The Ape News: Irish Gangs

Friday, April 10, 2009

Irish Gangs

~We just started reading Charley Skedaddle (click the title for some cool stuff related to the book). It is the story of an Irish boy from the Bowery (which is right near the World Trade Center) who gets himself into some trouble with the Metropolitan Police.

A mid 1800's photo of the Metropolitans (the Irish called them Crushers due to the damage they did to the heads of Irish with their night sticks)

Some Background Information on Why the Irish Came to America and Why So Many Joined the Gangs

~Most of the Irish that came to America in the mid 1800's fled Ireland due to starvation and their treatment by the English. The English controlled Ireland for almost 700 years, and treated the Irish as slaves and servants. In the 1800's over 25% of the population fled the country. Many thousands of poor uneducated Irish landed in Boston and New York. Many of the Irish of New York had a difficult time finding employment and housing due to the hatred of the "Catholic Irish". Police protection in New York was also almost exclusively for the "native" or Protestant American born and wealthy. Many businesses and apartment houses had signs that read IRISH NOT WELCOME. Many Irish young men joined the Irish gangs as a way to get a job, and as a means of protection from crime and from the police. If a gang controlled a neighborhood, they also controlled the jobs within a neighborhood. This forced many Irish men to join the gangs in order to feed their families and themselves.

This is an actual sign from 1860 in New York (these types of signs could be seen in NY and Boston well into the 1950's)

~Some of the most notorious Irish gangs were the Kerryonians, The Forty Little Thieves, The Plug Uglies, The Roach Guards and the Dead Rabbits. Some Irish joined the Bowery Boys as well. Although Charley (our main character) is Irish, and a member of the Bowery Boys, not many Irish joined this gang.

The Forty Little Thieves Gang

~In the late 1880's as the Irish began to flex their muscle at the ballot box, the gangs faded out. By the 1930's the Irish of New York had "taken over" the police and fire departments of the city. Today, New York has one of the largest Irish populations in the world outside of Ireland.

~The Irish have come a long way since the poverty, discrimination, and anti-Catholic policies of the middle 1800's. Some famous Irish Americans past and present are:

*President John F. Kennedy

*President Ronald Reagan

*President Bill Clinton

*Eamon De Valera - first Irish President (he was born in America)

*Audie Murphy - soldier (the most decorated soldier in WWII)

*Bing Crosby - singer

*Mariah Carey - singer

*Tim McGraw - singer

*Martin Sheen - actor

*Tyrone Power - actor

*John Wayne - actor

*Walt Disney - created everything Disney