Monk Eastman

Edward "Monk" Eastman (1875 – December 26, 1920), was an American gangster who founded and led the Eastman Gang in the late 19th and early 20th century; it became one of the most powerful street gangs in the city. His aliases included Joseph "Joe" Morris, Joe Marvin, William "Bill" Delaney, and Edward "Eddie" Delaney. Eastman is considered to be one of the last of the 19th-century New York City gangsters who preceded the rise of Arnold Rothstein and the Jewish mob. Later, more sophisticated, organized criminal enterprises also included the Italian American Cosa Nostra.

Monk was born Edward Eastman in 1875 in the Corlear's Hook section of the Lower East Side of Manhattan of New York City, New York to Samuel Eastman, a Civil War veteran and wallpaper-hanger, and his wife Mary (Parks) Eastman. They were most likely descended from English ancestors of the colonial period. By the time Monk was five, his father had abandoned the family. Mary moved with her children to her father George Parks' home on the Upper East Side.

According to the 1880 United States Census, 5-year-old Edward Eastman lived with his mother and other family on East Seventy-Fifth Street, in Manhattan. The household was headed by his maternal grandfather George Parks, age 68, who worked in a dry goods store. Parks was born in New York, as were both his parents.

In the 1870 U.S. census, Mary Eastman had been living on Cannon Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with her husband Samuel Eastman, age 40, born in New York and working as a paper hanger. Living with them were their children Lizzie and Willie, age 3, born in New York. Willie likely died young, as he was not listed with the family in 1880.

In the 1860 census, Samuel Eastman was living as a single man in Manhattan in the household of Thomas McSpedon, from a prominent old NYC family. His mentor's firm, McSpedon & Baker, on Pine Street in New York, was the official printer for the city government. In addition to running his business, McSpedon served as an elected Alderman in NYC and as appointed City Fire Marshall during the mid-19th century. Eastman worked as a paper hanger.

By the 1900 census, Mary Eastman lived in Queens on Curtis Avenue, with her daughters Elizabeth and Francine and their families. Edward Eastman is listed in the same census as a "bird salesman" residing on East First Street in Lower Manhattan, living with and married since 1896 to Margaret Eastman.

Going by the nickname "Monk", Eastman was not recorded as having been arrested until after his grandfather died. At some point, Parks helped his grandson set up a pet shop on Broome Street. For years after being widely known as a gangster, Eastman listed "bird seller" as his occupation on government forms. At some point, he returned to live on the Lower East Side and became involved with the neighborhood gangs made up of poor, young men, often children of immigrants. Operations included a bike rental racket.

Eastman's ancestry has been a subject of debate by reporters and historians. Because his criminal enterprise involved so many members of Jewish-American organized crime, Eastman is frequently depicted as being Jewish (including by some newspapers of his period). However, researchers have documented that he appears to have been a Protestant of British European descent.