The Forty Thieves — likely named after

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" ( ar, علي بابا والأربعون لصا) is a folk tale from the '' One Thousand and One Nights''. It was added to the collection in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard ...

— were formed in 1825 and alleged to be the first known and oldest

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

criminal street gang. The Thieves consisted primarily of Irish immigrants and Irish Americans who terrorized the Five Points neighborhood of 19th century

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Another criminal gang named the " Forty Thieves" which had no criminal ties to the New York gang was formed in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1828. From 1873-1950s, an all-female London criminal gang known as the "

Forty Elephants The Forty Elephants or Forty Thieves were a 19th to 20th century all-female London crime syndicate who specialised in shoplifting. This gang was notable for its longevity and skill in avoiding police detection.Capstick, J., Given in Evidence, ( ...

" was also known to use the name the Forty Thieves. Later a criminal gang in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

called themselves the Forty Thieves.The Gangs of Philadelphia, Discoveries from the (Philadelphia) City Archives, PhillyHistory.org. By Ken Finkel. February 10, 2016
/ref> The Kerryonians, another early Irish gang formed in the same year as the Forty Thieves, have been alleged to be the second oldest organized criminal gang in New York City.

Gang history

Originally based in New York's Lower East Side, the Forty Thieves were formed in the 1825 by Edward Coleman. Initially it was formed to rebel against their low social status but the members soon turned to crime to relieve their frustration. This gang emerged due to prejudice and class distinction. Such social conditions were evident in the Five Points area of New York in the 1820s. Canal Street, the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. ...

, Broadway, and Mulberry Street bordered this area, which was a slum infested with mosquitoes and disease. The Forty Thieves met at a Centre Street

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

owned by Rosanna Peers, a notorious fence of stolen goods who also sold illegal alcohol in an underground speakeasy. At Peers' grocery gang members would be given assignments and issued strict quotas on the gang's share of illegal activities. The quota system proved a great motivator among veterans competing against younger members seeking to take older members' positions. However, in the long term the gang was unable to maintain internal discipline in early New York, and by 1850 the gang had dissolved with its members joining larger gangs or leaving on their own. From the violence to the high crime rates, Five Points desperately lacked the aid of government support. The Forty Thieves saw this as an economic opportunity, as they established relations with

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

. This corrupt bureaucracy provided community services in exchange for money and support from its residents to fund their corrupt agendas. The juvenile Little Forty Thieves, an apprentice street gang of the original Forty Thieves, would outlast their mentors, continuing to commit illegal activities throughout the 1850s before eventually joining the later street gangs following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

in 1865.

Edward Coleman

In popular culture

*'' Gangs of New York'' (2002 film) *'' St. Jimmy'' (2004 Song by Greenday)

References

External links

Beware the Forty Thieves, very first gang of New York
{{Organized crime groups in New York City Former gangs in New York City Irish-American gangs Irish-American culture in New York City Ali Baba