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 Members of the Five Points Gang of New York City | |
| Founder | Paul Kelly |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Five Points, Manhattan |
| Years active | 1890s–1920s |
| Territory | New York City, mainly active in Lower Manhattan, Harlem and Brooklyn |
| Ethnicity | Initially predominantly Irish members and retained many Irish members late into its existence. Throughout its existence, members were most consistently all immigrants or the first-generation sons of immigrants; the gang eventually included and was ran by many Italian-Americans and Italian immigrants in its later iteration. |
| Leader(s) | Paul Kelly |
| Activities | Racketeering, election fraud, extortion, street fighting, drug trafficking, pimping, illegal gambling, robbery, fraud, murder, knife fighting, shootouts, assaults |
| Allies | Tammany Hall, Yakey Yakes, Gopher Gang, Hudson Dusters, Whyos, Morello crime family, Bugs and Meyer Gang |
| Rivals | Eastman Gang, White Hand Gang, Batavia Street Gang, New York Camorra, Lenox Avenue Gang, New York City Police Department |
| Notable members | |
The Five Points Gang was a criminal street gang, initially of primarily Irish-American origins, based in the Five Points of Lower Manhattan, New York City, during the late 19th and early 20th century.[1]
The gang had its origin in the various Irish immigrant and Irish-American gangs in the Five Points area. Paul Kelly, born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli before utilizing an Irish-sounding name, was an Italian-American who organized and partially founded the more cohesive “Five Points Gang.” While the gang had some continuity with the prior Irish gangs of the Five Points, it eventually predominately consisted of the Italian immigrant and Italian-American gangsters that had begun to populate the previously mostly Irish-American Five Points. The gang eventually consisted largely of Italian-Americans and Italian immigrants living in the Five Points, though it continued to include Irish-American members and members of other ethnicities throughout its existence. Some of the gang’s members later became prominent criminals in their own right, including Johnny Torrio, Al Capone, and Lucky Luciano.
- ^ "How the Five Points Became New York's Most Notorious Neighborhood". about.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2018.