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{{Short description|American street gang}}
{{Infobox Criminal organization
| name                = Gopher Gang
| image               = GopherGang.jpg 
| image_size          = 300px| founded =  c. 1890 
| founding location   = [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen]], [[New York City]]
| founded by          = Marty Brennan<br>Stumpy Malarkey<br>Newburg Gallegher
| caption             = The Gopher Gang, [[Owney Madden]] back row, middle, leaning forward, circa 1910

| years active        = 1890s&ndash;1910s
| territory           = [[Manhattan]]
| ethnic makeup       = [[Irish-American]]
| membership est      = 500 (est.) 
| criminal activities = [[Burglary]], [[armed robbery]], [[robbery|street muggings]], [[assault]], [[prostitution]] and [[illegal gambling]]. 
| allies              = [[Lady Gophers]]<br>[[Parlor Mob]]<br>[[The Gorillas (gang)|Gorillas]]<br>[[Rhodes Gang]]
| rivals              = [[Hudson Dusters]]
}}
The '''Gopher Gang''' was an early 20th-century [[New York City|New York]] [[street gang]] who counted among its members Goo Goo Knox, [[James T. Ellison|James "Biff" Ellison]], and [[Owney Madden]], born in England of Irish ancestry. Based in the Irish neighborhood of [[Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen]], the Gopher Gang grew to control most of [[Manhattan]] with their territory covering [[4th Street (Manhattan)|Fourth]] to [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|Forty-Second Street]] and [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh]] to [[Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Eleventh Avenue]].

==History==
===Origins and early years===
The Gopher Gang formed from various local street gangs in the 1890s, numbering around 500 members, into what later became a committee including Marty Brennan, Stumpy Malarkey, and [[Newburg Gallegher]]. The committee met semi-regularly at their headquarters known as [[Battle Row]], a saloon owned by [[Mallet Murphy]], to discuss robberies and divide profits from Manhattan [[bordello]]s and [[illegal gambling]] operations.<ref name="Asbury">[[Herbert Asbury|Asbury, Herbert]]. ''The Gangs of New York''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 235, 321-322) {{ISBN|1-56025-275-8}}</ref>

===Murder of William Lennon===
Gallagher {{Clarify|reason=Who is Gallagher? This is the first mention of the name on this page|date=December 2021}} became involved in a three-year feud with local bartender William Lennon in 1907, their dispute being over a card game, which resulted in several violent altercations between them. The first incident between the two required Gallagher to have stitches after Lennon had repeatedly slashed his face with a knife. Gallagher later claimed that Lennon had threatened to shoot him on sight and engaged him in several gunfights including an incident in December 1909 when Lennon wounded him in a gunfight between the two.<ref name="NYT">"Fails To Save His Pal; Long Term for Brennan, Though Gallagher Admits He Killed Lennon", ''New York Times''. 24 Nov 1910.</ref>

On May 17, 1910, he and Marty Brennan entered a saloon where Lennon was working. After another argument between the two, Lennon drew a revolver and shot Gallagher in the stomach (two of these bullets were still lodged in his body at the time of his trial). Gallagher and Brennan entered another saloon at [[Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Eleventh Avenue]] and Forty-Fifth Street where, according to Gallagher, they unexpectedly encountered Lennon who was now working there. Upon spotting the two gang members, he swore at them and apparently went for his hip pocket when Gallagher pulled his pistol and fired three shots, killing him. He and Brennan left the saloon and were arrested shortly after.<ref name="NYT"/>

Charged with manslaughter, Gallagher made a full confession, taking full responsibility for the killing, and claimed that Brennan had taken no part. The two were convicted and given long jail sentences. Gallagher, this being his first criminal offense, was sentenced to serve between 9 and 19 years imprisonment by Judge Foster on November 9, 1910. Despite his efforts, Brennan was also sentenced to 19 years due to a previous prison term in [[Elmira Prison|Elmira]].<ref name="NYT"/>

===One Lung Curran and decline===
In the early 1910s the Gophers were led by [[One Lung Curran]]<ref name=Edwards>Edwards, Jay. [https://www.dailyrecord.us/from-england-to-hot-springs-the-life-of-a-gangster "From England to Hot Springs, the life of a gangster", ''Daily Record'', March 4, 2019]</ref> who was notorious for his attacks on lone patrolmen. Although most police rarely patrolled Hell's Kitchen, and only then in large groups, Curran often stole officers' uniforms and, after taking them back to his girlfriend for alterations, would wear the stolen clothes around the neighborhood. This encouraged other gang members to steal uniforms for themselves, becoming a sort of trend among the prominent gang members.<ref name="English">[[T.J. English|English, T.J.]] ''Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster''. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. (pg. 111, 115-116, 118-119) {{ISBN|0-06-059002-5}}</ref>

The gang began employing younger apprentice gang members such as the [[Baby Gophers]] and other gangs subordinate to the Gophers.  These included the [[Parlor Mob]], the [[The Gorillas (gang)|Gorillas]], and the [[Rhodes Gang]] as well as a female gang known as the "Lady Gophers", led by [[Battle Annie]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Bernard|last1= Rosenberg|title= Meet the Gang|volume= 36|issue=2 |journal=Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology |date=1945|pages=98–102|url=https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol36/iss2/4}}</ref> The '''''Battle Row Ladies Social and Athletic Club''''', as they were officially called, acted as reserve members of several hundred women for the Gophers in territorial disputes against rival gangs and as [[strikebreakers]] during the next decade. With the death of One Lung Curran in 1917, the gang declined in power, breaking up after most of the gang leaders were arrested by the end of the year.<ref name="Asbury"/><ref name="English"/>

==Popular culture==
The 2002 film ''[[Gangs of New York]]'' directed by [[Martin Scorsese]] provided a fictionalized history of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]-era origin of the competing Irish immigrant crime crews which dominated [[Five Points, Manhattan|Five Points]]. The film explains the social tradition of enduring, if not actually shielding, Irish gangs in Manhattan's Irish-American neighborhoods. The gang also features prominently in Clive Cussler's book The Spy.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.americanmafia.com/Allan_May_1-3-00.html Gophers, Goose Chasers, and the Early Years of Owney Madden] by Allen May
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091027103716/http://geocities.com/nycfacts/crime/gangs.html The Big Five: The Gophers]

{{Organized crime groups in New York City}}

[[Category:Former gangs in New York City]]
[[Category:Irish-American gangs]]
[[Category:Irish-American culture in New York City]]