Five Points Gang

The **Five Points Gang** is a criminal street gang based in the Five Points of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The gang is led by Paul Kelly. According to the novel, their territory is "between Broadway and the Bowrey and from Fourteenth Street to City Hall".

## History

Under the leadership of Paul Kelly, the Five Points Gang is one of the most feared gangs of the criminal underworld in New York City. They extort money, run underground gambling dens and brothels by paying a small fee to the cops to look the other way ― when they are not patrons of their illegal businesses themselves. Boy prostitutes from brothels primarily run by the Five Points Gang became prey to a mysterious killer who abducted and butchered them.

On March 4th, 1896, Paul Kelly met with former Police Superintendent Thomas Byrnes and Captain Connor after he and his associate, Biff Ellison were ordered to shut business by Commissioner Roosevelt due to the recent murder of Giorgio Santorelli, aka Gloria, one of Biff's girls. The gangsters gave no sign of submitting to such orders, and the goons continued to keep up shop with gambling, brothels and pickpocketing. Biff and Kelly even mocked Roosevelt by closing the Paresis Hall only to open it on the building right in front of the old one, reducing Connor's fee for the inconvenience.

As amateur investigator John Moore came snooping around Paresis Hall, bouncer Razor Railey warned Biff of the unwelcome guest from uptown. After drugging him while pretending to give out information, Biff handed Moore over to some of his 'girls' to be robbed and sexually abused.

During the police investigation and the parallel, more efficient investigations of Dr Laszlo Kreizler, an alienist and his associates, Kelly kept a close eye on the developments through his spies.

Following a protest outside the police department, Kelly sent Jack 'Eat-'Em Up' McManus to rescue Kreizler and Moore. Kelly expressed concern about the poor children of Five Points, Manhattan whom he counts as his own and interest in the alienist' success in catching the culprit. With Moore disdainful of collaborating with a mobster, Kelly quickly reminded him of his time at the Paresis Hall. Moreover, Kelly threatened Kreizler to persuade Roosevelt to desist from getting in his way. In return, Kelly would provide help.

## Members

* Paul Kelly
* Biff Ellison
* Jack 'Eat-'Em-Up' McManus
* Pat 'Razor' Riley

## Notes

* The Five Points gang was a real-life criminal association primarily of Italian-American and Irish-American immigrants. Although secondary, the role of the gang in the novel is greater than in the TNT adaptation with Kelly being a significant help to Kreizler's investigation.
* The Broadway territory owned by the Five Points border south with Goo Goo Knox's Hudson Dusters.

## References

1. ↑  Hossein Amini (writer) & Jakob Verbruggen (director); (January 22, 2018); "The Boy on the Bridge". Episode 1. *The Alienist*. TNT
2. ↑  Hossein Amini & E. Max Frye (writers) & Jakob Verbruggen (director); (January 29, 2018); "A Fruitful Partnership". Episode 2.*The Alienist*. TNT
3. ↑  John Sayles (writer) & Paco Cabezas (director); (March 5, 2018); "Many Sainted Men". Episode 7.*The Alienist*. TNT