Tag: Owney Madden

‘The Vapors’: How an Arkansas spa town became a New York gangster paradise

Post author By Greg Young
Post date August 6, 2020
No Comments on ‘The Vapors’: How an Arkansas spa town became a New York gangster paradise

Owney Madden was one of New York’s most infamous gangsters, a bootlegger and murderer who seemed to cross paths with every major cultural marker of the Roaring 20s. He opened the Cotton Club (with Jack Johnson), dated Mae West, and operated a liquor smuggling racket that catered to the city’s busiest speakeasies. In essence Madden… Read More

Tags Bowery Boys Bookshelf, gambling, Hot Springs, Lucky Luciano, Owney Madden

Neighborhoods Podcasts

Hell’s Kitchen: New York’s Wild West

Post author By Bowery Boys
Post date July 10, 2015
4 Comments on Hell’s Kitchen: New York’s Wild West

Courtesy of Garland County Historical Society and Butler Center Books

PODCAST Hell’s Kitchen, on the far west side of Midtown Manhattan, is a neighborhood of many secrets. The unique history of this working class district veers into many tales of New York’s criminal underworld and violent riots which have shaken the streets for over 150 years. This sprawling tenement area was home to some of… Read More

Tags gangsters, Hell's Kitchen, Owney Madden, Podcasts, Port Authority, prohibition, tenements, waterfront