Jack Zelig
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
gangster and one of the last leaders of the Monk Eastman Gang.
Early years & the Eastmans
Born as Zelig Harry Lefkowitz, as early as 6 years old Zelig was a well-known pickpocket and thief while growing up on New York's Lower East SideLower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
as a member of Crazy Butch
Crazy Butch Gang
The Crazy Butch Gang was an American juvenile street gang active in the New York City underworld during the late nineteenth century. Largely active in Manhattan's Lower East Side, the group were widely known as the cities top pickpockets and sneak thieves during the "Gay Nineties" period...
's pickpocket gang before joining the Eastman Gang in the late 1890s. Rising up the ranks, Zelig became leader of the Eastman Gang after "Kid Twist" (Max Zwerbach
Max Zwerbach
Max "Kid Twist" Zweifach occasionally referred to as Zwerbach was an American gangster who, during the turn of the century, belonged to the Eastman Gang and later succeeded the New York gang leader following his arrest in 1904.-Biography:Born Maxwell Zweifach in Austria on March 14, 1884, to...
)'s death in 1908. With lieutenants Jack Sirocco
Jack Sirocco
Jack Sirocco was a New York gangster involved in labor racketeering and strikebreaking. Originally a lieutenant in Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang, where he was the immediate boss of Johnny Torrio , Sirocco defected to the rival Eastman Gang, which he led in its last days.-Biography:Sirocco, known...
and Chick Tricker
Chick Tricker
Chick Tricker was an early New York gangster who, as a member of the Eastman Gang, served as one of its last leaders alongside Jack Sirocco. A longtime member of the Eastmans, Tricker had made a name for himself as a well known Bowery and Park Row saloonkeeper who first came to prominence in a...
, the gang had over seventy-five members, including satellite gangs such as the Lenox Avenue Gang
Lenox Avenue Gang
The Lenox Avenue Gang was an early 20th century New York City street gang led by Harry Horowitz, and was one of the most violent gangs of the pre-Prohibition era.-History:...
, led by "Gyp the Blood" (aka Harry Horowitz
Harry Horowitz
Harry Horowitz , also known as Gyp the Blood, was a Jewish-American underworld figure and a leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City.-Biography:...
). During this period, Zelig was also known as "The Big Yid."
Feud with Sirocco and Tricker
After being arrested in 1911 for robbing a brothel, Sirocco and Trick attempted to gain leadership of the gang by refusing to bail out Zelig. Zelig was later released due to his political connections and he was informed by a member that Sirocco and Tricker were planning on murdering him upon his release. The assassin, a gunman named Julie MorrellJulie Morrell
Julie Morrell or Jules Morello was a freelance gunman associated with the Eastman Gang during the turn of the century. Hired by Jack Sirocco and Chick Tricker to murder Eastman leader Jack Zelig, who had been engaged in a gang war over control of the Eastmans...
, was lured by Zelig to The Stuyvesant Casino (140 Second Avenue, now the Ukrainian National Home) where he was killed, possibly while intoxicated, by the gang leader on December 2, 1911.
The next year, the old Eastman/Five Points feud flared anew. As Zelig left the Criminal Courts on afternoon on 3 June 1912, he was shot through the neck by a Five Points gunman named Charley Torti, who was a known associate of Louis Pioggi
Louis Pioggi
Louis "Louie the Lump" Pioggi was a New York criminal and member of the Five Points Gang, known most prominently for the murder of Eastman Gang leader Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach and Vach "Cyclone Louie" Lewis...
, aka Louie the Lump, who had gunned down Zelig's mentor, Kid Twist Zwerbach, four years earlier. Zelig was leaving the courthouse having been released on $1000 bail following his arrest for "shooting up the saloon" of Pioggi's brother Jake. Big Jack recovered from his wound in time to be dragged into the Becker/Rosenthal case.
Final years
Louis Buchalter
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter was a Jewish American mobster and head of the Mafia hit squad Murder, Inc. during the 1930s. After Dutch Schultz' request of the Mafia Commission for permission to kill his enemy, U.S. Attorney Thomas Dewey, the Commission decided to kill Schultz in order to prevent the hit...
, teaching him many of the basic methods of the gangster's profession.
