank H. Norton, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1643, NARA; GH Scull, Fifth Deputy Commissioner, City of New York Police Department, to Major General John O’Ryan, April 10, 1917; Tourist Club “Naturfreunde” leaflet; 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 18211942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1643, NARA.

  9 “THE GATES ON THE WATER WORKS” and 344 TIMES Correspondence of Colonel Frank H. Norton, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1643, NARA.

  10–11 REPEATEDLY FIRED AT and DISCHARGED ACCIDENTALLY Ibid.; New York Times, February 15, 1917.

  12 FIFTY DOLLARS and THE COMMANDING GENERAL COMPLAINED Surgeon, 23rd NY Infantry to Commanding Officer, June 1, 1917, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1640, NARA; Memorandum from Lieutenant Colonel Franklin W. Ward, Adjutant, July 23, 1917, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 53rd Brigade [NM-91] 254, box 369, NARA.

  13 “OUR COUNTRY IS IN AN ACTUAL STATE” Adjutant to Organization Commanders, August 9, 1917, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 53rd Brigade [NM-91] 254, box 369, NARA.

  14 EQUIVALENT OF 110 PERCENT and “FORTY QUART CANS” O.Q.M. Circular Letter No. 159, July 5, 1917, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 53rd Brigade [NM-91] 254, box 369, NARA; William F. Clarke, Over There with O’Ryan’s Roughnecks, 22.

  15 ALL PROSTITUTES and “THERE IS A STINKING” http://www.oryansroughnecks.org

  16 “WHERE THE SOFT” and CHAIN GANGS Clarke, Over There, 22; New York Times, December 15, 1917.

  17 THE TOP OF A WIGWAM Clarke, Over There, 23.

  18 “WHILE THE FRENCH” quoted in Gary Mead, The Doughboys, 144.

  19 A LIQUOR STILL, WHILE THE REST SLEPT, and “THE WORST I HAVE” Spartanburg Herald, August 9, September 8, 1917; Mitchell Yockelson, Borrowed Soldiers, 46; Memorandum for Colonel Wood, December 9, 1917, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 6, NARA; Gas Attack, March 1919, 27; The General Principles Governing the Training of Units of the American Expeditionary Force, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 5, NARA.

  20 “CHAMPS OF THE FRENCH LEAVE,” THE ENTIRE COST, and “LUNA PARK” Gas Attack, December 8, 1917, March 8, 1919, 27; Headquarters, Coast Defenses of Southern New York, April 18, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1651, NARA.

  21 WILLIAM KAUFFMAN and DESERTION IN TIME OF WAR New York Times, No
vember 30, 1917; Adjutant to Commanding Officer, Company H, June 6, 1917, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1651, NARA.

  22 COUNTERFEIT CHECKS and HOWEVER, MONK SUBMITTED New York Times, April 8, 1918; New York Daily Tribune, April 2, 1919.

  23 RIGIDLY SEGREGATED, “WITH THEIR NORTHERN IDEAS,” SEVENTEEN PEOPLE WERE KILLED, and THE “HARLEM HELLFIGHTERS” Memorandum to all Commanding Officers, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1638, NARA; quoted in Stephen L. Harris, Duty, Honor, Privilege, 85; Arthur Little, From Harlem to the Rhine, 52–70; Mitchell Yockelson, Borrowed Soldiers, 22

  24 INTOLERABLY OVERBEARING and “TIGHTEN THE RELATION” Kenneth Gow, Letters of a Soldier, 237; Robert Sutliffe, Seventy-First New York in the World War, 42–43.

  25 “FIRST COUSIN TO THE KICK” and “THE KITTEN’S OVERALLS” Gas Attack, November 1917, 3.

  26 COLONEL VANDERBILT Harris, Duty, Honor, Privilege, 66.

  27 AT 8:30 New York Times, November 20, 1917.

  28 “DESPITE THE FACT” and “OCCASIONALLY A MAN STUMBLED” Sergeant Joseph Robins, quoted in Walter G. Andrews, The Story of a Machine Gun Company, 37.

  29 “A JADED BARBED-WIRE” Gas Attack, December 15, 1917, 19–20.

  30 “THROUGH A FOG” Ibid.

  31 HEAVILY CENSORED New York Times November 26, 1917.

  32 MONK’S SECOND BATTALION and LACHRYMATOR General Orders No. 4, November 14, 1917, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 53rd Brigade [NM-91] 254, box 370, NARA; 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 5, NARA.

