James T. Ellison

For other people named James Ellison, see James Ellison (disambiguation).
James T. Ellison
Biff Ellison, circa 1900
Bornc. 1861
Maryland, United States
Died1920s
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBartender
Conviction(s)First-degree manslaughter

James T. Ellison ( born c. 1861-1920s), better known as Biff Ellison, was a New York City gangster affiliated with the Five Points Gang and later a leader of the Gopher Gang. He was noted for his propensity for physical violence as well as a dapper appearance that led The New York Times to describe him as "looking like a prosperous banker or broker" and contemporary chroniclers as "smooth-faced, high-featured, well-dressed, a Gangland cavalier" and "a fop in matters of dress".[1][2][3][4][5]

Ellison was closely associated with gangster Jack Sirocco during the wars against the Eastman Gang during the early 1900s. In addition to running protection rackets that reputedly gained him a handsome annual income of somewhere between $2,000 and $3,000, Ellison owned or managed several bars and gambling establishments in New York City, including the gay bar and brothel Columbia Hall (aka Paresis Hall) and an illegal pool hall occupying the basement of Ellison's residence at 231 East 14th Street.[6][7] His nickname, Biff, was a period synonym for "punch" or "hit", and it was coined in response to a youthful fight in which Ellison, then working as a bartender, knocked unconscious a customer who refused to pay for a beer.[8] He was also known as Young Biff, Fourteenth Street Biff, and Biff Ellison II to distinguish him from Frank "Biff" Ellison (1850 — 1904), a minor Manhattan society figure who had been convicted of assault in 1893 and sent to Sing Sing prison.[9][10]

Biff Ellison appears as a secondary character in the 1994 novel The Alienist by Caleb Carr. Carr describes the gangster as homosexual and makes him the central figure in a colorful scene at the gay bar Columbia Hall.

  1. ^ He gave his age as 49 in a June 1911 newspaper article, "Ellison Convicted of Manslaughter", The New York Times, 9 June 1911. That statement is ambiguous, since it could mean he was born in 1861 (meaning he would turn 50 later in 1911) or in 1862 (meaning he had turned 49 between 1 January 1911 and 9 June 1911). No official document declaring his precise birth date is known to exist.
  2. ^ "Police Get Biff Ellison", The New York Times, 27 April 1911
  3. ^ Birthplace cited in Alfred Henry Lewis, The Apaches of New York (G. W. Dillingham, 1912), page 254
  4. ^ Description "smooth-faced" cited in Alfred Henry Lewis, The Apaches of New York (G. W. Dillingham, 1912), page 258
  5. ^ "A fop in matters of dress" cited in Herbert Asbury, "The Passing of the Gangster", The American Mercury, April 1925, page 362
  6. ^ Melissa Hope Ditmore, Encyclopaedia of Prostitution and Sex Work (Greenwood Publishing, 2006), page 344)
  7. ^ Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York (Random House, 2008), page 251
  8. ^ Alfred Henry Lewis, The Apaches of New York (G. W. Dillingham, 1912), page 254
  9. ^ Herbert Asbury, "The Passing of the Gangster", The American Mercury, April 1925, page 362
  10. ^ "Death of Biff Ellison: Well-Known New York Character Succumbs to Pneumonia — From Clubman to Convict", The New York Times, 27 February 1904