October 2023 issue contents - Columns
In search of 'Johnny Spanish'
It appears the gangster and his family invented their false backstory
By Justin Cascio
Those who have attempted to write his biography agree that very little is known about the life and origins of the Lower East Side gangster known as “Johnny Spanish.”
In fact, less is true about Spanish than has been claimed. We don’t even know for certain what helooked like: a photo alleged to be of Spanish, published in a 1911 issue of the New York Evening World, may be of another gang leader, Paul Kelly.
Johnny Spanish’s birthplace in New York City or Italy or Spain, and his half-Spanish or Jewish heritage, have been declared many times, always without evidence...
Book page count: seventeen.
Magazine page count: eight.
Images: nine.
Source list.
Magazine page count: eight.
Images: nine.
Source list.
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