New York police arrest over 200 known Italian gangsters and known
Black Hand members in a raid in
Little Italy, including
Morello crime family leader
Lupo the Wolf. However, none are convicted as many of the notes of extortion threats cannot be traced to them.[1]
Jim Cosmano, a major Chicago Black Hand leader, is severely wounded in an ambush by
Johnny Torrio on a
South Side bridge. Cosmano had previously demanded $10,000 threatening to destroy Colosimo's café.
January 1 – March 26, 1911 – Thirty-eight Black Hand victims are killed by Black Hand
assassins, many by the unidentified assassin known only as
Shotgun Man, between
Oak Street and
Milton Street in Chicago's
Little Italy.
April 1 –
Spanish Louie, a lieutenant of
Humpty Jackson, is killed while walking on East 11th Street by an unknown gunman (although other sources have incorrectly claimed 1900 and 1911).[2]
Jack Zelig is arrested for robbing a bordello. The charges are later dropped. However, in an attempt to gain leadership of the
Eastman Gang, lieutenants
Jack Sirocco and
Chick Tricker refuse to post bail, beginning a gang war between the two factions.
Nathan Kaplan severely injures
Johnny Spanish in a knife fight before police arrive to break up the fight. Kaplan also fights
Jacob Orgen later that year giving a scar across Orgen's face before the fight is stopped.
September – Republican State's Attorney John E.W. Wayman, shortly before his term of office is to expire, officially closes down Chicago's South Side "
Levee District". The long-time
vice district had been a hotbed of criminal activity for Chicago's
underworld, as well as a major source of political power for Chicago's First Ward aldermen, such as
Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna and
"Bathhouse" John Coughlin, since the 1890s.
The White Hand Society disbands after police inaction and vigilantism in other Italian neighborhoods ends public support for the organization.[10][page needed]
George Washington "Chuck" Connors, one of the last of the
Tammany Hall associates, dies of heart failure in New York City's Hudson Street Hospital at the age of 61.[12] Within several months,
Frank "Mike the Dago" Salvatore succeeds Connors as the political boss of
Chinatown.
Cleveland gangster
Thomas Joseph McGinty (aka T.J. McGinty) organizes a gang of labor sluggers competing against rival Cleveland News sluggers Arthur McBride's Mayfield Road Mob during Cleveland's "Circulation Wars".
November 28 – Preparing to assault workers who had refused to strike, rival labor sluggers led by
"Dopey" Benny Fein are met by a combined number of smaller gangs as street fighting breaks out in front of a
Greenwich Street hat shop.[14] This is the first of many skirmishes which will eventually lead up to the
First Labor Slugger War.
Arts and literature
The Gangster (1913) starring Lionel Adams, Ferdinand Tidmarsh and
Edna Luby is released.
During his first year in office,
NYPD Police Commissioner
Arthur Woods arrests more than 200 gangsters.
Gas House Gang leader Thomas Lynch is killed during a gunfight with members of the Jimmy Curley Gang led by
"Gold Mine" Jimmy Cariggio. The Gas House Gang breaks up soon after Lynch's death.
Within two years of the closing of Chicago's infamous vice district
The Levee, long-time vice lord
Saffo the Greek is forced to flee the area. It is during this time that Chicago police captain Michael Ryan, district commander of
The Levee, is dismissed from the force for corruption.
January 9 - A gunfight breaks out between members of
Jack Sirocco's and
Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein's gangs outside of a dance in
St. Mark's Place in
Manhattan. An elderly court clerk named Frederick Strauss is killed in the crossfire.[15] (Two members of Fein's gang -
Irving "Waxey Gordon" Wexler and Isidore "Jew Murphy" Cohen - are eventually charged for the murder and tried in 1916, but are acquitted for lack of evidence.)[16]
March 13 - Former
New York gang leader
Thomas "Humpty" Jackson is arrested for selling opium near his home on Third Avenue.[18] On March 27, Jackson is convicted [19] and is later sentenced to six months in prison.[20]
April 13 - The four convicted gunmen in the 1912
murder of gambler Herman Rosenthal -
Harry "Gyp the Blood" Horowitz,
Francesco "Dago Frank" Cirofici, Louis "Lefty Louie" Rosenberg, and Jacob "Whitey Lewis" Seidenshner - are executed in the
electric chair at
Sing Sing prison. About two hours prior to the execution, Cirofici makes a statement to the warden suggesting that
NYPD Lt.
Charles Becker was not involved in the murder plot, and that Cirofici himself was not present at the slaying, though he admitted knowing about it. (Despite Cirofici's efforts to clear Becker, the policeman would be executed the following year.)[21]
April 17 – Five New York City gangsters are killed in a gunfight between
Joe Morello and Joe Baker on 113th Street and
Third Avenue.
May – Following his arrest for assault earlier that year, New York labor racketeer
"Dopey" Benny Fein agrees to testify against several gangsters and union leaders. In exchange for a reduced sentence, Fein reveals details of labor slugging operations from over five-year period resulting in the indictment of eleven gangsters and twenty two union officials.
July – Shortly after being brought to Chicago by his cousin
John Torrio, New York gunman Rocco "Roxie" Vanilli is arrested for the murder of a Chicago police officer in Chicago's infamous vice district, The Levee, on July 16.[24][25]
November – Patsy Doyle is killed by
Owney Madden after Doyle attempts to take leadership of the
Gopher Gang.
November 11 - Lorito Monastero, the brother of future
Pittsburgh crime familyboss Stefano Monastero, is indicted for the murder of Stefano's estranged mother-in-law in August.[26]
A
Black Hand gang in
Chicago led by
Sam Cardinelli begins years of setting off over eight hundred bombs, killing over twenty people and wounding hundreds more until 1920, when they are convicted of murder, and hanged the following year.
Steve Wallace, with his brothers Frank and Jimmy Wallace of the
Gustin Gang, begin hijacking and looting trucks in
Southie often stripping cargo from the rear of the truck while stopped at intersections. The brothers are soon known by the press as the "Tailboard Thieves".
March 12 –
Frank Costello is arrested for carrying a concealed weapons after detectives receive information from an informant. Costello is sentenced to one year in
Welfare Island prison by Judge
Edward Swann and is released after ten months.
