Essay on Hells Kitchen and the Capeman Murder - 1185 Words

Hells Kitchen and the Capeman Murder Hells Kitchen is the section of Manhattan that is between 34th and 59th Streets and from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River. It was the home of New Yorks most dangerous criminals from the early tenement days to Prohibition to the Westies. The population consisted of poor people who lived in a disorderly fashion and expressed themselves with a demanding spirit. Mayhem and reports of criminal homicide from the late nineteenth century on supply a good idea of daily life in Hells Kitchen. These reports illustrate a neighborhood full of crime, poverty, religious worship, hard work and family commitment. Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings divided by race, ethnicity, and neighborhood boundaries†¦show more content†¦Second, during the drafting of the Civil War there was a lot of chaos and many fatal riots against the rich because they were able to buy there way out of the war, including the protest of the Conscription Act. Differences in the beliefs of these people led to a se gregated community and the creation of gangs had begun. The first neighborhood gangs were formed by the massive amount of children (often referred to as sea urchins) that became homeless after the Civil War. The Dutch Heinrichs led the 19th Street Gang and it was known as one of the most infamous cliques around. They commanded tribute from factory owners and merchants, they broke into houses and they abused and robbed strangers. The gangs leader -- Dutch Heinricks -- was incarcerated after attacking a police Captain. Thereafter came the Gophers, who were targeted for arrest after the slaying of a man named William Lennon in a bar at 45th Street and 11th Avenue, and the Dead Rabbits who lived in the filthy tenements west of 7th Avenue in the 20s and 30s. By the 1900s, 36th Street to 59th Street west of 9th Avenue became an area of dirty tenements and factories forming a depressing and dark neighborhood that carried out the nature of slum life. The murder rate (often committed by gang members) in this section of the city continuously multiplied. The practices of the local criminal and the Westies gang in the middle of theShow MoreRelatedGang Violence in New York as Presented by West Side Story958 Words   |  4 Pagesstories about these gangs in the news as well as more public awareness. One of these stories broke out during the musical’s Broadway run in 1959. In a public park in Clinton and Midtown West (also known as Hell’s Kitchen), there was a brutal murder of two young teenagers. The specific location the murders took place was between 45th and 46th streets. There were some white teenagers on the playground, and when a group of boys from three different gangs (The Vampires, the Young Lords, and the Heart Kings)