Comments - Gangs of Brooklyn - The Wild Geese2024-03-29T14:33:37Zhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profiles/comment/feed?attachedTo=6442157%3ABlogPost%3A78275&xn_auth=noDan,
Willie Sutton's autobio…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-24:6442157:Comment:795082014-02-24T14:45:42.894ZEamon Loingsighhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/EamonLoingsigh
<p>Dan, </p>
<p>Willie Sutton's autobiography "Where the Money Was" helped me immensely. In fact, he provides a very telling personal story in that book about Brooklyn's Irishtown and how it "made" him. He also describes how it was the White Hand Gang that pushed Al Capone out of Brooklyn because "the Irish mob played too hard." </p>
<p>The research for this article and "Light of the Diddicoy" comes from many books, newspaper articles from the time, death/birth certificates, police reports,…</p>
<p>Dan, </p>
<p>Willie Sutton's autobiography "Where the Money Was" helped me immensely. In fact, he provides a very telling personal story in that book about Brooklyn's Irishtown and how it "made" him. He also describes how it was the White Hand Gang that pushed Al Capone out of Brooklyn because "the Irish mob played too hard." </p>
<p>The research for this article and "Light of the Diddicoy" comes from many books, newspaper articles from the time, death/birth certificates, police reports, census results, my own family history and much more. I spent many hours in the Municipal Archives on Chambers St. in Manhattan, the police museum, BK historical society... </p>
<p>Newspaper articles aren't always accurate, it's true. Especially when the gangs they reported on often lied about their own names and who the gang leaders were. These gangs literally were as wild as gypsies in Brooklyn, as the word in the title of my book describes them as "diddicoys." But, it should be said that the snapshots created of the impression of these gangs and the quotations from judges and cops and complainants are a fair representation, I believe. </p>
<p>Is that your real name? Dan Breen? What a classic he was as one of Michael Collins' boyos! </p>
<p>Eamon </p> Did most of your material co…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-23:6442157:Comment:790992014-02-23T15:40:31.115ZDan Breenhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/DanBreen
<p> Did most of your material come from newspapers ? And how true were they ? Did you go to the archdioceses of Brooklyn & Queens ? I can only imagine what records they have. The last legend to come out of the docks of Irish decent was the Great Willie Sutton !</p>
<p> Did most of your material come from newspapers ? And how true were they ? Did you go to the archdioceses of Brooklyn & Queens ? I can only imagine what records they have. The last legend to come out of the docks of Irish decent was the Great Willie Sutton !</p> Thanks, Eamon. It'll be a te…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-19:6442157:Comment:786562014-02-19T23:17:20.765ZMary Collins Dolanhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/MaryCDolan
<p>Thanks, Eamon. It'll be a terrific read, I'm certain!</p>
<p>Thanks, Eamon. It'll be a terrific read, I'm certain!</p> Mary,
Yes, much of the old te…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-19:6442157:Comment:786472014-02-19T18:25:13.506ZEamon Loingsighhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/EamonLoingsigh
<p>Mary,</p>
<p>Yes, much of the old tenements in the Navy Yard has either been torn down or turned into condos or very expensive apartments. It's a very chic area, along with Vinegar Hill (called Irishtown back in those days), DUMBO, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill. As you probably know, Williamsburg, and increasingly Greenpoint and Bushwick still have large Jewish communities, but also many, many (too many!) hipsters.</p>
<p>It's very interesting to hear about your…</p>
<p>Mary,</p>
<p>Yes, much of the old tenements in the Navy Yard has either been torn down or turned into condos or very expensive apartments. It's a very chic area, along with Vinegar Hill (called Irishtown back in those days), DUMBO, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill. As you probably know, Williamsburg, and increasingly Greenpoint and Bushwick still have large Jewish communities, but also many, many (too many!) hipsters.</p>
<p>It's very interesting to hear about your family there. My great-grandparents and grandparents moved around a lot as well within Brooklyn. </p>
<p>Eamon </p> Sarah,
Well, not all gangs we…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-19:6442157:Comment:786452014-02-19T18:20:38.429ZEamon Loingsighhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/EamonLoingsigh
