The Criminal Organization Behind The American Mafia

The Bowery Boys, Roach Guards, Dead Rabbits, the Eastman Gang the Five Points Gang had their fair share of nemesis groups that they clashed constantly with. Among them,the Bowery Boys are probably the most well-known. Unlike their counterparts, they made it a point to dress in fancy clothes and held legitimate jobs. The Boys

The Bowery Boys, Roach Guards, Dead Rabbits, the Eastman Gang — the Five Points Gang had their fair share of nemesis groups that they clashed constantly with. Among them, the Bowery Boys are probably the most well-known. Unlike their counterparts, they made it a point to dress in fancy clothes and held legitimate jobs. The Boys acted more like a political club, much like the Five Points gang, and also intimidated voters at polling places. In return, they received money and special treatment in their district. 

The Dead Rabbits were a crew of Irish Catholic immigrants and among the most feared gangs in lower Manhattan in the mid-19th century. Their speciality was pick-pocketing, theft, and fisticuffs — particularly with their main rivals, the Bowery Boys. It's worth noting that women were welcome in this gang. The infamous "Hell-Cat Maggie" brawled with the Rabbits, and legend has it that she "filed her teeth to points and wore brass fingernails into battle." Also known as the Roach Guards, the Rabbits mostly drew the line at petty crime, but the famous bloody street standoff of July 4, 1857, was initiated by their hands. 

The Eastman Gang, led by Jewish mob man Edward "Monk" Eastman, rose to power in the late 19th century with around 1,200 members. They concentrated on running brothels, drug rings, and murder-for-hire operations

Each of these gangs proved threatening to the Italian Five Points crew, but they barely survived past the early 20th century. 

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