May 17 –
Giosue Gallucci, also known as the undisputed King of Little Italy, who controlled the
policy game in
Italian Harlem (New York City) is shot together with his son.[31] He died four days later.[32]
November 19 - Vincenzo "Vinent" Moreci, a "leading" member of the Italian community in
New Orleans, as well as an apparent member of the city's
Mafia family, is shot and killed near his home, reportedly in retaliation for having colluded with the Italian
Vigilance Committee against the
Black Hand kidnappers and murderers of eight-year-old Walter Lamana in 1907, but more likely as part of an internal Mafia feud.[34]
Japan
The
Yamaguchi-gumi organization begins operating in Japan.
January 15 - William "Brother Mac" McNamara, a member of the
Hudson Dusters gang, and an accomplice viciously assault an Italian gardener named Gregorio George near
Dobbs Ferry, New York, leaving him for dead. George, whose wife hired the gangsters to kill her husband, dies of his injuries the following morning.[35] Arrested in
Hoboken on January 26,[36] McNamara confesses to the crime[37] and goes on trial in
White Plains in June.[38] Quickly convicted[39] and sentenced to death,[40] McNamara has his sentence commuted to life imprisonment the following year.[41]
March 26 - Three labor
racketeers shoot film operator Hugh Coogan dead in Justine Street in
Chicago.[42] Irish-American
gangster and corrupt union representative Edward "Spike" O'Donnell, leader of the
Southside O'Donnell gang, is soon charged with the crime,[43] but is acquitted by late spring.[44]
April 18 - Future
Kansas City Mob boss
John Lazia, who is currently a member of a robbery gang headed by John J. "Black Mike" McGovern, is arrested for attempting to rob the safe of a produce dealer on the
Kansas side of the city.[45]
Summer – New York Police break up the last of the Manhattan street gangs, including the
Hudson Dusters, from
The Battery to
Spuyten Duyvil. Many of these former gang members would become employed as labor sluggers. Street gangs would become non-existent in New York until the release of "Kid Dropper"
Nathan Kaplan and
Johnny Spanish the following year.
July 20 - Aspiring
Camorra boss Joseph Di Marco is found shot to death along with his bodyguard, Charles "Nine Fingered Charley" Lombardi, in a vacant flat on James Street in
Manhattan.[46]
February 14 - After saloonkeeper Vincent Butera is found murdered in his bar, police question Dominick Giambrone,
boss of the
St. Louis crime family, about the murder.[48]
June 7 - Fueled by the ongoing
race riots in East St. Louis, a riot breaks out in the quarry of a prison workhouse between the white and black inmates. The violence escalates when Henry Griesser, a member of
Egan's Rats, steals a gun from one of the guards, and begins firing at the black prisoners. The riot is finally quelled when local
firemen train their firehose on the rioters. Ten black prisoners and two white prisoners are hospitalized as a result of the riot.[49]
September 21 -
Giovanni "Johnny Spanish" Mistretta and one of his men are convicted in federal court of attempting to sell
heroin to a
soldier, and are sentenced to fifteen months in prison. (In the
New York City papers of the time, Johnny Spanish is reported as having a real name of "Harry Weinberg," a possible
alias.)[50]
November 5 - Rosario "Sam" Matranga, boss of the Matranga
Mafia faction in
Los Angeles, is shot at close range with a
shotgun while sitting in his parked car in front of his home.[51]
December 18 - A little over a month after the murder of
Los Angeles Mafioso and faction boss Sam Matranga, his cousin and successor, Pietro "Peter" Matranga, is also shot dead at the intersection of Eastlake Avenue and Henry Street.[53] Shortly afterwards, police begin searching for Mike Marino, who is suspected of killing both Matrangas as well as Tony Pariese in November 1916.[54]
December 23 - Having stopped three Italians on suspicion of carrying concealed weapons,
Akron Patrolman Guy Norris begins searching one of the suspects when one of the man's companions pulls out a
revolver and shoots the policeman in the chest point blank, damaging his
spinal cord and causing instant
paralysis. Although the gravely injured policeman is quickly taken to the hospital and manages to live through the day and into the night, he dies early in the morning on
Christmas Eve.[55] (Unbeknownst to the authorities at the time, Patrolman Norris's murder is just the first in a personal
vendetta against the
Akron police by
Black Hand gang leader
Rosario Borgio in retaliation for their frequent harassment of him, and Borgio has even offered a cash bounty for every cop that is killed in this campaign of revenge.)
Al Capone
It was through the Five Points gang that
Al Capone came to the attention of brutal New York mobster
Frankie Yale. In 1917, 18-year-old Al Capone went to work for Yale at the Harvard Inn as a bartender and as a waiter and bouncer when needed. Capone watched and learned as Yale used violence to maintain control over his empire.
One day while working at the Harvard Inn, Capone saw a man and woman sitting at a table. After his initial advances were ignored, Capone went up to the good-looking woman and whispered in her ear, "Honey, you have a nice ass and I mean that as a compliment." The man with her was her brother, Frank Gallucio. Defending his sister's honor, Gallucio punched Capone. However, Capone didn't let it end there; he decided to fight back. Gallucio then took out a knife and slashed at Capone's face, managing to cut Capone's left cheek three times (one of which cut Capone from ear to mouth). The scars left from this attack led to Capone's nickname of "Scarface," a name he personally hated.[citation needed]
Tong leader
Mock Duck, upon his release from
Sing Sing prison, retires from crime.
