THE END FOR LITTLE AUGIE – OCTOBER 16, 1927
Courtesy of the New York Municipal Archives
A mere 34 years old at the time of his death, Jacob “Little Augie” Orgen was already a legend. He started his career in the early 1910s as a labor slugger under the equally legendary Benjamin “Dopey Benny” Fein, survived the three labor slugger wars and outlived fierce rivals like Nathan “Kid Dropper” Kaplan and Johnny Spanish. With the advent of Prohibition, Orgen expanded his empire to include ambitious gunmen and future organized crime legends like Jack “Legs” Diamond, Louis “Lepke” Buchalter and Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro, the latter two being instrumental in the formation of the infamous Murder, Inc.
Unfortunately for Orgen, it would be his contentment with arcane labor slugging and not having the ambition to infiltrate and take over labor unions that likely lead to his final betrayal.
While walking with bodyguard Diamond down Delancey and Norfolk streets around 8:30 p.m., Orgen was ambushed by two assailants, reputed to be Buchalter and Shapiro. A dozen shots were fired at Diamond and Orgen before they could run. Orgen was killed instantly by a bullet through the right temple. A wounded Diamond managed to return fire and hit the getaway car, which was later found abandoned.
A former police captain had ran into Orgen two weeks before his slaying and had urged the gangster to leave New York.
“If you want to live, go west to some small town and settle down there,” the captain reportedly said. “You’ve been a man-slayer and it’ll come back to you, if you don’t get out of the way.”
“I’ve been going straight,” Orgen laughed. “I’ve cut out all that stuff and I want them to forget me.”1
Body and scene of Jacob Orgen, 9348a: Courtesy of the New York Municipal Archives
Body and scene of Jacob Orgen, 9348b: Courtesy of the New York Municipal Archives
Sources
- “Bury ‘Little Augie’ Today Under Guard” The New York Times, October 17, 1927
Are there anymore gangsters pictures from the archives? They were incredible. The Vincent Coll pictures were insane. I’d love to see some of Maseria and Marrazano. That would be incredible. Please let everyone know if there’s anymore being released. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for checking it out, Jonathan! So Masseria and Maranzano photos remain big targets for me. My take is they have to be somewhere, just a matter of if the Archives have it or the NYPD themselves. Believe it or not, even all these decades later there’s still records the NYPD haven’t transferred over to the Archives. There’s definitely more gangster photos. The tricky thing with the searches is that a lot of times the names are completely misspelled due the officers who arrived on scene (you’ll notice this on some of the pictures as that’s how they’re listed in the Archives records). So, it’s really a grind to go through the records but so worth it when you find gems like these. Rest assured, once the pandemic slows down and the Archives are open to the public, I’ll be right back in there searching.
I cannot find the link to the photos listed in the Table of Contents…
Hi Sal, I’ll email you directly to see if we can figure it out…
Couldn’t email you directly but try this – At the bottom of the first page on the site, you should should see a list of numbers going horizontally across the page in little boxes. Each of these represents a different page with the pictures. If you’re on a mobile device, it’ll be right before title of the next article.
This is fantastic. Thank you for unearthing these brilliant images. I’ve posted a link to your site on my YouTube channel – OC SHORTZ. Thanks again.
Appreciate the support James and I absolutely loved your Youtube video! You put a big smile on my face and I’ll proudly carry that new favorite person title haha Once the pandemic slows down and the Archives reopen, I plan to get right back in there digging for more gems.
Outstanding work Ismael!!!
Appreciate all the support, Mike!
Amazing finds, it would be great of you could find some photos of Monk Eastman
Thanks, Henry! Monk would certainly be a gem. I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for him on my next trip.
Amazing pictures. Nice research Ismael. I enjoyed it including the stories that go with it. I hope you find more (Greetings from the Netherlands)
Greetings, Hendrik! Very happy to know my work reached you across the pond. Appreciate the kind words and I’m confident there’s more stuff out there to discover. Fingers crossed…
Great work keep looking as we will
You got it, Chris. The support means the world to me.