The Eastman Gang was a predominately Jewish-American street gang that dominated parts of the underworld in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

during the late 1890s until the early 1910s. Along with the increasingly

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

and Italian immigrant

Five Points Gang The Five Points Gang was a criminal street gang, initially of primarily Irish-American origins, based in the Five Points of Lower Manhattan, New York City, during the late 19th and early 20th century. The gang had its origin in the various I ...

under Italian-American Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli, best known by his pseudonym Paul Kelly, the Eastman gang succeeded the long dominant

Whyos The Whyos or Whyos Gang, a collection of the various post–Civil War street gangs of New York City, was the city's dominant street gang during the mid-late 19th century. The gang controlled most of Manhattan from the late 1860s until the earl ...

as the first non- Irish street gang to gain prominence in the underworld during the 1890s. Its rise marked the beginning of a period of strong Jewish-American influence within

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

in New York City. Under the leadership of

Monk Eastman Edward "Monk" Eastman (1875 – December 26, 1920) was an American gangster who founded and led the Eastman Gang in the late 19th and early 20th century; it became one of the most powerful street gangs in the city. His aliases included Joseph " ...

, a well known bouncer and hired thug, the Eastman Gang spent the next decade establishing a criminal empire in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

through criminal activities, including

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

and

illegal gambling Gambling law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law ...

. They operated stuss games, and established strong political connections through

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. It became the main local ...

Early years

Corlears Hook Lower East Side New York City 1876 Cropped

According to an article in the April 26, 1903, edition of the ''

New York Daily Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...

'', the gang that would become Eastman's first coalesced in the early 1890s. They started out in the notorious Corlear's Hook section of the

on Rivington Street, in the vicinity of Mangin and Goerck streets. Another gang of the era, the Short Tails, had its headquarters in this same area, and the Eastman gang may have developed from that group. Originally composed of largely Irish and Italian Catholics from the local slums, the gang quickly became almost exclusively Jewish, as a wave of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe settled into lower

and nearby

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. When

entered the gang is unknown. His father abandoned his family when Eastman was five years old, and he lived with his mother and sisters in her father's household. Several newspaper articles refer to Eastman as from Corlear's Hook, so he was likely involved from this early era. His background was Yankee (Eastman immigrants came from England in the colonial period), but he originally had many ethnic Irish associates. By the start of the 20th century, the gang had expanded beyond Corlear's Hook and changed its criminal focus from petty theft to pimping, using the many "disorderly houses" (brothels) along Allen Street to amass a small fortune. During this time the gang became known as the Allen Street Cadets ("cadet" being Bowery slang for a pimp); they adopted a flamboyant lifestyle. According to one local charity worker, "You never saw an Eastman without a woman." Aside from pimping they also kept their hand in other crimes, running gambling houses, peddling

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

, and hiring themselves out as paid goons. One of the gang's "clubhouses" during this time was Silver Dollar Smith's saloon on Essex Street. Monk Eastman worked as a "sheriff" or bouncer there. He quickly became a favorite mercenary for the many

politicians and Wall Street big wigs who frequented the place. As Monk's fame grew, his gang came to be known simply as the Monk Eastmans or the Eastman gang. Christopher Wallace

Like many gangs of the time, the Eastmans dressed as dandies; they were well-groomed men who liked to flaunt their wealth. According to

Alfred Henry Lewis Alfred Henry Lewis (January 20, 1855 – December 23, 1914) was an American investigative journalist, lawyer, novelist, editor, and short story writer, who sometimes published under the pseudonym Dan Quin.The Apaches of New York'', many of the gang members were also bicycle enthusiasts, likely owing to Eastman's own interest in the new riding machines. Lewis claims that Monk rented bicycles out of his Broome Street bird shop, and that an associate opened a club in Monk's honor called "The Squab Wheelman" (after the boss's twin passions—pigeons and bicycles). Eventually, the gang became involved in rivalries with other local gangs such as the

Yakey Yakes The Yakey Yakes was a 19th-century street gang, prominent in New York's underworld during the late 1890s and early 1900s. Based in the neighborhood of Catherine and Madison Streets, the gang were formed by Yakey Yake Brady in the 1890s and later ...

