James Brady (criminal)

Yakey Yake Brady
Born
James Brady

1875
Manhattan, New York, United States
DiedSeptember 2, 1904(1904-09-02) (aged 29)
Jersey City, New Jersey, US
NationalityIrish-American
Other namesJohn Brady
Yake Yake Brady
OccupationCooper
Known forGang leader and founder of the Yakey Yakes

John or James "Yakey Yake" Brady (1875 – September 2, 1904) was an American criminal, the founder and leader of the Yakey Yakes, an independent street gang based in Manhattan, New York at the turn of the 20th century.[1][2][3][4][5] Under his leadership, the gang, which had its base around the Brooklyn Bridge, operated freely within the territory of the Eastman Gang and successfully fought off attempts by both the Eastmans and the Five Points Gang to absorb the Yakey Yakes into either organization. Only following Brady's death from tuberculosis did the gang finally disappear.[6]

  1. ^ Hughes, Rupert. The Real New York. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1905. (pg. 356)
  2. ^ Denison, Lindsay. "The Black Hand." Everybody's Magazine. XIX.3 (Sep. 1908): 296+.
  3. ^ O'Kane, James M. The Crooked Ladder: Gangsters, Ethnicity and the American Dream. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1994. (pg. 49) ISBN 0-7658-0994-X
  4. ^ Adickes, Sandra. To Be Young Was Very Heaven: Women in New York Before the First World War. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000. (pg. 20) ISBN 0-312-22335-8
  5. ^ Tosches, Nick. King of the Jews: The Greatest Mob Story Never Told. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. (pg. 214) ISBN 0-06-093600-2
  6. ^ Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the New York Underworld. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. (pg. 246) ISBN 1-56025-275-8