num_pages: 384
description: The Gangs of New York has long been hand-passed among its cult readership. It is a tour through a now unrecognizable city of abysmal poverty and habitual violence cobbled, as Luc Sante has written, “from legend, memory, police records, the self-aggrandizements of aging crooks, popular journalism, and solid historical research.” Asbury presents the definitive work on this subject, an illumination of the gangs of old New York that ultimately gave rise to the modern Mafia and its depiction in films like The Godfather. “A universal history of infamy [that] contains all the confusion and cruelty of the barbarian cosmologies....”—Jorge Luis Borges “The tale is one of blood, excitement and debauchery.”—The New York Times Book Review “The Gangs of New York is one of the essential works of the city....”—Luc Sante, The New York Review of Books
language: English
title: The Gangs of New York
titlecomplete: The Gangs of New York
genres: American, New York, Historical, Crime, Media Tie In, American History, Classics, Nonfiction, True Crime, History
ratings_count: 3801
places: New York City, New York
series: The Gangs of New York
publisher: Arrow