Robert Stevens

This story matches up quite well with its title. When I first read “Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities” I didn’t believe it would be too violent a story until realized Iniquity basically means “sin.” This story follows a Jewish man named Edward Ostermann (later changed to Eastman) in New York City at the turn of the 19th century. He rose to power as the leader of a violent street gang, and was known for doing much of his own fighting, and carrying a large stick with a notch in it for each man he’d beaten down. Eventually a street war erupted between his gang and a rival gang. Unwilling to negotiate a truce, he ends up being arrested and thrown in jail for 10 years. After getting out, he realizes that his gang has scattered and decides to join the army. It is here that he earns a ferocious reputation while fighting in France during WWI. A few years after returning home, he was summarily murdered on the streets of his city, shot 5 times.