Gas House Gang
 Third Avenue at East 18th Street in 1942; the gang operated in this area decades earlier | |
| Named After | Manhattan's Gas House district |
|---|---|
| Origins | |
| Founding Location | Gas House district, Manhattan, New York City |
| Territory | Third Avenue, principally East 11th to East 18th streets |
| Profile | |
| Structure | Street gang |
| Membership | About 200 at its height (later estimate) |
| Activities | Armed robbery Extortion Street violence |
| Politics | |
| Leader | Tom Lynch (final leader) |
| Notable Members | Scotty |
| Rivals | Jimmy Curley gang |
| Activity | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Years Active | 1870s–1914 (reported) |
| Founded Date | 1870s (reported) |
| Dissolved Date | 1914 |
| Dissolution Cause | Death of its final leader during conflict with the Jimmy Curley gang |
The Gas House Gang was a New York street gang associated with Manhattan's Gas House district. Herbert Asbury places an early form of the gang around East 35th Street in the 1870s and later describes roughly 200 members operating along Third Avenue from East 11th to East 18th streets.[1]
Later accounts credit the gang with frequent robberies and extortion. Asbury says it disappeared in early 1914 after its final leader, Tom Lynch, was killed in fighting with the Jimmy Curley gang.[1]
Roster
[edit]- Tom Lynch — described by Asbury as the gang's final leader.
- Scotty — Gas House member convicted of second-degree murder in 1911 after a gunfight with fellow members.[2]
References
[edit]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York (Alfred A. Knopf, 1928), chapters 10 and 16.
- ↑ “Knell of the Gangs Said to Have Rung”, The New York Times, June 13, 1911.