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Owney Madden

Page history last edited by CammannP 14 years, 11 months ago

Owney "The Killer" Madden (December 18, 1891–April 24, 1965) was a leading underworld figure in Manhattan , most notable for his involvement in organized crime during Prohibition. He also ran the famous Cotton Club and was a leading boxing promoter in the 1930s.

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Childhood

Owney madden was born in England in the cold winter month of December. As a young adult his life already started as a struggle due to the fact that his family was lower class. His family as a whole shared the dream of one day venturing the the United States and achieving the "American Dream" of money and big homes. Finally in 1902 when Owney was 11 years of age his mother bought him and his brother tickets to venture the America and his reign of terror began then. Later that very same year he found himself falling into the underworld of New York's "Hell's Kitchen". He joined the Gopher Gang and quicky earned his way up through the ranks being known for his skill and precision with a lead pipe and a gun. He soon earned himself the name "the killer" after gunning down a rival gang member and screaming his name in pride. He remained a free man however because everyone that witnessed the murder knew snitching on Owney Madden meant a death sentence by local mobsters.

The notorious Gopher Gang at a young age.

Rise to Fame

When Owney turned 18 everyone knew the name and everyone understood the cold blooded nature of his personality. He had earned himself a top position of one of three leaders of the Gophers and was pulling in as much as $200 a day from his illegal activities such as a racketeering and extortion. If converted to today's standards Owney was making $2378 a day and about $860,000 a year; all this at age 18. He had been a suspect in 5 rival gang members murder trials and aquitted on all and was also known as a local ladies man. Often he was seen with multiple women surrounding him wherever he went. Unfortunetly with fame comes envy and Owney had lots of that. When he was 21 years old he was surrounded by three rival gang members and shot 11 times. Living up to his repuation he survived the attack and made a full recovery and told the police," Nothing doing. The boys'll get 'em. It's nobody's business but mine who put these slugs in me!" In less then a week after he was released from the hospital multiple members of the rival gang had been shot and killed in retaliation. After the fueding a member of the Duster's (The rival gang) named Freda Horner told the police about all of Owney's illegal money making activities and caused outrage amoung the Gophers. Owney and two friends ambushed Freda and shot him to death. The police grew very suspicious and Owney's two friends confessed everything about the murder earning Owney a 20 year stay at Sing Sing Prison.

Sing Sing Prison

After 9 years in jail he was released on parole and his criminal life began again. Upon release Owney discovered the Gopher gang had broken up and most of his friends had gotten their hands into smuggling alcohol due to the Prohibiton laws of the 1920's. Quickly causing waves among local mobsters yet again he quickly dominated the Hell's Kitchen territory for bootlegging whiskey across the border. As he fell deeper int othe business though his hunger for wealth increased and he started hijacking shipments of liquor from local mob boss Big Bill Dwyer. Instead of waging a war on Owney Bill decided to take him on as a partner and to keep the muscle side of the business strong. The amount Owney made from prohibiton is unknown but estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands which in today's standards is equivalent to millions.

A load of whiskey seized during prohibiton

As the prohibition era died down so did his hunger for illegal activities and he began making money in more legitimate ways. As time went on he had ownership in more than twenty clubs including the most notorious "Cotton Club". As his money grew so did his fame yet again and he even started taking on the task of managing well known boxers of the 1930's. When Owney was 41 he decided he was done with his high profile life and retired the the community of Hot Springs, Arkansas which was known for it's corrupt government and high tolerance level to crime. While it is said he still kept his hands in a number of illegal activities his criminal record reamined spotless while living there and he died in 1965 leaving assets worth around $3 million dollars which today is a little more than $33 million.

The Famous Cotton Club owned and ran by Owney Madden.