Stories

Early Characters
John Allen – The Wickedest Man in New York

John Allen – The Wickedest Man in New York

John Allen, also known as E.E. Van Allen or "The Allen" was a notorious underworld gangster and who owned a saloon on Water Street in early New York. Born in Syracuse in New York to well to do & deeply religious parents in 1823, he was one of nine children. Two of...

read more
Big Jim O’Leary Chicago’s Big Time Gambler

Big Jim O’Leary Chicago’s Big Time Gambler

"Big" Jim O'Leary was a gambler & racketeer in early Chicago, he is credited in forming one of the cities first gambling syndicates and for having a rags to riches story. James O'Leary was born to parents Patrick and Katherine O'Leary. Katherine O'Leary is rumored...

read more
Little Patsy Doyle & the Hudson Dusters

Little Patsy Doyle & the Hudson Dusters

William "Little Patsy Doyle" Moore was the leader of the Hudson Dusters gang in the 1910's and he was killed at the end of a war between his Hudson Dusters gang and Owney Madden's Gopher Gang. The Hudson Dusters were a street gang that were founded in the late 1890s...

read more
Johnny “The Mick” Walsh

Johnny “The Mick” Walsh

John Walsh or "Johnny The Mick" was a criminal and gangster in early New York, 1852 - 1883. He was leader of the gang The Walshers which he founded in the 1870's and with their shakedowns and violence they were dominant around the Bowery in Lower Manhattan. This was a...

read more
Billy McGlory’s Armory Hall

Billy McGlory’s Armory Hall

Billy McGlory opened McGlory's Armory Hall at 158 Hester Street in the late 1870s. It very quickly became a popular underworld hangout, frequented by thieves, pickpockets, and procurers throughout the old Fourth and Sixth Wards for nearly two decades.It was described...

read more
The Failed Assassination of Paul Kelly

The Failed Assassination of Paul Kelly

Biff Ellison was one of Paul Kelly's gang members in the Five Points gang, he started out as a bouncer in Fat Flynn's dive bar on Bond Street. He later became a bouncer of a bar on Christie street where he made his name by knocking a police officer unconscious with a...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This
Skip to content