Jack Sirocco (1882 - 1954) was a New York gangster involved in labor racketeering and strikebreaking. Year 1882 ( MDCCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous A racket is an illegal business usually run as part of Organized crime. Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by Employees to perform work. Originally a lieutenant in Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang, where he was the immediate boss of Johnny Torrio [1], Sirocco defected to the rival Eastman Gang, which he led in its last days. 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 The Five Points Gang was a 19th-century Criminal organization based in the Sixth Ward ( The Five Points) of New York City. John "Papa Johnny" Torrio, aka "The Fox" (born Giovanni Torrio) (February 1882 &ndash April 16 1957 was an Italian-American 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
Sirocco, known as the main rival of gangster "Dopey" Benny Fein, was an early member of the Five Points Gang, but later defected to the Monk Eastman Gang during the gang war in the mid-1900s. Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein (c 1889-1962 was an early Jewish American Gangster who dominated New York labor Racketeering Monk Eastman (c1873-1920 was a New York brawler who founded and led one of the most powerful street gangs in New York City at the turn of the Twentieth Century the Eastman Sirocco remained with the gang as manager of the Pearl House dance hall with Johnny Torrio and the satellite James Street Gang, until 1911 when he and Chick Tricker left wounded Eastman leader Jack Zelig behind during a failed robbery. Chick Tricker was an early New York gangster who as a member the Eastman Gang, served as one of its last leaders alongside Jack Sirocco. "Big" Jack Zelig ( May 13, 1888 - October 5, 1912) was a New York gangster and one of the last leaders of the Monk Eastman Gang Attempting to gain control of the gang both he and Tricker refused to post bail for Zelig. Traditionally bail is some form of Property deposited or pledged to a Court in order to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding However, due to Zelig's political connections, the charges against him were later dropped. Upon Zelig's release Sirocco and Tricker planned Zelig's death, sending Eastman member Jules Morrello (or Julie Morrell) to murder Zelig. Zelig, however, was informed of the attempt by Ike the Plug and killed Morrello during a party at the Stuyvesant Casino Hall on December 2, 1911 [2]. Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year
This would begin a civil war between the two Eastman factions that would last for nearly a year until Zelig's death in 1912. A civil war is a War between a State and domestic political actors that are in control of some part of the territory claimed by the state Sirocco and Tricker tried to lead the Eastman Gang after Monk Eastman briefly returned to lead the Eastmans, but by that time the civil war had destroyed what was left of the gang.
Sirocco later formed another gang, hiring out to strikebreakers and labor sluggers, competing with rival "Dopey" Benny Fein as the two struggled for control of labor slugging in New York's East Side during the early 1910s. A strikebreaker (also called scab or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. The 1910s decade ran from January 1 1910 through December 31 1919 In November 1913 the two gangs clashed as Sirocco's gang, hired by the Feldman Hat Company as strikebreakers against union workers protected by Benny Fein's gang, quickly escalated into a major gunfight in which Fein lieutenant Max Greenwalt was killed (most likely by Sirocco member Red Murray although other sources state that Greenwalt was killed by Johnnie Dike in a gunfight on Broome Street). A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming
Benny Fein planned an ambush to eliminate the Sirocco gang as they were attending a local dance at Arlington Hall on January 9, 1914. Events 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year However the ambush turned into a major battle lasting several hours and, while neither gang suffered any casualties, Deputy Court Clerk Frederick Strauss, apparently investigating the battle, was killed in the crossfire [3]. In the ensuing scandal and the police crackdown, Sirocco disappeared from New York's underworld soon after the incident.
Further reading
- Fried, Albert. The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. ISBN 0-231-09683-6
- 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
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
External links
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