6 Notorious Female Gangsters - Page 3 of 9

Stephanie St. Clair

She was called “Queenie” in much of Manhattan, but in her Harlem home, she was known only as Madame St. Clair. An immigrant of French and African descent, St. Clair set up her numbers bank 10 years after moving to the U.S. and became fiercely protective of her neighborhood. She testified against corrupt cops, getting them fired from the force. Even more impressive, she thwarted the invasion of downtown mobsters once the end of Prohibition sent them uptown in search of new revenue.