Jack Zelig
| Jack Zelig | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Zelig Harry Lefkowitz May 13, 1888 New York City |
| Died | October 5, 1912 (aged 24) New York City |
| Cause of death | Gunshot |
| Resting place | Washington Cemetery |
| Other names | Big Jack |
| Spouse(s) | Henrietta Lefkowitz |
"Big" Jack Zelig (May 13, 1888 – October 5, 1912) was an American gangster and one of the last leaders of the Eastman Gang.
Born Selig Harry Lefkowitz on New York's Lower East Side, Zelig was a well-known pickpocket and thief by age 6. He was a member of Crazy Butch's pickpocket gang before joining the Eastman Gang in the late 1890s. Rising up the ranks, Zelig became leader of the Eastman Gang after "Kid Twist" (Max Zwerbach)'s death in 1908. With lieutenants Jack Sirocco and Chick Tricker, the gang had more than 75 members, including satellite gangs such as the Lenox Avenue Gang, led by "Gyp the Blood" (aka Harry Horowitz). During this period, Zelig was also known as "The Big Yid".
After being arrested in 1911 for robbing a brothel, Sirocco and Tricker attempted to gain leadership of the gang by refusing to bail out Zelig. Zelig was later released due to his political connections and he was informed by a member that Sirocco and Tricker were planning on murdering him upon his release. The assassin, a gunman named Julie Morrell, was lured by Zelig to The Stuyvesant Casino (140 Second Avenue, now the Ukrainian National Home) where he was killed, possibly while intoxicated, by the gang leader on December 2, 1911.
The next year, the old Eastman/Five Points feud flared anew. As Zelig left the Criminal Courts on afternoon on June 3, 1912, he was shot through the neck by a Five Points gunman named Charley Torti, who was a known associate of Louis Pioggi, aka Louie the Lump, who had gunned down Zelig's mentor, Kid Twist Zwerbach, four years earlier. Zelig was leaving the courthouse having been released on $1000 bail following his arrest for "shooting up the saloon" of Pioggi's brother Jake. Big Jack recovered from his wound in time to be dragged into the Becker/Rosenthal case.
Charles Becker, a corrupt NYPD lieutenant, had Zelig in his pocket for quite some time, and in the summer of 1912, Becker was named as a prime extortionist in the underworld. A New York World exposé named him as one of three corrupt police officers involved in the case of Herman Rosenthal, a small-time bookmaker who had complained to the press that his illegal businesses had been badly damaged by the greed of the city's corrupt police officers.
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