December 26, 1920
He was the last of the old-time gangsters—a thug who did things with brass knuckles, a notched club and a knife. During his time he was one of the most notorious and powerful mobsters in New York. Yet when Edward “Monk” Eastman was buried in 1920, he went as a hero, with full military honours.
Monk was a brute and looked the part. Slovenly in appearance, he had thick, heavy features, cauliflower ears and stringy unkempt hair. His body bore the scars of the numerous knife fights and gun battles he’d been in. And to top all this, Monk wore a bowler hat several sizes too small.
Called “Monk” because of his ape-like appearance, Eastman was the leader of the gang that bore his name. Making their money from opium, illegal gambling and the usual mayhem, the Eastmans blustered around New York’s Lower East Side, butting heads with the rival Five Points Gang headed by Paul Kelly. They also worked for the politicos at Tammany Hall, coercing voters and stuffing ballot boxes.
Monk had numerous run-ins with the law, but he could generally rely on the intercession of his Tammany friends to get him out of a jam. By 1903, however, things had really begun to heat up with the Five Pointers. Gun battles erupted on the streets, and several innocent bystanders were killed. The politicians at Tammany Hall were starting to get flak about it and washed their hands of the gangs.
So in 1904, when Monk was arrested for attempted robbery, there was no reprieve and he was sentenced to ten years in Sing Sing. He actually served five, but when he came out in 1909 things had changed. He had become addicted to opium and his old gang was now split into factions, none of whom wanted to share with their old boss. There was just no room for Monk in the new power structure.
With no alternative, Monk returned to petty crime—but when in 1917 the United States entered the Great War, he enlisted. No doubt he found fighting in the trenches a breeze compared to some of the street battles he’d participated in back home. At any rate, Monk was in his element and tales of his heroism circulated among the troops.
At the end of the war Monk was hailed as a hero, and it was generally thought that he’d turned over a new leaf. But that was no dice—Monk was Monk. In the early morning of December 26, 1920, after enjoying a Christmas dinner at a gathering where the booze flowed freely, Monk got into an argument with one of his companions in crime—Jerry Bohan, a crooked Dry (Prohibition) Agent, likely over money. Following Bohan out onto the street, Monk called the agent a rat. Bohan retorted by filling Monk full of lead. That was it for Monk Eastman.
The men of Monk’s former regiment had not forgotten all the gangster had done for them, however. Chipping in for his funeral, the GIs of O’Ryan’s Roughnecks gave Monk a military send-off, complete with uniformed escort. It could be said that with the entombment of Monk, the Eastmans were finally well and truly buried.