New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-02
Capture of Leaders Forces
Many Bands to Go
Into Hiding.
BUT ALL STILL LEVY
TRIBUTE ON VICTIMS
East Side Pays Blackmail in
Terror-West Side Sub
mits in Silence.
Is New York CITY gang hidden?

ing that the grand jury be appealed
20 10 uphold policemen against q mag
strate who freed alleged thugs ar
raigned in court and rebukcd q police
man for clubbing one Of them
Organized gangs are hard TO ma li!
New York right now. DO spite OF
Dooley's accusation. II you or your
ueighbor wish 10 get man across the
street killed. YOU viii have 20 look lar
before you find your killers.
The killers are here, but the brokers
who furnish them are scarce. without
his broker. the killer is comparatively
harmless bargain TO Kill man
cant be struck with every Tom, DICK
and Harry. Il is a dangerous business
unless each party 20 The bargain l5
known 10 the other.
The gang leaders arc not 70 be found
In ,heir old haunts. a goodly number
are In the Tombs. No occasion AZ the
moment demands new leader. With
out a leader there is no real gang.
Although the facts ohtainable show
that New York enters upon the New
Year freer from organized gang rule
than for many years past. the slightest
relaxation of police vigilance may bring
disastrous consequences. The slightest
shift In economic on social condi ions
may bring an avalanche with which the
police could not cope.
The snake is scotched. u is not
killed
Gangs Of one kind or another there
have always been IN New York. and
probably always viii be. The rules OF
the political and business games, as
they are PLAYED to-day, make the muir
der broker and the hired gunman pos
sihie-almost necessity. The East
Side and the West Side, each IN its
own way, are breeding places which
can hatch terrible broods in an instant.
Rules Have Cowed Police.
"The fact that there are gangs in
New York is due TO the police Dooley
declares. eff the police were in
,tructed 20 enforce the laws, and ale
lowed 70 do so, we should have no more
trouble with gangs
With what he believes 20 be the
present police policy the former IN
spector has no sympathy. The rule re-
stricting the use of ngntstlcks, he
says. has made towards Of the police.
Police captains should be personally
responsible for their own districts, he
asserts. Now they are messenger BOYS
and, i'm Dooley's estimation. have no
power Of discretion. Politics, ne be-
lieves, looms too large in police affairs.
Patrolmeu being forbidden TO enter a
saloon, criminals of all sorts haunt
dives without hiudrance. DOoley says.
The Detective Bureau he brands as
inefficient and clumsy
- gangster is fundamentally cow
ard" said Dooley "If you want to
conquer him you must brighten him.
Nothing inspires him with more terror
than the nightstick. Let him know
that he will get st., and get 1t hard, If
he doesn't clear out. Give him les
son or so upon occasion. That Will fix /
the average Young tough, such as you T.
find about the streets. holding people
UP because he is too lazy to work"
The dosing of dives is Of prime i'm /
portance in fighting the gangster |
Dooley believes; but captains and in /
spectors are not given free hand in /
clearing undesirables from their pre- |
cncts
Mayor Daren't Close Dives.
at the Mayor ordered the closing of
every den in the city" asserted Dooley, /
"the policeman would rejoice at the /
good work given him. But the Mayor /
knows that such an order would make /
him thousands OF enemies, and his .
chances OF it-t4tNNIOI WOAlh W sum /
II Commissioner Woods would call his I.
captains 10 Headquarters and tell them /.
10 clean UP their precincts or resign, +.
then things would be vastly different 7
Dooley Joined the police force in /
1885 When he retired, last October, /
he announced that he was going out /
with a clean record. None gainsald |
him.
Whatever the conditions may have /
been when Inspector DOoley retired, /
The Tribune found that many OF the /.
charges in his indictment OF the police {
90 not hold to-day. The East Side, ,
where commercial zed thugdom reached F.
the apex of efficiency. is now quiet Al
least a dozen Of the foremost gang
leaders are in jail. The West side. al
ways turbulent, is reasonably peaceful.
On the East Side and on the West
Side the word has gone out that "Old
No. T." the police regulation issued
during the Gaynor regime, which left
nothing 70 the discretion OF the cap
tain or the Inspector when a citizen
made a complaint OF clubbing By the
police, is no longer strictly followed.
Detectives. familiar with the districts
in which they work, sally boldly forth
and leave in their wake the wreckage Of
the oldtime hangouts and bruised and
CORY gangsters lying amid the ruins.
If complaint is made IL is settled by
the inspector. unless he has occasion to
suspect that the detectives made mis-
take.
Astounding Results Gained.
So far. no mistakes have been made
and the results are astounding. The
territory for which "Dopcy Benny
Joe the Greaser." Little Doggic,"
Little Archie" and Others Of less note
were fighting a few months ago, and
on which they levied tribute, lies
sterile The "Gas House" country and
those in the neighborhood of "Cor-
coran's Roost," the Slaughter House
the Tunnel" and the "Car Barns" are
as peaceful as lands of strife may be.
On the West Side no leader shows
his head. The Feather Busters the
Hudson busters" the "Owncy Mad
dens." the far-famed "Gophers" and
the Pearl Buttons are there, poten-
TALLY. There is even an occasional
shooting. which is traced 10 the devious
inner politics and feuds wh en- riddle
every gang. but these, while the acts of
men enrolled as gangstcrs, are largely
personal matters. The elevated pillars
along Ninth av. no longer conceal
nAnQN lLtle nests NAtlt the alA-cNoottF
awaits the hard pressed victim of the
Cangster.
There is just one gang activity which
fouriShes to-day On the East Side
and the West Side the collectors are
busy among the shopmen and buck
sters. disposing Of ball and benefit"
tickets. The ball is for the gang, the
benefit for the leader. who is in jail,
and the prico-anyth from 81 to SO
is generally paid without protest
Tickets for an "Owney Madden bene-