For nearly twenty years the Patsy Conroys dominated the area of Corlears' Hook and were one of the last major waterfront gangs to remain in the district prior to the formation of the George Gastlin's Steamboat Squad of New York City Police Department.

Once establishing himself in the area, Conroy began recruiting many of infamous waterfront thieves and criminals including Socco the Bracer, Scotchy Lavelle, Johnny Dobbs, Kid Shanahan, Pugsey Hurley, Wreck Donovan, Tom The Mick, Beeny Kane, Piggy Noles, Billy Woods, Bum Mahoney, Denny Brady and Larry Griffin.

[1][2][3] On the night of May 29, 1873, gang members Billy Woods, Bum Mahoney and Conroy's chief lieutenant Socco the Bracer stole a small boat from Jackson Street and sailed downstream along the East River to Pier 27 where the brig Margaret was docked and waiting to be loaded with cargo.

The skipper had fired several pistol shots into the air to alert police and Patrolmen Musgrave and Kelly, patrolling the river in a rowboat, attempted to catch up with the fleeing pirates but lost them in the fog and darkness.

[1] Musgrave flashed a dark lantern out over the water, searching for any sign of the pirates, and saw a boat slowly pull out from underneath a nearby pier.

A brief shootout ensued when police returned fire, Musgrave's first shot hitting Socco below the heart, and Mahoney and Woods "seized their oars and pulled rapidly mid-stream".

The two men managed to escape but Socco's body turned up floating at the foot of Stanton Street "within sight of the dead gangster's home".

Connauton fell to the floor, and although his wife and children briefly stalled the pirates by barricading the door with furniture, the invaders eventually broke their way inside the cabin.

Two days following the robbery, the harbor police arrested two well-known river pirates, Tommy Dagan and Billy Carroll, who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for the crime.

[1][2][3] Patsy Conroy and his gang were eventually named as suspects in the Mattan robbery, although it was Denny Brady and Larry Griffin who led the group of masked men.