Bowery Boys
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the group of actors who made a series of films between 1946 and 1958, see The Bowery Boys.
The Bowery Boys were a nativist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Irish gang based North of the Five Points district of New York City. The most famous of the Bowery Boys was William Poole, also known as Bill the Butcher. Bowery Boys were mostly single males who frequented the saloons and brothels of The Bowery and dressed in black stovepipe hats, red shirts, black flared trousers, high-heeled calfskin boots and black vests with oil-slicked hair.
The Bowery Boys often fought Irish gangs from the Five Points such as longtime rivals the Dead Rabbits and were affiliated with the "Know-Nothing", or "American", political party which lasted from 1849 to 1856 and the Republican party.
During the New York Draft Riots of 1863 the Bowery Boys took part in much of the looting while fighting with rival gangs. By the end of the decade, however, the gang had split into various factions as the Bowery Boys gradually disappeared.
The book and the movie titled Gangs of New York record the flavor of the group.
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Adams, Peter. The Bowery Boys: Street Corner Radicals and the Politics of Rebellion. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0-275-98538-5
[edit] References
- Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928. ISBN 1-56025-275-8
- Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0
