Stories
Notorious
The Happy Hooligan, Knock Out Drops & Shanghaing
During the 1800's and early 1900's there was a practice that was used among some bartenders and saloon keepers, who were criminals themselves would spike drinks with knock-out drops or powders for the purpose of robbing a victim. In Fort Wayne, Indiana was a bartender...
The Coll Schultz War Part 2 – The Death of a Mad Dog
With the months of May and June being the bloodiest part of the gang war between the Schultz and Coll gangs which left a trail of dead bodies in its wake, there would be further violence and one of the most infamous shootings was still to come. On July 28th came the...
The Coll Schultz War Part 1
During the 1930's a gang war broke out between two former associates Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll & Dutch Schultz which would leave a trail of bodies and resulting in the death of "Mad Dog" Coll. The Coll brothers Peter and the younger Vincent worked as gunmen and...
The Manhattan Savings Institution Bank Robbery 1878
The Manhattan Savings Institution Bank Robbery. On October 27, 1878 The manager of the Manhattan Savings Institution found the vault empty and nearly $3 million in currency and securities was missing. In real dollars it remains the largest bank robbery in history. The...
Mickey Duffy Philadelphia’s Prohibition Era Boss
Michael "Mickey" Duffy also known as John Murphy and George McEwen, was a Polish-American mobster and rival of Maxie "Boo Boo" Hoff during Prohibition. He became one of the most famous and powerful beer bootleggers in Philadelphia. Born William Michael Cusick to...
The Rivington Street Shoot Out
In 1903 rival members of Paul Kelly's Five Point gang & Monk Eastman's gang squared off under the platform of the Second Avenue train line. The long and bloody gunfight was possibly the largest of its kind. Kelly and Eastman clashed for years over control of the...
When They Tried To Whack Eddie Diamond
Legs Diamond had one soft spot in life, his brother Eddie. He would have sacrificed everything he owned to bring him back to health. Tuberculosis had ravaged Eddie as well as other members of his family. Eddie had been sent to various sanatorium to try get cured but...
Legs Diamond & The Hotsy Totsy Club
After a shooting in Legs Diamond and his partner Charlie Entratta's speakeasy bar, The Hotsy Totsy Club at 1721 Broadway, between 54 & 55th Streets in New York City, where 1 died after being shot in the head and another died later in hospital after being shot...
Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll & His Gang
After a disagreement with Dutch Schultz over the robbery of a dairy in the Bronx among other things, "Mad Dog" Coll broke away and started his own gang, taking some of Schultz's guys with him, they attempted to muscle in on Schultz’s rackets. This started a gang war...