William Lipshitz

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William Lipshitz (1901-19??), also known as William Levine, was a New York street gang leader under strikebreaker and labor racketeer "Jack the Dropper" during the early 20th Century.

Born in New York in 1901, little is known of Lipshitz before he joined Jack the Dropper's street gang in the 1910s. However by 1922 he had risen to become one of Dropper's top leaders.

When Dropper gang member Benjamin Levinski left to form a rival gang, Lipshitz was ordered to kill Levinski. On December 5, 1922 Lipshitz shot Levinski as he entered a building on Broadway. Arrested shortly thereafter, Lipshitz pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

[edit] Further reading

• Carey, Arthur A. and Howard McLellan. Memoirs of a Murder Man. Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1930.