Five Points gangs: Difference between revisions
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Correct Five Points organizational identity using contemporary reporting and stronger biographies |
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In a 1909 investigation, George Kibbe Turner described the Five Points and Cherry Hill underworld of the 1880s as predominantly Irish but comparatively unorganized. He contrasted it with the more structured political gangs that emerged around the turn of the century.<ref name="Turner">George Kibbe Turner, [https://archive.org/details/McCluresMagazineV33n02190906/page/n31/mode/2up “Tammany's Control of New York by Professional Criminals”], ''McClure's Magazine'', vol. 33, no. 2, June 1909, pp. 117–126.</ref> | In a 1909 investigation, George Kibbe Turner described the Five Points and Cherry Hill underworld of the 1880s as predominantly Irish but comparatively unorganized. He contrasted it with the more structured political gangs that emerged around the turn of the century.<ref name="Turner">George Kibbe Turner, [https://archive.org/details/McCluresMagazineV33n02190906/page/n31/mode/2up “Tammany's Control of New York by Professional Criminals”], ''McClure's Magazine'', vol. 33, no. 2, June 1909, pp. 117–126.</ref> | ||
== | ==Turn-of-the-century use== | ||
The singular name did not describe a settled Irish-to-Italian corporate succession. In September 1902, ''The Evening World'' described a “Five Points Italian gang” while listing the Paul Kelly Club as a separate allied organization.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030193/1902-09-30/ed-1/?sp=6 “Gangsters Battle in City Streets”], ''The Evening World'', September 30, 1902, p. 6.</ref> In April 1903, it again differentiated the Italian Paul Kelly Association from the Italian Five Pointers.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030193/1903-04-18/ed-1/?sp=8 “Gang Men to Fight Eastman”], ''The Evening World'', April 18, 1903, p. 8.</ref> The ''New-York Tribune'' later referred to a Paradise Social Club as the “new Five Points Gang” operating on the battleground of an “old” gang.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83030214/1903-07-06/ed-1/?sp=4 “Reserves Beaten Off: Five Points Gang Ends Celebration by Rioting and Assaulting”], ''New-York Tribune'', July 6, 1903, p. 4.</ref> | |||
Later sources compressed these changing organizations into a lineage. Sociologist James M. O'Kane describes Irish gang dominance giving way to Jewish and Italian control and identifies Francesco Paolo Vaccarelli, known as Paul Kelly, with the takeover of the old Five Points gang. O'Kane also notes that major gangs could include members from more than one ethnic group.<ref>James M. O'Kane, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6tszDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT62 ''The Crooked Ladder: Gangsters, Ethnicity and the American Dream''] (Routledge, 2017), pp. 64–66.</ref> That later synthesis is historical interpretation rather than proof that one organization survived intact. | |||
== | ==Related organizations== | ||
The | The [[Five Points Gang]] article covers the ambiguous turn-of-the-century name and coalition. The [[Paul Kelly Association]] article covers Kelly's distinct social and criminal organization, which contemporary newspapers initially reported separately and later sources frequently called the Five Points Gang. | ||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
* [[Five Points Gang]] | * [[Five Points Gang]] | ||
* [[Paul Kelly Association]] | |||
* [[Dead Rabbits]] | * [[Dead Rabbits]] | ||
* [[Dead Rabbits riot]] | * [[Dead Rabbits riot]] | ||
Latest revision as of 01:13, 19 August 2026
The term Five Points gangs refers collectively to the many street gangs that operated in and around Five Points, Manhattan, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It should not be read as the name of one continuously governed Irish organization that later became Italian.
Nineteenth-century gangs
[edit]Five Points was initially associated with gangs drawn largely from Irish immigrant and Irish-American neighborhoods. They included the Forty Thieves, Kerryonians, Chichesters, Roach Guards, Dead Rabbits, Plug Uglies and Whyos. These were separate organizations that sometimes cooperated or fought under broader neighborhood labels.
In a 1909 investigation, George Kibbe Turner described the Five Points and Cherry Hill underworld of the 1880s as predominantly Irish but comparatively unorganized. He contrasted it with the more structured political gangs that emerged around the turn of the century.[1]
Turn-of-the-century use
[edit]The singular name did not describe a settled Irish-to-Italian corporate succession. In September 1902, The Evening World described a “Five Points Italian gang” while listing the Paul Kelly Club as a separate allied organization.[2] In April 1903, it again differentiated the Italian Paul Kelly Association from the Italian Five Pointers.[3] The New-York Tribune later referred to a Paradise Social Club as the “new Five Points Gang” operating on the battleground of an “old” gang.[4]
Later sources compressed these changing organizations into a lineage. Sociologist James M. O'Kane describes Irish gang dominance giving way to Jewish and Italian control and identifies Francesco Paolo Vaccarelli, known as Paul Kelly, with the takeover of the old Five Points gang. O'Kane also notes that major gangs could include members from more than one ethnic group.[5] That later synthesis is historical interpretation rather than proof that one organization survived intact.
Related organizations
[edit]The Five Points Gang article covers the ambiguous turn-of-the-century name and coalition. The Paul Kelly Association article covers Kelly's distinct social and criminal organization, which contemporary newspapers initially reported separately and later sources frequently called the Five Points Gang.
See also
[edit]- ↑ George Kibbe Turner, “Tammany's Control of New York by Professional Criminals”, McClure's Magazine, vol. 33, no. 2, June 1909, pp. 117–126.
- ↑ “Gangsters Battle in City Streets”, The Evening World, September 30, 1902, p. 6.
- ↑ “Gang Men to Fight Eastman”, The Evening World, April 18, 1903, p. 8.
- ↑ “Reserves Beaten Off: Five Points Gang Ends Celebration by Rioting and Assaulting”, New-York Tribune, July 6, 1903, p. 4.
- ↑ James M. O'Kane, The Crooked Ladder: Gangsters, Ethnicity and the American Dream (Routledge, 2017), pp. 64–66.