The Bowery Boys: New York City History
PODCAST The thrilling tale of a classic heist from the Gilded Age, perpetrated by a host of wicked and colorful characters from New York’s criminal underworld. Jesse James and Butch Cassidy may be more infamous as American bank robbers, but neither could match the skill or the audacity of George Leonidas Leslie, a mastermind known… Read More
Greg Young of the Bowery Boys podcast is just one of the many New York City experts and historians to be featured in a new PIX11 four-part mini-series debuting Friday, March 8. (CW affiliate Channel 11) Only in New York chronicles some of the most controversial moments in New York City history, a subway shooting that ignited a racial firestorm,… Read More
PODCAST A gaslight murder mystery with more twists than an Agatha Christie novel! On January 31, 1857, a prominent dentist named Harvey Burdell was found brutally murdered — strangled, then stabbed 15 times — in his office and home and Bond Street, a once-trendy street between Broadway and the Bowery. The suspects for this horrific crime populated the rooms… Read More
HISTORY BEHIND THE SCENE What’s the real story behind that historical scene from your favorite TV show or feature film? A semi-regular feature on the Bowery Boys blog, we will be reviving this series as we follow along with TNT’s limited series The Alienist. Look for other articles here about other historically themed television shows (Mad Men, The… Read More
George Metesky was just your average working joe with a unique and understandable beef against his former employer Con Edison. He was injured on the job, eventually fired and denied workers compensation for what appear to be purely bureaucratic reasons. But any sympathies one might find for Metesky, however, are quickly abandoned. In retaliation, he began a meticulously… Read More
In 1981, there were more reported robberies in New York City (over 120,000) than in any year in its history. There were over 2,100 murders that year (slightly down from the previous year) including such infamous crimes as the mob-related Shamrock Bar murders in Queens. After years of steadily increasing crime rates, it seemed unlikely in 1981 that… Read More
In 1981, there were more reported robberies in New York City (over 120,000) than in any year in its history. There were over 2,100 murders that year (slightly down from the previous year) including such infamous crimes as the mob-related Shamrock Bar murders in Queens. After years of steadily increasing crime rates, it seemed unlikely in… Read More
Charles Norris and the toxicology laboratory at Bellevue Hospital [source]The Poisoner’s HandbookPBS: American ExperiencePremieres January 7, 20148pm EST / 7pm CST“In 1922 101 New Yorkers hanged themselves. Four hundred forty-four died in car accidents. Twenty were crushed in elevators. There were 237 fatal shootings and 34 stabbings. And that year, nine hundred and ninety-seven New Yorkers died… Read More
Okay, maybe it’s just me that does this, but occasionally I love perusing the document archives of the New York Department of Records, a treasure trove of municipal maps and photography from the past. Buried amid the grisly crime photographs and disaster images are an interesting array of mugshots. With little information attached, we can only try… Read More
The dramatic Woolworth mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery With completion of the Woolworth Building in 1913, the leader of the five-and-dime retail craze Frank W. Woolworth had his grand declaration of success in New York, widely feted and proclaimed. His hundreds of stores would go on to define the shopping experience around the world over the… Read More
‘Red’ Leary was one of the famous bank robbers of the 1870s, assisting in heists all along the Northeast. Above is an illustration of a bank robbery in Montreal, Canada, displaying some of the tools found at the crime scene. They don’t talk about ‘Red’ Leary anymore down in the streets of the Lower East… Read More