arresting Eastman for one of his many crimes. However, Eastman was so out-of-control with his thievery, thuggery, and killings, he soon ran out of political favors.
In 1904, Eastman was finally sent to prison for robbing and beating a man uptown. He was sentenced to 10 years at Sing Sing Prison, but he was released after serving only five.
When Eastman got back to his old hunting grounds, he discovered his gang had been dismantled, and his former men were now working for other scattered ringleaders. Eastman was reduced to performing petty crimes in the streets for a while, until he had the bright idea of joining the army. Eastman wound up serving in World War I, in France, with the 106th Infantry Regiment of the 27th Infantry Division. Eastman was honorably discharged in 1919, and he immediately went back to the streets of the Lower East Side, causing his usual mayhem.
Eastman soon became involved with a crooked Prohibition agent named Jerry Bohan. On the night of December 26, 1920, the two men got into a drunken argument, and Bohan, knowing full well about Eastman's reputation for killing easy, shot Eastman dead, in front of 62 East 14 th Street.
F ein, Benjamin “Dopey”
Benjamin “Dopey” Fein was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1889. He was nicknamed “Dopey” because an eye condition made his eyelids droop, and he seemed either to be falling asleep, or under the influence of a narcotic: in the street vernacular, “dope.”
Fein dropped out of school at an early age, and he became involved is various street crimes, like pickpocketing and petty robberies. Fein enlisted groups of youngsters, particularly from the school he dropped out of (PS 20 on Essex Street), and soon he had scores of preteen criminals terrorizing the streets of the Lower East Side.
In 1905, Fein's luck turned sour, when he was arrested for assault and robbery, and sent upstate to the Elmira State Penitentiary, where he cooled his heels for three years. Fein was released and arrested twice more, before he finally hit the streets in 1910 and joined “Big” Jack Zelig's notorious gang.
After Zelig was murdered in 1912, Fein embarked on an upwardly horizontal career move. Fein started working for the bosses of several labor unions, especially the Garment Workers Union (GWU). Fein and his men became “schlammers,” which meant they broke the heads of any union members who did not toe the line the union bigwigs had laid out for them.
After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911 (which killed 146 people, 123 of them women), Fein became involved with the ILGWU: the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Fein had a reputation of making sure the woman in his union got paid the exact same salary for their work as did the men in the GWU, which was contrary to the common practice at the time.
Being on the ladies' side was a Machiavellian maneuver, which allowed Fein to use these ILGWU women as “toters,” or carriers of concealed weapons, to which Fein and his gang had ready access whenever needed. Fein's female accomplices hid guns, knives, and brass knuckles, in mufflers, or in their hair puffed up high on their heads, in a unique hairdo called the “Mikado Tuck-up.”
Fein's main foe at the time was Jack Sirroco. Sirroco was also heavily involved in the labor movement; not with the unions, but rather with the manufacturers, which put him at cross purposes with Fein. Fein and Sirroco's gangs fought numerous battles, especially when both sides showed up representing opposing parties at a labor strike.
In January 1914, Fein and his gang ambushed Sirroco's gang at a party at Arlington Hall, on St. Mark's Place. Only one person was killed, and it turned out to be an innocent bystander named Fredrick Strauss, who just happened to be a County Clerk officer. This put another nail in Fein's quickly closing coffin.
The final nail was inserted in the fall of 1914, when Fein threatened to kill B. Zalamanowitz, an official
In 1904, Eastman was finally sent to prison for robbing and beating a man uptown. He was sentenced to 10 years at Sing Sing Prison, but he was released after serving only five.
When Eastman got back to his old hunting grounds, he discovered his gang had been dismantled, and his former men were now working for other scattered ringleaders. Eastman was reduced to performing petty crimes in the streets for a while, until he had the bright idea of joining the army. Eastman wound up serving in World War I, in France, with the 106th Infantry Regiment of the 27th Infantry Division. Eastman was honorably discharged in 1919, and he immediately went back to the streets of the Lower East Side, causing his usual mayhem.
Eastman soon became involved with a crooked Prohibition agent named Jerry Bohan. On the night of December 26, 1920, the two men got into a drunken argument, and Bohan, knowing full well about Eastman's reputation for killing easy, shot Eastman dead, in front of 62 East 14 th Street.
F ein, Benjamin “Dopey”
Benjamin “Dopey” Fein was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1889. He was nicknamed “Dopey” because an eye condition made his eyelids droop, and he seemed either to be falling asleep, or under the influence of a narcotic: in the street vernacular, “dope.”
Fein dropped out of school at an early age, and he became involved is various street crimes, like pickpocketing and petty robberies. Fein enlisted groups of youngsters, particularly from the school he dropped out of (PS 20 on Essex Street), and soon he had scores of preteen criminals terrorizing the streets of the Lower East Side.
In 1905, Fein's luck turned sour, when he was arrested for assault and robbery, and sent upstate to the Elmira State Penitentiary, where he cooled his heels for three years. Fein was released and arrested twice more, before he finally hit the streets in 1910 and joined “Big” Jack Zelig's notorious gang.
After Zelig was murdered in 1912, Fein embarked on an upwardly horizontal career move. Fein started working for the bosses of several labor unions, especially the Garment Workers Union (GWU). Fein and his men became “schlammers,” which meant they broke the heads of any union members who did not toe the line the union bigwigs had laid out for them.
After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911 (which killed 146 people, 123 of them women), Fein became involved with the ILGWU: the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Fein had a reputation of making sure the woman in his union got paid the exact same salary for their work as did the men in the GWU, which was contrary to the common practice at the time.
Being on the ladies' side was a Machiavellian maneuver, which allowed Fein to use these ILGWU women as “toters,” or carriers of concealed weapons, to which Fein and his gang had ready access whenever needed. Fein's female accomplices hid guns, knives, and brass knuckles, in mufflers, or in their hair puffed up high on their heads, in a unique hairdo called the “Mikado Tuck-up.”
Fein's main foe at the time was Jack Sirroco. Sirroco was also heavily involved in the labor movement; not with the unions, but rather with the manufacturers, which put him at cross purposes with Fein. Fein and Sirroco's gangs fought numerous battles, especially when both sides showed up representing opposing parties at a labor strike.
In January 1914, Fein and his gang ambushed Sirroco's gang at a party at Arlington Hall, on St. Mark's Place. Only one person was killed, and it turned out to be an innocent bystander named Fredrick Strauss, who just happened to be a County Clerk officer. This put another nail in Fein's quickly closing coffin.
The final nail was inserted in the fall of 1914, when Fein threatened to kill B. Zalamanowitz, an official
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