Madden Gang
 Owney Madden in 1931 | |
| Also Known As | Owney Madden gang Owen Madden gang |
|---|---|
| Origins | |
| Founder | Owney Madden |
| Founding Location | Manhattan, New York City |
| Territory | Manhattan Harlem |
| Profile | |
| Structure | Bootlegging and racketeering organization |
| Activities | Brewing and liquor distribution Protection racketeering Speakeasy and nightclub operation |
| Politics | |
| Leader | Owney Madden |
| Notable Members | George Emile “Big Frenchy” Jeandemange (business partner; often rendered George Jean DeMange) William Frost, alias William Teed (reputed member) |
| Allies | William “Big Bill” Dwyer (reputed brewery partner) |
| Activity | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Years Active | c. 1923–mid-1930s |
| Founded Date | After Madden's 1923 parole |
| Dissolved Date | Mid-1930s (identifiable New York phase) |
| Dissolution Cause | End of Prohibition Madden's imprisonment and withdrawal from New York |
The Madden Gang is a historical label for the Prohibition-era bootlegging and racketeering organization associated with former Gopher leader Owney Madden after his 1923 parole. Contemporary newspapers used “Owen Madden gang” and “Owney Madden gang,” although the evidence does not show that the post-prison enterprise adopted a formal corporate-style name. The organization was distinct from Madden's earlier Gopher faction.
Formation and bootlegging
[edit]Madden had been imprisoned for the 1914 killing of former Gopher Patsy Doyle. A January 1923 report announcing his parole still called him a “Gopher Gang chief.”[1] Historian J. Anne Funderburg writes that Madden began with small-scale liquor trafficking after his release, took over a Manhattan brewery in 1924 and operated it as the Phoenix Bottling Company, later the Phoenix Cereal Beverage Company. Its beer became known as “Madden's Number One.”[2]
Federal agents raided the Phoenix plant at Tenth Avenue and West Twenty-fifth Street in 1931 and reported finding 30,000 gallons of high-test beer. Contemporary reports connected the brewery syndicate to Madden and William “Big Bill” Dwyer.[3] In 1933, The New York Times called Phoenix reputedly owned by Madden and Dwyer, preserving the qualification rather than establishing legal ownership.[4]
The organizational label was contemporary. In 1932, The New York Times described William Frost, also known as William Teed, as a reputed member of the “Owen Madden gang.”[5] During the 1933 O'Connell kidnapping investigation, the Washington Times reported that detectives searched buildings previously used by the “Owney Madden gang to handle beer in pre-legal days.”[6]
Madden's enterprises extended into Harlem nightlife, most famously the Cotton Club. These investments overlapped with the bootlegging organization but do not establish that every employee, performer or investor was a gang member.
George “Big Frenchy” Jeandemange
[edit]Madden's close associate known as “Frenchy” was George Emile Jeandemange (1892–1939), whose surname was frequently shortened to DeMange or Demange. His 1939 obituary called him George Jean “Big Frenchy” De Mange, a liquor racketeer and nightclub owner, and a former partner of Madden.[7] The legal-name form George Emile Jeandemange is supported by a birth-certificate reconstruction; George Jean DeMange is the common published form.[8]
Funderburg describes Madden and DeMange as partners who teamed up in the liquor trade and jointly built a profitable speakeasy business. DeMange preferred a backstage role and seldom appeared in the press.[2] Available strong sources therefore support calling Frenchy Madden's business partner; they do not establish the formal rank “second-in-command.” James Haskins's later history says DeMange became secretary of the corporation operating the Cotton Club, but surviving documentation of his exact ownership interest remains uncertain.[9][8]
Jeandemange already had independent liquor connections before Madden left prison. He was indicted in 1922 in an illicit-liquor case involving Emanuel “Mannie” Kessler and suspended Prohibition agents. Vincent Coll's gang abducted Big Frenchy in June 1931; later accounts say Madden paid a substantial ransom for his release.[8]
Decline
[edit]Madden was returned to prison as a parole violator in 1932 and released in 1933. National Prohibition ended later that year, removing the organization's principal illicit market. Madden increasingly withdrew from New York and eventually settled in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Because the enterprise was informal, no single documented dissolution date survives; “mid-1930s” refers to the end of its identifiable New York bootlegging phase rather than a formal disbanding.
References
[edit]- ↑ “Gopher Gang Chief to Get Parole as Model Prisoner”, The New York Times, January 23, 1923.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J. Anne Funderburg, Bootleggers and Beer Barons of the Prohibition Era (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2014), pp. 89–94.
- ↑ “25 Dry Agents Raid $1,500,000 Brewery”, The New York Times, July 22, 1931.
- ↑ “Phoenix Padlock Stands”, The New York Times, April 19, 1933.
- ↑ “Reputed Aide of Madden Seized”, The New York Times, October 29, 1932.
- ↑ “New York Searched”, The Washington Times, July 18, 1933, p. 7.
- ↑ “De Mange Is Buried Amid Dry Era Pomp”, The New York Times, September 22, 1939.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Tom Hunt, “More on Owney's Pal Jeandemange: ‘Big Frenchy’ Was a Memorable New York Gangland Figure”, MobHistory, May 9, 2025.
- ↑ James Haskins, The Cotton Club, chapter 2 (New York: Random House, 1977; University of Florida digital edition).