Owney Madden
Born	December 18, 1891(1891-12-18) Leeds, England
Died	April 24, 1965 (aged 73) Hot Springs, Arkansas

Owney "The Killer" Madden (December 18, 1891-April 24, 1965) was a leading underworld figure in Manhattan, most notably his involvement in organized crime during Prohibition. He also ran the famous Cotton Club and was a leading boxing promoter in the 1930s. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Leeds is a city in the county of West Yorkshire, in the north of England. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Sign from the city limits. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). ... The term Prohibition, also known as A Dry Law, refers to a law in a certain country by which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. ... For the 1984 film of the same name, see The Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a famous night club in New York City that operated during and after Prohibition. ...

Early life and the Gopher Gang

Owen "Owney" Madden was born at 25 Somerset Street in Leeds, England on 18 December 1891. His parents Francis and Mary (formerly O'Neil), were also born in Leeds, according to their birth certificates but were of Irish ancestry. In search of work the family moved first to Wigan, England and then to Liverpool, England. It was Francis' intention to take the family to the United States but he died before this ambition could be fulfilled. In 1901 Mary Madden sailed to New York on the RMS Oceanic (1899) to stay with her widowed sister Elizabeth O'Neil at 352 10th Avenue in Manhattan. Owen Madden and his older brother Martin were left at a children's home at 36 Springfield Terrace in Leeds until 1902, when Mary could finally afford passage for them. Owen maintained a sentimentality for his native Yorkshire and England throughout his life, refusing to give up his British passport until in his 50's when he was threatened with deportation. Unlike his elder brother Martin, who adopted a New York drawl, Owney kept his Northern English accent and saved clippings from the Yorkshire Post up until he died. Leeds is a city in the county of West Yorkshire, in the north of England. ... For the larger local government district, see Metropolitan Borough of Wigan. ... This article is about the city in England. ... The RMS Oceanic was a luxury ocean liner similar to the Aquitania, the Lusitania, the Britannic, the Mauritania, and the Titanic, but was considered to be in a class of its own. ... For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). ... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Yorkshire Post was founded in 1754, as the Leedes Intelligencer, making it one of Britains first daily newspapers. ...

On 4 June 1902 Madden, together with Martin and his younger sister Mary, sailed from Liverpool, England on board the SS Teutonic (1889). Settling in New York's Hell's Kitchen, Madden joined the Gopher Gang later that year. Described by associates as "that banty little rooster from hell", Madden quickly became a fierce fighter known for his skill with a lead pipe and gun in fights with rivals the Hudson Dusters. This article is about the city in England. ... The SS Teutonic was a steamship built for the White Star Line and was the first armed merchant cruiser. ... View from between 47th and 48th street on Ninth Avenue looking north toward Time Warner Center and Hearst Tower Hells Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City that includes roughly the area between 34th Street and 57th Street, from... 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. ... The Hudson Dusters was a New York street gang during the early twentieth century. ...

Gophers c1910, Madden back row leaning forward

By 1910, at age eighteen, Madden had become a prominent member of the Gophers and was suspected in the deaths of five rival gang members. His reputation soon gained him leadership of one of the three factions of the Gophers. He was earning as much as $200 a day from the Gophers' criminal activities, such as the gang's protection racket which forced local businessmen to pay in the face of firebomb threats. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a powerful organization coerces individuals or businesses to pay protection money which allegedly serves to purchase the organizations protection services against various external threats, whereas the actual threat comes from the organization itself. ...

During this time Madden enjoyed an opulent lifestyle and he was often accompanied by several women. However, he became known for his violent jealousy when he shot and killed a store clerk named William Henshaw who had asked out one of Madden's girls, while on board a trolley. Henshaw initially survived the attack and identified Madden as his assailant. When Henshaw later died of his wounds, police arrested Madden. Despite the attack having numerous witnesses, the case had to be dismissed after no corroborating witnesses came forward. This article refers to the mass transit vehicle running on rails. ...