Jan. 10 - Just over two weeks following the murder of
Akron Patrolman Guy Norris in December, two more patrolmen, Edward Costigan and Joseph Hunt, are ambushed and shot from behind with automatic
revolvers while on their way home from work. Costigan is instantly killed, while Hunt dies in the hospital two nights later. Following the shooting, three "
gangsters" - likely members of
Rosario Borgio's gang - are observed fleeing from the scene.[56][57]
March 4 -
Chicago Black Hand gang leader
Sam Cardinelli fires a gun at
Chicago Detective Charles Eitz, missing the policeman and hitting a young mother out with her baby in the knee. Although the woman drops her baby, the baby is not hurt, and Eitz is able to capture Cardinelli later the same day.[58] Charged with assault with intent to kill, Cardinelli is acquitted of the crime in September.[59]
March 12 - A fourth
Akron policeman, Patrolman Gethin Richards, is fatally shot in a shootout with members of
Rosario Borgio's gang, and dies in the hospital that afternoon. Unlike with the previous murders, however, several of the gang are quickly apprehended, and Borgio himself is arrested the following day at a hotel.[60][61]
April 1 - In a case similar to that of
Herman Rosenthal, New York gambler Harry Cohen is shot dead in his apartment building shortly after he had contacted the assistant district attorney to arrange a meeting with him to provide information about other gamblers. Morris "Big Morris" Rothenberg, another gambler, is arrested as a suspect soon after,[62] but is acquitted at trial in October.[63]
May 17 -
Black Hand gang leader
Rosario Borgio is convicted of fist degree murder in the killing of
Akron police officer Gethin Richards in March.[64] Eight days later, on May 25, Borgio is sentenced to death in the
electric chair.[65]
June 6 –
Ciro Terranova is charged with ordering the deaths of Charles Lombardi, Joe DiMarco and Michael Hayes. However, the case is later dropped.[66]
July 20 - In
Swoyersville, Pennsylvania,
mobster Ignatz Cosmano is shot dead on Oliver St. following an argument with another unidentified man, who escapes into the night after fatally shooting another man who attempts to pursue him. The following Monday, July 22, the local newspapers mistakenly identify Cosmano as Santo Volpe, the
boss of the
Mafia in Northwestern Pennsylvania.[67] The following day, the papers correct their mistake, explaining that the body of Cosmano, who was apparently a Volpe
henchman, was found with Volpe's business card in his pocket.[68]
Al Capone leaves New York, after an altercation with a member of the
White Hand Gang, going to Chicago, where he becomes a top lieutenant to
Johnny Torrio.
January 19 - During a police raid on a
crap game on West Fifty-Seventh St. in
New York City, gambler and
crime bossArnold Rothstein draws his
revolver and fires through the doors, wounding two police detectives and piercing the coat of another. Rothstein, who had previously been the victim of armed robberies in the past, believed the police raiders were more robbers attempting to holdup his latest high-stakes game.[70] In late July, the charges against Rothstein are dropped.[71]
February 14 - During a raid on a gambling den on Eleventh St.,
Buffalo police arrest fourteen men, including the owner, Benedetto Angelo "Buffalo Bill" Palmeri,
underboss of the
Buffalo crime family. The following day, Palmeri and another man are fined for having unlicensed
revolvers.[72]
February 27 - Around midnight,
Frank Costello and a friend are arrested in
Buffalo for carrying concealed weapons.[74] In March, both men are convicted and sent to prison.[75]
May 19 - Around midnight at the Arrowhead Inn, a saloon in the village of
Burnham near
Chicago,
Vincenzo "Big Jim" Colosimo, the owner of the saloon, confronts Chicago Tribune reporter Morrow Krum and physically assaults him with the help of another unidentified man. The reporter had been overheard on the telephone reporting back to his employer about the Arrowhead Inn and other local saloons.[77] Later that day, Colosimo is arrested in Chicago for assault and battery, but quickly
bonds out.[78]
July 26 - While he is playing poker at the Marginal Club on Eighth Avenue,
Thomas "Tanner" Smith, former leader of the
Marginals gang, is shot from behind and killed.[79][80] Later witnesses identify rival
gangsters Robert "Rubber" Shaw, George "Chick" Lewis, and a third man as Smith's killers.[81]
July 29 – New York labor slugger
Johnny Spanish is killed by three unidentified gunman possibly including rival gangster
Nathan Kaplan.[82]
July 31 -
Hudson Dusters leader Robert "Rubber" Shaw is killed and George "Chick" Lewis is wounded in a shooting in
Hoboken, New Jersey, likely in retaliation for the murder of
Tanner Smith on the 26th.[83]
August 5 - Two days after the end of the
Chicago race riot, ten members of the
Ragen's Colts gang are arrested after threatening to steal the weapons of militiamen protecting the black neighborhoods and use them to reignite the racial violence there. The suspects are soon released, however.[84]
September 1 - Claiming self-defense, gambler Marty Guilfoyle shoots and kills Chicago
gangster and
labor racketeer Peter Gentleman at a cigar store that Guilfoyle owns, apparently in a dispute over
gambling interests.[85]
September 9 - Following a car chase, Chicago detectives capture a gang of six suspected safe burglars, including
Earl "Hymie" Weiss (identified in the paper as "Harold Werss"). The detectives also find
burglar's tools and half a bottle of
nitro glycerin in the thieves' automobile.[86]
October 1 - The first game of the
1919 World Series takes place in
Cincinnati between the
Chicago White Sox and the
Cincinnati Reds, with the heavily favored White Sox losing to the Reds 9 to 1.[87] The Reds would go on to win the Series, 5 games to 3, largely as a result of a conspiracy between eight members of the White Sox and a syndicate of professional
gamblers, alleged to have been planned by
New York City gambler and gang leader
Arnold Rothstein in what would come to be known as the
Black Sox Scandal.[88]
October 2 -
Salvatore "Sam" Giannola, the
boss of the
Detroit Mafia ever since the murder of his cousin, Tony Giannola, back in January, is shot multiple times as he is leaving a bank at the intersection of Russell St. and Monroe Ave. He is able to walk back inside before collapsing and dying.[89]
^"East Side Gang Leader Shot Dead," New York Tribune, March 4, 1914.
^"'Humpty' Jackson Caught," New York Tribune, March 14, 1914.
^"He Didn't Stay 'Reformed,'" The Sun, March 28, 1914.
^"'Humpty' Gets Six Months," The Evening World, April 3, 1914.
^"'Dago Frank,' Confessing, Says Vallon, 'Gyp' and 'Louie' Murdered Rosenthal; Didn't Hear of Becker; Four Gunmen Die," The New York Times, April 14, 1914.
^"Gunman Tells Gain in Trade of Murderer," The Sun, December 20, 1914.
^"Arrest Clears Old Mystery," The Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1914.
