Editing Daybreak Boys

{{SHORTDESC:19th-century New York waterfront gang}}
{{Infobox criminal organization
| name = Daybreak Boys
| named_after = Their practice of conducting raids around dawn
| image = The Old Brewery Five Points.jpg
| caption = The Old Brewery in the Five Points, circa 1850; a contextual image, not a depiction of the gang
| founding_location = Lower Manhattan, New York City
| territory = East River waterfront
| headquarters = Pete Williams's gin mill, James and Water streets
| structure = Organized waterfront gang
| activities = Waterfront theft<br>Robbery<br>Ship sabotage<br>Murder
| leader = Nicholas Saul<br>William Howlett<br>[[James White (gangster)|Slobbery Jim]]<br>Bill Lowrie<br>Sam McCarthy
| notable_members = Sow Madden<br>Patsy the Barber
| status = Defunct
| years_active = Late 1840s–1859
| founded_date = Late 1840s
| dissolved_date = 1859
| dissolution_cause = Arrests<br>Executions<br>Sustained police operations
}}
The '''Daybreak Boys''' were a mid-19th-century New York waterfront gang. Herbert Asbury described them as the first East River gang to operate as an organized criminal unit, meeting at Pete Williams's gin mill at James and Water streets and conducting many raids around dawn.<ref name="Asbury">Herbert Asbury, [https://archive.org/details/the-gangs-of-new-york-herbert-asbury ''The Gangs of New York''] (Alfred A. Knopf, 1928), chapter 3.</ref>

Nicholas Saul and William Howlett led the gang in the early 1850s. Later leaders attempted to keep it together after their arrests and executions, but police operations and further convictions weakened it; Asbury reports that it was effectively dispersed by the end of 1859.<ref name="Asbury"/>

==Roster==
Later histories identify the following members:
* Nicholas Saul — early leader.
* William Howlett — early leader.
* [[James White (gangster)|Slobbery Jim]] — later leader who fled after the 1859 killing of Patsy the Barber.
* Bill Lowrie — later leader.
* Sam McCarthy, known as Cow-Legged Sam — final leader in Asbury's account.
* Sow Madden and Patsy the Barber — prominent members.<ref name="Asbury"/>

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Former gangs in New York City]]
[[Category:American pirates]]
[[Category:1840s establishments in New York]]
[[Category:1859 disestablishments in New York]]