The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. This item is unavailable.The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld

Asbury, Herbert, [1891-1963]. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Publishing Co., [1928]. xviii, 400 pp. 3 unnumbered leaves of plates. Publisher's black cloth with red ink stamped spine. Top edge red. Deckle bottom and fore-edge. Worn and soiled. Partial ink stamp to front free endpaper, otherwise internally clean. A good copy. $50. * This book chronicles the violent evolution of New York City's criminal underworld from Revolutionary times through the early 20th century from the abysmal slums of Five Points and the Bowery through the Civil War and the 1863 New York City Draft Riots, the Tong wars in Chinatown and the corrupt influence of Tammany Hall. The author provides vivid, often sensationalized accounts of a "rogues' gallery" that includes notorious gangs like the Dead Rabbits and characters such as "Bill the Butcher" (William Poole) among others. This book served as the primary source material for Martin Scorsese's 2002 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio.…