Anthony Allaire Anthony J . Allaire ( February 17 , 1820 – August 9 , 1903 ) was an American firefighter , drillmaster , military and law enforcement officer . A longtime police inspector for the New York City Police Department , he was responsible for the breakup of numerous street gangs , most notably the Slaughter House Gang and the Dutch Mob , as well as the capture of murderer Daniel McFarland in 1869 . Biography . Early life and the NYPD . Anthony Alliare was born in Cincinnati , Ohio on February 17 , 1820 . Allaire came from a prominent military family , his maternal grandfather had served in the French and Indian and American Revolutionary War s while his father had been a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican - American War . His uncle , Colonel John Lamb , had been wounded while fighting alongside General Richard Montgomery at the Battle of Quebec . Allaire was brought to New York City at an early age and , around 1848 , he became a drillmaster for one of the many target companies existing in the city at the time . He worked as a blacksmith for two or three years and later joined the Fireman ' s Brigade and attached to " Engine 41 " at Delancey and Attorney Streets . Popularly known as the " Old Stag " , the company was notorious for its heated rivalry with Boss Tweed ' s " Big Six Engine Company " . Allaire officially joined the Metropolitan police force on August 24 , 1860 and stationed at the Eighteenth Precinct . In May 1861 , he was promoted to a roundsman and then a sergeant three months later . Military career . At the start of the American Civil War , the Board of Police Commissioners began plans to raise four regiments to send out to the front . Allaire was serving as drillmaster to a small group of men on Rikers Island and was one of the first to volunteer his services to the Union Army . He and his men were organized as Company E and incorporated into the 13 3rd New York Volunteer Infantry . Allaire was elected its first commander . Allaire quickly rose in rank until his eventual appointment as lieutenant colonel of the regiment . He saw action at Port Hudson , Marksville Plains , Fort Bisland , Cross Roads and Vermillion as well as engagements along the Red River . During General Philip Sheridan ' s campaign against General Jubal Early in 1864 , Allaire was placed in charge of guarding a Union pay train carrying $ 3 million in special back pay for Sheridan ' s troops and defended the train against Confederate guerillas . Allaire was mustered out June 6 , 1865 . On December 3 , 1867 , President Andrew Johnson nominated Allaire for the award of the grade of brevet brigadier general to rank from March 13 , 1865 for " " meritorious conduct on the field " " and the U . S . Senate confirmed the award on February 14 , 1868 . Return to New York . After being mustered out of the military in July 1865 , Allaire returned to the police force as a roundsmen and reinstated at his former rank five days later . He was assigned to the Fifteenth Precinct until his promotion to captain on May 23 , 1867 . He was put in charge of a number of precinct houses throughout Manhattan and , as well as serving with the famed " Steamboat Squad " , he " " broke up dens or vice and crime " " along Chatham Street . Allaire was reportedly the first police officer to successfully gain entrance to these establishments . He became widely known for combating the many street gangs which were active in New York during the post - Civil War era . While precinct captain of the Eighteenth Precinct , he was active against criminal elements in the notorious Forth Ward and the New York waterfront . His campaign against the Slaughter House Gang , a group of river pirates based at Johnny Dobbs ' s saloon at Water Street and James Slip , eventually resulted in the breakup of the organization with the help of the " Steamboat Squad " . Allaire , then captain of the Fourth Precinct , was the chief investigator of the murder of Albert D . Richardson , one of the editors for the " New York Tribune " , who had been shot by Daniel McFarland over a love affair with McFarland ' s wife . Despite an exhaustive manhunt , Allaire managed to track down McFarlane who was hiding out at his brother ' s stationary store on Broadway . In a desperate attempt to lure him out of hiding , Allaire sent a letter to McFarland imitating his brother ' s handwriting and signature allowing him to set up a trap to capture him at the Westmoreland Hotel on the corner Seventeenth Street and Fourth Avenue . Allaire brought the accused man to the dying Richardson at the Astor House where he identified McFarland as his attacker . In 1877 , Allaire declared war upon a vicious gang of criminals active in the east side area between Houston and Fifth Street known as the Dutch Mob . Only recently assigned to the local Eighteenth Precinct , Allaire led a " strong - arm squad " to drive the Dutch Mob out of the area . Among its members , Johnny Irving , Mike Kurtz , Dutch Chris , Billy Porter and Little Freddie were all arrested and imprisoned . Several of these men received long jail terms in part to Allaire ' s efforts . Allaire was also responsible for capturing the infamous forger gang headed by Joe Elliot , Charley Becker and Clem Harris after they had attempted to pass a worthless $ 60 , 000 check on the New York Safe Deposit Bank . Becker turned state ' s evidence soon after his arrest and the others were given long prison sentences . Retirement and later years . In his later years on the force , he was the official drillmaster for the department and was in charge of police parades . He was also involved in the Freemasons , the Loyal Legion , the Ohio Society of New York , the Association of Exempt Firemen , the Association of the Nineteenth Army Corps and the Noah L . Farnham Post of the Grand Army of the Republic . Despite his accomplishments however , he was never able to advance to the rank of police inspector due to physical disability and increasingly poor health . The position of chief police inspector eventually went to Captain Alexander S . Williams and Peter Conlin . On October 7 , 1902 , after 42 years of service , Allaire was retired on a pension by Police Commissioner John Nelson Partridge after being found unfit for duty by the Board of Surgeons . Suffering from Bright ' s disease during his final year , he fell seriously ill while at a summer resort in central New Jersey . His request to be taken back to his home was granted and , being nearly blind , insisted on dictating his notes to his son - in - law Lester Ketcham as part of his memoirs . Allaire died at his West 91st Street home on August 9 , 1903 . Survived by his wife , a son and two daughters , he was buried at New Rochelle . As a result of the construction of I - 95 the most graves from the Allaire Family Cemetery in New Rochelle were moved to St Pauls Church in New Rochelle in the 1950s . However , as the photo caption in this article mentions , Anthony J Allaire ' s grave was relocated to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx .