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Baltimore’s Plug Uglies, Rip Rap’s & Election Violence
During the 1850s, political clubs with names like the Plug Uglies, Rip Raps, American Rattlers, and Blood Tubs formed in Baltimore, Maryland which earned it the nickname Mobtown largely due to the intimidation, riots, and murder. This was mainly due to Irish &...
Thomas F. Byrnes – Head of the NYPD Detective Unit
Thomas F. Byrnes was an Irish-born NYPD officer, who served as head of the New York City Police Department detective department from 1880 until 1895. Byrnes gained national attention for his exploits and some credit him with the technique "The Third Degree" Born...
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...
Alice Kenny Diamond
Alice Kenny Diamond was the wife of Jack "Legs" Diamond. Alice Diamond put up with a lot when married to Legs, she had to put up with his living with Kiki Roberts, a dancer, for a while. She moved around with him while he was on the run, sit with him through court...
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...
Yankee Sullivan Prizefighting Champion
Yankee Sullivan real name James Ambrose. he was born in Bandon, Cork in 1811, he was also known as Frank Murray and James Sullivan. Yankee Sullivan was a bare-knuckle boxer and was a prizefighting champion from 1851 to 1853. He was considered to be the inheritor of...
The Mandelbaum Gang – New York’s Female Gang Boss
Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum was a New York entrepreneur and operated as a criminal fence to many of the street gangs and criminals of the city's underworld, handling between $1-5 million in stolen goods between 1862 until 1884. Like her rival John D. Grady and the...
Egans Rats – The St. Louis Mob
Egan's Rats were an organized crime gang that had a considerable amount of power in St. Louis, Missouri from 1890's until 1924. The gangs criminal activity included bootlegging, labor slugging, voter intimidation, armed robbery, and murder. Although they were...