Rum, Sodomy & the Hash

Ninety-eight years ago a British ship dropped anchor in New York harbor. Two of its sailors, brothers Leo and Edward Dobson, bounded down the gangplank and headed straight for Harlem's Little Italy. Tucked away on their persons were nine canisters of opium they had smuggled in from one of their voyages. They had a meeting arranged with three Italian men to sell the goods. According to Edward, they met the trio in a tenement hallway and when they told them that they wanted forty bucks a piece for the canisters the Italian guys laughed at them and then pulled out their guns. Edward was lucky, when the shooting started he was knocked over the head and fell unconscious. Leo fell next to him with a bullet in the noggin. Edward was rushed to the hospital where he told his story. He was promptly arrested on a drug charge.