Sadie the Goat

Sadie the Goat is a figure described in Herbert Asbury’s 1928 book The Gangs of New York as a Manhattan street criminal and gang member who later led river piracy raids on merchant boats along the Hudson River around 1869. Because Asbury’s book is the sole source for her exploits and is known to blend documented fact with folklore, historians dispute whether the more dramatic elements of her story (including forcing victims to walk the plank) are accurate.