Gang colors include clothing, accessories, or tattoos of a specific color or colors that represent an affiliation to a specific gang or gang branch.
Gang colors include clothing, accessories, or tattoos of a specific color or colors that represent an affiliation to a specific gang or gang branch.
The first recorded criminal street gangs in England were organized in London in the early 1600s and identified and apprehended by an early form of British city police, the Bow Street Runners. Early urban gangs in London and other British cities of this period went by the names of the Muns, Mohocks, Hectors, Bawcubites, Bickers, Bugles, Blues, Bravadoes, Tittyre Tus, Tuquoques, Roysters, Scowrers, Dead Boys, Circling Boys, and Roaring Boys with each gang distinguishing its membership affiliation by using a different colored ribbon attached to their clothing. [1] [2]
The earliest (1820s–1860s) criminal street gangs in the United States, who were in New York City and were politically aligned with one or the other of the two prominent political parties at the time—the anti-immigrant Nativist, Know Nothing Party, or the Irish immigrant-based Tammany Hall of the Democratic Party—wore distinctive gang colors to differentiate themselves from their allies and rivals. The most notorious and prominent of the New York gangs who could field 50–200 members per gang were the Nativist Bowery Boys, Atlantic Guards, and Plug Uglies versus the Irish American gangs of the Dead Rabbits, Roach Guards, and Shirt Tails. [3]
The Roach Guards wore a blue stripe on their trousers and the Atlantic Guards and Dead Rabbits wore a red trouser stripe. [4] The Bowery Boys wore neckerchiefs, red shirts, tall stove pipe hats, long, black, frock coats, and trousers tucked into high heel calf boots to identify them with their New York City Fire Department volunteer fire company origins and Nativist affiliations. [5] [6] [7]
The most recognizable form of gang affiliation is based on color. Bandanas come in a wide range of colors and can be paired with other pieces of clothing to represent all colors of the gang. [8] Not only are bandanas an easy way to show gang affiliation they are also easy to remove if the situation calls for it (i.e. if confronted by law enforcement). Gang members are known for wearing bandanas around their face as a mask, or in their pocket, with it sticking out.
The prevalence of gang colors has declined in popularity over the past few years.[ when? ] In order to crack down on gang related crimes, legislation has been passed to increase penalties for crimes committed by gangs or gang members. [9] For example, in some states, if a gang member commits a Class A misdemeanor, the highest level misdemeanor crime, then that offense is classified as a felony because the individual is a member of a criminal street gang. [9]
The Dead Rabbits was the name of an Irish American criminal street gang active in Lower Manhattan in the 1830s to 1850s. The Dead Rabbits were so named after a dead rabbit was thrown into the center of the room during a gang meeting, prompting some members to treat this as an omen, withdraw, and form an independent gang. Their battle symbol was a dead rabbit on a pike. They often clashed with Nativist political groups who viewed Irish Catholics as a threatening and criminal subculture. The Dead Rabbits were given the nicknames of "Mulberry Boys" and the "Mulberry Street Boys" by the New York City Police Department because they were known to have operated along Mulberry Street in the Five Points.
William Poole, also known as Bill the Butcher, was the leader of the Washington Street Gang, which later became known as the Bowery Boys gang. He was a local leader of the Know Nothing political movement in mid-19th-century New York City.
The Kerryonians were the second oldest criminal street gang in New York City but may have been the first gang in the city. The members were made up of recent Irish immigrants from County Kerry, Ireland. There was also a 19th-century Philadelphia gang of the same name. Beginning in the 1820s, the Kerryonians were part of the first wave of the early New York gangs, following behind the first and oldest gang in the city, the Forty Thieves, to occupy the Five Points area. The Kerryonians were particularly fond of targeting New Yorkers who were of British descent. The Kerryonians also fought a gang named the "Pelters". They are most known however for disrupting British actor William Charles Macready's performance at Astor Place around 1825. The Kerryonians were eventually absorbed into the growing street gangs of Five Points such as the Dead Rabbits, Roach Guards, and Chichesters.
