White Hand Gang
 | This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2024) ) |
| Founder | Dinny Meehan |
|---|---|
| Years active | Early 1900s-1925 |
| Rivals | Black Hand gangs Italian gangsters |
| Notable members | Bill Lovett Richard Lonergan |
The White Hand Gang was a collection of various
anti-Italian
and particularly violent, with members killing each other, contributing to the unstable leadership which led to the gang's demise.
History
The gang was founded by
meat cleaver
. However, this is unproven. The facts are that Lovett drunkenly stumbled into the back room of an abandoned store with an old gang associate and fell asleep. Police believe sometime during the night two men entered and Lovett was beaten in the head with a blunt instrument and then shot 3 times in the head. When questioned, his associate told police he had conveniently awoken at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and returned home. The police believe that the true murderers were probably connected with Lovett's own gang, or a rival Irish gang.
Lovett's brother-in-law
ethnic slurs.[citation needed] When three local Irish girls entered the club escorted by their Italian dates, Lonergan chased them out supposedly yelling at them to "Come back with white men, fer chrissake!".[citation needed] It was at that moment that the lights went out and gunfire was heard.[citation needed] When the lights came on Lonergan, Harms, and Ferry lay shot to death on the dance floor.[citation needed] Police suspected visiting Al Capone, who had been forced to leave New York in 1921 after an altercation with a White Hand gang member, but there was no evidence and the case was dropped.[citation needed
] Without strong leadership, the White Hand disappeared, and by 1928, the Mafia completely controlled the waterfront.
Further reading
- Pietrusza, David. Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-7867-1250-3
- Schoenberg, Robert J. Mr. Capone. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. ISBN 0-688-12838-6
- Downey, Patrick. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld, 1900-1935. Barricade Books, 2004. ISBN 1-56980-267-X