Editing West Side Gang (section)

==Rubel robbery crew==
The name '''“Rubel Gang”''' is best understood as shorthand for the ad hoc crew assembled to rob an armored truck outside Brooklyn's Rubel Ice Company on August 21, 1934, not as a separate, enduring gang with four joint leaders. Contemporary accounts place the amount stolen at $427,950 and say the crew was assembled for that single operation and never again worked as one unit.<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1939/05/13/robbery-in-brooklyn-i “Robbery in Brooklyn—I”], ''The New Yorker'', May 13, 1939.</ref><ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1939/05/20/robbery-in-brooklyn-ii “Robbery in Brooklyn—II”], ''The New Yorker'', May 20, 1939.</ref>

The plan originated with Bernard “Bennie the Bum” McMahon and John “Fats” Manning. John J. “Archie” Stewart then became a principal organizer and recruiter; he was distinct from another participant, Stewart “One-Arm” Wallace. Joseph Kress was accused of participating, but the New York Court of Appeals reversed his conviction because Stewart's accomplice testimony lacked legally sufficient independent corroboration and because of prejudicial trial errors.<ref>[https://hallapproved.com/ny/cases/supreme/1940/3643327 ''People v. Kress''], 284 N.Y. 452 (N.Y. 1940).</ref>

Clark's later research associates McMahon, Manning, Kress and Stewart with Yanowsky's faction and contends that Yanowsky supplied the machine guns used in the robbery. The contemporary reconstruction and appellate opinion, however, do not identify Yanowsky as a planner, participant, commander or beneficiary. The evidence therefore supports overlapping personnel and possible logistical assistance—not a subordinate “Rubel Gang” operating under Yanowsky.<ref name="Clark" /><ref name="Wakin" />