Paul Kelly (criminal)
Encyclopedia
Paul Kelly was an Italian
immigrant who founded the Five Points Gang
in New York City after starting some brothels with prize monies earned in boxing. It was one of the last dominant street gangs in New York
history; Kelly recruited young men who later became prominent criminals of the early 20th century, including Johnny Torrio
, Al Capone
, Lucky Luciano
, Meyer Lansky
, Bugsy Siegel
and Frankie Yale
. Kelly was said to support election of Tammany Hall
politicians with his gang's activities at elections.
After open street warfare with Monk Eastman
's gang, Kelly and Eastman were ordered by Tammany Hall officials to end their competition with a boxing match. It ended in a draw, but the politicians finally withdrew protection for Eastman, who went to jail for robbery. After years as top dog, Kelly lost support when politicians wanted to clean up the Bowery. Gradually he became involved in rackets of the longshoremen's union. He died a natural death.
, he adopted the name Paul Kelly when he began professional boxing after emigrating to New York in the early 1890s. Using money gained from prizefighting
, Kelly began operating several bordellos in the Italian immigrant district east of the Bowery
. He later opened several athletic clubs, which became fronts for the local street gangs which he began to control.
politician "Big" Tim Sullivan
, Kelly was alleged to have used his gang to have helped re-elect Tammany Hall incumbent Tom Foley against Paddy Divver. The latter was a local saloon owner campaigning to keep the red light
districts out of the Fourth Ward during the 1901 Second Assembly District primary elections. On election day, Kelly's gang of over 1,500 men assaulted Divver supporters, blocked polling booths, and committed numerous acts of voter fraud to win the election for Foley.
Foley was the challenger, not the incumbent; the Second already had numerous houses of prostitution already, as Divver, a longtime Tammany leader, was aware. Not one newspaper noted Kelly's gang or Kelly that day, although there was extensive coverage of the election. Divver was reported to have drawn a pistol on a personal enemy. Kelly later gained control of the vice districts of the Fourth and Sixth Wards, including prostitution, and controlled a virtual monopoly in the Five Points
.
In 1903 Kelly was arrested for assault
and robbery
and served nine months in jail. On release, Kelly formed the Paul Kelly Association, an athletic club which he used to recruit younger criminals for his organization. The headquarters were located at 24 Stanton Street.
He soon opened the New Brighton Athletic Club, a two-story cafe and dance hall at 57 Great Jones Street (between Lafayette and Bowery). Kelly charmed socialites and other prominent citizens who frequented his club. Always well dressed, Kelly spoke French, Italian, and Spanish fluently, and his educated and sophisticated nature impressed many of New York's elite. During that time, Kelly's organization expanded into other parts of Manhattan
and parts of New Jersey
. Kelly's image alienated some top gunmen, such as "Kid Twist" Max Zwerbach
and Richie Fitzpatrick
, who later left for the Monk Eastman Gang. Others, such as Johnny Spanish
, went out on their own.
, whose gang of over 2,000 gunmen controlled New York's East Side. Eastman, an old-fashioned thug of the 19th century, was the opposite of the 'cultured' Kelly. While both gangs were under the control of Tammany Hall the two constantly fought over control of the "neutral" territory along the Bowery.
Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang
controlled the area to the west of the Bowery, and Eastman's, everything to the east. Tammany Hall wanted a neutral area between them to be off-limits. When the gangs fought openly over the territory, Tammany Hall called them to a sit-down meeting. Officials ordered them to have a boxing match to settle the issue. The winner would take control of the prized neutral territory, and the war will end. Both parties agreed, and Kelly and Eastman duked it out, but the fight ended in a draw. The gangs resumed warfare.
Eastman was arrested for robbing a man on the West Side who was being tailed by detectives. Eastman was arrested for robbery, and Tammany Hall, eager to end the warfare between its two affiliated gangs, declined to provide protection. Eastman was sentenced to 10 years in Sing Sing Prison.
