Shirt Tails

Shirt Tails

The Shirt Tails were a mid-19th century street gang based in the Five Points slum in Manhattan, who wore their shirts on the outside of their pants as a form of insignia and as a sign of group affiliation. The Shirt Tails were as violent as they were slovenly. They kept their weapons—as many as three or four at a time—concealed beneath their shirts; this discreet measure stands in contrast to competing gangs who flaunted their weapons in order to intimidate.

Never numbering more than a few hundred members, the Shirt Tails, like many other gangs, disappeared shortly before the American Civil War (although they did participate in joining a coalition of gangs under the Dead Rabbits during the New York Draft Riots), with its remaining members dissipating or joining one of the other various gangs.

References

*Asbury, Herbert. "The Gangs of New York". New York: Alfred A. Knoff Inc., 1927. ISBN 1-56025-275-8


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