The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-12-27
EX- GANG LEADER
MONK EASTMAN
FOUND MURDERED
Former Terror of New York's
East Side Victim of Vendetta
CREDITABLE WAR RECORD
He'd Been Restored to Citizenship
Because of Honorable Service
In France,

New York, Dec &c." Monk
Eastman, once leader Of no
tcrious gang that terrorlzed the
lower East Side in New York a con
yicted felon but restored to citizen
ship as a reward for here SIN as a
soldier in the Great War, was slain
shortly before daybreak yesterday by
someone unknown"
Eastman's body bearing five bullet
wounds, was found by a policeman at
the corner of Fourteenth Street and
Fourth Avenue, New York Nearby
on the steps of a subway entrance,
lay revolver with five empty shells.
IN the dead mans pockets were
S140, a watch and chain and Christ
mas card The presence of the yalu-
ables indicated to the polio that the
killing of Eastman probably was not
part of the preva ling crime wave,
but the result of a vendetta
Eastman, whose right name was
william Delaney, had a youthful ca
reer that was lurid, even for under
word annals. The son OF wealthy
and indulgent parents he chose as
his companions the gangsters Of the
one time toughest" district in New
York, near Fourteenth Street and
Third Avenue-only block from
where he was killed
A dozen years ago the Monk
Eastman gang was composed Of gun
men, burglars and drug addlcts, and
the police claimed to have traced a
score of murder mysteries to the
zone N which the gangsters operat-
ed. Their leader served terms for les
ser crimes-burglary, smuggling CT
narcotics and disposing Of stolen
goods
The last time Eastman appeared
on police records was in 1915. when
he was arrested, pleaded guilty to
robbery, and was sentenced TO two
years in prison On his release IN
October. 1911, he enlisted in the army
az a doughboy Ia the 106th Infantry
Of the eth Division. He then was
As wears old.
Six OF the noted gang leaders Of
Monk Eastman's day preceded him in
making their exit from worldly az
fairs via the business end Of a smok-
ing revolver. Six more of the men
whose names spread terror through
large and thickly populated areas and
who were sp-ken Of occasionally as
rivals of the Monk are said TO be on
the retired list having & ven up vol
unfairly their former exciting pur
suits One notorious chieftain of the
Monks day was forced into inyolun
tary retirement by the imposition OF
a sentence cf from ten to twenty
years,
In the class FIRST mentioned are
such names as "K d Twist, "Bie
Jack zelig and Eat En- Up JACK
McManus", who passed out a few
wears ago, and also "Tanner" Smith
"Rubber" Shaw and JOHNNY Spanish
whose worldly accounts were settled
within the last year and half
OF those who are said to have
abandoned for all time the uncertain
existence OF the professional gangs
ter perhans the most nctworthv 4
"Chick" Thicker, former saloonkeen
er and renuted lieutenant to "Bil
Jack' Sirocco. who Is conducting ;
san'tarium for the treatment of dru'
addicts aud inebriates at Centrenort
l.. ]. "Humuty" Jackson, who made
n practice Of carving one gun un1e
his hump and another under his ha
and whose thugs terrcrized the sec
ton around Bellevue, opened small
restaurant some time ago and drop
ped oct of public notice.