The Plug Uglies were an American Nativist criminal street gang, sometimes referred to loosely as a political club, that operated in the west side of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1854 to 1865. The term plug ugly was used to identify an extremely tough ferocious fighter who could give a sound beating to an opponent, with the Plug Uglies' name additionally stemming from their practice of stuffing oversized plug hats with wool and leather, pulling them down over their ears for head protection as primitive helmets during the numerous street battles they participated in. The name Plug Uglies was used to refer to a number of criminal gangs in New York City as well as Philadelphia.
The Roach Guards were an Irish criminal gang in Five Points neighborhood of New York City the early 19th century. The gang was originally formed to protect New York liquor merchants in Five Points and soon began committing robbery and murder. The Roach Guards took their name from their founder and leader Ted Roach.
The Shirt Tails were a mid-19th-century street gang based in the Five Points slum in Manhattan, New York, United States, who wore their shirts on the outside of their pants as 19th-century Chinese laborers would dress as a form of insignia and as a sign of gang group affiliation. Members kept their weapons—as many as three or four at a time—concealed beneath their shirts; this discreet measure stands in contrast to competing gangs who flaunted their weapons in order to intimidate.
The Chichesters also known as the Chichester Gang, along with the Forty Thieves, Shirt Tails, and Kerryonians, were one of the oldest early 19th century Irish Five Points street gangs during the mid 19th century in New York City. The Chichester Gang was organized by its founder John Chichester. The gang got their start by stealing from stores and warehouses and selling the stolen goods to local fences in the 1820s and later became involved in illegal gambling and robbery. An ally of the Dead Rabbits against the Bowery Boys, the Chichesters maintained between 50-100 members lasting for more than 50 years before being absorbed by the Whyos, much like many of the early gangs, following the American Civil War in 1865.
Herbert Asbury was an American journalist and writer best known for his books detailing crime during the 19th and early-20th centuries, such as Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld, The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld, Sucker's Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America and The Gangs of New York.
The Swamp Angels were a New York City waterfront street gang during the mid-nineteenth century.
The Bowery Boys were a nativist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Irish criminal gang based in the Bowery neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City in the early-mid-19th century. In contrast with the Irish immigrant tenement of the Five Points, the Bowery was a more prosperous working-class community. Despite its reputation as one of the most notorious street gangs of New York City at the time, the majority of the Bowery Boys led law-abiding lives for the most part. The gang was made up exclusively of volunteer firemen—though some also worked as tradesmen, mechanics, and butchers —and would fight rival fire companies over who would extinguish a fire. The Bowery Boys often battled multiple outfits of the infamous Five Points, most notably the Dead Rabbits, with whom they feuded for decades. The uniform of a Bowery Boy generally consisted of a stovepipe hat in variable condition, a red shirt, and dark trousers tucked into boots—this style paying homage to their fireman roots.
The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld is an American non-fiction book by Herbert Asbury, first published in 1927 by Garden City Publishing Company. It was the basis for Martin Scorsese's 2002 film Gangs of New York.
John "Red Rocks" Farrell was an American criminal, thief and member of the Whyos, a prominent New York street gang during the mid-to late 19th century. One of the more colorful members of the gang at the height of its power, he spent nearly half his life in correctional institutions.
Hell-Cat Maggie was the pseudonym of an American outlaw and early member of the Dead Rabbits. She was a well-known personality in Manhattan's Five Points district and a noted fighter, her teeth reportedly filed into points and her fingers adorned with long, claw-like brass fingernails. She fought alongside the Dead Rabbits and other Five Pointers against rival nativist gangs from the Bowery, most especially the Bowery Boys, during the early 1840s. Although there is little information about her life, she is one of the earliest female outlaws of the "Gangs of New York" era and has been compared to other female outlaws such as Gallus Mag and Battle Annie, the latter leading the female auxiliary of the Gopher Gang during the 1870s.