  33 BOWLING IN ENGLISH CRICKET and MONK HAD A NATURAL Gas Attack, December 15, 1917; From C.O., Co.C, 106th Infantry, to C.O., 1st Battalion, 106th Infantry, July 19, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93], 2133 box 1645, NARA; Trench and Camp, April 8, 1919.

  34 WOODEN GUNS 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 5, NARA.

  35 SIGHT-SETTING and “FLINCH TEST” Ibid., box 6, NARA.

  36 PRIVATE FIRST CLASS The New York Evening Telegram, December 30, 1920; Abstracts of WWI Military Service, New York State Archives, B0808.

  37 “SHELLS WHISTLED” Rutherford Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment N.G.S.N.Y., 258–59; Harris, Duty, Honor, Privilege, 101; Gas Attack, December 15, 1917, 6.

  38 “NO MAN WAS UNSHAVED” Gas Attack, December 15, 1917, 10.

  39 SIXTEEN DEGREES and TWO KINDS OF WATER Memorandum for Colonel Wood, December 9, 1917, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 6, NARA; Harris, Duty, Honor, Privilege, 92.

  40 THE CAMP RUMOR MILL Gas Attack, December 23, 1917.

  41 “OFFICERS AND MEN” New York Times, December 16, 1920.

  42 “THEY HAVE HAD SIX” New York Times, March 5, 1918.

  43 “A GUN ON BOTH HIPS” Interview with Verna Bonner, September 2008; Ronnie C. Tyler, The Big Bend, 149.

  44 PHYSICALLY DISQUALIFIED and FLAT FEET Acting Adjutant to Commanding Officer, 106th Infantry, April 11, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93] 2133, box 1646, NARA; Surgeon, 106th Infantry to Commanding General, 27th Division, May 4, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93] 2133, box 1646, NARA.

  45 “WITH OUR BACKS” Field Marshal Douglas Haig, quoted in http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/backstothewall.htm.

  12 WE ONLY SEE OLD MEN AND BOYS

  1–2 THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND EMBARKED and “BOTH INSTANTANEOUS” Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War, 505, 516; Rutherford Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment N.G.S.N.Y., 261–62.

  3 U.S. NAVY TRANSPORT Manifest USNT President Lincoln, NARA.

  4 UNFIT FOR OVERSEAS and “LOUNGING ALONG THE RAIL” HQ 106th Infantry, On Board US Navy Transport, May 8, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry, [NM-93] 2133, box 1646, NARA; Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment, 263.

  5 “CERTAIN QUALITIES” and “THERE WERE CONTINUOUSLY” Trench and Camp, April 8, 1919; William F. Clarke, Over There with O’Ryan’s Roughnecks, 29.

  6 “IN MOST FANTASTIC DESIGNS” Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment, 264.

  7 “THE BOTTOM MAN” and AT NIGHT ALL PORTHOLES Gary Mead, The Doughboys, 104, 144; Clarke, Over There, 28.

  8 JUST BEFORE DAWN Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment, 266.

  9 PRICE ON THEIR HEADS Ibid., 265.

  10 A STAND-TO Ibid., 269.

  11 “EMERALD-GREEN” Quoted in Stephen L. Harris, Duty, Honor, Privilege, 105.

  12 TORPEDOED AND SUNK and USS COVINGTON: Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War, 511; Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment, 271.

  13 231 MEN Special Orders, No. 140, Headquarters Base Section No. 5, May 24, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93] 2133, box 1645, NARA.

  14 THERE WERE NO YOUNG MEN Gas Attack, March 1919, 42–43; diary of Major General Hugh Drum, quoted in Mead, The Doughboys, 100.

  15 40 HOMMES and IN GROUPS OF FORTY Clarke, Over There, 32; Leslie W. Rowland, The 27th Division Crashes Through, 3; Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment, 271–72.

  16 THE COMMANDING OFFICER and “WE LAY LIKE SARDINES” Superintendent ATS to CO, 106th Infantry, May 27, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93] 2133, box 1645, NARA; Clarke, Over There, 32.

  17 “CHECKERBOARD FIELDS” Clarke, Over There, 32.

  18 HE WAS SO OBSESSED and “EXTREMELY PAINFUL” Donald Smythe, Pershing: General of the Armies, 14; Mead, The Doughboys, 114; cf. also Adjutant to all Commanding Officers, June 27, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry Regiment [NM-93] 2133, box 1646, NARA; Yockelson, Borrowed Soldiers, 56.

