The Swamp Angels were a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

waterfront

street gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Wiktionary:territory#Noun, territory in a ...

during the mid-nineteenth century. One of the most successful waterfront gangs of the mid-late 19th century, the "Swamp Angels" dominated the dockyards of

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from the 1850s into the post-

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era. The headquarters of the gang was a rookery known as "Gotham Court" on Cherry Street in

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, which gave them access to the sewers under Cherry Street. This allowed the gang to easily raid the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

dockyards and sell off its valuable cargo within hours, before the thefts were discovered the following morning. With the Swamp Angels' success, the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

began posting

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s to guard the waterfront. However, when these law enforcement measures did not slow down the Swamp Angels' criminal activities, the police were forced to send teams of officers into the sewers, which resulted in regular battles between the police and the gang members. Eventually, regular police patrols of the sewers forced the gang to halt its use of the underground

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, although the gang continued to hijack cargo ships as they were being unloaded onto the wharfs. The Swamp Angels were less visible after 1860, but continued to operate on the waterfront, according to one source, until eventually they merged with the rival waterfront gangs into the White Hand Gang at the end of the 19th century.

Resources

* Asbury, Herbert. '' The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld''. Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Company, 1927. *Sifakis, Carl. ''Encyclopedia of American Crime''. New York: Facts on File Inc., 1982. Former gangs in New York City Irish-American gangs {{Organized crime groups in New York City