^"Rival Vice Police Duel; One Dead; Four Hurt," Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1914.
^"Man in Gray Hoyne Captive?" Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1914.
^"Love Revives; Victim Faces Murder Trial," The Pittsburgh Post, November 12, 1914.
^"Murder Merchant and Escape in Auto," The New York Times, November 25, 1914.
^"Twelve Are Arrested in Policy Game Roundup," The Sun, May 28, 1915.
^"Policy Gang Heads Guilty; Backers Are Being Sought," The Evening World, December 1, 1915.
^"Policy Sharks Hit Hard by Judge in Giving Sentence," The Evening World, December 13, 1915.
^"Two Shot Down in Harlem Feud," New York Tribune, May 18, 1915.
^"Wounds Kill Gallucci," New York Tribune, May 22, 1915.
^"Becker Unnerved Goes to Chair; His Bonds Slip," The New York Times, July 31, 1915.
^"Mafia Murder," Alexandria Daily Town Talk, November 20, 1915.
^"Killed the Wrong Man," The New York Times, January 17, 1916.
^"Jail Six for Murder Paid for by Wife," The Yonkers Herald, January 27, 1916.
^"Says Gangster Admits He Was Hired to Kill," The Evening World, January 27, 1916.
^"Youth on Trial as Gunman," The New York Times, June 6, 1916.
^"George's Murderer Guilty," The New York Times, June 8, 1916.
^"Murderer to Die; Wife of Victim Confesses," New York Tribune, June 10, 1916.
^"Life Sentences Instead of Death," The Buffalo Commercial, June 28, 1917.
^"Shot Dead in Street; Labor Trouble Suspected," Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1916.
^"Accused of Coogan Slaying," Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1916.
^"Freed of Coogan Murder," Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1916.
^"Accused by Finger Print," The Kansas City Star, April 19, 1916.
^"Mysterious 10 Kill De Marco and His Friend," New York Tribune, July 21, 1916.
^"Police Seize $238 in Poolroom Raid," The Detroit Free Press, November 8, 1916.
^"Business Rival of Slain Saloonman and Helper Held," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 15, 1917.
^"Workhouse Race Riot Is Quelled with Fire Hose," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 8, 1917.
^"Sold Drug to Soldier - Jail," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 22, 1917.
^"Police Seeking Mafia as Alleged Slayers," Evening Express, November 5, 1917.
^"17 Indicted After Confessions of 'Ralph the Barber'," New York Tribune, December 1, 1917.
^"Second in One Family Victim of Black Hand," The Los Angeles Times, December 19, 1917.
^"International Gunman Sought in Mafia Case," The Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1917.
^"Akron Policeman Killed by Gunman," Akron Beacon Journal, December 24, 1917.
^"Offer Reward for Costigan's Slayers," Akron Beacon Journal, January 11, 1918.
^""Officer Hunt Dies of Wounds; Costigan to Be Buried Tuesday," Akron Beacon Journal, January 14, 1918.
^"Woman Shot When Man Fires at Policeman," Chicago Tribune, March 5, 1918.
^"Freed of Assault Charge," Chicago Tribune, September 5, 1918.
^"Richards Dies from Bandits' Bullets," Akron Beacon Journal, March 12, 1918.
^"Arrest Fourth Foreigner in Richards Case," Akron Beacon Journal, March 14, 1918.
^"Gambler Slain for Squealing; Suspect Held," New York Tribune, April 2, 1918.
^"Rothenberg Freed of Slaying Police Gambling 'Pigeon'," The Evening World, October 14, 1918.
^"First Ballot Convicted Borgia; Prisoner Has Sleepless Night," Akron Beacon Journal, May 18, 1918.
^"Borgia Will Die in Chair September 13," Akron Beacon Journal, May 25, 1918.
^"Terranova Acquitted," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 7, 1918.
^"Were Three Murders on Saturday," The Evening News, July 22, 1918.
^"Santo Volpe Not Murdered," The Evening News, July 23, 1918.
^"Gunmen Murder 'Tony' Giannola, Feudist Leader," The Detroit Free Press, January 4, 1919.
^"'Jinx' Gambler Shoots Three in Craps Raid," New York Tribune, January 20, 1919.
^"Man Accused of Shooting Two Detectives Is Freed," New York Tribune, July 25, 1919.
^"Two Are Fined, Twelve Discharged," The Buffalo Times, February 16, 1919.
^"Mazzano and Borgia Die in Chair," Akron Evening Times, February 21, 1919.
^"Two Youths Arouse Suspicion; Cops Place Them Under Arrest," Buffalo Express, February 27, 1919.
^"Youthful Gun Toters Sent to Pen; One for Lack of Fine," Buffalo Courier, March 14, 1919.
^"Thomas Egan, Politician and Leader of 'Egan's Rats,' Dies," The St. Louis Star, April 21, 1919.
^"Jim Colosimo Beats Reporter on Vice Inquiry," Chicago Tribune, May 19, 1919.
^"'Big Jim' Seized for His Attack Upon Reporter," Chicago Tribune, May 20, 1919.
^"Shots End Party; Kill Gang Leader," The Sun, July 27, 1919.
^"Slain Ex-Gangster Had Been Reformed," The Sun, July 28, 1919.
^"'Rubber' Shaw Killed 'Tanner' Smith; Who Killed Shaw?" Illustrated Daily News, August 2, 1919.
^"'Johnny Spanish' Slain in East Side," The New York Times, July 30, 1919.
^"Gun Fight in Hoboken," The New York Times, August 1, 1919.
^"Militiamen Arrest Ten; Charge Men Made Threats," Chicago Tribune, August 6, 1919.
^"Gentleman's Killing Bares Wide Gambling," Chicago Tribune, September 2, 1919.
^"Chase and Sieze [sic] Six; Called Big Safe Blowers," Chicago Tribune, September 10, 1919.
^"White Sox Lose in Opener, 9 to 1," Chicago Tribune, October 2, 1919.
^"Inside Story of Plot to Buy World's Series," Chicago Tribune, September 25, 1920.
^"Sam Giannola, Feudist, Slain; Shot 28 Times," The Detroit Free Press, October 3, 1919.
