Monk Eastman: The Gangster Who Became A War Hero
New York: Knopf, 2010. First edition. Hardcover. Fine, fresh, unread copy in equally fine dust jacket. First edition (stated). Hardcover. 395 pp. with bibliography, index, photo illustations. The life and times of Old New York's most infamous gangster-cum-soldier, Edward "Monk" Eastman (1875-1920). Though born to a respectible New York family, by age 18, Eastman was running wild in Manhattan's rough Lower East Side center of lawlessness, poverty, and violence. He began as a saloon bouncer (he got the job when, afer being told by the saloon owner that he already had two bouncers, he beat them both up an secured the job) and began to gather around him a loyal following toughs, soon becoming by 1900 (still the pre-mafia days) the most feared gang leader in lower Manahttan. It was estimated that his gang numbered as many as two thousand pickpockets, thieves, prostitutes, and thugs. Thw law caught up with him in 1904 when after a gun battle with Pinkerton detectives, he was sentenced to 10 years in Sing Sign prison. He served five years but upon release found that his old Five Points stomping ground had slipped rom his grasp and that his old Tammany Hall protectors had abondoned him. He then joined the New York National Guard, wound up in trench warfare in Europe where his gangland combat experience served him well; he was was repeatedly cited by his commanders for bravery and returned to the city a hero (and to a governor's pardon for past indiscretions). He returned, however, to his old ways in in December, 1920 was shot dead on a lower Manhattan street over a gambling debt. Fine / fine. Item #E27624
ISBN: 9780307266552
Price: $22.95