<p>Sarah,</p>
<p>Well, not all gangs were patterned along their ethnic lines, though hardly any of them were solely Irish or solely Jewish, Italian, Polish… The White Hand Gang literally had hundreds of members over the years (though many were only associated with them in order to attain regular work on the docks), but even in their passionately proclaimed Irish gang, there was one Italian named "Dago" Tom Montague, a black man named Dan Gillen and a German-Jew named Abe Harms. But, by and…</p>
<p>Sarah,</p>
<p>Well, not all gangs were patterned along their ethnic lines, though hardly any of them were solely Irish or solely Jewish, Italian, Polish… The White Hand Gang literally had hundreds of members over the years (though many were only associated with them in order to attain regular work on the docks), but even in their passionately proclaimed Irish gang, there was one Italian named "Dago" Tom Montague, a black man named Dan Gillen and a German-Jew named Abe Harms. But, by and large, I'd say somewhere near 90%, if not more, had Irish surnames. </p>
<p>Eamon </p> Fascinating and as a born-and…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-19:6442157:Comment:785732014-02-19T09:17:13.170ZMary Collins Dolanhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/MaryCDolan
<p>Fascinating and as a born-and-bred Brooklynite, I am looking forward to your book. </p>
<p>My grandmother's family would have left Belfast (burned out by the Black & Tans) to live on DeGraw Street which my mother told me were mostly badly constructed squalid cold water flats in early 1920. When she was born in 1925 the family moved up to a more brownstone-type dwelling but still somewhere around DeGraw and still a rough neighborhood. After 8 children, my grandfather was no longer in…</p>
<p>Fascinating and as a born-and-bred Brooklynite, I am looking forward to your book. </p>
<p>My grandmother's family would have left Belfast (burned out by the Black & Tans) to live on DeGraw Street which my mother told me were mostly badly constructed squalid cold water flats in early 1920. When she was born in 1925 the family moved up to a more brownstone-type dwelling but still somewhere around DeGraw and still a rough neighborhood. After 8 children, my grandfather was no longer in the picture, having been deported as an illegal alien (circumstances never discussed in the family). My grandmother worked in the Navy Yard and eventually lived on Prospect Place with the family she was raising alone. I well remember visiting her there as a child and the wonderful old fireplaces and architecture. I understand that the whole area is very upscale now but I haven't been there in 40-odd years and I now live in Ireland.</p> Hard times and hard men... th…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-19:6442157:Comment:785522014-02-19T02:09:00.630ZSarah Naglehttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/SarahNagle
<p>Hard times and hard men... the start of almost every great gangster story.</p>
<p>By the way: The names alone suggest that at least a couple of these gangs had at least a little bit of ethnic diversity (a Bohemian, a couple of Germans, maybe a Dutchman...) do you know how the 100% Irish gangs got along with the more motely gangs? </p>
<p>Hard times and hard men... the start of almost every great gangster story.</p>
<p>By the way: The names alone suggest that at least a couple of these gangs had at least a little bit of ethnic diversity (a Bohemian, a couple of Germans, maybe a Dutchman...) do you know how the 100% Irish gangs got along with the more motely gangs? </p> Those nicknames are great...P…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-18:6442157:Comment:785362014-02-18T21:05:45.315ZKelly O'Rourkehttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/KellyORourke
<p>Those nicknames are great...Pegleg Lonergan!? You couldn't make this stuff up.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Those nicknames are great...Pegleg Lonergan!? You couldn't make this stuff up.</p>
<p></p> Impressive research! Looking…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-18:6442157:Comment:785342014-02-18T21:01:01.132ZKelly O'Rourkehttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/KellyORourke
<p>Impressive research! Looking forward to your book. Mob stories are my guilty pleasure, haha.</p>
<p>Impressive research! Looking forward to your book. Mob stories are my guilty pleasure, haha.</p> Fascinating compendium of Bro…tag:thewildgeese.irish,2014-02-18:6442157:Comment:783782014-02-18T17:05:35.075ZGerry Reganhttps://thewildgeese.irish/profile/ger_regan
<p>Fascinating compendium of Brooklyn's Irish demi-monde, Eamon.</p>
<p>Fascinating compendium of Brooklyn's Irish demi-monde, Eamon.</p>