New York police arrest over 200 known Italian gangsters and known
Black Hand members in a raid in
Little Italy, including
Morello crime family leader
Lupo the Wolf. However, none are convicted as many of the notes of extortion threats cannot be traced to them.[1]
Jim Cosmano, a major Chicago Black Hand leader, is severely wounded in an ambush by
Johnny Torrio on a
South Side bridge. Cosmano had previously demanded $10,000 threatening to destroy Colosimo's café.
January 1 – March 26, 1911 – Thirty-eight Black Hand victims are killed by Black Hand
assassins, many by the unidentified assassin known only as
Shotgun Man, between
Oak Street and
Milton Street in Chicago's
Little Italy.
April 1 –
Spanish Louie, a lieutenant of
Humpty Jackson, is killed while walking on East 11th Street by an unknown gunman (although other sources have incorrectly claimed 1900 and 1911).[2]
Jack Zelig is arrested for robbing a bordello. The charges are later dropped. However, in an attempt to gain leadership of the
Eastman Gang, lieutenants
Jack Sirocco and
Chick Tricker refuse to post bail, beginning a gang war between the two factions.
Nathan Kaplan severely injures
Johnny Spanish in a knife fight before police arrive to break up the fight. Kaplan also fights
Jacob Orgen later that year giving a scar across Orgen's face before the fight is stopped.
September – Republican State's Attorney John E.W. Wayman, shortly before his term of office is to expire, officially closes down Chicago's South Side "
Levee District". The long-time
vice district had been a hotbed of criminal activity for Chicago's
underworld, as well as a major source of political power for Chicago's First Ward aldermen, such as
Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna and
"Bathhouse" John Coughlin, since the 1890s.
The White Hand Society disbands after police inaction and vigilantism in other Italian neighborhoods ends public support for the organization.[10][page needed]
George Washington "Chuck" Connors, one of the last of the
Tammany Hall associates, dies of heart failure in New York City's Hudson Street Hospital at the age of 61.[12] Within several months,
Frank "Mike the Dago" Salvatore succeeds Connors as the political boss of
Chinatown.
Cleveland gangster
Thomas Joseph McGinty (aka T.J. McGinty) organizes a gang of labor sluggers competing against rival Cleveland News sluggers Arthur McBride's Mayfield Road Mob during Cleveland's "Circulation Wars".
November 28 – Preparing to assault workers who had refused to strike, rival labor sluggers led by
"Dopey" Benny Fein are met by a combined number of smaller gangs as street fighting breaks out in front of a
Greenwich Street hat shop.[14] This is the first of many skirmishes which will eventually lead up to the
First Labor Slugger War.
Arts and literature
The Gangster (1913) starring Lionel Adams, Ferdinand Tidmarsh and
Edna Luby is released.
During his first year in office,
NYPD Police Commissioner
Arthur Woods arrests more than 200 gangsters.
Gas House Gang leader Thomas Lynch is killed during a gunfight with members of the Jimmy Curley Gang led by
"Gold Mine" Jimmy Cariggio. The Gas House Gang breaks up soon after Lynch's death.
Within two years of the closing of Chicago's infamous vice district
The Levee, long-time vice lord
Saffo the Greek is forced to flee the area. It is during this time that Chicago police captain Michael Ryan, district commander of
The Levee, is dismissed from the force for corruption.
January 9 - A gunfight breaks out between members of
Jack Sirocco's and
Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein's gangs outside of a dance in
St. Mark's Place in
Manhattan. An elderly court clerk named Frederick Strauss is killed in the crossfire.[15] (Two members of Fein's gang -
Irving "Waxey Gordon" Wexler and Isidore "Jew Murphy" Cohen - are eventually charged for the murder and tried in 1916, but are acquitted for lack of evidence.)[16]
March 13 - Former
New York gang leader
Thomas "Humpty" Jackson is arrested for selling opium near his home on Third Avenue.[18] On March 27, Jackson is convicted [19] and is later sentenced to six months in prison.[20]
April 13 - The four convicted gunmen in the 1912
murder of gambler Herman Rosenthal -
Harry "Gyp the Blood" Horowitz,
Francesco "Dago Frank" Cirofici, Louis "Lefty Louie" Rosenberg, and Jacob "Whitey Lewis" Seidenshner - are executed in the
electric chair at
Sing Sing prison. About two hours prior to the execution, Cirofici makes a statement to the warden suggesting that
NYPD Lt.
Charles Becker was not involved in the murder plot, and that Cirofici himself was not present at the slaying, though he admitted knowing about it. (Despite Cirofici's efforts to clear Becker, the policeman would be executed the following year.)[21]
April 17 – Five New York City gangsters are killed in a gunfight between
Joe Morello and Joe Baker on 113th Street and
Third Avenue.
May – Following his arrest for assault earlier that year, New York labor racketeer
"Dopey" Benny Fein agrees to testify against several gangsters and union leaders. In exchange for a reduced sentence, Fein reveals details of labor slugging operations from over five-year period resulting in the indictment of eleven gangsters and twenty two union officials.
July – Shortly after being brought to Chicago by his cousin
John Torrio, New York gunman Rocco "Roxie" Vanilli is arrested for the murder of a Chicago police officer in Chicago's infamous vice district, The Levee, on July 16.[24][25]
November – Patsy Doyle is killed by
Owney Madden after Doyle attempts to take leadership of the
Gopher Gang.
November 11 - Lorito Monastero, the brother of future
Pittsburgh crime familyboss Stefano Monastero, is indicted for the murder of Stefano's estranged mother-in-law in August.[26]
A
Black Hand gang in
Chicago led by
Sam Cardinelli begins years of setting off over eight hundred bombs, killing over twenty people and wounding hundreds more until 1920, when they are convicted of murder, and hanged the following year.
Steve Wallace, with his brothers Frank and Jimmy Wallace of the
Gustin Gang, begin hijacking and looting trucks in
Southie often stripping cargo from the rear of the truck while stopped at intersections. The brothers are soon known by the press as the "Tailboard Thieves".
March 12 –
Frank Costello is arrested for carrying a concealed weapons after detectives receive information from an informant. Costello is sentenced to one year in
Welfare Island prison by Judge
Edward Swann and is released after ten months.
