This is a list of organized crime in the 1910s, arranged chronologically.
1910 Events Rival newspapers William Randolph Hearst's Chicago American and the Chicago Tribune extend contracts through Moses Annenberg to street gangs such as Ragen's Colts, under the guise of "athletic clubs", in which newsdealers and vendors are intimidated into selling a specific newspaper. During the three-year period known as the "Circulation Wars", 27 street vendors are stabbed, beaten or shot as many of the future Prohibition gangsters and other criminals of Chicago's underworld become involved, including Dean O'Banion. New York police arrest over 200 known Italian gangsters and known Black Hand members in a raid in Little Italy, including Morello crime family leader Lupo the Wolf. However, none are convicted as many of the notes of extortion threats cannot be traced to them."Counterfeiter Gang Finally Is Run Down". Washington Times. 02 December 1910 Chicago racketeer James "Big Jim" Colosimo brings his nephew Johnny Torrio, then with New York City's Five Points Gang, to eliminate the Black Hand from the city in response to their extortion demands. Within a month, ten Black Hand extortionists had been killed. Jim Cosmano, a major Chicago Black Hand leader, is severely wounded in an ambush by Johnny Torrio on a South Side bridge. Cosmano had previously demanded $10,000 threatening to destroy Colosimo's café. Gas House Gang member William Jones is imprisoned. Eastman Gang leader Chick Tricker's Park Row dive bar is closed by the New York City Committee of Fourteen. However he moves his operations, purchasing Dan the Dude's Stag Cafe on West 28th Street, later renaming it the Cafe Maryland. January 1 – March 26, 1911 – Thirty-eight Black Hand victims are killed by Black Hand assassins, many by the unidentified assassin known only as Shotgun Man, between Oak Street and Milton Street in Chicago's Little Italy. April 1 – Spanish Louie, a lieutenant of Humpty Jackson, is killed while walking on East 11th Street by an unknown gunman (although other sources have incorrectly claimed 1900 and 1911)."Spanish Louie Shot Dead – Too Bad Even For The Other Crooks". New York Sun. 01 April 1910
Births Frank Abbandando "The Dasher", Murder, Inc. "hitman" Albert Facchiano, "Chinky" Genovese crime family member February 6 – Carlos Marcello [Calagero Menacore], New Orleans Mafia Don February 21 – Carmine Galante "Lilo"/"The Cigar", Bonanno crime family Don May 11 – Angelo Bruno "The Gentle Don"/"The Docile Don", Philadelphia Mafia leader October 1 – Bonnie Parker, sidekick and lover of Clyde Barrow
Deaths April 1 – John "Spanish Louie" Lewis, New York gangster and member of the Humpty Jackson Gang.
1911 Events Five Points Gang member James T. "Biff" Ellison is sentenced to Sing Sing Prison for the attempted murder of gang leader Paul Kelly. He dies several years later in an insane asylum. Jack Zelig is arrested for robbing a bordello. The charges are later dropped. However, in an attempt to gain leadership of the Eastman Gang, lieutenants Jack Sirocco and Chick Tricker refuse to post bail, beginning a gang war between the two factions. Nathan Kaplan severely injures Johnny Spanish in a knife fight before police arrive to break up the fight. Kaplan also fights Jacob Orgen later that year giving a scar across Orgen's face before the fight is stopped. Filippo "John 'Handsome Johnny' Roselli" Sacco arrives with his family in the United States, from Sicily. Frank Tieri emigrates to the United States from Castel Gandolfo, Italy. Salvatore Sabella lands in the US and soon takes control of the Philadelphia Mafia. December 1 – "Big" Jim O'Leary sells off his gambling operations and other business interests and goes into retirement. December 2 – Julie Morrell, an assassin hired by Sirocco and Tricker to murder Zelig, is lured to a Second Avenue nightclub and killed.