, now members of the Gopher Gang
, tried to kill him at his New Brighton headquarters. Kelly, drinking with bodyguards Bill Harrington and Rough House Hogan, returned their fire. Harrington died protecting Kelly. Riley and Ellison escaped, and a wounded Kelly was taken to a private hospital before he could be arrested. Kelly turned himself in a month later, but charges were dropped due to his political connections. Ellison was arrested in 1911 and sent to prison. He became mentally ill and was placed in an asylum, where he died. Riley was found by police, dead from pneumonia, in his basement hideout in Chinatown
. The negative publicity caused the New Brighton to be closed down by Police Commissioner William McAdoo
for the protection of its socialite regulars, beginning the end of Paul Kelly's dominance in the New York underworld.
and Brooklyn
. He also retained ties to his old neighborhood, becoming a vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association
(ILA) under the name Paul Vaccarelli. He was based in the Chelsea
area. He was expelled from the ILA in 1919, but returned to it later that year. He took leadership of a spontaneous port-wide strike begun in protest against low wage increase, only five cents an hour, which the leadership had agreed to. With the support of Mayor John F. Hylan
, Kelly was appointed to a commission to resolve the strike, which he ended without obtaining any concessions for the strikers.
He became a labor racketeer, providing muscle in labor disputes during the 1920s. He died of natural causes around 1936. Vaccarelli's year of birth is not reliably known. Some reports have him born in 1871 and dying in 1927; his gravestone in Calvary Cemetery in Queens lists his dates as born December 23, 1876 and died April 3, 1936. There are some doubts whether the site marks his remains.
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
immigrant who founded the Five Points Gang
Five Points Gang
Five Points Gang was a 19th-century and early 20th-century criminal organization, primarily of Italian-American origins, based in the Sixth Ward of Manhattan, New York City. Since the early 19th century, the area was first known for gangs of Irish immigrants...
in New York City after starting some brothels with prize monies earned in boxing. It was one of the last dominant street gangs in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
history; Kelly recruited young men who later became prominent criminals of the early 20th century, including Johnny Torrio
Johnny Torrio
John "Papa Johnny" Torrio , also known as "The Fox", was an Italian-American mobster who helped build the criminal empire known as the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s that was later inherited by his protege, Al Capone...
, Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
, Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano
Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission...
, Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...
, Bugsy Siegel
Bugsy Siegel
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American gangster who was involved with the Genovese crime family...
and Frankie Yale
Frankie Yale
Francesco Ioele , better known as Frankie Uale or Frankie Yale, was a Brooklyn gangster and original employer of Al Capone before the latter moved to Chicago...
. Kelly was said to support election of Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
politicians with his gang's activities at elections.
After open street warfare with Monk Eastman
Monk Eastman
Edward "Monk" Eastman was a New York City Gangster who founded and led one of the most powerful street gangs in New York City at the turn of the Twentieth Century, the Eastman Gang. His other aliases included Joseph "Joe" Morris, Joe Marvin, William "Bill" Delaney, and Edward "Eddie" Delaney...
's gang, Kelly and Eastman were ordered by Tammany Hall officials to end their competition with a boxing match. It ended in a draw, but the politicians finally withdrew protection for Eastman, who went to jail for robbery. After years as top dog, Kelly lost support when politicians wanted to clean up the Bowery. Gradually he became involved in rackets of the longshoremen's union. He died a natural death.
Early life
Born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli in SicilySicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, he adopted the name Paul Kelly when he began professional boxing after emigrating to New York in the early 1890s. Using money gained from prizefighting
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, Kelly began operating several bordellos in the Italian immigrant district east of the Bowery
Bowery, Manhattan
Bowery , commonly called "the Bowery," is a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
. He later opened several athletic clubs, which became fronts for the local street gangs which he began to control.
Five Points Gang
Offering his services to Tammany HallTammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
politician "Big" Tim Sullivan
Timothy Sullivan
Timothy Daniel Sullivan was a New York politician who controlled Manhattan's Bowery and Lower East Side districts as a prominent figure within Tammany Hall. He was euphemistically known as "Dry Dollar", as the "Big Feller", and, later, as "Big Tim"...
