Patsy Conroy Gang

Patsy (Patsey) Conroy Gang

Patsy Conroy the founder and leader of the Patsey Conroy Gang
Founded by	Patsy Conroy
Founding location	New York City
Years active	1860s-1874
Territory	Corlears' Hook, New York waterfront
Ethnicity	predominantly Irish-American
Membership (est.)	14
Criminal activities	river piracy, armed robbery
Rivals	Daybreak Boys, Hook Gang

The Patsey Conroy Gang Patsy Conroys, and Patsy were a group, of river pirates, active along the New York waterfront, of the old Fourth Ward, during the post-American Civil War era. For nearly twenty years, the Patsy Conroys dominated, the area of Corlears' Hook and were one of the last major waterfront gangs, to remain in the district, prior to the formation of the Steamboat Squad. The Patsey Conroy Gang abruptly disappeared, when their leaders Patsy Conroy, Larry Griffin and Denny Brady were imprisoned in 1874.

The gang was originally formed by Patsy Conroy, an experienced river pirate who had previously "operated with great success" along the old Fourth Ward water front, and relocated his gang to the Corlears' Hook district in the early 1870s. Once establishing himself in the area, Conroy began recruiting many of infamous waterfront thieves and criminals including Socco the Bracer, Scotchy Lavelle, Johnny Dobbs, Kid Shanahan, Pugsey Hurley, Wreck Donovan, Tom The Mick, Beeny Kane, Piggy Noles, Billy Woods, Bum Mahoney, Denny Brady and Larry Griffin. Brady and Griffin would later become joint leaders of the gang. Its headquarters was located at a basement dive bar in the Bowery.

On the night of May 29, 1873, gang members Billy Woods, Bum Mahoney and Conroy's chief lieutenant Socco the Bracer stole a small boat from Jackson Street and sailed downstream along the East River to Pier 27 where the brig Margaret was docked and waiting to be loaded with cargo. The three men boarded the ship and, while searching a sea chest, they woke up the captain and his mate. A fight then occurred with the crew and "the gangsters severely beaten and driven over the side into their boat". The skipper had fired several pistol shots into the air to alert police and Patrolmen Musgrave and Kelly, patrolling the river in a rowboat, attempted to catch up with the fleeing pirates but lost them in the fog and darkness.

Musgrave flashed a dark lantern out over the water, searching for any sign of the pirates, and saw a boat slowly pull out from underneath a nearby pier. Mahoney and Woods were both rowing while Socco the Bracer was "standing in the stern with a cocked revolver in his hand". Socco fired at the officer as soon as Musgrave shined his lantern at the pirates. When he missed his target, Mahoney and Woods stopped rowing and also began firing. A brief shootout ensued when police returned fire, Musgrave's first shot hitting Socco below the heart, and Mahoney and Woods "seized their oars and pulled rapidly mid-stream". They then tossed Socco overboard, hoping to lighten the weight of the small boat, but Socco was not yet dead and clung to the side. Through seriously wounded, the shock of the cld water had revived him. He tried to climb back into the boat, holding onto the gunwale, and the pursuing officers could hear Socco begging his companions to take him back aboard.