Joe Bruno's Mobsters - Six Volume Set Read Online Free PDF Page A

rival gangs. By the end of the 1860's, the Bowery Boys ceased to exist, but other gangs rose from their ashes, to take their place of ignominy in downtown Manhattan.
     
    B ristol Bill The Burglar
    He was a hardened criminal, who escaped from a British prison in Australia and made his way to New York City. In the 1840's, the New York City Police Gazette wrote that Bristol Bill the Burglar was, “the most celebrated bank robber and burglar of our time.”
    The London police knew his real name, but they never revealed it. However, we do know the following about Bristol Bill:
    He was born in the early 1800's, to an aristocratic family, the son of a Bristol MP. When Bristol Bill was in his second year at Eton College, his family adopted a 16-year old orphaned daughter of a poor cleric. Bristol Bill was the handsomest of men; almost 6-feet tall, with piercing brown eyes and a broad forehead. In no time, he had seduced the young girl and got her pregnant. Bristol Bill's father was so outraged when he found out about the young girl's delicate condition, he beat Bristol Bill to a pulp, then banished the girl from his home. His father sent Bristol Bill back to Eton, but Bristol Bill soon located his love, and they both absconded to London.
    A child was born, and to pay the bills, Bristol Bill got a job at a local locksmith. Soon, Bristol Bill was so adept at key, lock, and tool making, he started selling his wares to a London Gang called the Blue Boys. The Blue Boys were so successful at burglarizing and bank robbing, they soon made Bristol Bill their leader.
    This went on for half a dozen years, until Bristol Bill had accumulated approximately $200,000 in American money. With his newfound riches, and with the police nipping at his heels, Bristol Bill abandoned his wife and child and headed to Liverpool, where he planned to board a ship to America. However, a certain London policeman was on his trail, and this policeman arrested Bristol Bill in Liverpool. This same policeman would eventually play a big part in Bristol Bill's life on the other side of the pond.
    After his arrest, Bristol Bill's money was confiscated, and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison at a penal colony in Botany Bay, Australia. After serving 10 years, Bristol Bill escaped by swimming four miles to an American whaler. He first landed in Bedford, Mass., but soon Bristol Bill made his way to New York City, where, at the time, almost all the professional thieves were of British extraction.
    Bristol Bill's mission was to hook up with a robbery gang, which was called “the most extensive association of burglars, counterfeiters, and swindlers the Western world has ever seen.” The London contingent consisted of such noted “ crossmen” (a London term for thieves) as Billy Fish, Billy Hoppy, “Cupid” Downer, Bill Parkinson, Bob Whelan, Jim Honeyman, and Dick Collard. They were joined by two New Yorkers: Joe Ashley, and “One-eye” Thompson.
    The brains of the operation was a shady character named Samuel Drury, who was known as a banker and a financier, but was, in fact, a counterfeiter of great renown and a prodigious fence of stolen goods. Whatever his gang robbed, Drury would buy and sell, and keep the majority of the money for himself.
    Bristol Bill met a girl named Catherine Davenport, who was an expert sneak-thief and pickpocket. Davenport also worked for Drury as a “koneyacker,” or a passer of counterfeit cash. Davenport informed Drury that the famous Bristol Bill was in New York City, and that he wanted to join their operation. When Bristol Bill first met Drury, he thought he looked familiar.
    “Were you ever a policeman in London?” Bristol Bill asked Drury.
    Drury admitted he had been.
    “I knew it!” Bristol Bill said. “You're the same hound that tracked me to Liverpool and had me pinched for 14 years.”
    Drury told Bristol Bill that he was caught stealing himself, and he had to leave London for New York City. Drury told Bristol Bill,