They will aor stand together and cheir sumbers are not large. The gang captained by Litele Augie, whose real name is Jacob Orgen, is by far the targest and the most powerful yet in being, but it is very doubr- ful if Little Augie could muster fifty men— certainly not chat many who would stand up to the police as the old-time gangsters did. And Little Augie himself, fat and flashy and addicted ro fawa-colored spats and violent silk shirts and geckrics, re- ports twice each week co the cops at the Clinton Street Station. There he stands meekly before the desk and tells them everything he has been doing, refreshing his memory from entties in a notebook! Yee Little Augic has been hailed in che newspapers as a gyeat gangster and a worthy successor to such noble chugs as Mork Eastman, Humpty Jackson and Eat "Em Up Jack McManus! Imaginative reporcers hailed a new gang war some months ago whea Kid Dropper, the last of the old-cime gangsters but never of the first rank, was killed in front of the Essex Marker Court by Louis Cohen, a henchman of Little Augie who wanted to emulate the great killers of the past, But what bappened? Cohen was promptly sent to prison for twenty years, and Litle Augie and the leader of the Dropper gang were cautioned to behave themscives. They did so. Another war was predicted whea Kid Portchester, also a member of che Little Avgic gang, was killed on the East Side by chree men who shot at him from the windows of a taxicab. But noth- ing farther happened then, cither. Little Augie continued to report twice each week to the palice, and Headquarters yawned and left the whole macer to the Homicide Squad and the flat-fouted precinct detce~ tives. After neither crime was there a gang war. There has not been a gang war in New York, if we excepe a few slight dis- turbances among the chicken-pullers of che lower West Side markers, since 1g12, when the followers of big Jack Zclig fought for tained by Jack Sirocco and Chick Tricker. This was the conilict that had ies climax in the murder of Herman Rosenthal, the gambles, stil] remembered reverenely as the high-water mark in metropolitan ¢rime. Police Licutenant Charles Becker and the genmen, Gyp che Blood, Dago Frank, Lefty Louie and Whitey Lewis, went to the electric chair for the killing of Rosen- thal. Zelig himsclé was shot to deach on a Second aveoue surface car by Red Phil Davidson only a day before he was to'have testified in the Becker crial. The casualties in chis war numbered more than ten killed and about twenty wounded, In addition, shree gambling houscs were destroyed by bombs. IL Murder is still cheap in some sections of New York, bur it war a great deal cheaper when the gangs were at the height of their power. Men were killed in those days for fifty cents, alchough the usual rate was from $10 to $100, payable in advance and satisfaction not guaranteed. Sometimes, if the prospective victim was prominent and it appeared that the protection afforded by the politicians mighe not suffice to keep the guaman out of jail, the price rose to $500. Bet this, too, was exceptional, and the gangster who charged such extortionate fees did very little business. Sone of the gang leaders, secure in their knowledge that the politicians would not permit them co be molested so long as they retained their efficiency with the black- jack on clection day, advertised their will- ingness to maim and murder by means of priced and written price-lists, The frst of these char came to ehe notice of the police was circulated by Piker Ryan, a gangster whe flourished about the beginning of the Present century. Ryan docs not appear to have owed allegiance to any of the big gangs of che period; he was rather a free lance chug and cur-throar, accepting com- missions from anybody and everybody. When the police finally caught him they more than a month against the pangs cap- found in his pocket t istPrnching,...:..-0+s sea Boch eyes blacked 2000000000000" Nose and jar broke... 2 jacked que (keacked out with blacie jack. : 5 Ear chawed aif, 5% Leg or arm beoke ert | Shot in leg... a5 Seb 4 Doing the big job. reo and up. That Ryan had made good use of his op- portunities was apparent from the cnerics in a notebook chat was also found in bis pocket. One page was headed “Jobs,” and below thar were half a dozen names. Some had check marks after them. “That,” said Ryan, “means the job is finished."" ‘As the years passed che price of murder declined, and in 1912, the year of the war berween the Zelig and che Sirocco and Tricker gangs, it was much lower than in the days of Ryan. In thar year the police captured a gangster who said chat these were the prevailing prices: ch om cheek with knife $188 10 Shot in Jee rw a5 Shor in arm. 5 15 Throwing a bosc st 40 Murder \ ago aga In 1913 a gangster called Yoske Nigger, whose teal name was Joseph Toplinsky, organized a gang and made a great deal of money by poisoning horses. In 3 short tims there were three such gangs io the field— Yoske Nigget’s, Johnny Levinsky's and one captained by Charley Viroffsky, who was known as Charley the Cripple. The three divided che business and worked in harmony. Yoske Nigger catered to the prod- uce markets and the trackmen and livery stables, Levinsky confined his work to the ice-cream crade, and Charley ehe Cripple handled such business as grew out of the tivalry beeween the seltzer and soda-water manufacturers and dealers. Bu: pone of these gangs reached the heights of efficiency and success attained by the one captained by Benjamin Fein, who organized his in rg14. A choice col- lection of thugs it was! Fein was known was not a drug addict, His gang poisoned horses at firse, but