Organized crime was not created during this time period but did change drastically. Prior to 1870 smaller gangs such as the Whyos. The Whyos were mostly made up of petty thieves and would commit crimes such as punching someone for two dollars, breaking a bone for ten dollars, or even killing someone for one hundred dollars. The whyos finally dissolved around 1890. During the late 19th century large waves of immigrants were moving to the cities and creating gangs. These gangs were much more organized and were able to absorb the smaller gangs that had existed previously. NationalGangCenter.gov compared the development of gangs during this time period to the progress of commerce. Changing from individual stores to large stores with many different items available. Gangs such as the five points gang and the Monk Eastman Gang from New York quickly became powerful and were involved in counterfeiting, drug trade, prostitution, and racketeering. Antonio Vaccerelli "Paul Kelly" was the leader of the five points gang, Kelly grew his gang by creating youth groups as a front for getting kids involved with the gang. Monk Eastman leader of the Jewish gang in New York trained kids as pick pockets at the age of 10. These gangs were very organized and able to commit crimes on a much larger scale.
The Gangs also affected the politics and social landscape of cities. Both Eastman and Kelly wanted protection from the law in New York, so they began working with the corrupt politicians in Tammany Hall including Boss Tweed. With Backing from both of the largest gangs in New York the Tammany Hall political machine was very powerful. The gangs would have members at the polls to intimidate people into voting a certain way, they would also stuff the ballot boxes with fake votes. According to Historical Crimes by Wallace Edwards it was not uncommon for there to be three times the number of votes in the five points district than there were registered voters. In return the gangs were able to commit crimes without prosecution. Paul Kelly was arrested and should have gotten twenty years in prison but by the time of the trial his case had been manipulated so greatly that he only got 9 months. While sentencing Kelly recorder Goff said " You should have been convicted of highway robbery. Instead you were only convicted of assault." This partnership between the gangs and politicians helped shape city politics and urban life during this time period.
The way people viewed certain groups of immigrants was shaped by gang violence during this time period. In Los Angeles the Chinese immigrants had created gangs of their own called tongs. The Hip Sing tong and the On Leong tong were the most powerful tongs at the time. They would often fight for control over opium dens and brothels. The Hip Sing Tong had paid off most of the police force and the On Leong tong had political ties because they had rigged election of the district attorney. In 1900 a shootout started between the gangs in a tenement a woman and two children were injured, the police wrote this off as a gambling dispute and the woman and children were just collateral damage. The LA Herald, a Los Angeles newspaper, posted on July 19 1907 that seven men had recieved threats stating that tong wars were imminent, the newspaper claimed that the gangs had brought in the dreaded "Hatchet Men" and it said that any Chinese person found bearing arms could be arrested. The Chinese gang violence furthered the anti Chinese sentiment that already existed in this time period.
The rapid growth of cities between 1870 and 1915 lead to the development of large organized crime groups which eventually impacted city politics and the way people viewed immigrants. The large organized gangs created during this time period are similar to gangs in America today. The impact of gangs on cities during this time period helped shape urban life into what it is today.
Sources:
Information on political impact
Information on development of gangs
information on chinese gangs
information on monk eastman gang and paul kelly
Background information on urban life
Primary source on tong wars (July 19, 1907) |
Paul Kelly  |
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| tenement housing |
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| Monk Eastman |
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