"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. Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 869 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about Patriarch Photius of Constantinople Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting 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
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Early years & the Eastmans
Born Zelig Harry Lefkowitz (or William Alberts), as early as 6 years old Zelig became a well known pickpocket(taking only pennies) and thief while growing up on New York's Lower East Side as a member of Crazy Butch's pickpocket gang before joining the Eastman Gang in the late 1890s. This article is about the crime For the Robert Bresson film see Pickpocket (film. The Crazy Butch Gang was a teenage New York street gang which were known as the cities top Pickpockets and sneak thieves during the late nineteenth century The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the " Mauve Decade" because William Henry Perkin 's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that Rising up the ranks, Zelig became leader of the Eastman Gang after "Kid Twist" Max Zwerbach's death in 1908. Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach born as Maxwell Zwerbach or Zweifach ( March 14, 1884 - May 14, 1908) was an American With lieutenants Jack Sirocco and Chick Tricker, the gang had over seventy-five members, including satellite gangs such as the Lenox Avenue Gang, led by "Gyp the Blood" Harry Horowitz. Jack Sirocco (1882 - 1954 was a New York gangster involved in labor Racketeering and Strikebreaking. 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. The Lenox Avenue Gang was an early 20th century New York Street gang led by Harry Horowitz (better known as Gyp the Blood) and was one of the most violent Harry Horowitz (1889 &ndash April 13, 1914) better known as Gyp the Blood, was the leader of the notorious Lenox Avenue Gang
Feud with Sirocco and Tricker
After being arrested in 1911 for robbing a brothel, Sirocco and Trick attempted to gain leadership of the gang refusing to bail out Zelig. Zelig was later released due to his political connections however he was informed by a member that Sirocco and Tricker were planning on murdering him upon his release. The assassin, a gunman named Julie Morrell, was lured by Zelig to a Second Avenue nightclub where he was killed, possibly while intoxicated, by the gang leader on December 2. Julie Morrell or Jules Morello (d December 2, 1911) was a freelance gunman associated with the Eastman Gang during the turn of the century Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire
The next year, however, the old Eastman/Five Points feud flared anew. As Zelig left the Criminal Courts on afternoon in early June 1912, he was shot through the neck by a Five Points gunman named Charley Torti, who was a known associate of Louis Pioggi, aka Louie the Lump, who had gunned down Zelig's mentor, Kid Twist Zwerbach, four years earlier. Louis "Louie the Lump" Pioggi (born 1889 &ndash date of death unknown was a New York criminal and member of the Five Points Gang, known most prominently for the Big Jack amazingly recovered from his wound in time to be dragged into the Becker/Rosenthal case.
Final years
Charles Becker, a corrupt NYPD lieutenant, had had Zelig in his pocket for quite some time, and in the summer of 1912, Becker was named as a prime extortionist in the underworld. Charles Becker ( July 26, 1870 - July 30, 1915) was a New York City police officer in the 1890's and 1910's and who was tried convicted and A New York World exposed named him as one of three corrupt police officers involved in the case of Herman Rosenthal, a small time bookmaker who had complained to the press that his illegal businesses had been badly damaged by the greed of the city's corrupt police officers. The New York World was a Newspaper published in New York from 1860 until 1931
Becker told Jack Zelig and members of the Lenox Avenue Gang, specifically, Harry "Gyp the Blood" Horowitz, Jacob "Whitey Lewis" Seidenshner, Louis "Lefty Louie" Rosenberg, and Francesco "Dago Frank" Cirofisi, that he wanted Rosenthal "croaked". Harry Horowitz (1889 &ndash April 13, 1914) better known as Gyp the Blood, was the leader of the notorious Lenox Avenue Gang The gambler was gunned down in from of a Times Square joint called the Metropole Hotel on July 16, 1912, two days after his story appeared in the newspapers. Events 622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar. 1054 - Three Roman legates fractured relations between the Western and Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting In the aftermath, the District Attorney, Charles S. Whitman, made no secret of his belief that the gangsters who killed him had committed the murder at Becker's behest.
The fall-out from the Rosenthal murder was huge, making national headlines. All of Big Jack's henchmen were rounded up and charged with murder. It was widely whispered that their boss would testify against them in exchange for leniency. The day before he could, October 5, 1912, Zelig was shot and killed by "Red" Phil Davidson while riding on a Thirteenth Street trolley. Events 869 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about Patriarch Photius of Constantinople Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting Davidson claimed he had shot Zelig over a $400 dollar grudge, but most believed he had been killed to keep him from testifying against Charles Becker in the Rosenthal murder case involving the Lenox Avenue Gang. Charles Becker ( July 26, 1870 - July 30, 1915) was a New York City police officer in the 1890's and 1910's and who was tried convicted and
Shortly after Zelig's death New York detective Abe Shoenfeld wrote "Jack Zelig is as dead as a door nail. Men before him - like Kid Twist, Monk Eastman and others - were as pygmies to a giant. With the passing of Zelig, one of the most 'nerviest', strongest, and best men of his kind left us. "
Further reading
- Fried, Albert. The Rise and fall of the Jewish Gangster in America, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1980
- Rockaway, Robert A. (2000). BUT HE WAS GOOD TO HIS MOTHER: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters. Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 965-229-249-4
- Downey, Patrick. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900-1935. Barricade Books, 2004. ISBN 1-56980-267-X
External links
- Jack Zelig website
- But he was Good to his Mother: A story of Jewish Gangsters - Jack Zelig
- Corner of Second Avenue and 13th Street
- Big Jack Zelig at Find A Grave
- Zelig & the Lower Eastside Gangster City
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