Sater Dopey Benny branched out and lene his services to labor unions to slag strike-beeakers, aad to em- ployers to slug union pickets. He fre- quenely had men working on both sides inp the same strike. From these activiries he netecd, it is said, about $20,000 a year. The labor unions, through Tammany Hall and other political organizations, protected Dopey Benny when the police threatened crouble for him. He himself re- tained a lawyer, with an annual fee, who drew up legal and binding contracts with- ove too much mention of the work re- quired. In every contract it was specified that che gangscer's salary coatinued if he went to prisan. And to prison he did go, many times, bur he was always got our quickly, Once his employers delayed and Dopey Benay spent ap unexpected night in the Tombs. He was annoyed and taliced to the District Attorney. Thirty-four in- dictments followed che talk, and afver- wards bis friends were more solicitious of his welfare. For a long time a bondsman was with him almost constantly. He fi- nally went to jail for a considerable length of time, and in late years he has retired from practice. The fees charged by the horse-poisoning gangs varied, but usually chey were as bigh aa the eraitic would bear. The business agent of a labor union which had done business with Dopey Benny told the police that the gangster had quoted him these prices: Shootiog, fatal $500 Shootiag, roe fatal, - Teo Prnsoniog one berm yy Poisoning & team ates je Seealing a horse and tig... ...sssscccc0e AY The shooting items, it was explained, referred eo human beings. Wt ‘The fear of having a knife or a gun planted on him by the police has always been anbecame an obsession with Big Jack Zelig, who went abour with his pockets sewed up, while one of his henchmen attended him with cigarettes and matches, and such other things as he might require for his atausement or in the conduct of his busi- ness. Bat neither carried a gun. Zelig had special gun-carricrs, like a hunter on African game trails. Usually che weapon was in the pocket of a third man who walked a few paces in front of or behind the leader, or, if the diserict was infested with detectives, even across the street. On occasion Zelig had gun-caricrs on all four sides of him. Sometimes a woman bore the revolver; the sweetheart of a subordinate was frequently pressed into service, She carried it ia her maff, or in the huge hat of che period, or tucked into a pocket of her jacket. There was one gangster’s girl who carried the weapon snuggled against the bare skin of her upper arm, kept ia place by elastic bands and instantly avail- able through a slit in her leg-of-muttoa sleeve The old-time gangster who carried his own artillery devised all manner of schemes for scereting it in places chat might ot be found by detectives in the hurry of a quick frisk. Hampry Jackson, who has now re- formed and is running a bird-and-animal store im Harlem, carried a rewolver in a special rack built into his derby hae, and another slung under his hump. When he went abroad on missions of danger, a third gun was under his armpit, 2 favorite place of all gun-carriers. Usually the weapon nestled in a holster under the left arm, the muzzle pointing downward. From this po- sition it was easier to draw than if it had been carried openly at che bip. Johany Spanish, whose real name was Joha Weyler and who claimed kinshi with Butcher Weyler of Spanish War fame, was bolder. He carried two guns in his belt, and when on jobs he carried a third in his coat pocket. Owney the Killer, who preferred that ticle to his own natne of Madden, is said co have never carried 2 gun, but he seldom weot anywhere with- out two of theee women accompanying him. At least one of the women would have a revolver hidden in her muff, of elsewhere about her person. Hampry Jackson, whose gang met in an ancient East Side graveyard, with Jackson himself sitting on a tombstone like a crooked lithe gnome, was lord of a small district about the time thar Monk East- man and Paul Kelly, commanders of the Eastinan avd the Five Points gangs, were fighting for sapeemacy farther downtown. The police newer made a charge of homi- cide against Jackson, bot they scar him to jail for rwency different offenses and ac- rested him more than onc hundred cimes. At one of his trials ie was shown that he bad accepted $100 from a stranger to black- jack a man he had never seen before. But Humpry himself, of course, did not do the job. A gang leader never demeaned him- self so, any more than a boss contractor shovels dirt. He pocketed his fee, pointed out the victim to one of his blackjack artists if the joh was to be a mere matter of bruising, or co a guaman if the affair Was to have permaseaet resules, and then retited to his favorite salona, there to await a report. Some of the gangsters in- sisted upon making written reports; Monk Eastman once told me that one of his best blackjackers always turned in a formal, type-wricten document, designating the victim as “the subject" and phrasing his report in the manner of a detective. Oddly enough, this man's ambition was to get on the police force! When scust and poker games ran wide open in the dives of the Chatham Square and Chinatown districes the gangster found them profitable sources of revenge. He held up the owners of the gambling houses with little likelihood of a subse- quent complaint to the police; he levied blackmail on the small merchants of the district; he robbed the saloons and dance- halls owned by members and leaders of op- posing gangs; he was a footpad, 2 loft worker and a pickpocker, and sometimes hedescencded to the lowest form of thievery,