Yakey Yake Brady
| Yakey Yake Brady | |
|---|---|
| Born |
James Brady 1875 Manhattan, New York, United States |
| Died | September 2, 1904 (aged 29) Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Cause of death | Tuberculosis |
| Nationality | Irish-American |
| Other names | John Brady Yake Yake Brady |
| Occupation | Cooper |
| Known for | Gang leader and founder of the Yakey Yakes |
John or James "Yakey Yake" Brady (1875–September 2, 1904) was an American criminal, the founder and leader of the Yakey Yakes, an independent street gang based in Manhattan, New York at the turn of the 20th century. Under his leadership, the gang, which had its base around the Brooklyn Bridge, operated freely within the territory of the Eastman Gang and successfully fought off attempts by both the Eastmans and the Five Points Gang to absorb the Yakey Yakes into either organization. Only following Brady's death from tuberculosis did the gang finally disappear.
Brady was born and raised in the Irish enclave of Cherry Hill known as "the Gap" (the present-day northern end of Cherry Street). He worked as an apprentice jockey as a youth, but became too heavy to turn professional. Returning to "the Gap", he worked as a cooper and later joined the Cherry Hill Gang. It was around this time that he was given his familiar nickname during an altercation with a German-American saloon-keeper who, "suffering from a battered nose", mispronounced Brady's first name as "Jake" or "Yake".
He eventually deserted the Cherry Hill Gang when they moved their headquarters to Chatham Square, reorganized as the Five Points Gang and moved into more violent crime such as theft and armed robbery. Brady formed his own gang, the Yakey Yakes, made up of "rough but fairly honest young fellows" from his own neighborhood. He and the Yakey Yakes were confronted by both the Eastman Gang and the Five Pointers under Paul Kelly, as were Al Rooney and his Fourteenth Street Gang, and defeated them in street fights on several occasions. They eventually forced both the Eastmans and the Five Point Gang to "do their fighting north of Catherine Street".
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