1900s in organized crime

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List of years in organized crime
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This is a list of organized crime in the 1900s, arranged chronologically.

1900[edit]

Events[edit]

Births[edit]

1901[edit]

Events[edit]

  • The Olympis Café, a dive bar in Chicago's Whiskey Row vice district, is opened by Sime Tuckhorn and quickly becomes frequented by the city's white slavery traders.[1]
  • Summer – Monk Eastman, while traveling through the Bowery, is attacked near Chatham Square by several members of the Five Points Gang. Eastman, armed only with brass knuckles and a slingshot, manages to fight them off knocking out three of the attackers before being shot twice in the stomach by the fourth member. Quickly fleeing the area, Eastman managed to walk to Gouverneur Hospital where he stayed for several weeks. Eastman refuses to speak to police about the incident. However, only a week after his release, a Five Pointer was found shot to death between Grand and Chrystie Streets.

Births[edit]

1902[edit]

Events[edit]

Births[edit]

1903[edit]

Events[edit]

  • New York Secret Service Chief William J. Flynn issues a statement regarding the Black Hand as "the most secret and terrible organization in the world".[2]
  • Spring – Backed by Monk Eastman, the Cherry Hill Gang and a new generation of Whyos under Bill "the Brute" Sanger begin fighting amongst each other resulting in hundreds being injured in gunfights. Crime in the area, particularly armed robbery and assault, dramatically increases as a result.[3]
  • April 14 – New York police find a body stuffed in a barrel, similar to the New Orleans "barrel murders" of the previous decade. The dead man was later identified by a US Secret Service agent as Benedetto Madonia, an associate of counterfeiters and Black Hand leaders Giuseppe Morello, Tomasso "The Ox" Petto, and Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo. This would later lead to an investigation by New York police detective Joseph Petrosino.[4][5]
  • September 16–17 – A particularly violent gun battle between the Eastman and the Five Points Gangs, over an attempted raid by the Five Pointers of a local Rivington Street stuss game, eventually involves over a hundred gangsters (including the Gophers who fired at both the Eastmans and Five Pointers alike) causing Tammany Hall to force leaders Monk Eastman and Paul Kelly to make peace.[6][7]
  • Winter – The truce between Monk Eastman and Paul Kelly ends after a barroom brawl in a Bowery dive bar between gang members Hurst and Ford, of the Eastmans and Five Pointers respectively, with Hurst seriously injured. Eastman, demanding Ford's life, threatens to invade Kelly's territory. With Kelly's refusal to turn Ford over to the Eastmans, both sides again prepare for war. However, a truce is again arranged by Tammany Hall politician Tom Foley, who threatens to withdraw political protection from the gangs if they did not comply. A prize fight is arranged between the two gang leaders which lasts over two hours until both men eventually collapse and the fight is declared a draw. Following the fight, both gang leaders continue preparing for war.
  • Giuseppe Masseria emigrates to New York, United States from Sicily to escape a murder charge.

Births[edit]

1904[edit]

Events[edit]

Births[edit]

1905[edit]

Events[edit]

Births[edit]

1906[edit]

Events[edit]

Arts and literature[edit]

Births[edit]

1907[edit]

Events[edit]

  • Joe Masseria is arrested for burglary and extortion but is released on suspended sentence.
  • Charles Luciano is arrested for shoplifting.
  • April 17 – Joseph Petrosino arrests Neapolitan camorrista Don Enrico Alfano while investigating the Black Hand and holds him for deportation to Italy.
  • July – Upon the death of Michael Cassius McDonald, the Chicago crime lord's criminal operations are divided among his former lieutenants: Chicago alderman Jacob "Mont" Tennes, gambler "Big" Jim O'Leary and the Bud White Combine. However, three main factions arise as a bombing campaign to control the city's illegal gambling operations continues throughout the summer.

Births[edit]

1908[edit]

Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

1909[edit]

Events[edit]

New York gang leader Humpty Jackson is arrested and sent to prison for attempted murder, where he remains until his death in 1914.

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

  • March 12 – Joseph Petrosino, New York police detective
  • August 15 – Bow Kum, Tong slave girl
  • December 30 – Ah Hoon, a comedian and associate of the On Leong Tong

References[edit]

  1. ^ Herbert Asbury. Gem of the Prairie. Knopf. p. 169.
  2. ^ Quote attributed to William J. Flynn in Herbert Asbury's book The Gangs of New York.
  3. ^ "Cherry Hill As Bad As Mining Camp". The Evening World. 11 March 1903
  4. ^ Chandler, David L. Brothers in Blood, 1975 (p. 115)
  5. ^ Dash, Mike. The First Family, 2009 (pp. 1–37)
  6. ^ "An East Side Vendetta – Monk Eastman's Gang Run Riot with Pistols and Knives," The New York Times, 9-17-1903.
  7. ^ Downey, Patrick. Gangster City, 2004 (pp. 6–8)
  8. ^ "JAMES T. LICAVOLI, CRIME LEADER IN CLEVELAND". The New York Times. November 26, 1985.
  9. ^ Ledbetter, Les (March 31, 1981). "FRANK TIERI, 77, CONVICTED NEW YORK CRIME LEADER". The New York Times. p. 22. Retrieved May 1, 2020. Frank Tieri, who Federal authorities said was the first person ever convicted of heading an organized-crime family, died at Mount Sinai Hospital Sunday after a long illness. He was 77 years old. [...] Born in 1904 in Castel Gandolfo, the Italian village about 15 miles south of Rome that is best known as the papal summer residence, Mr. Tieri emigrated to the United States from Naples in 1911.
  10. ^ Bureau of Narcotics, Sam Giancana, The United States Treasury Department. Mafia: The Government’s Secret File on Organized Crime. 2007. (pg. 85)
  11. ^ "Because of Fear Kidnapped Boy's Memory Fails," The World (Evening Edition), March 8, 1906.