1909 in organized crime
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See also: 1908 in organized crime, other events of 1909, 1910 in organized crime and the list of 'years in organized crime'.
Events
- Paul Di Christina (Paulo Marchese), leader of the New Orleans Black Hand, is killed by an Italian grocer Pietro Pepitone during an extortion attempt in Pepitone's store. Pepitone is charged with manslaughter and sentenced to twenty years however he later serves six.
- Chicago Police Inspector Edward C. McCann is convicted of bribery in exchange for offering protection to West Side Levee racketeers.
- Maurice Van Bever and his wife Julia are convicted under the Mann Act, putting an end to their white slavery organization.
- March 12 - New York police detective Joseph Petrosino is killed in Palermo, Sicily by Sicilian Mafia Don Vito Cascio Ferro while investigating the Le Mano Nera (The Black Hand).
- June - Monk Eastman is released from Sing Sing Prison by the State Board of Parole. However upon his return to the East Side, Eastman finds the reminance of his gang had broken apart since Max Zwerbach's death as various factions fought among each other over what was left of the former Eastman territory.
- July 23 - Labor racketeer Cornelius Shea is sentenced to 5 to 25 years in Sing Sing for brutally slashing and stabbing his mistress 27 times in New York City.
- August 15 - A violent Tong war begins after Low Hee Tong, a member of the New York Four Brothers Tong, purchases a rival Tong slave girl Bow Kum who is later murdered.
- October - English reformer "Gypsy" Smith leads a march against Chicago's South Side Levee District.
- December 30 - Ah Hoon, a comedian and member of the On Leong Tong, is killed in his home by rival Hip Song members.
Arts and literature
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Births
- January 12 - Charles Binaggio, Kansas City mobster
- March 24 - Clyde Barrow, leader of the Barrow Gang and lover to Bonnie Parker
- May 17 - John J. Vitale, boss and underboss of the St. Louis crime family
- July 20 - Vincent Coll "Mad Dog", New York bootlegger and hitman
- July 28 - Harry Strauss, Murder, Inc. hitman
- September 13 - Sam DeStefano "Mad Sam", Chicago Outfit enforcer
Deaths
- March 12 - Joseph Petrosino, New York police detective
- August 15 - Bow Kum, Tong slave girl
- December 30 - Ah Hoon, a comedian and associate of the On Leong Tong