Owner Maddon was considered to be an anomaly among the underworld of New York City. The reason for this is not because, of his not being of Italian or Jewish origin, but being British. He was popularly called in his circles as ‘The Killer’. He was the son of an Irish dockworker, bred and born as well as dedicated towards his homeland – England. Although he was regarded to be a notorious American mafia for about six decades, Maddon never thought of leaving his English passport until he got threatened with the consequence of deportation.
His early life
It was on 18th December 1891 at 25, Somerset Street, Leeds, England that Madden was born. His father to seek work had shifted base to Liverpool. At the age of 12 in 1903, his father expired, compelling his mother to relocate to the United States and to settle on Manhattan’s west side that was popularly known as ‘Hells Kitchen’, then a treacherous neighborhood.
His life as a mafia
It is here that he came across a rough gang called the Gophers and soon indulged in several types of criminal activities like labor racket beatings, muggings and robberies, in which he had become quite proficient. He also was an expert to use different types of weapons like the brass knuckles and slingshot. However, the lead pipe that was wrapped in newspaper which was his favor tie weapon. The ‘insurance business’ was his income source. The local merchants were sold with ‘bomb insurance’ by Madden to protect themselves from being bombed by Madden himself. He had been arrested about 44 times, as the Gopher’s member, however, was able to stay clear from being imprisoned.
He was given the nickname since he had killed an unarmed Italian for no reason and to his credit had committed 5 other murders by the age of 23. On 6th November 1912, he was shot by 11 Hudson Dusters, rivals of Gophers that he survived. He had a gang member killed who had planned to usurp his position, which led to his being sentenced for 10 to 20 years. After being released early, he got into bootlegging business, moving up in class, he got compared to mobsters like Frank Castello, Lucky Luciano, Louis Lepke, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel. In 1932, he retired the life of a mobster and relocated to Arkansas, where he died at the age of 74 due to emphysema.