Volume 18 , Issue 14

1921 - Warring Gangsters Terrorize New York

It was in The Kansas City Kansan, Kansas City, Kansas, dated 8 September 1921, Thursday, page 2, we found this mention of "Warring Gangsters Terrorize New York." The feud started in Tenderloin over bootleg profits dispute and murderof underworld character.

Found on Newspapers.com

New York, September 8 (1921) -- War had broken out in New York between Manhattan and Brooklyn gangsters.

Invading Manhattan during the night. Brooklyn gangsters in an automobile engaged in a revolver battle with many of their rivals near Fifty-eighth street and Ninth avenue. Police joined in the shooting.

Paul Michelin, 50, a spectator of the encounter, was shot in the arm. Five men were arrested.

A dispute over bootleg profits and the murder of "Googol" Knox last week were believed by police to have started the gang feud. Hostilities started Tuesday night when shots were fired on a street corner in the tenderloin. One of the gang doing the shooting was said to have been a woman.

Witnesses of the gang battle which started late last night said a woman was in the auto from which shots were fired at men on the sidewalk.

Pedestrians flung themselves flat on the pavement or ran into doorways as the shots rang out.

Police had advance information that a clash was imminent and were patrolling the neighborhood. Eight members of the police "strong arm" squad approached in an automobile while the shooting was at its height.

The gangsters on the sidewalk fled while those in the motor car directed their fire at the police. The girl took the wheel, it was said, so the chauffeur could use his revolver. Police returned the fire. A running fight followed.
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