Thomas Draper (criminal)

Thomas "Shang" Draper (1839–1883) was a criminal shanghaier, saloon keeper, and criminal gang leader in New York City along the city waterfront.[1]

For other people named Thomas Draper, see Thomas Draper (disambiguation).
Thomas Draper
Etching from 1907
Born1839 (1839)
Died1883 (aged 43–44)
New York City, U.S.
Other namesShang Draper
Occupation(s)shanghaier, criminal gang leader, saloon keeper
Employerself-employed
Known forBeing a New York City waterfront shanghaier.

Criminal career

Shang Draper ran a waterfront saloon in his native New York City, where he performed a confidence scam using an underage girl to lure a mark to a dark hotel room (which Draper owned) only to rob him.[2] Draper acquired his distinctive nickname "Shang" from the "shanghaiing" trick he used to play on his unsuspecting patrons. Draper would drug a bar patron with laudanum and by the time the fellow awoke, he would have been pressed into merchant marine or naval service, sometimes for a foreign land.

Draper was a contemporary of Frederika Mandelbaum, a notorious gangleader in her own right, also based in his native New York City.[3] Mandlebaum installed Draper, one of her trusted lieutenants, in a bank robbery gang fronted by George Leslie.[4]

Thomas Murphy of the Brooklyn Police spots Draper hiding in a pile of rubbish at a summer house on Patchen Avenue.

Death

Thomas Draper died in 1883 in New York City.[1]

References
  1. "A CRIMINAL FEUD ENDED; AN EARLY MORNING TRAGEDY IN "SHANG" DRAPER'S BAR-ROOM. JOHN IRVING'S PURSUIT OF JOHN WALSH RESULTING IN THE MURDER OF BOTH-- A SINGULAR STORY OF CRIME. (Published 1883)". The New York Times. 1883-10-17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
  2. Asbury, Herbert (1927). The Gangs of New York. Garden City Publishing Company.
  3. "Thomas Draper's Case. A Prisoner Wanted in Two States, And In Two New-York Counties". The New York Times. October 27, 1878.
  4. Conway, J. North (2009). King of Heists: The Sensational Bank Robbery of 1878 That Shocked America. Lyons Press.


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