The New York herald., 1920-12-27
MONK SEVENTH BIG
GANG LEADER SLAIN
Six Others Who Lived by the
Gun Died by the Gun in
Recent Years.
SOME HAVE REFORMED
Old Time Chiefs of Crooks I'm
like New Crop of Stickup
Men and Thieves.

/ Six of the noted gang leaders Of Monk
I Fastman's day preceded him in making
their exit from worldly affairs via the
business end Of n smoking revolver. Six
more Of the men whose names spread
terror through large and thickiy popu-
lated areas and who were spoken of oc-
caslonally as rivals or the Monk are
I s1f1 10 be on the retired list. having
given up voluntarily their former eXcit-
I .ng pursuits One notorious chieftain
OF the Monks day was forced into invol-
uutary retirement by the imposition of
"a sentence Of from ten TO twenty years.
IN the class fret mentioned are such
names as kid Twist" big Jack" Zelig
and -Eat EN- Up Jack McManus. who
passed out" a few years ago. and also
sTanis.r smith Rubber" Shaw and
Johnny Spanish. whose worldly accounts
were settled within the last year and a
half.
or those who are said 10 have aband-
oned for all time the uncertain exist
ence Of the professional gangster perhaps
the most noteworthy is Chick" Thicker.
former saloonkeeper. and reputed lieuten-
ant 10 "Big Jack" Sirocco, who is con-
Quoting aNsanitarium for the treatment
OF drug addicts and inebriates at Centre
port. L. l. "Humpty" Jackson, who made
practice OF carrying one gun under
his hump and another under his hat and
whose thugs terrorized the section around
Bellevue opened a email restaurant some
time ago and dropped out OF public no.
tice
! Idle, but stay in Chinatown.
"Nigger Mike" Salter. big Jack"
Sirocco and the italian De Silvio. known
to gangdom as Jimmy Kelly" have
ceased the activities which brought
their names to the attention of the men
at headquarters, although they still
stick close TO their old haunts in China
town. and they have many followers in
and about that section. Benjamin Fein
who is better known as 'Dopey Benny"
is reported to be behaving himself.
If Owney Madden gets out of Sing
Sing in he minimum time imposed
upon him Following his conviction for
manslaughier In the first degree. he will
return to this city some time in 1925,
but at present this former head OF the
Gopher Gang is not to be counted in as
a figure in criminal statistics of the
city.
Monk Eastman had not long been re-
moved from the affairs of East Side
gangdom when the demise of kid
Twist" occurred. That ferret faced
thug had lost no time in slipping his
feet into the shoes left vacant by the
Monks engagement up the river. and
had assumed the leadership OF that band
that had been known as "The Monk
Eastman Gang" With Cyclone" Lew
is and few other notorious criminals
for his lieutenants he organized a fine
system of extortion by which he was
able 20 wiring many dollar from ter
ror stricken merchants who knew that
the best way to avoid the blackjacks
and bullets of his band was to pay the
tribute that he exacted OF them.
But in one of the other murderous
bands was a young man OF great crimi-
nal aspirations and the nerve of n be-
ginner who toppled the kid" from his
throne with several pieces OF lead in
the summer OF 1909. and sent Cyclone"
Lewis along to keep him company This
young man was Louis Poggi. one of
Sirocco's followers. and known to gang
dom as Lump" because of his physi-
cal characteristics. There are several
versions about the Staying of kid
Twist and his lieutenant by the
Lump" and they vary considerably as
to detail. but it is quite certain that the
upstart on some pretext drew these
chiefs of gangdonl outside Of n Coney
Island dance hall and that a battle en-
sued in which nc put the periods TO
their careers.
Zelig n MiIdcr Leader.
big Jack Zelig. who then succeeded
to the leadership of the former Monk
Eastman gang. attained considerable
notoriety but was by no means the ten
acious scrapper that the Monk had been,
or the type of aggressive,and ingenious
thug that kid Twist had been ac-
counted. He frequently was accused of
cowardice, and there Is story to the
effect that on one occasion when he had
pulled a revolver upon big jack Sir
occo with the avowed intention or kill
ing him. he lost his nerve upon learn
ing that several of Sirocco's men were
In an adjoining room. He put his gun
back into his pocket without firing II.
At about the time of the death OF
Herman Rosenthal at the hands of the
four gunner, big jack became ner-
vous lest the police, in n desire to get
him out Of the way, should charge him
with another violation OF the. Sullivan
law. lie had already been arrested
loo nm ..ta l. tl.ars MI 4