Locations > New York City

New York City


New York City - Lower Manhattan (1920)

New York City has always been a battleground for Mob activity, and one of the most violent next to Chicago. While Chicago was sometimes more notorious, New York has always had the highest concentration of mobsters and gangsters of all ethnic origins. This was because the main entry point, and final destination for many immigrants was by way of Ellis Island and the city of New York itself.

Most Italian immigrants were forced to settle in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a slum compared to what it is nowadays.

Tammany Hall

Nothing in New York occurred politically without the support of Tammany Hall. However every once in a while they needed some hoodlums to break up a political rally or perform some kind of other physical disruption. This was when the political machine would rely orders through Arnold Rothstein to the various small time local gangs.

New York City - Tammany Hall

Tammany Hall 1868 Democratic Convention

Started by Aaron Burr (the guy who dueled and killed Alexander Hamilton) who ruled from 1797 to the 20th century, the political machine obtained the height of its power right before the era of Prohibition. Regardless, this was an important facet of New York life that was also very influential of how and why gangsters were like they were at the turn of the century.

Learn more about Tammany Hall here.

Prohibition Era


Great Depression

New York City - New York City (1920's)Through 1940, New York City was a major destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the American South. The Harlem Renaissance flourished during the 1920s and the era of Prohibition, coincident with a larger economic boom that saw the skyline develop with the construction of competing skyscrapers. For a while, New York City became the most populous city in the world, starting in 1925 and overtaking London, which had reigned for a century.[31] During the difficult years of the Great Depression, the reformer Fiorello La Guardia was elected as mayor and Tammany Hall fell after eighty years of political dominance.[32] Despite the effects of the Great Depression, the 1930s saw the building of some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including numerous Art-Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline today. Both before and especially after World War II, vast areas of the city were also reshaped by the construction of bridges, parks and parkways coordinated by Moses, the greatest proponent of automobile-centered modernist urbanism in America.



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