Owney Madden owned a large stake in the Cotton Club, perhaps the most famous of New York City nightclubs in the 1920s and 1930s. He also controlled the supply of beer distributed to America's largest metropolitan area. These two facts alone make him an important figure in the history of early twentieth century New York City. Madden was born in Leeds, raised in Liverpool, and came to the United States a year after his Irish mother. He was a teenage gang leader in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan's West Side. Known as Owney the Killer, he headed the Gophers, one of several rival gangs, and the one which held predominance over the others.
