231:. Then, on November 23, 1905, he and three other men, including Pat "Razor" Riley and Jimmy Kelly, attempted to assassinate Paul Kelly at his New Brighton club on Great Jones Street, where he was drinking with bodyguards Pat "Rough House" Hogan and William James "Red" Harrington. Although Kelly escaped harm, Harrington was shot and his body dragged from the Paul Kelly Association rooms to the Little Naples (New Brighton Athletic Club) saloon below and thrown into the washroom. Ellison fled to Baltimore, though six years later he returned to New York City and was arrested on an outstanding bench warrant for manslaughter. While Ellison's motive never became clear, the press put forward several possible reasons why Ellison attacked Paul Kelly. One was retaliation for the shooting of Jack Sorocco outside Kelly's resort a few days prior over some 'stuffed ballots'. The second for the murder of "Eat-Em-Up"
239:
forced to leave. During the trial
Ellison threatened a court officer as well as prosecutors, stating that if he were found guilty he would not rest " ... until those prosecuting guys has got theirs." Ultimately the only witness who identified Ellison, not Riley, as the shooter was Hogan, identified as "a reformed gangster" in a newspaper article about the end of the trial. Though Ellison had been promised his Tammany Hall connections would ensure he escaped prosecution, he was convicted of first-degree manslaughter on June 8, 1911, and sentenced to serve eight to 20 years at
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27, 1903 the police of the 15th and 18th precincts came back, this time armed with a warrant, an axe and a sledge hammer and raided
Ellison's pool hall. The haul netted thirty-two men but only Ellison was held along with his liquor dealer James Sullivan and two other employees. Ellison protested his club was a legitimate one but could produce no charter.
577:(G. W. Dillingham, 1912), pages 251 and 257. As Lewis wrote, "Wherefore, whenever fell into the fingers of the police — generally for assault — the machine cast over him the pinion of its prompt protection. As the strong-arm pet of the organization, he punched and slugged, knocked down and dragged out, and did all these in safety."
49:
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In
February 1903 the police attempted to raid Ellison's pool hall on the parlor floor of his 231 East 14th Street address, but with no warrant in hand were refused entry by Ellison who was then discharged from police court the next day and boasted that his place would never be raided again. On March
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The gangster was tried before the
Criminal Branch of the New York Supreme Court in 1911. Around fifty members of the Jimmy Kelly gang and seventy-five members of the Five Points gang were in attendance during the proceedings. Concerned their presence might influence the verdict, they were later
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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
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After moving from his native
Maryland to New York City in the early 1880s, Ellison was employed as a bartender at a variety of establishments, notably Fat Flynn's (Barney Flynn's) and Pickerelle's, where he developed friendships that led to his career in the world of organized crime and
270:, 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.
159:, 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. He was also known as
201:. As one writer observed, "The politicians loved , for he was a valuable man around election time, the mere sight of his huge bulk being sufficient to prevent many an honest citizen exercising his right of franchise".
212:. The officer was so severely beaten that he was hospitalized for two weeks yet Ellison escaped serious jail time. "The politicians closed the officer's mouth," an observer noted, "and opened Ellison's cell".
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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".
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Ellison came to wider public notice in the summer of 1902 after assaulting a police officer, Detective
Sergeant Jeremiah Murphy, at Henry Wulfer's Sharkey's, a
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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
235:, a friend of Ellison, and the third for Kelly failing to equitably distribute political campaign money of which he had custody in the district.
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James "Biff" Ellison reportedly became mentally unstable during his imprisonment and was committed to an asylum where he died in the 1920s.
188:. Carr describes the gangster as homosexual and makes him the central figure in a colorful scene at the gay bar Columbia Hall.
