Harry Horowitz

Harry Horowitz (1889 – April 13, 1914), better known as "Gyp the Blood", was the leader of the notorious Lenox Avenue Gang in New York City during the early part of the 20th century. Legend has it that, on a small bet from one of his colleagues, he would grab passers-by and break their backs over his knee – no small feat by a man only 5 feet 7 who weighed only about 140 pounds.

Horowitz, along with three of his gang members, became part of gang lore in 1912 when they pulled off the spectacular murder of gambler Herman "Beansie" Rosenthal outside the Metropole Hotel. The four shot Rosenthal to death, possibly on orders from Police Lieutenant Charles Becker, who was enraged that Rosenthal was talking to anyone who would listen about Becker's ties to criminals and gambling houses.Fact|date=February 2008

Horowitz and his conspirators were convicted in a highly publicized trial and put to death in the electric chair on April 13, 1914. The next year, Becker also was executed for the crime.

In popular culture

*Horowitz and the rest of the Lenox Street Gang were featured in the 2003 historical novel "And All the Saints: A Novel" by Michael Walsh. Howowitz also appears in the "Sweet Liar" (2003) and "Redemption" (2006).

ee also

* List of individuals executed in New York

Further reading

*Gustavus, Myers. "The History of Tammany Hall". New York: Boni & Liveright, 1917.
*Joselit, Jenna Weissman. "Our Gang: Jewish Crime and the New York Jewish Community, 1900-1940". Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983. ISBN 0253158451
*Katcher, Leo. "The Big Bankroll: The Life and Times of Arnold Rothstein". New York: Da Capo Press, 1994. ISBN 0-306-80565-0
*Kohn, George C. "Dictionary of Culprits and Criminals". Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1986.
*Lardner, James and Thomas Reppetto. "NYPD: A City and Its Police". New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2000. ISBN 978-0-8050-6737-8
*Pietrusza, David. "Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series". New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. ISBN 0-7867-1250-3
*Reeve, Arthur Benjamin. "The Golden Age of Crime". New York: Mohawk Press, 1937.
*Tosches, Nick. "King of the Jews: The Greatest Mob Story Never Told". New York: Harper Perennial, 2006.

External links

* [http://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/tombs/killercop2.html The "Killer Cop" and the Tombs]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50A11FB395813738DDDAB0A94D0405B828DF1D3 GUNMEN SEEN NEAR BUFFALO?; " Lefty Louie" and "Gyp the Blood" May Be in Road Gang]