Clubber Williams
It’s no wonder that Clubber Williams is in charge of keeping the living out of the underworld and the dead in. Alexander “Clubber” Williams (1839-1917) was an actual NYC cop, one of the most feared and corrupt in the city’s history. A believer in brute force (hence his nickname), he once noted, “There is more law at the end of a policeman’s nightstick than in any Supreme Court decision.”
But Clubber is best known for the neighborhood he named. In 1876, he was transferred to a new station house in midtown Manhattan, a vice-ridden area then known as “Satan’s Circus.” Excited by the opportunities for corruption, he told a newspaper reporter: “All my life I have never had anything but chuck steak. Now I’m going to get me some tenderloin.” This area of Manhattan was known as the Tenderloin district up through the 1940s.
Want to see a photo of Clubber and read more about the city’s colorful cast of police officers? Check out the fascinating book NYPD: A City and Its Police.