| Thomas Draper | |
| Birth Date: | c. 1839 |
| Death Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Shang Draper |
| Known For: | Being a New York City waterfront shanghaier. |
| Employer: | self-employed |
| Occupation: | shanghaier, criminal gang leader, saloon keeper |
Thomas "Shang" Draper (c. 1839–1883) was a criminal shanghaier, saloon keeper, and criminal gang leader in New York City along the city waterfront.[1] Working with George Leonidas Leslie, he was involved in the 1869 Ocean National Bank robbery, the 1876 Northampton Bank robbery, and the 1878 Manhattan Savings Institution robbery.
Shang Draper ran a waterfront saloon in his native New York City, where he performed a confidence scam using an underage girl to lure a mark to a dark hotel room (which Draper owned) only to rob him.[2] Draper acquired his distinctive nickname "Shang" from the "shanghaiing" trick he used to play on his unsuspecting patrons. Draper would drug a bar patron with laudanum and by the time the fellow awoke, he would have been pressed into merchant marine or naval service, sometimes for a foreign land.
Draper was a contemporary of Frederika Mandelbaum, a notorious gangleader in her own right, also based in his native New York City.[3] Mandlebaum installed Draper, one of her trusted lieutenants, in a bank robbery gang fronted by George Leslie.[4] They robbed the Manhattan Savings Institution on October 27, 1878.[5]
Thomas Draper died in 1883 in New York City.