Births Philip Lombardo, (Miami) Genovese crime family leader May 1 – Anthony Salerno "Fat Tony", Genovese crime family Don November 4 – James Napoli "Jimmy Nap", Genovese crime family member involved in illegal gambling and loansharking
Deaths December 2 – Julie Morrell, Eastman Gang member 1912 Events Timothy "Big Tim" Sullivan, longtime political boss of Tammany Hall, is committed to a sanitarium. June 7 - Mock Duck is convicted of running a policy game and sentenced to imprisonment at Sing Sing Prison."Mock Duck Gets the Limit," New-York Tribune, June 8, 1912. July 15 – Members of the Lenox Avenue Gang including leader Harry Horowitz, known as "Gyp the Blood", and top lieutenants Jacob Seidenschner, Louis Rosenberg, and Francesco Cirofici, kill prominent New York gambler and police informant Herman "Beansie" Rosenthal."Gambler Who Defied Police Is Shot Dead," The New York Times, July 16, 1912. They are convicted of Rosenthal's murder later the same year,"Gunmen Guilty in First Degree," The New York Times, November 20, 1912. and executed in April 1914. September – Republican State's Attorney John E.W. Wayman, shortly before his term of office is to expire, officially closes down Chicago's South Side "Levee District". The long-time vice district had been a hotbed of criminal activity for Chicago's underworld, as well as a major source of political power for Chicago's First Ward aldermen, such as Michael "Hinky Dink" Kenna and "Bathhouse" John Coughlin, since the 1890s. October 5 – Eastman Gang leader Jack Zelig is killed by "Red" Phil Davidson on a Second Avenue street car trolley."Big Jack Zelig Shot and Killed in Crowded Car on Eve of Becker's Trial for Murder of Rosenthal," The Sun, October 6, 1912. October 19 – Frank Costello is again arrested for assault and robbery and is later released."Robbers Get $1,800 Bank Roll," The Sun, October 20, 1912. October 24 - New York Police Lt. Charles Becker is found guilty of first degree murder in the Rosenthal case."Becker Defiant, Fights for Life; Verdict Terrifies the Gunmen," The Evening World, October 25, 1912. He is sentenced to death, going to New York's electric chair in July 1915. November 6 – Owney Madden is shot by several thugs while at a 52nd Street dance in New York City."Gopher Gangster, Facing Enemies, Shot for Taunts," The Evening World, November 6, 1912.
Arts and literature D.W. Griffith's The Musketeers of Pig Alley is released starring Elmer Booth, Lillian Gish, Clara T. Bracy and Walter Miller.
Births January 8 – Joseph N. Gallo, alleged consigliere of Gambino crime family bosses Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano and John Gotti March 19 – Nicholas Civella, Kansas City crime family boss April 12 – Jack "Spot" Comer, Jewish-English gangster September 18 – John T. Scalish, Cleveland crime family boss and National Crime Syndicate labor racketeer December 28 – William Daddano Sr., Chicago Outfit enforcer
Deaths July 15 – Herman "Beansie" Rosenthal, New York gambler and police informant October 5 – Jack Zelig, Eastman Gang leader
1913 Events The White Hand Society disbands after police inaction and vigilantism in other Italian neighborhoods ends public support for the organization. Timothy Sullivan escapes from the sanitarium and is later found dead near a Westchester County freight yard."'Big Tim' Dead; 13 Days in Morgue," The New York Times, September 14, 1913. George Washington "Chuck" Connors, one of the last of the Tammany Hall associates, dies of heart failure in New York City's Hudson Street Hospital at the age of 61."'Chuck' Connors Dies of Heart Failure," The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 10, 1913. Within several months, Frank "Mike the Dago" Salvatore succeeds Connors as the political boss of Chinatown. Cleveland gangster Thomas Joseph McGinty (aka T.J. McGinty) organizes a gang of labor sluggers competing against rival Cleveland News sluggers Arthur McBride's Mayfield Road Mob during Cleveland's "Circulation Wars". May 28 – A peace agreement is signed, with the exception of the Four Brothers, ending the tong war between the On Leong, Hip Sing, and the Kim Lan Wui Saw tongs."Chinatown Signs Treaty of Peace Among All Tongs," The Evening World, May 28, 1913. November 28 – Preparing to assault workers who had refused to strike, rival labor sluggers led by "Dopey" Benny Fein are met by a combined number of smaller gangs as street fighting breaks out in front of a Greenwich Street hat shop."Three Shot in War of Gangs at Strike," The New York Times, November 29, 1913. This is the first of many skirmishes which will eventually lead up to the First Labor Slugger War.
