American Mobsters: The Hudson Dusters Street Gang

The Hudson Dusters were a rogue street gang that ruled the Greenwich Village area of ​​New York City, beginning in the late 1890s. They consisted of the trio of Kid Yorke, Circular Jack, and Goo Goo Knox, who was a former gang member of the Gophers, a group that ruled Hell’s Kitchen a few blocks north. Knox tried to take control of the Gophers, failed, and then moved south to terrorize a different neighborhood, which was open to any gang that might take over. The Dusters crushed local gangs like the Potashes and the Boodles, then took control of Greenwich Village and the business of looting the docks along the Hudson River a few blocks west.

The winding streets of Greenwich Village were perfect for escaping after the Dusters committed one of their assorted crimes. Their most accomplished thief was Ding Dong, who roamed the streets with a dozen young men. He would instruct them to hop on passing carts and throw him any valuables they could get their hands on. Before the police could respond, Ding Dong was long gone, having disappeared through the maze of streets that made up the Village.

The Gophers became street legends, but they weren’t particularly known for their fighting prowess, like other brutal New York City gangs were. They hung out in the Village’s taverns and gin mills, mingling with the famous writers and artists of their day. Journalists also favored the Dusters, with newspapers portraying them as nothing more than a fun-loving bunch, who drank more than they fought. One of Duster’s party buddies was playwright Eugene O’Neil, who frequented the gang’s hangout, the Hell Hole, at Sixth Avenue and Fourth Street. It was there that O’Neil assembled most of his characters for his most famous work, The Iceman Cometh, The Iceman being Death.

In their early days, the Dusters changed their base of operations frequently, eventually settling in a house on Hudson Street just below Horatio, later the site of the Open Door Mission. More interested in partying than looting, the Dusters set up a piano and danced the night away, in a cocaine-induced stupor, with the prostitutes who hung out on the West Side docks a few blocks away. This greatly upset the neighboring homeowners and businesses, but they were all afraid to report them to the police, because the Dusters had a reputation for seeking revenge at a hot time on anyone who ratted them out. After a night out on the town, Dusters were known to parade the streets, drunk and high on coke, looking to wreak havoc on anyone or anything in their path.

One night, the Dusters asked the local publican to provide them with some kegs of beer for a party, on the arm of course, meaning they didn’t expect to pay the man any money for his actions. The bartender refused and the Dusters descended on his establishment, vandalizing the joint and taking every last drop of alcohol on the premises. The bartender ran over to his friend, Patrolman Dennis Sullivan. Patrolman Sullivan decided to declare war on the Dusters. He rounded up ten of them, including their leader Red Farrell, and arrested them for vagrancy.

The Dusters decided to retaliate, and with the blessing of a Greenwich Village politician, who used the Dusters to intimidate on Election Day, they ambushed Patrolman Sullivan as he was about to arrest one of the Dusters on a robbery charge. . They attacked him from behind and stole his jacket, weapon and shield, while they beat him with stones and clubs. Up to twenty Dusters took turns kicking and punching the distraught policeman after he went down. When Patrolman Sullivan was finally knocked unconscious, four Dusters rolled him onto his back and dug their heels into his face, permanently scarring him. Trooper Sullivan was eventually taken to the hospital, where he remained recovering for over a month.

The Gophers Street Gang congratulated the Dusters on their achievement in beating up cops, and Gopher leader “One Lung” Curran was moved enough to write a poem, praising their actions. The poem said:

Says Dinny “Here I am, just lucky

To earn a name;

I’ll clean the Hudson Dusters,

and get into the hall of fame.

He lost his cane and his cannon,

and his shield they took from him.

It was then that he remembered,

Every dog ​​had its day.

The Dusters loved this poem so much that they printed hundreds of copies and distributed them on the streets of Greenwich Village, even leaving one at the Charles Street Station House, where Patrolman Sullivan was assigned.

By 1916, The Dusters had dissipated, as most of their gang members were addicted to coke, dead, or locked up in jail. Another Greenwich Village gang, the Marginals, led by Tanner Smith, took over Duster’s rackets and controlled the Village until Chicky Lewis murdered Tanner, inside the Marginal Club on Eighth Avenue, on July 29, 1919. For all practical purposes. , that was the end of street gang presence on the Lower West Side.