Charles Becker
Charles Becker
Charles Becker was a New York City police officer in the 1890s-1910s and who was tried, convicted and executed for ordering the murder of a Manhattan gambler, Herman Rosenthal in the Becker-Rosenthal trial. Becker was the first American police officer to receive the death penalty for murder...
, a corrupt NYPD lieutenant, had Zelig in his pocket for quite some time, and in the summer of 1912, Becker was named as a prime extortionist in the underworld. A New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
exposé named him as one of three corrupt police officers involved in the case of Herman Rosenthal, a small time bookmaker who had complained to the press that his illegal businesses had been badly damaged by the greed of the city's corrupt police officers.
Becker told Jack Zelig and members of the Lenox Avenue Gang, specifically, Harry "Gyp the Blood" Horowitz
Harry Horowitz
Harry Horowitz , also known as Gyp the Blood, was a Jewish-American underworld figure and a leader of the Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City.-Biography:...
, Jacob "Whitey Lewis" Seidenshner, Louis "Lefty Louie" Rosenberg, and
Francesco "Dago Frank" Cirofisi, that he wanted Rosenthal "croaked". The gambler was gunned down in front of a Times Square joint called the Metropole Hotel on July 16, 1912, two days after his story appeared in the newspapers. In the aftermath, the District Attorney, Charles S. Whitman, made no secret of his belief that the gangsters who killed him had committed the murder at Becker's behest.
The fall-out from the Rosenthal murder was huge, making national headlines. All of Big Jack's henchmen were rounded up and charged with murder. It was widely whispered that their boss would testify against them in exchange for leniency. The day before he could do so, on October 5, 1912, Zelig was shot behind the ear and killed by "Boston Red" Phil Davidson (of 111 E. 7th Street) while riding on a 2nd Avenue trolley car while passing East 13th Street. Zelig was hanging out at Segal's Cafe (76 Second Avenue, now a church), when he received an anonymous phone call requesting his presence on 14th street. Zelig jumped on the uptown trolley; when he stood up at the intersection of 13th street, Davidson approached him and killed him with a police revolver. Zelig was 24 years old. Davidson ran East on 14th Street where he ran into a police officer on beat patrol who made him drop his weapon.
Davidson claimed he had shot Zelig over a $400 dollar grudge, but it was popularly believed he had been killed to keep him from testifying against Charles Becker
Charles Becker
Charles Becker was a New York City police officer in the 1890s-1910s and who was tried, convicted and executed for ordering the murder of a Manhattan gambler, Herman Rosenthal in the Becker-Rosenthal trial. Becker was the first American police officer to receive the death penalty for murder...
in the Rosenthal murder case
Rosenthal murder case
The Becker-Rosenthal trial was a 1912 trial for the murder of Herman Rosenthal by Charles Becker and members of the Lenox Avenue Gang. The trial ran from October 7, 1912 to October 30, 1912 and restarted on May 2, 1914 to May 22, 1914...
involving the Lenox Avenue Gang.
Shortly after Zelig's death New York detective Abe Shoenfeld wrote "Jack Zelig is as dead as a door nail. Men before him - like Kid Twist, Monk Eastman, and others - were as pygmies to a giant. With the passing of Zelig, one of the most 'nerviest', strongest, and best men of his kind left us."
Further reading
- Keefe, Rose. The Starker: Big Jack Zelig, the Becker-Rosenthal Case, and the Advent of the Jewish Gangster, Cumberland House Publishing, 2008
- Fried, Albert. The Rise and fall of the Jewish Gangster in America, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1980
- Rockaway, Robert A. (2000). BUT HE WAS GOOD TO HIS MOTHER: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters. Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 965-229-249-4
- Downey, Patrick. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900-1935. Barricade Books, 2004. ISBN 1-56980-267-X
- Almog, OzOz AlmogOz Almog, an Israeli–Austrian artist was born on April 15, 1956, in Kfar Saba, Israel. He comes from a family of Russian/Ukrainian pioneers and Romanian/Russian immigrants...
, Kosher Nostra Jüdische Gangster in Amerika, 1890-1980 ; Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Wien ; 2003, Text Oz Almog, Erich Metz, ISBN 3901398333
External links
- Jack Zelig website
- "But he was Good to his Mother: A story of Jewish Gangsters - Jack Zelig"
- Big Jack Zelig at Find A GraveFind A GraveFind a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
- "Zelig & the Lower Eastside - Gangster City"