Arts and literature The Gangster (1913) starring Lionel Adams, Ferdinand Tidmarsh and Edna Luby is released.
Births February 8 – Carmine Lombardozzi "The Doctor", New York labor racketeer, illegal gambling and drug trafficker as a Capodecina of the Gambino crime family and former associate of Meyer Lansky February 12 – Anthony Corallo "Tony Ducks", Lucchese crime family Don and Mafia Commission member March 26 – Victor Riesel, New York organized crime journalist April 30 – Sam DeCavalcante "The Plumber", New Jersey mobster October 6 – Leonard Patrick, Chicago Outfit member and informant
Deaths Timothy Sullivan, New York City gambling syndicate leader, Tammany Hall politician and associate of the Whyos and Monk Eastman street gangs.
1914 Events During his first year in office, NYPD Police Commissioner Arthur Woods arrests more than 200 gangsters. Gas House Gang leader Thomas Lynch is killed during a gunfight with members of the Jimmy Curley Gang led by "Gold Mine" Jimmy Cariggio. The Gas House Gang breaks up soon after Lynch's death. Within two years of the closing of Chicago's infamous vice district The Levee, long-time vice lord Saffo the Greek is forced to flee the area. It is during this time that Chicago police captain Michael Ryan, district commander of The Levee, is dismissed from the force for corruption. Frank Costello, with his brother Edward, join Owney Madden's Gopher Gang. January 9 - A gunfight breaks out between members of Jack Sirocco's and Benjamin "Dopey Benny" Fein's gangs outside of a dance in St. Mark's Place in Manhattan. An elderly court clerk named Frederick Strauss is killed in the crossfire."Gangs in Battle Kill Court Clerk," The New York Times, January 10, 1914. (Two members of Fein's gang - Irving "Waxey Gordon" Wexler and Isidore "Jew Murphy" Cohen - are eventually charged for the murder and tried in 1916, but are acquitted for lack of evidence.) March 3 - New York gang leader James "Gold Mine Jimmy" Cariggio is shot dead by unknown gunmen near a bookstore on East 13th Street."East Side Gang Leader Shot Dead," New York Tribune, March 4, 1914. March 13 - Former New York gang leader Thomas "Humpty" Jackson is arrested for selling opium near his home on Third Avenue."'Humpty' Jackson Caught," New York Tribune, March 14, 1914. On March 27, Jackson is convicted "He Didn't Stay 'Reformed,'" The Sun, March 28, 1914. and is later sentenced to six months in prison."'Humpty' Gets Six Months," The Evening World, April 3, 1914. April 13 - The four convicted gunmen in the 1912 murder of gambler Herman Rosenthal - Harry "Gyp the Blood" Horowitz, Francesco "Dago Frank" Cirofici, Louis "Lefty Louie" Rosenberg, and Jacob "Whitey Lewis" Seidenshner - are executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison. About two hours prior to the execution, Cirofici makes a statement to the warden suggesting that NYPD Lt. Charles Becker was not involved in the murder plot, and that Cirofici himself was not present at the slaying, though he admitted knowing about it. (Despite Cirofici's efforts to clear Becker, the policeman would be executed the following year.)"'Dago Frank,' Confessing, Says Vallon, 'Gyp' and 'Louie' Murdered Rosenthal; Didn't Hear of Becker; Four Gunmen Die," The New York Times, April 14, 1914. April 17 – Five New York City gangsters are killed in a gunfight between Joe Morello and Joe Baker on 113th Street and Third Avenue.