Dead Rabbits
| Founding location | Five Points, Manhattan, New York City, New York, present-day Worth Street, Baxter Street, and Columbus Park, in Manhattan, New York City, New York |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1850s |
| Territory | Five Points, Manhattan, New York City |
| Ethnicity | Irish and Irish-American |
| Membership (est.) | ? |
| Criminal activities | street fighting, knife fighting, assault, murder, robbery, arson, rioting |
| Rivals | Bowery Boys, Roach Guards, Plug Uglies |
The Dead Rabbits was the media-bestowed name of an Irish American gang in New York City, in the 1850s. They called themselves the "Roach Guards" and were also known as the Black Birds. Historian Tyler Anbinder says, "The name so captured the imagination of New Yorkers that the press continued to use it despite the abundant evidence that no such club or gang existed." Anbinder notes that, "for more than a decade, 'Dead Rabbit' became the standard phrase by which city residents described any scandalously riotous individual or group."
The Dead Rabbits were so named because they supposedly carried a dead rabbit on a pike or were said to throw a dead rabbit in the middle of a fight before it commenced. They often clashed with Nativist political groups seeking to eliminate Irish immigrant communities from New York City, and were instrumental in protecting their ethnic communities and identities from these radical groups. Their chief rival gang was the Bowery Boys, native-born New Yorkers who supported the Know Nothing political party in favor of kicking out the immigrant groups. These two rival gangs fought more than 200 gang battles in a span of 10 years, beginning in 1834, and they often outmanned the police force and even the state militias. They were also in the forefront of the Dead Rabbits Riot and the New York Draft Riots.
Besides street-fighting, the Dead Rabbits supported politicians such as Fernando Wood and the Tammany Hall machine, whose platforms included the welfare and benefit of immigrant groups and minorities, and under the leadership of Isaiah Rynders the gang acted as enforcers to violently persuade voters during elections to vote for their candidates.
According to legend, one of the most feared Dead Rabbits was "Hell-Cat Maggie," a woman who reportedly filed her teeth to points and wore brass fingernails into battle. One of the Dead Rabbit leaders, John Morrissey, would later become a Democratic State Senator and U.S. Congressman who ameliorated the conditions of the Irish-American communities for years to come.
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Wikipedia