Born in the Streets: Violence, Gangsterism and Power in Gangs of New York

Abstract

[Abstract] When in 1928 Herbert Asbury published his acclaimed book Gangs of New York, he presented a panoramic and retrospective view of the most significant gangs that prowled the Five Point’s area. His gangsters were villains of the past who had no influence in the present. However, in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York gangsters such as Bill the Butcher seem to have certain continuity into the present. This paper explores the role violence and power play in the foundation of modern New York according to Scorsese and Asbury in their respective versions of Gangs of New York.