Julie Morrell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Julie Morrell or Jules Morello (d. December 2, 1911) was a freelance gunman associated with the Eastman Gang during the turn of the century. Hired by Jack Sirocco and Chick Tricker to murder Eastman leader Jack Zelig, who had been engaged in a gang war over control of the Eastmans. However, upon being informed by local saloonkeeper Ike the Plug to whom Morell had bragged "I'll fill that big Yid so full of holes he'll sink !", Zelig lured the unsuspecting assassin to a Second Avenue dance hall, the Stuyvesant Casino, where the Boys of the Avenue were holding an annual grand ball on December 1, 1911.

Morrell, who had become intoxicated while drinking at Ike the Plug's saloon, staggered in to the dance hall at around one o'clock and began yelling for Zelig as he walked onto the dance floor. Suddenly, the lights were turned off and, as the lights came on seconds later, Morrell lay dead on the dance floor after he had been shot and killed.

Remaining in hiding for two weeks, Zelig was eventually arrested by detectives in New York's East Side and released shortly after.