Five Points was a 19th-century neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The neighborhood, partly built on low-lying land which had filled in the freshwater lake known as the Collect Pond, was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street to the west, the Bowery to the east, Canal Street to the north, and Park Row to the south. The Five Points gained international notoriety as a densely populated, disease-ridden, crime-infested slum which existed for over 70 years.
Gangs of New York is a 2002 American epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan, based on Herbert Asbury's 1927 book The Gangs of New York. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz, along with Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, Stephen Graham, Eddie Marsan, Brendan Gleeson, and Liam Neeson in supporting roles. The film also marks the start of a fruitful collaboration between DiCaprio and Scorsese.
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 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.
Val Lewton was a Ukrainian-American novelist, film producer and screenwriter best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. His son, also named Val Lewton, was a painter and exhibition designer.
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.
Gallus Mag was a six-foot-plus tall, female bouncer at a 19th-century New York City bar called The Hole in the Wall. She figures prominently in New York City folklore. The name "Gallus" originated from the men's suspenders she was fond of wearing and "Mag" or "Meg" was likely her forename. The Hole in the Wall bar was at 279 Water Street, Manhattan, more recently the site of the historic Bridge Cafe.
Slobbery Jim was a leader of the 1850s New York City gang, the Daybreak Boys, which was formed in the late 1840s in Five Points slum with membership drawn from teenaged Irish immigrants. The gang committed robberies, ship sabotage, and frequent murders along the East River. The Daybreak Boys are believed to have caused the loss of at least $100,000 in property and committed at least twenty murders between 1850 and 1852.
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.
Doyers Street is a 200-foot-long (61 m) street in the Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is one block long with a sharp bend in the middle. The street runs south and then southeast from Pell Street to the intersection of Bowery, Chatham Square, and Division Street. Doyers Street contains several restaurants, barber shops, and hair stylists, as well as the Chinatown branch of the United States Postal Service. The Nom Wah Tea Parlor opened at 13 Doyers Street in 1920, and is still in operation; other longstanding business include Ting's Gift Shop at 18 Doyers which opened in 1957.
Big Sue or Sue, the Turtle was the pseudonym of a 19th-century African-American saloon and brothelkeeper in the notorious Arch Block, which ran between Grand Street and Broome Street in New York's 4th Ward. She was thought to also be involved in criminal activities.
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.
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.
Gang colors include clothing, accessories, or tattoos of a specific color or colors that represent an affiliation to a specific gang or gang branch.
Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film inspired by Asbury's book, directed by Martin Scorsese.
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.
Brett C. Leonard is an American dramatist, screenwriter and producer. A member of the LAByrinth Theater Company of New York City, he is best known for his tragic drama The Long Red Road which was performed at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago under Philip Seymour Hoffman as director, starring Tom Hardy, and for his play "Guinea Pig Solo", originally produced as the first co-production between LAByrinth and NY's Public Theater, starring John Ortiz. Leonard also wrote and produced for the HBO TV series Hung (2011), wrote and served as a Supervising Producer for the AMC series Low Winter Sun, was a writer and Co-Executive Producer on Amazon's Mad Dogs, a Co-Executive Producer on Apple TV’s “Shantaram,” a Consulting Producer on AMC's Fear the Walking Dead and creative consultant on BBC/FX drama Taboo. Also of note are his plays "Ninth and Joanie" directed by Mark Wing-Davey, produced in New York City by LAByrinth Theater Company, Roger and Vanessa, produced at Theatre 503 in London, The Actors' Gang in Los Angeles and Tap Gallery in Sydney, "Snapshot" at Chicago's Collaboraction Theater, and Unconditional, produced by LAByrinth at NYC's Public Theater, directed by Mark Wing-Davey and published in New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2008. His plays have been produced in New York, London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, Berlin, Sydney, Melbourne, etc. Leonard has been nominated for a WGA award, won the Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, and has written several one-acts, including his award-winning "What I'm Looking For," which premiered in Chicago's Sketchbook Festival. His low-budget film "Jailbait", based on his play, starred Michael Pitt and Stephen Adly Guirgis, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, won Best Narrative Feature at Lake Placid Film Festival and was released theatrically in 2005. He divides his time between Los Angeles and New York City with longtime girlfriend Elizabeth Rodriguez. He is set to write and executive produce a tv series for Miramax based on Gangs of New York, to be directed and executive produced by Martin Scorsese.
