Born Maximillian Zweifach in the Austro-Hungarian Empire on March 14, 1884, to Austrian-Jewish father Adolf and Italian mother Hanna.

Both Zweifach brothers led some of their friends during Election Day 1902 rioting to support Republican politician Sam Koenig in the Sixteenth Assembly District.

On August 17, 1903, Kid Twist was charged with killing a rival gangster named John "Mugsy" Bayard during an argument after a card game.

When Eastman was locked up for robbery the next year, Kid Twist found himself at odds with his old pal Richie Fitzpatrick over the leadership of the gang.

This feud came to a head on October 30, 1904, when Fitzpatrick shot and wounded one of Kid Twist's men, Thomas McCauley, in a saloon dispute.

Kid Twist concocted a scheme to bilk[clarification needed] the New York Central Railroad out of thousands of dollars, by having the owners of a nearby print shop distribute $4,000 of fake ticket passes to the public through scalpers.

During his heyday, Kid Twist's top men included his brother Kid Slyfox, Harris Stahl, Big Jack Zelig, Ike the Blood, and Samuel Pristrich, aka Cyclone Louie, a former wrestler and sideshow strongman who was famous for twisting iron bars around his arms and neck.

Some weeks later, Twist told Greenwich he was now out completely[clarification needed], and that another gangster named The Nailer would take the other half of the game.

Zweifach's regular girlfriend was a Canadian dancer named Carroll Terry, who also was linked with Louis Pioggi aka Louie The Lump, an up-and-coming member of the Five Points Gang.

In the late afternoon of May 14, 1908, Kid Twist and Cyclone Louie repaired to Coney Island to watch Carroll Terry's show at the Imperial.

Afterwards, she hooked[clarification needed] Louie up with a fellow dancer named Mabel Leon, and the two couples went to a nearby cafe on Oceanic Walk for dinner.