5/29/2023 0 Comments Cocktail bar![]() The club was a hangout for Tanner’s & Owney’s key figures such as Big Frenchy the accountant, The Razor Riley, Goo Goo Knox, The Monk Eastman & One Lung Curran. The entrance had tight security and there were several exit routes out. The Marginal Club was located above a saloon and was created with the premise of later becoming a speakeasy when the Volstead Act would commence. In early 1919, Tanner opened the Marginal Club on 11th Street and 8th Ave. The 18th ammendment had recently passed and with Tanner’s connections on the docks, he and his old ally Owney Madden began forging alliances to start running liquor into New York Tanner being the astute business man that he was saw the financial potential that awaited with Prohibition looming. Unfortunately, the criminal life was never far away. He opened several boys’Ĭlubs in an effort to stop the local youth from going down the same path he once did. Tanner became somewhat of a modern day Robin Hood over the next five years–opening his own contracting business and using his profits from the wealthy to help the communities along the west side. ![]() He then took a job as a boss stevedore on the Hudson Docks, overseeing the unloading and loading of ships. Upon release his mother and sister convinced him to turn away from the criminal underworld he once ran on the west side. The year inside helped Tanner realize his wrongdoings. Tanner was chased and arrested by Patrolman Krozer and sentenced to a year in the Tombs for carrying a revolver. On June 19th, 1914 Tanner was arrested for involvement in a gun fight with a member of the Gopher gang on west 20th Street & 10th Ave. Politicians, gang members, judges, ladies of the night and the odd off-duty police officer were known regulars at the Winona Club. The club reportedly had one of the best warning systems around to let occupants know when the law was outside and provided a series of tunnels and exit routes out. This was a boisterous drinking den, where late night rendezvous behind closed doors raged until all hours. Around 1910 Tanner and Owney joined together to open up the Winona Club on the corner of West 47th Street & 10th Ave. The leader of the Gopher gang was a man named Owney Madden who would go onto be close friends and business partners with Tanner. ![]() These connections helped Tanner acquire leadership of the Marginal gang who constantly battled along with allies, the Gophers and the Pearl Buttons, to defeat the Hudson Dusters for control of the west-side waterfront. Tanner was reportedly related to local ward and district politicians and was heavily involved in and around Tammany Hall. Growing up on the streets from a young age, he became wellversed in the ilicit underground antics of New York’s criminal underworld. “Tanner” Smith was born in 1887 on the west side of Manhattan.
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