Mobs proliferated in the major cities of nineteenth-century America, but they generally acted independently and were constantly at war with each other. Organized crime was yet to come.
Collusion between the gangs and political forces was marked, for politicians of all levels constantly used the brute force of the mobs in order to get ahead. The newspapers did the same thing, hiring gangs so they could muscle out the competition and expand their circulation.
Mobs such as the Five Points Gang and the Eastman Gang made life difficult for the average law-abiding citizen and honest cop alike. But there were other elements too. Black Hand extortion (used by Italian criminals preying exclusively on their fellow immigrants) was rife in cities, as was the more clannish Mafia itself.
Things were moving rapidly, however, as the century drew to a close. The old knuckle-busters were on their way out and mobsters such as Monk Eastman and “Kid Twist” Zwerbach were soon to take their final bows.