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

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

“This. . . first-rate work of a singular life” tells the true story of the notorious New York City gang leader who became a hero in World War I (Publishers Weekly).

Monk Eastman was born in 1873 to a respectable New York family—but he soon took a different path. By the age of eighteen he was running the streets of Lower Manhattan, first as a bouncer and later as a gang leader who led an army of two thousand criminals. He was one of the most powerful men in the city.

That all changed when he was sentenced to ten years at Sing Sing and lost his territory. By the time he got out, he had few prospects and few skills except his natural guts and courage. He joined the New York National Guard—going from king of the streets to a lowly private.

Against all belief, Monk quickly proved himself when his division went to the front lines during the trench warfare of World War I. He came back to New York a hero and was given a governor’s pardon. Finally, he was back on top. But would he truly be able to leave his past behind?

In a true story that is “exquisitely rich with the gang life of New York and the perils of World War I,” Neil Hanson colorfully details the history of Monk Eastman, New York, and a pivotal point in our country’s history (The Wall Street Journal).


**From Booklist
Monk Eastman was born around 1873, apparently in Manhattan. Unlike most of his fellow thugs, he was raised in a middle-class family; but by the time he was six, he had begun his criminal career with a series of petty crimes, quickly ascending to more serious and violent crime, and by 20 heading a feared street gang. He operated with impunity, protected by cops on the take and Tammany Hall. Hanson describes Eastman’s rise in tough, unromantic terms while effectively placing him in the context of the hardscrabble Lower East Side. Monk was physically unattractive and his penchant for violence was so extreme that his political cover deserted him. After a prison stretch in Sing Sing and more petty crime, he enlisted in the army in 1917, when he was 43, and served honorably in combat in France. But, as Hanson illustrates, this was no case of personal redemption; upon discharge, Monk returned to his old habits and haunts, and his life ended violently and ignominiously. A well-done account. --Jay Freeman
About the Author
Neil Hanson is the author of several acclaimed works of narrative history, including First Blitz, The Custom of the Sea, and The Unknown Soldier. He lives in Yorkshire Dales in England with his family.