1800’s

The early time period of the 1800s brought an absolute disparity between social classes and the lure of gangs continued to spread reaching out to all age groups. Gangs normally consisted of members of the same race and ethnicity. They would come together for recreation, protection, and financial gain. The Forty Thieves Gang, in Manhattan, functioned as burglars, murderers, pickpockets, and muggers. All members were required to have an Irish background and to be a maximum 6 feet tall. Members of the Dead Rabbits Gang were experts in robbery, smuggling, and pick pocketing. This gang had been in existence for about twenty years and was notorious for carrying spears with impaled dead rabbits throughout all disagreements with rival groups. The Chichesters received their name from a city in Ireland, their homeland.

Gang affiliations in large cities still persisted to increase until gangs were able to gain power and control over several neighborhoods. Government officials accused single mothers as the cause for the increase of gangs and citizens became really concerned about this gang violence.

 

Problems proceeded to rise until 1861, which was the beginning of the Civil War. At the end of the war in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan was founded and gang issues quickly began to resurface. The Whyous Gang was replaced by the vicious Chichesters Gang. They printed up a list of criminal services and priced each one- "Punching-$2, Jacked out-$15, stabbed-$25, murder-$100 and up, etc." Years later, every gang member was required to have murdered someone before joining the gang. After the Civil War, soldiers returned home addicted to morphine because of war injuries. Drugs were abused by the public and became a common problem among all age groups. Gangs began to overlook the needs of society and took the advantage of the demand for drugs. Drugs like morphine, laudanum, and cocaine were commonly used among gangs and neighborhoods.

In 1870, to help "pavement children" like those youth involved in the Nineteenth Street Gang, the Boys Club of America was first founded. This gang was made up of youngsters the age of sixteen, and were mostly blamed for the destruction of schools and Protestant missions. As gangs expanded in smaller city areas, gang affiliations grew as well as in rural areas. By this time, the government realized the need for law enforcement that would spread about the entire nation.

 

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