and the

, warring over both territory and work as political sluggers for Tammany Hall. The Eastmans dominated the gang war in the 20th century during the first year: his gang members rallied in pitched battles in the streets of New York reminiscent of the gangs of the previous century. Eastman was a charismatic leader, who often led his men into battle. He attracted many members of the Five Pointers to defect to the Eastmans, including

Richie Fitzpatrick Richard Fitzpatrick (1871https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2023/147/UNCEM_64107_befac32b-0c9e-4ce0-9a87-9d8aa2f061ec.jpeg?v=1685832358 – November 1, 1904) was a top gunman in the Monk Eastman gang in New York City. He had defected from t ...

and Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach. However, as the gang war began to escalate, Tammany politicians forced the leaders to agree to a truce before losing control of the situation.

Reign of Kid Twist

After Monk Eastman was arrested in 1904 for a street mugging, the gang threatened to disintegrate among warring factions, each trying to assert control. By the end of the year, the gang was split between former Eastman lieutenants

Max Zwerbach Max Zweifach (born Maximillian Zweifach; March 14, 1884 – May 14, 1908) also known as "Kid Twist" and occasionally referred to as Zwerbach was an American gangster active in the early 1900s. Early life Born Maximillian Zweifach in the Austro ...

and

. Threatened by civil war during their war with the Five Pointers, Zwerbach and Fitzpatrick agree to meet for a truce in late 1904. However, possibly while attending a peace conference, Fitzpatrick was found shot to death at a local neighborhood saloon near

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

Chrystie Street Chrystie Street is a street on Manhattan's Lower East Side and Chinatown, running as a continuation of Second Avenue from Houston Street, for seven blocks south to Canal Street. It is bounded on the east for its entirety by Sara D. Roosevelt ...

on November 1, 1904. With the elimination of the remaining members of the Fitzpatrick faction by Zwerbach lieutenant Vach "Cyclone Louie" Lewis several weeks later, "Kid Twist" Zwerbach took leadership of the Eastmans. He continued his war against the Five Points Gang on and off during his four-year reign. Paul Kelly arranged the murders of Zwerbach and Lewis, using an altercation with underling Louis "Louie the Lump" Pioggi to set them up for an ambush on May 14, 1908.

Strikebreaking

In 1907, the professional strikebreaker Pearl Bergoff brought in the Eastman gang to ride herd over "scabs" brought in to break a longshoremen strike.

Zelig and the final years

Following the murders of Zwerbach and Lewis, "Big" Jack Zelig took over what remained of the Eastmans. He divided the gang into three separate factions, with the other two operating as satellite gangs under saloonkeepers Jack Sirocco and

Chick Tricker Frank "Chick" Tricker was an American gangster in New York who, as a member of the Eastman Gang, served as one of its last leaders alongside Jack Sirocco. A longtime member of the Eastmans, Tricker made a name for himself as a Bowery and Park Ro ...

. These two eventually turned on Zelig, leaving him behind for police arrest after a failed armed robbery. The two factions were involved in gun battles throughout the city during the next year. A failed attempt on Zelig's life at the hands of Julie Morrell resulted in the would-be assassin being killed in December 1911. Both Sirocco and Tricker assumed control of what was left of the Eastmans after Zelig was killed by "Red" Phil Davidson shortly before he could testify against

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

Lieutenant

Charles Becker Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He was convicted of first-degree murder and executed for the killing of Herman Rosenthal, a bookmaker and ...

on October 5, 1912, in a trial for the murder of

Herman Rosenthal Herman Rosenthal (October 6, 1843 – 1917) was an American author, editor, and librarian. Biography Rosenthal was born in Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava), Courland. He was educated at Bauske (Bauska) and Jakobstadt (Jēkabpils), graduating in 1 ...

. After this what was left of the Eastmans began to crumble and the gang finally disintegrated.

References

* . * .

Early years

Reign of Kid Twist

Strikebreaking

Zelig and the final years

References

Further reading