Editing Madden Gang

{{SHORTDESC:Prohibition-era New York bootlegging organization led by Owney Madden}}
{{Infobox criminal organization
| name = Madden Gang
| also_known_as = Owney Madden gang<br>Owen Madden gang
| image = Owney Madden 1931 mugshot.jpg
| image_alt = Mug shot of Owney Madden
| caption = Owney Madden in 1931
| founder = Owney Madden
| founding_location = Manhattan, New York City
| territory = Manhattan<br>Harlem
| structure = Bootlegging and racketeering organization
| activities = Brewing and liquor distribution<br>Protection racketeering<br>Speakeasy and nightclub operation
| leader = Owney Madden
| notable_members = George Emile “Big Frenchy” Jeandemange {{small|(business partner; often rendered George Jean DeMange)}}<br>William Frost, alias William Teed {{small|(reputed member)}}
| allies = William “Big Bill” Dwyer {{small|(reputed brewery partner)}}
| status = Defunct
| years_active = c. 1923–mid-1930s
| founded_date = After Madden's 1923 parole
| dissolved_date = Mid-1930s {{small|(identifiable New York phase)}}
| dissolution_cause = End of Prohibition<br>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 Gang|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==
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.”<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1923/01/23/archives/gopher-gang-chief-to-get-parole-as-model-prisoner.html “Gopher Gang Chief to Get Parole as Model Prisoner”], ''The New York Times'', January 23, 1923.</ref> 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.”<ref name="Funderburg">J. Anne Funderburg, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aEdXAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 ''Bootleggers and Beer Barons of the Prohibition Era''] (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2014), pp. 89–94.</ref>

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.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1931/07/22/archives/25-dry-agents-raid-1500000-brewery-30000-gallons-of-hightest-beer.html “25 Dry Agents Raid $1,500,000 Brewery”], ''The New York Times'', July 22, 1931.</ref> In 1933, ''The New York Times'' called Phoenix reputedly owned by Madden and Dwyer, preserving the qualification rather than establishing legal ownership.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1933/04/19/archives/phoenix-padlock-stands-brewery-withdraws-its-plea-to-reopen-appeal.html “Phoenix Padlock Stands”], ''The New York Times'', April 19, 1933.</ref>

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.”<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1932/10/29/archives/reputed-aide-of-madden-seized.html “Reputed Aide of Madden Seized”], ''The New York Times'', October 29, 1932.</ref> 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.”<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84026749/1933-07-18/ed-1/?sp=7 “New York Searched”], ''The Washington Times'', July 18, 1933, p. 7.</ref>

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==
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.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1939/09/22/archives/de-mange-is-buried-amid-dry-era-pomp-pals-of-liquor-racketeer-pay.html “De Mange Is Buried Amid Dry Era Pomp”], ''The New York Times'', September 22, 1939.</ref> The legal-name form George Emile Jeandemange is supported by a birth-certificate reconstruction; George Jean DeMange is the common published form.<ref name="Hunt">Tom Hunt, [https://mobhistory.substack.com/p/more-on-owneys-pal-jeandemange “More on Owney's Pal Jeandemange: ‘Big Frenchy’ Was a Memorable New York Gangland Figure”], ''MobHistory'', May 9, 2025.</ref>

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.<ref name="Funderburg" /> 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.<ref>James Haskins, [https://ufl.pb.unizin.org/cottonclub/chapter/chapter-2-the-cotton-club/ ''The Cotton Club''], chapter 2 (New York: Random House, 1977; University of Florida digital edition).</ref><ref name="Hunt" />

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.<ref name="Hunt" />

==Decline==
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==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Prohibition gangs]]
[[Category:Former gangs in New York City]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1923]]