Mob on the Water: The Book, the Movie and Organized Crime on the Docks of New York
Marlon Brando’s breakout role as Terry Malloy in the 1954 film On the Waterfront tells the story of a young dockworker who discovers he is being used by the Mob for their dock-related operations.
The movie was a fictional drama, but its story was based on actual events, which inspired author Neil G. Clark to spend five years researching the history of the underworld’s control over New York City’s waterfront.
Clark’s new book, Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the West Side Waterfront, focuses on the story of Irish Mob boss McGrath and other hoodlums who ruled the West Side docks from the 1930s through the 1950s, encompassing nearly 900 piers and more than 300 miles of active international commerce and trade.
Neil G. Clark will bring the Mob-ruled world of the New York West Side waterfront to life. Learn about:
• New York City’s Irish Mob after Prohibition and its underworld alliance with the Italian Mafia
• The gangs, racketeers, and corrupt union officials who maintained iron-fisted control over the busiest port in the world
• A sensational murder trial that forever transformed the waterfront by bringing a nationwide network of labor racketeers to light
• New details about a 1930s gang war that resulted in 11 murders, six near-killings and dozens of shootings
A book signing will follow this program. Please join us after the book signing for drinks in The Underground speakeasy with author Neil G. Clark.
Free for Museum Member or with Museum admission.