The police records of the old New York gangs of fifty years ago, show them to be mercenary, corrupt and dissipated, and often revelling in riot and bloodshed; and when they desired to carry out their evil purposes, they did not scruple at robbery or murder. For years they have had full sway in the city on account of politics, but when their conduct became unbearable, and oppressive, and all irenic measures failed to break them up, the police were appealed to, came upon them unexpectedly, clubbed the leaders, and sent many of them to prison for long and short terms.
The most notorious of these predatory bands was known as the Whyo Gang. They usually “hung out” in the vicinity of the Five Points, Baxter, Leonard and Centre streets. This part of the city was then known in police parlance as “The Bloody Sixth Precinct.” For nearly a hundred years, crimes of every description, including a large number of robberies, burglaries and holdups had been committed here. For nearly three-quarters of a century, the Sixth Precinct was known as the hotbed of crime, and the Whyo Gang found it a profitable field for their labors.
The Whyo Gang was made up of young pickpockets and thieves of the worst character, and many of them, if not all, spent years in jail. Two leaders of the Whyo Gang, Dannie Lyons and Dannie Driscoll, were convicted of the crime of murder, and hanged in the yard of the Tombs Prison. Lyons was executed August 21st, 1886, and Driscoll January 23d, 1888. The gang had robbed and murdered scores of inoffensive people on the streets of the city, whose untimely end will always remain a mystery.
“The Bloody Sixth” no longer carries the same reputation it did forty years ago. No doubt much that was said and written of it was not all true; nevertheless, it furnished more murders than any other five city wards. It ought to be remembered that the “Sixth” contains the Five Points, Mulberry Bend, the Criminal Courts Building, and the Tombs Prison, where so many “tough” characters are harbored? The population at the present time consists largely of Italians, Jews, Polaks and Chinese. It has a great many squalid tenements, low dives, groggeries, gin mills and several opium dens.
The Slaughter House Gang held forth in the Fourth Ward, and had its headquarters over a squalid gin mill at the corner of Water street and James Slip. It was run by a band of desperate characters, who terrorized the neighboring water fronts. Captain Allaire took energetic means to break it up, and succeeded only when he landed the piratical ring leaders in prison.
The Cochran Roost Gang held forth at the corner of East Thirty-sixth street and First avenue. It is said that this gang had pledged themselves to kill policemen on sight. They laid wait for young and inexperienced policemen on dark nights with bricks and stones in their pockets. They usually hid themselves in alleyways and flat roofs, and many sanguinary battles took place between them and the police, in which they were usually worsted. Their headquarters were reached by climbing a broken down staircase or ladder, which they could hoist up with a rope, which led to an old shanty on the corner of First avenue and Thirty-sixth street; hence the name, Cochran’s Roost.
Handsome Harry Carlton, the last man who had the “honor” of being hanged in the yard of the Tombs Prison, December 5th, 1889, prior to the installation of the Electric Chair in Sing Sing Prison, was known as one of the brilliant lights of the Cochran’s Roost Gang.
The gang known as “The Forty Thieves” held forth at Forty-second street and Eleventh avenue. They had a local notoriety.
The Hell’s Kitchen Gang had their headquarters on Thirty-ninth street and Eleventh avenue. They usually fought negroes with guns, while the negroes in turn fought them with razors. The negroes and whites are far from being friendly in this neighborhood, and many battles have taken place in recent years.
The Gas House Gang was on Eighteenth street, near First avenue.