May 17 –
Giosue Gallucci, also known as the undisputed King of Little Italy, who controlled the
policy game in
Italian Harlem (New York City) is shot together with his son.[31] He died four days later.[32]
November 19 - Vincenzo "Vinent" Moreci, a "leading" member of the Italian community in
New Orleans, as well as an apparent member of the city's
Mafia family, is shot and killed near his home, reportedly in retaliation for having colluded with the Italian
Vigilance Committee against the
Black Hand kidnappers and murderers of eight-year-old Walter Lamana in 1907, but more likely as part of an internal Mafia feud.[34]
Japan
The
Yamaguchi-gumi organization begins operating in Japan.
January 15 - William "Brother Mac" McNamara, a member of the
Hudson Dusters gang, and an accomplice viciously assault an Italian gardener named Gregorio George near
Dobbs Ferry, New York, leaving him for dead. George, whose wife hired the gangsters to kill her husband, dies of his injuries the following morning.[35] Arrested in
Hoboken on January 26,[36] McNamara confesses to the crime[37] and goes on trial in
White Plains in June.[38] Quickly convicted[39] and sentenced to death,[40] McNamara has his sentence commuted to life imprisonment the following year.[41]
March 26 - Three labor
racketeers shoot film operator Hugh Coogan dead in Justine Street in
Chicago.[42] Irish-American
gangster and corrupt union representative Edward "Spike" O'Donnell, leader of the
Southside O'Donnell gang, is soon charged with the crime,[43] but is acquitted by late spring.[44]
April 18 - Future
Kansas City Mob boss
John Lazia, who is currently a member of a robbery gang headed by John J. "Black Mike" McGovern, is arrested for attempting to rob the safe of a produce dealer on the
Kansas side of the city.[45]
Summer – New York Police break up the last of the Manhattan street gangs, including the
Hudson Dusters, from
The Battery to
Spuyten Duyvil. Many of these former gang members would become employed as labor sluggers. Street gangs would become non-existent in New York until the release of "Kid Dropper"
Nathan Kaplan and
Johnny Spanish the following year.
July 20 - Aspiring
Camorra boss Joseph Di Marco is found shot to death along with his bodyguard, Charles "Nine Fingered Charley" Lombardi, in a vacant flat on James Street in
Manhattan.[46]
February 14 - After saloonkeeper Vincent Butera is found murdered in his bar, police question Dominick Giambrone,
boss of the
St. Louis crime family, about the murder.[48]
June 7 - Fueled by the ongoing
race riots in East St. Louis, a riot breaks out in the quarry of a prison workhouse between the white and black inmates. The violence escalates when Henry Griesser, a member of
Egan's Rats, steals a gun from one of the guards, and begins firing at the black prisoners. The riot is finally quelled when local
firemen train their firehose on the rioters. Ten black prisoners and two white prisoners are hospitalized as a result of the riot.[49]
September 21 -
Giovanni "Johnny Spanish" Mistretta and one of his men are convicted in federal court of attempting to sell
heroin to a
soldier, and are sentenced to fifteen months in prison. (In the
New York City papers of the time, Johnny Spanish is reported as having a real name of "Harry Weinberg," a possible
alias.)[50]
November 5 - Rosario "Sam" Matranga, boss of the Matranga
Mafia faction in
Los Angeles, is shot at close range with a
shotgun while sitting in his parked car in front of his home.[51]
December 18 - A little over a month after the murder of
Los Angeles Mafioso and faction boss Sam Matranga, his cousin and successor, Pietro "Peter" Matranga, is also shot dead at the intersection of Eastlake Avenue and Henry Street.[53] Shortly afterwards, police begin searching for Mike Marino, who is suspected of killing both Matrangas as well as Tony Pariese in November 1916.[54]
December 23 - Having stopped three Italians on suspicion of carrying concealed weapons,
Akron Patrolman Guy Norris begins searching one of the suspects when one of the man's companions pulls out a
revolver and shoots the policeman in the chest point blank, damaging his
spinal cord and causing instant
paralysis. Although the gravely injured policeman is quickly taken to the hospital and manages to live through the day and into the night, he dies early in the morning on
Christmas Eve.[55] (Unbeknownst to the authorities at the time, Patrolman Norris's murder is just the first in a personal
vendetta against the
Akron police by
Black Hand gang leader
Rosario Borgio in retaliation for their frequent harassment of him, and Borgio has even offered a cash bounty for every cop that is killed in this campaign of revenge.)
Al Capone
It was through the Five Points gang that
Al Capone came to the attention of brutal New York mobster
Frankie Yale. In 1917, 18-year-old Al Capone went to work for Yale at the Harvard Inn as a bartender and as a waiter and bouncer when needed. Capone watched and learned as Yale used violence to maintain control over his empire.
One day while working at the Harvard Inn, Capone saw a man and woman sitting at a table. After his initial advances were ignored, Capone went up to the good-looking woman and whispered in her ear, "Honey, you have a nice ass and I mean that as a compliment." The man with her was her brother, Frank Gallucio. Defending his sister's honor, Gallucio punched Capone. However, Capone didn't let it end there; he decided to fight back. Gallucio then took out a knife and slashed at Capone's face, managing to cut Capone's left cheek three times (one of which cut Capone from ear to mouth). The scars left from this attack led to Capone's nickname of "Scarface," a name he personally hated.[citation needed]
Tong leader
Mock Duck, upon his release from
Sing Sing prison, retires from crime.
