,
New York City, in a photograph, circa 1876. According to an article in the April 26, 1903, edition of the
New York Daily Tribune, the gang that would become Eastman's first coalesced in the early 1890s. They started out in the notorious Corlear's Hook section of the
Lower East Side on Rivington Street, in the vicinity of Mangin and Goerck streets. Another gang of the era, the
Short Tails, had its headquarters in this same area, and the Eastman gang may have developed from that group. Originally composed of largely Irish and Italian Catholics from the local slums, the gang quickly became almost exclusively Jewish, as a wave of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe settled into lower
Manhattan and nearby
Brooklyn. When
Monk Eastman entered the gang is unknown. His father abandoned his family when Eastman was five years old, and he lived with his mother and sisters in her father's household. Several newspaper articles refer to Eastman as from Corlear's Hook, so he was likely involved from this early era. His background was Yankee (Eastman immigrants came from England in the colonial period), but he originally had many ethnic Irish associates. By the start of the 20th century, the gang had expanded beyond Corlear's Hook and changed its criminal focus from petty theft to pimping, using the many "disorderly houses" (brothels) along Allen Street to amass a small fortune. During this time the gang became known as the
Allen Street Cadets ("cadet" being Bowery slang for a pimp); they adopted a flamboyant lifestyle. According to one local charity worker, "You never saw an Eastman without a woman." Aside from pimping they also kept their hand in other crimes, running gambling houses, peddling
opium, and hiring themselves out as paid goons. One of the gang's "clubhouses" during this time was Silver Dollar Smith's saloon on Essex Street. Monk Eastman worked as a "sheriff" or bouncer there. He quickly became a favorite mercenary for the many
Tammany Hall politicians and Wall Street big wigs who frequented the place. As Monk's fame grew, his gang came to be known simply as the
Monk Eastmans or the
Eastman gang. shortly after being arrested with Monk Eastman, 1904. Like many gangs of the time, the Eastmans dressed as dandies; they were well-groomed men who liked to flaunt their wealth. According to
Alfred Henry Lewis's 1912 book,
The Apaches of New York, many of the gang members were also bicycle enthusiasts, likely owing to Eastman's own interest in the new riding machines. Lewis claims that Monk rented bicycles out of his Broome Street bird shop, and that an associate opened a club in Monk's honor called "The Squab Wheelman" (after the boss's twin passions—pigeons and bicycles). Eventually, the gang became involved in rivalries with other local gangs such as the
Yakey Yakes and the
Five Points Gang, warring over both territory and work as political sluggers for Tammany Hall. The Eastmans dominated the gang war in the 20th century during the first year: his gang members rallied in pitched battles in the streets of New York reminiscent of the gangs of the previous century. Eastman was a charismatic leader, who often led his men into battle. He attracted many members of the Five Pointers to defect to the Eastmans, including
Richie Fitzpatrick and
Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach. However, as the gang war began to escalate, Tammany politicians forced the leaders to agree to a truce before losing control of the situation. == Reign of Kid Twist ==