"Old Smoke" John Morrissey was born in Templemore, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1831. Around 1833 his parents...
“Old Smoke” John Morrissey
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The Gopher Gang of Hell’s Kitchen
The Gopher Gang were one of Hell’s Kitchen’s most brutal gangs. They were given the name "Gophers" because they used...
The Fatal Shooting of Beezy Garrity
In 1886 Danny Driscoll, who was co-leader of the Whyos gang was approached by 18 year old Bridget "Beezy" Garrity, who...
Humpty Jackson – The Hunchback of the Gas House District
Thomas "Humpty" Jackson born in 1879 and died in 1951, he was a New York criminal and last of the independent gang...
George Appo – An Extraordinary Pickpocket
George Washington Appo was born on the 4th of July 1854 in New Haven, Connecticut to a Chinese father, Quimbo Appo...
Weapons – The Shillelagh, Shillelagh Law & Faction Fights
The Shillelagh (pronounced shi - lay - la) is the name for a traditional Irish stick or stick of blackthorn wood, its...
The Distinguished Owen Vincent Madden of Hot Springs, Arkansas
Owen Vincent Madden was a quiet an unassuming character in Hot Springs, Arizona, he married the postmasters daughter,...
Vinegar Hill – Irishtown – Brooklyn New York
In the 1800's and during the Great Famine of Ireland many Irish settled along the banks of the Brooklyn Waterfront,...
A murder on the Brooklyn Docks
After the deaths of "Wild" Bill Lovett & Richard "Peg Leg" Lonergan, the White Hand Gang were in turmoil. After a...