Museum of the American Gangster - Preview March 7, 2010

Please note: While parts of the museum are being renovated, we will be offering limited previews of the building until the official launch in the Spring (date TBA).

Previews begin Sunday, March 7, 2010, 12:00pm - 5:00pm, with a day of special programming and entertainment throughout the day.

Located in a former speakeasy, the Museum of the American Gangster's goal is to objectively present the role that crime has played in shaping the politics, culture, myth and lore of New York City -- and beyond.

Mission:
The Museum of the American Gangster (MOAG) presents an opportunity to visit the hidden, inside world of the American Gangster through artifacts and stories told by those involved.

It is a common ground for gangsters, their families, law enforcement, and those who lived the stories from every angle to put the story back in history.

This museum is a place for the casual visitor to view life in the American Underworld, and come away with questions as well as answers, and a place where serious enthusiasts and scholars can find original source documents and artifacts to learn more about this often hidden part of American history.

A visit to the Museum of the American Gangster will leave one wondering how a balance will ever be struck between American individualism and societal control.

The Museum Space:
The MOAG boasts 800 sq feet of gallery space, an authentic speakeasy, a maze of hidden rooms in the basement left over from Prohibition (which are all part of the exhibit), and dedicated research facilities where visitors can access original source documents, articles and more.

Frank Sinatra was a singing waiter in our restaurant as a youth, and our gallery space served as living quarters for Leon Trotsky in 1917. The 160-seat, professional Off-Broadway theater on site premiered You're A Good Man Charlie Brown in 1967 and is the site of Lord Buckley's final performance before his death in 1960. (And that is just the tip of the iceberg.)

Beyond the photos and artifacts, MOAG will offers workshops, walking tours, live performances, historic reenactments, lectures, movies and presentations throughout the year.

Behind the Scenes:
The MOAG was realized through the vision of Eric Ferrara and Lorcan Otway, with the help of dozens of criminal historians, authors, scholars, journalists and the descendants and estates of pivotal crime figures in history.

Eric Ferrara is the founder and director of the Lower East Side History Project, a non-profit research and education organization, and also the founder of the East Village Visitors Center. Ferrara is the official historian of the E.4th Street Cultural District (the only official cultural district in Manhattan), an educator at Brooklyn College, and a published author. His newest book, A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City's Lower East Side (The History Press) has sold out at major retailers nationally and is entering its second edition. Ferrara sits on a number of local boards, including the Tenement Museum's Immigrant Program Advisory Committee and is a consultant to various movie/tv/media outlets, journalists, authors and universities worldwide. Above all, Ferrara is a fourth-generation, native New York/Lower East Sider; his family immigrated from Sicily to Little Italy in 1888.

Lorcan Otway is the second generation to manage Theatre 80, a historical off-broadway theatre housed in a former Jazz club and speakeasy. He has worked in the family's theatre business since he helped build the theatre with his father, at the age of ten. He has worked as a photojournalist and with marginalized cultural isolate communities, such as the Romany people, on issues of political asylum and political inclusion. He has a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law.

Official Website: http://moagnyc.org