, Kelly was alleged to have used his gang to have helped re-elect Tammany Hall incumbent Tom Foley against Paddy Divver. The latter was a local saloon owner campaigning to keep the red light
Red light
Red light may refer to:Films:* Red Light, a 1949 crime film starring George Raft* Redlight, a 2009 documentary of the Redlight Children Campaign* Red Lights , a 2004 French film, also known as Feux rouges...
districts out of the Fourth Ward during the 1901 Second Assembly District primary elections. On election day, Kelly's gang of over 1,500 men assaulted Divver supporters, blocked polling booths, and committed numerous acts of voter fraud to win the election for Foley.
Foley was the challenger, not the incumbent; the Second already had numerous houses of prostitution already, as Divver, a longtime Tammany leader, was aware. Not one newspaper noted Kelly's gang or Kelly that day, although there was extensive coverage of the election. Divver was reported to have drawn a pistol on a personal enemy. Kelly later gained control of the vice districts of the Fourth and Sixth Wards, including prostitution, and controlled a virtual monopoly in the Five Points
Five Points, Manhattan
Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...
.
In 1903 Kelly was arrested for assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
and robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
and served nine months in jail. On release, Kelly formed the Paul Kelly Association, an athletic club which he used to recruit younger criminals for his organization. The headquarters were located at 24 Stanton Street.
He soon opened the New Brighton Athletic Club, a two-story cafe and dance hall at 57 Great Jones Street (between Lafayette and Bowery). Kelly charmed socialites and other prominent citizens who frequented his club. Always well dressed, Kelly spoke French, Italian, and Spanish fluently, and his educated and sophisticated nature impressed many of New York's elite. During that time, Kelly's organization expanded into other parts of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and parts of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Kelly's image alienated some top gunmen, such as "Kid Twist" Max Zwerbach
Max Zwerbach
Max "Kid Twist" Zweifach occasionally referred to as Zwerbach was an American gangster who, during the turn of the century, belonged to the Eastman Gang and later succeeded the New York gang leader following his arrest in 1904.-Biography:Born Maxwell Zweifach in Austria on March 14, 1884, to...
and Richie Fitzpatrick
Richie Fitzpatrick
Richard "Richie" Fitzpatrick was a top gunman in the Monk Eastman gang, as well as a former member of the Five Points Gang, during the late 1890s until his death in 1904...
, who later left for the Monk Eastman Gang. Others, such as Johnny Spanish
Johnny Spanish
Johnny Spanish was an American gangster who was a rival of former partner "Kid Dropper" Nathan Kaplan during a garment workers' strike which later become known as the Second Labor Sluggers War in 1919...
, went out on their own.
Rivalry with Monk Eastman
Kelly's main rival was Monk EastmanMonk Eastman
Edward "Monk" Eastman was a New York City Gangster who founded and led one of the most powerful street gangs in New York City at the turn of the Twentieth Century, the Eastman Gang. His other aliases included Joseph "Joe" Morris, Joe Marvin, William "Bill" Delaney, and Edward "Eddie" Delaney...
, whose gang of over 2,000 gunmen controlled New York's East Side. Eastman, an old-fashioned thug of the 19th century, was the opposite of the 'cultured' Kelly. While both gangs were under the control of Tammany Hall the two constantly fought over control of the "neutral" territory along the Bowery.
Paul Kelly's Five Points Gang
Five Points Gang
Five Points Gang was a 19th-century and early 20th-century criminal organization, primarily of Italian-American origins, based in the Sixth Ward of Manhattan, New York City. Since the early 19th century, the area was first known for gangs of Irish immigrants...
controlled the area to the west of the Bowery, and Eastman's, everything to the east. Tammany Hall wanted a neutral area between them to be off-limits. When the gangs fought openly over the territory, Tammany Hall called them to a sit-down meeting. Officials ordered them to have a boxing match to settle the issue. The winner would take control of the prized neutral territory, and the war will end. Both parties agreed, and Kelly and Eastman duked it out, but the fight ended in a draw. The gangs resumed warfare.
Eastman was arrested for robbing a man on the West Side who was being tailed by detectives. Eastman was arrested for robbery, and Tammany Hall, eager to end the warfare between its two affiliated gangs, declined to provide protection. Eastman was sentenced to 10 years in Sing Sing Prison.
