"Big" Jack Zelig (May 13, 1888 – October 5, 1912) was an American gangster and one of the last leaders of the Eastman Gang. Biography Born Selig Harry Lefkowitz in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, Zelig was a well-known pickpocket and thief by age 6. He was a member of Crazy Butch's pickpocket gang before joining the Eastman Gang in the late 1890s. Rising up the ranks, Zelig sought control over the fragmented Eastman Gang in 1908, after "Kid Twist" (Max Zwerbach) was murdered by a rival. Zelig's crew had more than 75 members, including satellite gangs such as the Lenox Avenue Gang in Harlem, led by "Gyp the Blood" (aka Harry Horowitz). During this period, when ethnic Jewish gangsters became predominant in the gang, Zelig was also known as "The Big Yid". Feud with Sirocco and Tricker After Zelig was arrested in 1911 for robbing a brothel, Sirocco and Tricker attempted to gain leadership of the gang by refusing to bail out their boss. Zelig was later released due to his political connections. One of his men told him that Sirocco and Tricker were planning on murdering him. The assassin, a gunman named Julie Morrell, was lured by Zelig to The Stuyvesant Casino where he was killed by the gang leader on December 2, 1911. (That building at 140 Second Avenue is now used as the Ukrainian National Home.) The next year, the longstanding Eastman/Five Points feud flared anew. As Zelig left the Criminal Courts building on June 3, 1912, he was shot through the neck by Five Points gunman Charley Torti. He was a known associate of Louis Pioggi, aka Louie the Lump, who had murdered Zelig's mentor, Kid Twist Zwerbach, four years earlier. Zelig had been released on $1000 bail after his arrest for "shooting up the saloon" of Pioggi's brother Jake. Zelig recovered from his wound in time to be dragged into the Becker/Rosenthal case. Final years Charles Becker, a corrupt NYPD lieutenant, had Zelig in his pocket for quite some time. In the summer of 1912, Becker was reported by New York World as one of three corrupt police officers involved in the affairs of Herman Rosenthal. This small-time bookmaker had complained to the press that his illegal businesses had been badly damaged by the greed of the city's corrupt police officers. Becker told Jack Zelig and members