Over the next three years, the Gophers reached the height of their power as Madden recruited various gunmen into the gang. As Madden began encroaching into rivals' territory, particularly the Hudson Dusters. On November 6, 1912, he was ambushed and shot eleven times outside of a 52nd Street dance hall by three members of the Dusters. Madden survived the attack, however, and refused to identify his attackers to police, stating "Nothing doing. The boys'll get 'em. It's nobody's business but mine who put these slugs in me !". Within a week of his release, several members of the Hudson Dusters had been killed. is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Hudson Dusters was a New York street gang during the early twentieth century. ...

In 1914, Madden became involved in a dispute with Little Patsy Doyle, a prominent member of the Hudson Dusters, over a woman named Freda Horner. In a breach of Irish gangland ethics, Doyle informed police of Madden's operations. Following Doyle's assault on Madden's close friend, Tony Romanello, Madden arranged for Doyle's murder. Madden relayed a message to Doyle through a friend of Freda Horner's named Margaret Everdeane to meet him, supposedly in order to reconcile. As Doyle arrived on November 28, 1914, Madden ambushed Doyle and killed him. The police questioned Horner and Everdeane, who both confessed to their roles in the killing. Madden was eventually sentenced to twenty years at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York The Hudson Dusters was a New York street gang during the early twentieth century. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Alternative meaning: Sing Sing (band) Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a prison in Ossining, New York. ... Ossining is a town located in Westchester County, New York. ...

Prohibition

After serving nine years of his sentence, Madden was released on parole in 1923. The Gopher gang had broken up, and many members of his own faction were either in jail or working for bootlegging gangs. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (594x774, 150 KB)[edit] Summary Mugshot of New York gangster Owney The Killer Madden. ... Rum-running is the business of smuggling or transporting of alcoholic beverages illegally, usually to circumvent taxation or prohibition. ...

Upon his release he was given a job by an old friend,a former member of Madden's street gang who had moved up to better things. Larry Fay had a sharp mind for crime, however he was not the most physically imposing of gangsters and he needed Madden's muscle to help establish the taxi business he had set up from profits he had made running Canadian whisky across the border during the early days of Prohibition. Fay employed a gang of strong-arm men to help him gain control of the most profitable cab-stands along Broadway and Madden became their leader. Later Fay also became involved in New York's milk trade, attempting to turn its delivery into a racket. Owney Madden learned quickly and soon moved on to form his own organisation.

Fay had used Prohibition as a means to raise money for other ventures, but Madden saw it as too good an opportunity to pass up, and soon became heavily involved in bootlegging, establishing a territory in the Hells Kitchen area. In 1924 the Madden gang began highjacking liquor shipments belonging to Big Bill Dwyer, but rather than go to war Dwyer took Madden on as a partner, when Dwyer decided he needed to beef up the enforcement side of his own operations.

The Cotton Club

Madden and his his former gang rival turned partner, Big Frenchy De Mange, began to open or acquire some of the flashiest speakeasies and nightclubs of the era, most notably the legendary Cotton Club.

Madden purchased the Club De Luxe from former Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Johnson and reopened it a year later as a "whites only" nightclub serving Vaudevillian-style black entertainment to the white patrons. They flooded into Harlem from downtown Manhattan to catch performers such as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Bill Bojangles Robinson and the Nicholas Bros. Owney and his partners, Big Bill and Big Frenchy, also muscled their way into a piece of the exclusive Stork Club, where the influential gossip columnist Walter Winchell held court and everyone who was anyone wanted to see and be seen.