Jan. 10 - Just over two weeks following the murder of
Akron Patrolman Guy Norris in December, two more patrolmen, Edward Costigan and Joseph Hunt, are ambushed and shot from behind with automatic
revolvers while on their way home from work. Costigan is instantly killed, while Hunt dies in the hospital two nights later. Following the shooting, three "
gangsters" - likely members of
Rosario Borgio's gang - are observed fleeing from the scene.[56][57]
March 4 -
Chicago Black Hand gang leader
Sam Cardinelli fires a gun at
Chicago Detective Charles Eitz, missing the policeman and hitting a young mother out with her baby in the knee. Although the woman drops her baby, the baby is not hurt, and Eitz is able to capture Cardinelli later the same day.[58] Charged with assault with intent to kill, Cardinelli is acquitted of the crime in September.[59]
March 12 - A fourth
Akron policeman, Patrolman Gethin Richards, is fatally shot in a shootout with members of
Rosario Borgio's gang, and dies in the hospital that afternoon. Unlike with the previous murders, however, several of the gang are quickly apprehended, and Borgio himself is arrested the following day at a hotel.[60][61]
April 1 - In a case similar to that of
Herman Rosenthal, New York gambler Harry Cohen is shot dead in his apartment building shortly after he had contacted the assistant district attorney to arrange a meeting with him to provide information about other gamblers. Morris "Big Morris" Rothenberg, another gambler, is arrested as a suspect soon after,[62] but is acquitted at trial in October.[63]
May 17 -
Black Hand gang leader
Rosario Borgio is convicted of fist degree murder in the killing of
Akron police officer Gethin Richards in March.[64] Eight days later, on May 25, Borgio is sentenced to death in the
electric chair.[65]
June 6 –
Ciro Terranova is charged with ordering the deaths of Charles Lombardi, Joe DiMarco and Michael Hayes. However, the case is later dropped.[66]
July 20 - In
Swoyersville, Pennsylvania,
mobster Ignatz Cosmano is shot dead on Oliver St. following an argument with another unidentified man, who escapes into the night after fatally shooting another man who attempts to pursue him. The following Monday, July 22, the local newspapers mistakenly identify Cosmano as Santo Volpe, the
boss of the
Mafia in Northwestern Pennsylvania.[67] The following day, the papers correct their mistake, explaining that the body of Cosmano, who was apparently a Volpe
henchman, was found with Volpe's business card in his pocket.[68]
Al Capone leaves New York, after an altercation with a member of the
White Hand Gang, going to Chicago, where he becomes a top lieutenant to
Johnny Torrio.
January 19 - During a police raid on a
crap game on West Fifty-Seventh St. in
New York City, gambler and
crime bossArnold Rothstein draws his
revolver and fires through the doors, wounding two police detectives and piercing the coat of another. Rothstein, who had previously been the victim of armed robberies in the past, believed the police raiders were more robbers attempting to holdup his latest high-stakes game.[70] In late July, the charges against Rothstein are dropped.[71]
February 14 - During a raid on a gambling den on Eleventh St.,
Buffalo police arrest fourteen men, including the owner, Benedetto Angelo "Buffalo Bill" Palmeri,
underboss of the
Buffalo crime family. The following day, Palmeri and another man are fined for having unlicensed
revolvers.[72]
February 27 - Around midnight,
Frank Costello and a friend are arrested in
Buffalo for carrying concealed weapons.[74] In March, both men are convicted and sent to prison.[75]
May 19 - Around midnight at the Arrowhead Inn, a saloon in the village of
Burnham near
Chicago,
Vincenzo "Big Jim" Colosimo, the owner of the saloon, confronts Chicago Tribune reporter Morrow Krum and physically assaults him with the help of another unidentified man. The reporter had been overheard on the telephone reporting back to his employer about the Arrowhead Inn and other local saloons.[77] Later that day, Colosimo is arrested in Chicago for assault and battery, but quickly
bonds out.[78]
July 26 - While he is playing poker at the Marginal Club on Eighth Avenue,
Thomas "Tanner" Smith, former leader of the
Marginals gang, is shot from behind and killed.[79][80] Later witnesses identify rival
gangsters Robert "Rubber" Shaw, George "Chick" Lewis, and a third man as Smith's killers.[81]
July 29 – New York labor slugger
Johnny Spanish is killed by three unidentified gunman possibly including rival gangster
Nathan Kaplan.[82]
July 31 -
Hudson Dusters leader Robert "Rubber" Shaw is killed and George "Chick" Lewis is wounded in a shooting in
Hoboken, New Jersey, likely in retaliation for the murder of
Tanner Smith on the 26th.[83]
August 5 - Two days after the end of the
Chicago race riot, ten members of the
Ragen's Colts gang are arrested after threatening to steal the weapons of militiamen protecting the black neighborhoods and use them to reignite the racial violence there. The suspects are soon released, however.[84]
September 1 - Claiming self-defense, gambler Marty Guilfoyle shoots and kills Chicago
gangster and
labor racketeer Peter Gentleman at a cigar store that Guilfoyle owns, apparently in a dispute over
gambling interests.[85]
September 9 - Following a car chase, Chicago detectives capture a gang of six suspected safe burglars, including
Earl "Hymie" Weiss (identified in the paper as "Harold Werss"). The detectives also find
burglar's tools and half a bottle of
nitro glycerin in the thieves' automobile.[86]
October 1 - The first game of the
1919 World Series takes place in
Cincinnati between the
Chicago White Sox and the
Cincinnati Reds, with the heavily favored White Sox losing to the Reds 9 to 1.[87] The Reds would go on to win the Series, 5 games to 3, largely as a result of a conspiracy between eight members of the White Sox and a syndicate of professional
gamblers, alleged to have been planned by
New York City gambler and gang leader
Arnold Rothstein in what would come to be known as the
Black Sox Scandal.[88]
October 2 -
Salvatore "Sam" Giannola, the
boss of the
Detroit Mafia ever since the murder of his cousin, Tony Giannola, back in January, is shot multiple times as he is leaving a bank at the intersection of Russell St. and Monroe Ave. He is able to walk back inside before collapsing and dying.[89]
^"East Side Gang Leader Shot Dead," New York Tribune, March 4, 1914.
^"'Humpty' Jackson Caught," New York Tribune, March 14, 1914.
^"He Didn't Stay 'Reformed,'" The Sun, March 28, 1914.
^"'Humpty' Gets Six Months," The Evening World, April 3, 1914.
^"'Dago Frank,' Confessing, Says Vallon, 'Gyp' and 'Louie' Murdered Rosenthal; Didn't Hear of Becker; Four Gunmen Die," The New York Times, April 14, 1914.
^"Gunman Tells Gain in Trade of Murderer," The Sun, December 20, 1914.
^"Arrest Clears Old Mystery," The Los Angeles Times, May 24, 1914.
