A stone killer in his youth, Owney Madden left
the New York rackets to become the crime
king and good ole boy of Hot Springs, Arkansas,
which he ran as a sort of cooling-off spot for organized
crime big shots.
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of organized crime. Enjoying a firm relationship and friendship with Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Tommy Lucchese, Carlos Marcello, Al Capone and others, Madden transformed himself from a mindless youthful bloodletter, "that little banty rooster out of hell," into a sleek, dapper sophisticate of crime.
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After his father's death, Owney Madden came to New York in 1903 from his native Liverpool, England, to live with an aunt in the already notorious Hell's Kitchen. Owney soon joined the Gophers, one of the major gangs of the day, and was arrested 44 times for illegal escapades but managed to stay out of jail. He had mastered the mugger's art and was accomplished with all the weapons of the craft, the slung shot, blackjack, brass knuckles and his favorite, a lead pipe wrapped in newspaper. Because of his proficiency at mayhem Owney progressed to head of the gang. In that esteemed position he was raking in an estimated $200 a day for the robberies, labor beatings, killings and intergang attacks he planned for his young punks. He committed his first murder at 17 and could tote up five by age 23. By the time he was 20, Owney was also in what he called "the insurance business." He sold "bomb insurance" to scores of merchants who were worried about having their storefronts blown out.
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The police charged, but were unable to prove, that Madden had killed his first man, an Italian, for no other reason than to celebrate his election to leadership of the Gophers. Some of his other homicides were affairs of the heart. When he discovered in 1910 that an innocuous clerk named William Henshaw had tried to date one of his girls, Madden pursued him aboard a trolley car at Ninth Avenue and West 16th Street and shot him to death before a dozen passengers. Before getting off the trolley, Owney paused to toll the bell for his victim. Henshaw stayed alive long enough to name Madden as his killer. A dramatic rooftop chase across Hell's Kitchen ensued. But, once caught, Madden was cleared; the trolley passengers were nowhere to be found.
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In November 1912 Owney took on 11 gunners from the rival Hudson Dusters. He tried to outdraw and outshoot the whole bunch and ended up ventilated with five bullets himself. In the hospital Madden refused to name his assailants. "It's nobody's business but mine," he told the police.
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By the time he was released from the hospital, Madden's boys had knocked off six of his attackers. However, Owney the Killer had a new problem. Little Patsy Doyle was trying to take over the Gophers and had killed some Madden loyalists in the process. Little Patsy passed the word everyone should follow him because Madden was crippled for life. In due course Owney set him up for an ambush in a saloon at Eighth Avenue and 41st Street and dispatched Little Patsy with a bullet in the lung and two more in the body. For this offense Madden did eight years in Sing Sing.
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When he was released in 1923, Owney the Killer had undergone a sort of metamorphosis. He had gained
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