Stories
Prohibition Era
Dutch Schultz gets arrested
After a bloody gang war with Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll and his gang, Arthur Flegenheimer or Dutch Schultz as he is better known was nervous, its said that the only person to have given Schultz the jitters was "Mad Dog" Coll, so much so that Schultz even moved out of his...
“Vannie” Higgins in a Shootout in Bay Ridge Brooklyn
Charles "Vannie" Higgins lived in an apartment on Ridge Boulevard, in Brookly much to the annoyance of his neighbors. He was known as the last Irish Boss of Brooklyn or the “czar of Brooklyn liquor interests" or the Brooklyn beer baron, though he would strongly deny...
The failed hot on Eddie Diamond
Sometime in 1927, Eddie Diamond was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis, by the following year Eddie packed up his family, his wife Kitty and young son John and moved out west to Denver. Eddie also took with him, one of Jacks torpedos, Dominick Bifano. Meanwhile...
The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties. The Prohibition Laws, the Eighteenth Amendment & Volstead Act, had just been passed banning the sale of alcohol across the United States but it was largely ignored in the cities, New York, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis etc.Before Prohibition...
George Cassiday – The Bootlegger to Congress
George Cassiday was born in 1892 and fought in the First World War and a founder of the Irish Veterans Association upon his return after the war, he found employment difficult after the war and almost by accident he became a bootlegger, he would also become known as...
“Jelly Roll” Hogan & The Hogan Gang – St. Louis
Edward "Jelly Roll" Hogan was the leader of the Hogan Gang and arch enemy of the Egan's Rats Gang in St. Louis, Hogan and his gang strong armed their way into the illegal alcohol business and had many running battles with members of Egans Rats along the way. And like...
Little Augie Orgen’s Fatal Mistake
It’s believed the partnership between Jack “Legs” Diamond and Jacob “Little Augie” Orgen started when Jack cut Little Augie into his narcotic and bootlegging business, for a slice of Little Augie’s Labor Union racket. This deal didn’t sit well with Little Augie’s top...
Coll ambushes Carmine Borelli
February 12, 1930, the Schultz-Coll war began with the shooting of Carmine Borelli, one of Dutch Schultz’s top lieutenants, and Mayme Layton aka Mary Smith, on Inwood Ave, the Bronx. Apparently Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll believed Borelli knew of Coll’s war plans against...
Diamonds hit on Schultz
October 15, 1928, Arthur Flegenheimer aka Dutch Schultz and his partner Joey Noe (pronounced Noy) we’re drinking in the Swanee Club, a notorious speakeasy on West 125th Street in Harlem. Just as the sun began to rise, Dutch and Joey left the Swanee and headed downtown...