Kelly's downfall
With Eastman's arrest, Kelly completely controlled New York. He had internal competition, and in November 1908, Kelly's former lieutenants, Razor Riley and James T. "Biff" EllisonJames T. Ellison
James T. Ellison , better known as Biff Ellison, was a New York City gangster affiliated with the Five Points Gang and later a leader of the Gopher Gang...
, now members of the Gopher Gang
Gopher Gang
The Gopher Gang was an early 20th century New York street gang known for its members including Goo Goo Knox, James "Biff" Ellison, and Owney Madden...
, tried to kill him at his New Brighton headquarters. Kelly, drinking with bodyguards Bill Harrington and Rough House Hogan, returned their fire. Harrington died protecting Kelly. Riley and Ellison escaped, and a wounded Kelly was taken to a private hospital before he could be arrested. Kelly turned himself in a month later, but charges were dropped due to his political connections. Ellison was arrested in 1911 and sent to prison. He became mentally ill and was placed in an asylum, where he died. Riley was found by police, dead from pneumonia, in his basement hideout in Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
. The negative publicity caused the New Brighton to be closed down by Police Commissioner William McAdoo
William McAdoo (New Jersey)
William McAdoo was an American Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey's 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1883 to 1891, and served as New York City Police Commissioner in 1904 and 1905.-Biography:McAdoo was born in Ramelton, County Donegal,...
for the protection of its socialite regulars, beginning the end of Paul Kelly's dominance in the New York underworld.
Final years
Tammany Hall also put pressure on Kelly to lower his profile as it sought to clean up the Bowery. After Kelly closed the New Brighton, he moved operations to the Italian immigrant communities in HarlemHarlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
and Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. He also retained ties to his old neighborhood, becoming a vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association
International Longshoremen's Association
The International Longshoremen's Association is a labor union representing longshore workers along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and inland waterways...
(ILA) under the name Paul Vaccarelli. He was based in the Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
area. He was expelled from the ILA in 1919, but returned to it later that year. He took leadership of a spontaneous port-wide strike begun in protest against low wage increase, only five cents an hour, which the leadership had agreed to. With the support of Mayor John F. Hylan
John F. Hylan
John Francis Hylan , nicknamed "Red Mike", was the Mayor of New York City from 1918 to 1925.-Biography:Hylan was born in Hunter, New York a town in upstate Greene County where his family owned a farm. Hylan married young, became dissatisfied with farm life and moved to Brooklyn with his bride, and...
, Kelly was appointed to a commission to resolve the strike, which he ended without obtaining any concessions for the strikers.
He became a labor racketeer, providing muscle in labor disputes during the 1920s. He died of natural causes around 1936. Vaccarelli's year of birth is not reliably known. Some reports have him born in 1871 and dying in 1927; his gravestone in Calvary Cemetery in Queens lists his dates as born December 23, 1876 and died April 3, 1936. There are some doubts whether the site marks his remains.
In popular culture
- Paul Kelly is featured as a minor character in the 1994 historical novel The AlienistThe AlienistThe Alienist is a crime novel by Caleb Carr first published in 1994. It takes place in New York City in 1896, and includes appearances by many famous figures of New York society in that era, including Theodore Roosevelt and J. P. Morgan. The sequel to the novel is The Angel of Darkness. The story...
by Caleb CarrCaleb CarrCaleb Carr is an American novelist and military historian.-Biography:A son of Lucien Carr, a former UPI editor and a key Beat generation figure, he was born in Manhattan and lived for much of his life on the Lower East Side. He attended Kenyon College and New York University, earning a B.A. in...
. - Paul Kelly is featured as a minor character in the 1999 historical novel DreamlandDreamland-Amusement parks:* Dreamland at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York* Dreamland * Dreamland Margate, in Kent, UK* Nara Dreamland, near Nara, Japan* Yokohama Dreamland, in Yokohama, Japan...
by Kevin BakerKevin BakerKevin Baker is an American novelist and journalist. He was born in Englewood, New Jersey and grew up in New Jersey and Rockport, Massachusetts....
.
Further reading
- Kimeldorf, Howard, Reds or Rackets? The Making of Radical and Conservative Unions on the Waterfront, University of California Press, 1988.
- Downey, Patrick. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900-1935, Barricade Books, 2004,2009