  19–20 MAJOR RANSOM H. GILLET and WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER Major Ransom H. Gillet to Commanding Officer, 106th Infantry, June 3, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93] 2133, box 1643, NARA.

  13 THIS REALM OF SILENCE

  1 “APPEARED TO ENJOY” and “ALL STANDING” Rutherford Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment N.G.S.N.Y., 272; Stephen L. Harris, Duty, Honor, Privilege, 112.

  2 “THE HOT IRISH” William F. Clarke, Over There with O’Ryan’s Roughnecks, 33.

  3 FORCED TO SUBSIST John S. D. Eisenhower, Foreword to Mitchell Yockelson, Borrowed Soldiers, xi.

  4 MOST MEN DISCARDED SOME Clarke, Over There, 33.

  5 A THOUSAND HIGH-EXPLOSIVE 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 5, NARA.

  6 “IF YOU DIDN’T GET” Clarke, Over There, 36.

  7–8 GAMACHES-MOUTIERES and A MERE SKELETON War Diary, 2nd Battalion, 106th Infantry, June 16–17, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), A.E.F. General Headquarters, War Diaries [NM-91] 26, box 2694, NARA; Station List of Unit, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division, Historical Files, [NM-91] 1241, box 9, NARA; Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment, 272.

  9 “MY GOD,” BIG TALK, and “CARRIED LEATHER” John Bessette, Lecture at York St. John’s University, January 19, 2008; diary of Robert Cude, quoted in Mitchell Yockelson, “Brothers-in-Arms,” 87, 7.

  10 NO AGGRESSIVE SPIRIT Lieutenant William S. Conrow, 102nd Engineers, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 6, NARA.

  11 “PROFOUND IGNORANCE” and “THEIR DEAD” Gary Mead, The Doughboys, 173, 180.

  12 ESTIMATED FORTY THOUSAND John Ellis, Eye Deep in Hell, 181.

  13–14 ALWAYS EASTWARD, “EVERY KIND OF HAYMOW,” and 9:30 P.M. CURF
EW Commanding Officer to Commanding General, June 27, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93] 2133, box 1632, NARA; War Diary, 2nd Battalion, 106th Infantry, June 21–24, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), A.E.F. General Headquarters, War Diaries [NM-91] 26, box 2694, NARA; Leslie W. Rowland, The 27th Division Crashes Through, 4.

  15 ENEMY AIR RAIDS and STOPPED FOR LUNCH War Diary, 2nd Battalion, 106th Infantry, June 27, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), A.E.F. General Headquarters, War Diaries [NM-91] 26, box 2694, NARA; Rowland, The 27th Division Crashes Through, 4; U.S. Army Field Message, CO 53 Infantry Brigade to CO 106th Infantry, June 29, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93] 2133, box 1646, NARA.

  16 SHORTCOMINGS OF ITS PLATOON General John O’Ryan, Circular Letter to all Commanding Officers, June 30, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 6, NARA.

  17 AS REQUIRED BY MILITARY and “BETWEEN TEN MINUTES” The General Principles Governing the Training of Units of the American Expeditionary Force, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 5, NARA; General John O’Ryan, Circular Letter to all Commanding Officers, June 30, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 6, NARA.

  18 “MYSTERIOUS, UNCANNY” Ireland, History of the Twenty Third Regiment, 275–76.

  19 “THESE SOLDIERS WERE SILENT” Clarke, Over There, 38.

  20 LEDERZEELE War Diary, 2nd Battalion, 106th Infantry, July 3, 1918, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), A.E.F. General Headquarters, War Diaries [NM-91] 26, box 2694, NARA; Abstracts of WWI Military Service, New York State Archives, B0808.

  21 AS THEY DIVED Maurice J. Swetland and Lilli Swetland, These Men, 127.

  22 FRESH FRUIT, LAY A THICK BELT, and FIRING PITS CO, Company G to CO 106th Infantry, July 20, 1918, 391 United States Regular Army, Mobile Units, 1821–1942, Records of the 106th Infantry [NM-93] 2133, box 1633, NARA; Swetland and Swetland, These Men, 127; Confidential Memorandum, Headquarters 27th Division, 120 Records of the A.E.F. (WWI), Records of the 27th Division [NM-91] 1241, box 3, NARA.