Owen Vincent "Owney" Madden (December 18, 1891 – April 24, 1965) was an Irish-American gangster[1] who was a leading underworld figure in New York during Prohibition.

[1] Madden’s mother left for New York to become a maid, leaving Owen and his sister Mary and brother Martin in a British orphanage.

Madden grew up on the streets of New York, where he learned how to use blackjacks, brass knuckles, baseball bats, pipes, and knives, including the stiletto.

[3][1] In 1915, he eventually went to prison for ordering the killing of William "Little Patsy Doyle" Moore, who had been waging a three-year vendetta campaign against Madden and the Gopher Gang.

Nightclub patrons flooded into Harlem from downtown Manhattan to catch performers such as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and the Nicholas Brothers.

[7] After being arrested for a parole violation that same year, Madden began facing greater harassment from police and encroachment on his territory by Italian-American Mafia families, until he finally left New York in 1935.

[7] Leaving behind racketeering, Madden settled in Hot Springs, Arkansas, which had become known as a haven for various criminals, with a corrupt city government and police force.