Boxing

In 1931, shortly before the end of Prohibition, Madden got out of bootlegging and entered into partnership with boxing promoters "Broadway" Bill Duffy and George Jean "Big Frenchie" DeMange. Between them, they controlled the careers of several boxing champions including Max Baer and Primo Carnera. As Primo Carnera's manager, Madden arranged fixed fights which led eventually to Carnera's winning the NBA World Heavyweight Championship in 1933. Carnera held onto the title for nearly a year, until suspicions from reporters about fixed fights led to Madden's deserting the Italian strongman, setting up Carnera's famous defeat at the hands of Max Baer on June 14, 1934. The term Prohibition, also known as A Dry Law, refers to a law in a certain country by which the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. ... For other senses of these words, see boxing (disambiguation) or boxer (disambiguation). ... Maximilian Adalbert Madcap Maxie Baer (February 11, 1909 – November 21, 1959) was a famous American boxer of the 1930s, onetime Heavyweight Champion of the World, and actor. ... This article is about the boxer, for the wrestler, see Primo Carnera. ... This article is about the boxer, for the wrestler, see Primo Carnera. ... This is a chronological list of world heavyweight boxing champions, as recognized by the following organizations: The World Boxing Association (WBA), founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA), The World Boxing Council (WBC), founded in 1963, The International Boxing Federation (IBF), founded in 1983, and The World Boxing... Maximilian Adalbert Madcap Maxie Baer (February 11, 1909 – November 21, 1959) was a famous American boxer of the 1930s, onetime Heavyweight Champion of the World, and actor. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Hot Springs

In 1932, Madden was involved in the murder of Vincent Mad Dog Coll who had been extorting several mobsters including DeMange and Madden. After being arrested for a parole violation that same year, Madden began facing greater harassment from police, until he finally left New York in 1935. Vincent Mad Dog Coll (July 20, 1908—February 7, 1932) was an Irish enforcer for the mafia in early 20th-century New York City. ...

Leaving behind racketeering, Madden settled in Hot Springs, Arkansas where he opened the Hotel Arkansas, a spa and casino, in 1935. He also became involved in local criminal activities. The Hotel Arkansas became a popular hideout for mobsters; Charles Luciano was apprehended there in 1935. Madden became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1943, and eventually married the daughter of the city postmaster. He lived in Hot Springs until his death in 1965. At the time of his death he was said to have left $3 million in assets. The whereabouts of his fortune remains a mystery to this day. Sign from the city limits. ... Charles Luciano (11 November 1896_ 26 January 1962), better known as Lucky Luciano, was a legendary mobster with a long criminal history. ... If you are looking for different meanings of this word, see Postmaster (disambiguation) A postmaster is a term used in post offices to denote the head or master of the office. ...

In popular culture

• Michael Walsh's And All the Saints ISBN 978-0446518154 is a fictionalized account of Madden's life, told in the first person, from his arrival in New York to his decampment for Hot Springs in 1935. Madden was also portrayed by Bob Hoskins in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club.
• The character Owney Maddox, the Arkansas mob boss targeted by gunslinging DA's Investigator Earl Swagger in Stephen Hunter's novel Hot Springs, is modeled on Madden's later years.

For other persons named Michael Walsh, see Michael Walsh (disambiguation). ... Robert William Bob Hoskins Jr. ... Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is a five-time Academy Award winning American film director, producer, and screenwriter. ... The Cotton Club is a movie, released in 1984, centered around a popular real-life Harlem jazz club in the 1930s, the Cotton Club. ... Stephen Hunter (born March 25, 1946) is an American novelist, essayist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic. ...

Further reading

• Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs Of New York: An Informal Hiistory of the Underworld. United Kingdom: Arrow Books 2002. ISBN 0-09-943674-4
• English, T.J. Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 0-06-059002-5
• Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
• Messick, Hank. Lansky. London: Robert Hale & Company, 1973. ISBN 0-7091-3966-7
• Nown, Graham The English Godfather: Owney Madden. London: Ward Lock, 1987. ISBN 0-7063-6590-9
• Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
• Downey, Patrick. "Gangster City: History of the New York Underworld 1900-1935". New Jersey: Barricade Books, 2004. ISBN 1-56980-267-X

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References

• 1901 census report. Public Record Office (1901). Retrieved on 2007-05-26.

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 146th day of the year (147th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Gophers, Goose Chasers, and the Early Years of Owney Madden by Allen May
• Morse Family - Gangland Connection ?