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The last pirate of New York who inspired modern mobsters:
How a dapper sailor went on a 20-year reign of terror in the
19th century, killing more than 100 people around the world,
before he was hanged in front of 12,000 people on NYC island
In The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation, author Rich Cohen reveals the shocking, true story of Hicks, who was convicted of piracy and became the last person to be publicly hanged in New York in July 1860 at about age 40 on what was then called Bedloe's Island and what is now home to the Statue of Liberty.
In an excerpt of the book, reprinted in Tablet, Cohen called Hicks, a married father of one, 'the most feared man in the infamous New York slums,' who 'operated so long ago he was not even called a gangster — he was called a pirate.'
Up until early 1860, Hicks' successful criminal activities were said to have been out of the public eye. But, things went pear-shaped for him, when using an alias, he got himself hired on an oyster sloop called the A.E. Johnson and then murdered the three men aboard the ship with him, before stealing the ship's purse, one night in March 1860.
'Hunter, scavenger, and waterfront dweller, he’d signed on to the crew of that ship specifically to commit those murders, as he’d done many times before,' Cohen wrote in his book, according to an excerpt featured in Vanity Fair.
But, unlike the previous times he'd done his killing and stealing routine, he'd wind up getting caught, tried and hanged for the triple murder.
much more at the links
How a dapper sailor went on a 20-year reign of terror in the
19th century, killing more than 100 people around the world,
before he was hanged in front of 12,000 people on NYC island
- A new book by Rich Cohen reveals the shocking story of Albert Hicks
- Hicks was said to be a charismatic criminal who operated out of Manhattan's gritty Five Points neighborhood in pre-Civil War era
- Hicks was deemed a pirate in those days, because he made a living out of attacking and robbing ships in the harbor
- Hicks was caught after killing three men on a ship and stealing a bag of money
- During his piracy trial, he confessed to having killed 100 people over the years
- He was hanged in front of 12,000 spectators on Bedloe's Island in July 1860
In The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation, author Rich Cohen reveals the shocking, true story of Hicks, who was convicted of piracy and became the last person to be publicly hanged in New York in July 1860 at about age 40 on what was then called Bedloe's Island and what is now home to the Statue of Liberty.
In an excerpt of the book, reprinted in Tablet, Cohen called Hicks, a married father of one, 'the most feared man in the infamous New York slums,' who 'operated so long ago he was not even called a gangster — he was called a pirate.'
Up until early 1860, Hicks' successful criminal activities were said to have been out of the public eye. But, things went pear-shaped for him, when using an alias, he got himself hired on an oyster sloop called the A.E. Johnson and then murdered the three men aboard the ship with him, before stealing the ship's purse, one night in March 1860.
'Hunter, scavenger, and waterfront dweller, he’d signed on to the crew of that ship specifically to commit those murders, as he’d done many times before,' Cohen wrote in his book, according to an excerpt featured in Vanity Fair.
But, unlike the previous times he'd done his killing and stealing routine, he'd wind up getting caught, tried and hanged for the triple murder.
much more at the links
