Gilbert J. Fitzgerald (aka James Fitzgerald, The Kid, Red Fitz, 1856-1933). American banco steerer.
He was born to Irish immigrants who had settled in Milwaukee.
In 1881 he formed a gang with Billy Harris and Johnny Norton, and headed to New Orleans.
The following year the gang headed north to Boston, where they happened upon the most prominent bunco victim in history: Charles Francis Adams–son of John Quincy Adams and grandson of John Adams; and himself a former Ambassador to Great Britain. Fitzgerald was found guilty and sentenced to five years in the Massachusetts State Prison.
In 1915, Fitzgerald was arrested for being one of the operators of an elaborate “wireless wiretap” betting parlor con, first developed by Larry Summerfield and Timothy Oakes. Fitzgerald’s partners in this venture were Charles and Fred Gondorf; and Fitzgerald was sometimes introduced to others as “Harry Gondorf.” If the name sounds familiar, it is because that was the character name of the wireless wiretap operator (Paul Newman) in the movie The Sting: Henry Gondorff.
Fitzgerald was free by 1917. Over the next several years, he took several trips to Havana, which was then a resort for wealthy Americans.
- “Red hair, dark auburn eyes, sandy complexion, straight nose, beard red (when worn), hair very thick and coarse... He was known among his friends and acquaintances as ‘Reddy,’ a name applied to him perhaps on account of his fiery red hair." https://criminalsrevised.org/113-james-fitzgerald/
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