^"Rival Vice Police Duel; One Dead; Four Hurt," Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1914.
^"Man in Gray Hoyne Captive?" Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1914.
^"Love Revives; Victim Faces Murder Trial," The Pittsburgh Post, November 12, 1914.
^"Murder Merchant and Escape in Auto," The New York Times, November 25, 1914.
^"Twelve Are Arrested in Policy Game Roundup," The Sun, May 28, 1915.
^"Policy Gang Heads Guilty; Backers Are Being Sought," The Evening World, December 1, 1915.
^"Policy Sharks Hit Hard by Judge in Giving Sentence," The Evening World, December 13, 1915.
^"Two Shot Down in Harlem Feud," New York Tribune, May 18, 1915.
^"Wounds Kill Gallucci," New York Tribune, May 22, 1915.
^"Becker Unnerved Goes to Chair; His Bonds Slip," The New York Times, July 31, 1915.
^"Mafia Murder," Alexandria Daily Town Talk, November 20, 1915.
^"Killed the Wrong Man," The New York Times, January 17, 1916.
^"Jail Six for Murder Paid for by Wife," The Yonkers Herald, January 27, 1916.
^"Says Gangster Admits He Was Hired to Kill," The Evening World, January 27, 1916.
^"Youth on Trial as Gunman," The New York Times, June 6, 1916.
^"George's Murderer Guilty," The New York Times, June 8, 1916.
^"Murderer to Die; Wife of Victim Confesses," New York Tribune, June 10, 1916.
^"Life Sentences Instead of Death," The Buffalo Commercial, June 28, 1917.
^"Shot Dead in Street; Labor Trouble Suspected," Chicago Tribune, March 27, 1916.
^"Accused of Coogan Slaying," Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1916.
^"Freed of Coogan Murder," Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1916.
^"Accused by Finger Print," The Kansas City Star, April 19, 1916.
^"Mysterious 10 Kill De Marco and His Friend," New York Tribune, July 21, 1916.
^"Police Seize $238 in Poolroom Raid," The Detroit Free Press, November 8, 1916.
^"Business Rival of Slain Saloonman and Helper Held," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 15, 1917.
^"Workhouse Race Riot Is Quelled with Fire Hose," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 8, 1917.
^"Sold Drug to Soldier - Jail," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 22, 1917.
^"Police Seeking Mafia as Alleged Slayers," Evening Express, November 5, 1917.
^"17 Indicted After Confessions of 'Ralph the Barber'," New York Tribune, December 1, 1917.
^"Second in One Family Victim of Black Hand," The Los Angeles Times, December 19, 1917.
^"International Gunman Sought in Mafia Case," The Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1917.
^"Akron Policeman Killed by Gunman," Akron Beacon Journal, December 24, 1917.
^"Offer Reward for Costigan's Slayers," Akron Beacon Journal, January 11, 1918.
^""Officer Hunt Dies of Wounds; Costigan to Be Buried Tuesday," Akron Beacon Journal, January 14, 1918.
^"Woman Shot When Man Fires at Policeman," Chicago Tribune, March 5, 1918.
^"Freed of Assault Charge," Chicago Tribune, September 5, 1918.
^"Richards Dies from Bandits' Bullets," Akron Beacon Journal, March 12, 1918.
^"Arrest Fourth Foreigner in Richards Case," Akron Beacon Journal, March 14, 1918.
^"Gambler Slain for Squealing; Suspect Held," New York Tribune, April 2, 1918.
^"Rothenberg Freed of Slaying Police Gambling 'Pigeon'," The Evening World, October 14, 1918.
^"First Ballot Convicted Borgia; Prisoner Has Sleepless Night," Akron Beacon Journal, May 18, 1918.
^"Borgia Will Die in Chair September 13," Akron Beacon Journal, May 25, 1918.
^"Terranova Acquitted," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 7, 1918.
^"Were Three Murders on Saturday," The Evening News, July 22, 1918.
^"Santo Volpe Not Murdered," The Evening News, July 23, 1918.
^"Gunmen Murder 'Tony' Giannola, Feudist Leader," The Detroit Free Press, January 4, 1919.
^"'Jinx' Gambler Shoots Three in Craps Raid," New York Tribune, January 20, 1919.
^"Man Accused of Shooting Two Detectives Is Freed," New York Tribune, July 25, 1919.
^"Two Are Fined, Twelve Discharged," The Buffalo Times, February 16, 1919.
^"Mazzano and Borgia Die in Chair," Akron Evening Times, February 21, 1919.
^"Two Youths Arouse Suspicion; Cops Place Them Under Arrest," Buffalo Express, February 27, 1919.
^"Youthful Gun Toters Sent to Pen; One for Lack of Fine," Buffalo Courier, March 14, 1919.
^"Thomas Egan, Politician and Leader of 'Egan's Rats,' Dies," The St. Louis Star, April 21, 1919.
^"Jim Colosimo Beats Reporter on Vice Inquiry," Chicago Tribune, May 19, 1919.
^"'Big Jim' Seized for His Attack Upon Reporter," Chicago Tribune, May 20, 1919.
^"Shots End Party; Kill Gang Leader," The Sun, July 27, 1919.
^"Slain Ex-Gangster Had Been Reformed," The Sun, July 28, 1919.
^"'Rubber' Shaw Killed 'Tanner' Smith; Who Killed Shaw?" Illustrated Daily News, August 2, 1919.
^"'Johnny Spanish' Slain in East Side," The New York Times, July 30, 1919.
^"Gun Fight in Hoboken," The New York Times, August 1, 1919.
^"Militiamen Arrest Ten; Charge Men Made Threats," Chicago Tribune, August 6, 1919.
^"Gentleman's Killing Bares Wide Gambling," Chicago Tribune, September 2, 1919.
^"Chase and Sieze [sic] Six; Called Big Safe Blowers," Chicago Tribune, September 10, 1919.
^"White Sox Lose in Opener, 9 to 1," Chicago Tribune, October 2, 1919.
^"Inside Story of Plot to Buy World's Series," Chicago Tribune, September 25, 1920.
^"Sam Giannola, Feudist, Slain; Shot 28 Times," The Detroit Free Press, October 3, 1919.