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155:) and an illegal pool hall occupying the basement of Ellison's residence at 231 East 14th Street. His nickname,
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383:"Death of Biff Ellison: Well-Known New York Character Succumbs to Pneumonia — From Clubman to Convict",
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135:. He was noted for his propensity for physical violence as well as a dapper appearance that led
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defected to the
Eastman gang, Ellison came into conflict with the leader of the Five Pointers,
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He gave his age as 49 in a June 1911 newspaper article, "Ellison Convicted of Manslaughter",
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The nickname "Red" is cited in Herbert Asbury's article "The Passing of the Gangster",
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318:"A fop in matters of dress" cited in Herbert Asbury, "The Passing of the Gangster",
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Biff Ellison appears as a secondary character in the 1994 novel
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Leo L. Redding, "Police Protection Murder in New York",
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Description "smooth-faced" cited in Alfred Henry Lewis,
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521:"Murder In Gang Haunt; Then Paul Kellys Fled",
422:Herbert Asbury, "The Passing of the Gangster",
409:Herbert Asbury, "The Passing of the Gangster",
370:Herbert Asbury, "The Passing of the Gangster",
142:Ellison was closely associated with gangster
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601:The Great Pictorial History of World Crime
333:Encyclopaedia of Prostitution and Sex Work
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30:For other people named James Ellison, see
292:Birthplace cited in Alfred Henry Lewis,
335:(Greenwood Publishing, 2006), page 344)
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119:( born c. 1861-1920s), better known as
27:New York City gangster (c. 1861–1920s)
547:"Ellison Convicted of Manslaughter",
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590:, Volume 36, October 1912, page 38
400:(G. W. Dillingham, 1912), page 257
361:(G. W. Dillingham, 1912), page 254
309:(G. W. Dillingham, 1912), page 258
296:(G. W. Dillingham, 1912), page 254
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603:(Scarecrow Press, 2004), page 474
629:1911 crimes in the United States
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495:"Axe and Sledge Hammer Raid",
348:(Random House, 2008), page 251
227:, and in turn defected to the
32:James Ellison (disambiguation)
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127:gangster affiliated with the
560:"Four Gangsters Sentenced",
146:during the wars against the
534:"Police Get Biff Ellison",
448:"Police Get Biff Ellison",
279:"Police Get Biff Ellison",
208:saloon that stood opposite
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435:"Detective Badly Beaten",
131:and later a leader of the
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588:The Metropolitan Magazine
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106:First-degree manslaughter
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486:, October 1911, page 406
469:, October 1911, page 406
53:Biff Ellison, circa 1900
575:The Apaches of New York
480:The Apaches of New York
463:The Apaches of New York
398:The Apaches of New York
359:The Apaches of New York
307:The Apaches of New York
294:The Apaches of New York
65:Maryland, United States
512:, April 1925, page 362
426:, April 1925, page 362
413:, April 1925, page 362
374:, April 1925, page 362
331:Melissa Hope Ditmore,
322:, April 1925, page 362
165:Fourteenth Street Biff
346:The Gangs of New York
573:Alfred Henry Lewis,
510:The American Mercury
478:Alfred Henry Lewis,
461:Alfred Henry Lewis,
424:The American Mercury
411:The American Mercury
396:Alfred Henry Lewis,
372:The American Mercury
357:Alfred Henry Lewis,
320:The American Mercury
562:The New York Times
549:The New York Times
536:The New York Times
525:, 23 November 1905
523:The New York Times
497:The New York Times
484:Pearson's Magazine
467:Pearson's Magazine
450:The New York Times
437:The New York Times
387:, 27 February 1904
385:The New York Times
281:The New York Times
268:The New York Times
137:The New York Times
599:Jay Robert Nash,
206:Fourteenth Street
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16:(Redirected from
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634:Five Points Gang
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233:Jack McManus
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210:Tammany Hall
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199:Tammany Hall
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181:The Alienist
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153:Paresis Hall
148:Eastman Gang
144:Jack Sirocco
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121:Biff Ellison
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18:Biff Ellison
229:Gopher Gang
133:Gopher Gang
79:Nationality
613:Categories
255:References
225:Paul Kelly
186:Caleb Carr
161:Young Biff
87:Occupation
241:Sing Sing
173:Sing Sing
90:Bartender
243:prison.
175:prison.
123:, was a
82:American
62:c. 1861
219:After
192:Career
167:, and
247:Death
74:1920s
157:Biff
71:Died
59:Born
184:by
615::
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34:.
20:)
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