Chick Tricker was an early New York gangster who, as a member the Eastman Gang, served as one if its last leaders alongside Jack Sirocco. The Eastman Gang was the last of New York's street gangs which dominated the city's underworld during the late 1890s until early 1910s Jack Sirocco (1882 - 1954 was a New York gangster involved in labor Racketeering and Strikebreaking.
A longtime member of the Eastmans, Tricker had made a name for himself as a well known Bowery and Park Row saloonkepper who first came to prominence in a brawl against "Eat 'Em Up" Jack McManus, a former prizefighter and Bowery bouncer at McGurk's Suicide Hall. For the English musician see Jack McManus (singer. Jack McManus (died 1905 also known as "Eat 'Em Up" was a noted New York City After insulting several dance hall girls as the Paul Kelly's club New Brighton, McManaus confronted Tricker at Third Avenue and Jones Street and shot him in the leg. Paul Kelly (1876 - 1936 was a New York criminal who founded the Five Points Gang, one of the last dominant street gangs in New York history and recruited Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from Cooper Square north for over While recuperating in a local hospital, McManus was ambushed and knocked unconscious by Sardinia Frank only a day later.
Tricker eventually survived the gang wars of the last decade and had become a prominent member under Eastman leader "Big" Jack Zelig, who was awarded control of one of the three factions of the Eastman gang. By 1910, Tricker had headed his faction based from the old Stag Cafe on West Twenty-eighth Street near Broadway, renaming it the Maryland Cafe. The club had a long history of violence connected to it as, only the previous year, three men had been killed in a dispute over a woman.
During the so-called "Ida the Goose War", several members of his gang were killed in a confrontation with the Gopher Gang when Ida the Goose was abducted (or ran off with) a member of Tricker's gang. The Gopher Gang was an early 20th century New York street gang known for its members including Goo Goo Knox, James "Biff" Ellison, and Owney Leaving the gangs to settle the matter themselves, the Gophers eventually took her back to Hell's Kitchen after a brief gunfight in the Maryland Cafe leaving six members dead [1]. Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City that includes roughly the area between
Following a failed armed robbery in 1911, Tricker and Sirocco left behind Zelig who had been injured during the hold up and arrested. Instead of bailing him out however, the two decided to assume control of the Eastmans. Zelig was eventually released in part to his political connections in Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall was the Democratic Party Political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants (most notably A later attempt to murder Zelig failed when, after being informed by Ike the Plug, Zelig lured Eastman member and assassin Jules Morell into his club where was killed [2].
In 1914, he was one of several gangsters arrested for the murder of gambler Herman "Beansie" Rosenthal.
Further reading
- Pietrusza, David. Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-7867-1250-3
- Downey, Patrick, "Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900-1935" Barricade Books, 2004
References
- Asbury, Herbert. Herbert Asbury ( September 1, 1889 — February 24, 1963) was an American Journalist and Writer who is best The Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. ISBN 1-56025-275-8
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