Tanner Smith

Tanner Smith Terrors 

Tanner Smith, born in 1890, led a teenage gang in the Chelsea neighborhood on the West side. Smith frequently appeared before the Magistrate’s Court after his first arrest in April 1907 and scarcely a month passed that did not record his arrest for assault, robbery or intoxication. His reputation for violence and intimidation made it increasingly difficult for the police to persuade witnesses to testify against him: one victim, Charles Black, declined in 1909 to press charges on a robbery indictment against Smith; a second victim, John Gerrity, refused in 1910 to identify Smith on an indictment for assault.

See: “Outbreak of the ‘Gang’ Terror in New York City,” New York Times, 7 August 1910.