The Dead Rabbits riot was a two-day civil disturbance in New York City evolving from what was originally a small-scale street fight between members of the Dead Rabbits and the Bowery Boys into a citywide gang war, which occurred July 4–5, 1857. Taking advantage of the disorganized state of the city's police force—brought about by the conflict between the Municipal and Metropolitan police—the fighting spiraled into widespread looting and damage of property by gangsters and other criminals from all parts of the city. It is estimated that between 800 and 1,000 gang members took part in the riots, along with several hundred others who used the disturbance to loot the Bowery area. It was the largest disturbance since the Astor Place Riot in 1849 and the biggest scene of gang violence until the New York Draft Riots of 1863. Order was restored by the New York State Militia, supported by detachments of city police, under Major-General Charles W. Sandford.
Syksey was the pseudonym of an American criminal and member of the Bowery Boys. He was supposedly the lieutenant and longtime companion to Mose the Fireboy during the 1840s, often the storyteller of his feats, and is credited for coining the phrase "hold 'de but", a common expression used during the mid-to late 19th century meaning to borrow a dead cigar or to "bum a smoke". He was later portrayed in Benjamin Baker's play Mose, the Bowery B'hoy which performed at the old Olympic Theater in 1849 and later toured throughout the United States during the late 1840s and 50s. His pseudonym may have been derived from Bill Sikes, the sidekick of gang leader Fagin from Oliver Twist.
Captain Isaiah Rynders was an American businessman, sportsman, underworld figure and political organizer for Tammany Hall. Founder of the Empire Club, a powerful political organization in New York during the mid-19th century, his "sluggers" committed voter intimidation and election fraud on behalf of Tammany Hall throughout the 1840s and 1850s before Tammany became an exclusively Irish-dominated institution.
Ephraim Snow or Old Snow was an American criminal fence and underworld figure on New York City during the early-to mid-19th century. He was one of the first major fences in New York and the main competitor of Joe Erich during the 1850s and 60s, however the two had a far more friendly and cooperative relationship then the fierce rivalries of later fences such as John D. "Traveling Mike" Grady and Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum. He operated from a small dry goods store on the corner of Grand and Allen Streets, only a short distance from Erich's establishment in Maiden Lane, and was well known as a dealer in "stolen property of every description". According to underworld lore, Erich once disposed of a flock of sheep that some Bowery thugs brought back with them while on vacation in Upstate New York having stolen them from a farm in Westchester County and herded them "through the streets of the city to the shop of the fence".
Patrick "Burly" Bohan was an American saloonkeeper and owner of The Doctor's, a popular dive bar at 95 Park Row, Manhattan and hangout for panhandlers and professional beggars known as the 'Bowery Bums'. Many of his patrons "preyed upon the public by simulating cripples." Bohan, according to crime historian Herbert Asbury, provided a locker for storing crutches and canes while these panhandlers spent their money on whiskey, rum and liquified camphor.
Boiled (Biled) Oysters Malloy was the pseudonym of an American saloon keeper, thief and underworld figure in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. He was especially known in The Bowery where he ran a popular basement bar and underworld hangout, located on Centre Street near the Tombs, known as The Ruins where "three drops of terrible whiskey were sold for a dime". His establishment was one of several owned by popular Bowery characters, most notably Mush Riley, whose dive bar was located just a few doors away from The Ruins. Malloy's nickname was derived from "his love of boiled oysters", and, according to Frank Moss in The American Metropolis from Knickerbocker Days to the Present Time (1897), when his mother commented on his diamonds and fine clothes would respond "Arrah, mother, I've struck it. I'm living on biled oysters."
The Atlantic Guards were a 19th-century American street gang active in New York City from the 1840s to the 1860s. It was one of the original, and among the most important gangs of the early days of the Bowery, along with the Bowery Boys, American Guards, O'Connell Guards, and the True Blue Americans.
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