Rogues' Gallery

From the beginnings of big-city police work to the rise of the Mafia, Rogues' Gallery is a colorful and captivating history of crime and punishment in the bustling streets of Old New York

Rogues' Gallery is a sweeping, epic tale of two revolutions, one feeding off the other, which played out on the streets of New York City during an era known as the Gilded Age. For centuries, New York had been a haven of crime. A thief or murderer not caught in the act nearly always got away. But in the early 1870s, an Irish cop by the name of Thomas Byrnes developed new ways to catch criminals. Mugs shots and daily lineups helped witnesses point out culprits; the famed rogues' gallery allowed police to track repeat offenders. Byrnes worked cases methodically, interviewing witnesses, analyzing crime scenes, and developing theories that helped close the books on previously-unsolvable crimes.

Yet as policing became ever more specialized and efficient, crime itself began to change. Robberies became bolder and more elaborate, murders grew more ruthless and macabre, and the street gangs of old transformed into hierarchal criminal enterprises, giving birth to organized crime, including the Mafia. As the decades unfolded, cops and criminals at times blurred together, giving way to waves of police reform at the hands of men like Theodore Roosevelt.

This is a tale of unforgettable characters: Marm Mendelbaum, a matronly woman who paid off cops and politicians to protect her empire of fencing stolen goods; "Clubber" Williams, a sadistic policeman who wielded a twenty-six-inch club against suspects, whether they be guilty or not; Danny Driscoll, the murderous leader of the Whyos Gang and perhaps the first crime boss of New York; Big Tim Sullivan, the corrupt Tammany Hall politician who shielded the Whyos from the law; the Italian Paul Kelly and the Jewish Monk Eastman, whose rival crews engaged in brawls and gunfights all over the Lower East Side; and Joe Petrosino, a Sicilian-born detective who brilliantly pursued early Mafioso until his own murder.

Story Locale: New York City