Jack "Big" Zelig (May 13, 1888 – October 5, 1912) was an American gangster and one of the last leaders of the Eastman Gang.

Biography

Born Zelig Zvi Lefkowitz on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, Zelig was a well-known pickpocket and thief by age 6. He was a member of Crazy Butch's pickpocket gang before joining the Eastman Gang in the late 1890s.

Rising up the ranks, Zelig sought control over the fragmented Eastman Gang in 1908, after "Kid Twist" (Max Zwerbach) was murdered by a rival. Zelig's crew had more than 75 members, including satellite gangs such as the Lenox Avenue Gang in Harlem, led by "Gyp the Blood" (aka Harry Horowitz). During this period, when ethnic Jewish gangsters became predominant in the gang, Zelig was also known as "The Big Yid".

Feud with Sirocco and Tricker

After Zelig was arrested in 1911 for robbing a brothel, Jack Sirocco and "Chick" Tricker attempted to gain leadership of the gang by refusing to bail out their boss. Zelig was later released due to his political connections. One of his men told him that Sirocco and Tricker were planning on murdering him. The assassin, a gunman named Julie Morrell, was lured by Zelig to The Stuyvesant Casino where he was killed by the gang leader on December 2, 1911. (That building at 140 Second Avenue is now used as the Ukrainian National Home.)

The next year, the longstanding Eastman/Five Points feud flared anew. As Zelig left the Criminal Courts building on June 3, 1912, he was shot through the neck by Five Points gunman Charley Torti. He was a known associate of Louis Pioggi, aka Louie the Lump, who had murdered Zelig's mentor, Kid Twist Zwerbach, four years earlier. Zelig had been released on $1000 bail after his arrest for "shooting up the saloon" of Pioggi's brother Jake.

Davidson claimed he had shot Zelig over a $400 grudge, but it was popularly believed he had been killed to keep him from testifying against Charles Becker in the Rosenthal murder case involving the Lenox Avenue Gang.

According to his family which included his parents, sister Annie Alberts of Patterson New Jersey, and wife Henrietta, Zelig's real name was Zelig H. Alberts. His wife also stated that he worked as a diamond cutter.

Shortly after Zelig's death New York detective Abe Shoenfeld wrote "Jack Zelig is as dead as a door nail. Men before him – like Kid Twist, Monk Eastman, and others – were as pygmies to a giant. With the passing of Zelig, one of the most 'nerviest', strongest, and best men of his kind left us."

References

Further reading

  • Keefe, Rose. The Starker: Big Jack Zelig, the Becker-Rosenthal Case, and the Advent of the Jewish Gangster, Cumberland House Publishing, 2008
  • Fried, Albert. The Rise and fall of the Jewish Gangster in America, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1980
  • Rockaway, Robert A. (2000). But He Was Good to His Mother: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters. Gefen Publishing House.
  • Downey, Patrick. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900–1935. Barricade Books, 2004.
  • Almog, Oz, Kosher Nostra Jüdische Gangster in Amerika, 1890–1980; Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Wien; 2003, Text Oz Almog, Erich Metz,
  • Jack Zelig website
  • "But he was Good to his Mother: A story of Jewish Gangsters - Jack Zelig"
  • "Zelig & the Lower Eastside - Gangster City"
  • "Big Jack Zelig - Lower East Side Gang Leader" by Rose Keefe at J-Grit.com