Butch Cassidy

Robert LeRoy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy was a notorious train robber, bank robber, and leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang in the late 1800’s. Butch grew up in a Mormon family in Utah and was the first of 13 children. Butch ran away from home in his early teens and met up with a horse thief by the name of Mike Cassidy. Along his quest for money Cassidy became a butcher giving him the nickname “Butch” and taking his partners last name “Cassidy” thus creating the name of Butch Cassidy. In around 1880 Butch wandered into a clothier store to get a pair of jeans and a pie, leaving an IOU for the owner. The owner however wasn’t having it and pressed charges against Butch, and his life of crime began. Next a trio consisting of Matthew Warner, Butch, and an unknown assailant robbed the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride where they stole about $21,000. The trio escaped to a remote farm but was shortly hunted down in 1894. Butch was again released in 1896 and his streak of robbing was only going to get larger. He formed a new gang called the Wild Bunch which was a circle of criminals and close friends. The Wild Bunch over the years has been said to be nonviolent but in actuality was responsible for many killings. One in particular was a train robbery where Butch and his bunch were confronted by a Sherrif and two Deputy’s. All three of those men died and that’s when the hunt was on for the Wild Bunch. Knowing America was too dangerous in 1905 the outlaws went on a boat to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Upon arrival and robbed Banco de Tarapacá y Argentino for what would be $100,000 today. Somehow the bunch escaped to Chile. Eventually the bandits were found and their house surrounded by the Chilean army, where an epic standoff took place in a cabin. Eventually however the two were outmatched and at the verge of death Butch seeing his only bunch member left Longabaugh having bullets all through his arms and legs, put him out of his misery. The two bodies were found after the gunfight seeing Longabaugh with a bullet in his head from Butch and a bullet in Butch’s temple from killing himself.

George "Big Nose" Parrot

A rather unknown westerner by the name of George Parrot AKA, “Big Nose” was a cattle rustler during the late 1800’s. In 1878 Parrot and his fellow gangster murdered two law enforcers while escaping from a train robbery. These murders did not go unchecked and the government gave a $20,000 dollar reward to their killer. However in 1880 when Big Nose and his accomplice Dutch Charley were captured in Montana. Whilst in prison, Parrot tried a dangerous escape after learning he was sentenced to be hung. News of this attempted escape was spread through the town and a large lynch mob took Parrot out of his cell at gunpoint and hung him from a telegraph pole. Dutch Charley faced a similar fate when he was found hiding in a baggage compartment on a train. Crude doctors in Wyoming decided to take Parrot’s body for the research of,”criminality” in his brain. The doctor even made a pair of shoes out of Parrot’s stomach and thighs and wore them to his inaugural ball after being elected governor of Wyoming. Legends have cumulated that Big Nose was involved in the infamous James gang which I talked about earlier, and was said to have been a member of “Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch.” These legends have all been ruled out however with most historians agreeing that he was more of a highwayman then an organized gangster. The legend of Big Nose’s skin feet and brain checking have been proven correct. Parrot’s remnants were found in an old whiskey barrel which included the skin shoes, which now reside in a Wyoming museum, and the sawed off head where his brain had been checked.

Dead Rabbits Riot

The Dead Rabbits Riot of 1857 was one of the largest street fights of the 19th century. Originally this was a common brawl between the Dead Rabbits and Bowery Boys. With the states police force in shambles due to the Municipal and Metropolitan police conflict, this fighting would result in widespread looting and damage courtesy of the criminals of the Five Points. It is said that 800-1,000 gang members were involved in the riots. This was the biggest display of gang violence displayed in America at the time. This was fueled by the democratic and Tammany Hall loving Irish Catholics against the nativist Know Nothing Party. These two gangs were the Bloods and Crips of their time, their hate for each other was grand and they were incredibly ruthless towards each other. After this incredible battle only 8 men died with 100-200 seriously wounded. In this time that was a lot, few of either gang had guns and most of the fighting was with bricks, bats, steel poles, and stones which would leave each gangbanger with a great deal of scars to remember what their foe has done. These two gangs stopped their fighting only when the gangs had withered away during the post Civil War era.

http://urbanography.com/1857/gangs3.html

Jesse James

Jesse James is one of the most notorious gun-slingers of the wild west. Born in Clay County, Missouri on September 5, 1847 Jesse had two sibling his older brother Alex Franklin, and his younger sister Susan James. His father died when Jesse was just 3 and his mother remarried twice. During the Civil War Jesse was a guerilla fighter for the south. He went through a lot seeing massacres of woman and children and the scalping of prisoners. Jesse was also shot in the chest twice and the arm once. Recovering from his chest wounds at his uncles house Jesse fell for his cousin which resulted in the two of them marrying. Jesse began robbing banks with his brother Frank. He started with small non national banks in Missouri and slowly progressed. In 1867 Jesse and Frank robbed a bank in which they killed the mayer and two other bystanders. Jesse James name however wasn’t known until 1869 when him and Frank robbed the Daviess County Savings Association, where Jesse shot and killed the cashier mistaking him for an officer who killed his friend “Bloody Bill” Anderson in the Civil War. This one got in the paper and soon Jesse became infamous for his ruthlessness. James also turned to rain robbery where he stole $3,000(51,000 today) but never robbed a passenger giving him a Robin Hood figure in the papers. James continued his shenanigans for several years until his gang was annihilated and he was assassinated with his back turned by Bob Ford James’ sworn enemy.

http://www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us/history/jessejames.cfm

The Plug Uglies

The Plug Uglies were a street gang that conducted operations from 1854-1860 in the westside of Baltimore. Their name came from the giant plug hats that they wore(see flattering man below). The leaders of the Plug Uglies were John English and James Morgan who like the Bowery Boys were involved in the Know Nothings American Party, which was based on the fears that the country would be overwhelmed with German and Irish Catholic immigrants who were believed to be completely controlled by The Pope. The Plug Uglies influence on the street was very valued by politicians who would often times pay to have them influence the polls. In the Know Nothing Riot word spread of the gangs influence which resulted in the fighting of this gang. President Buchanan was forced to intervene sending marines in to quell the fighting. These marines however killed one gang member and 10 civilians making the president look like quite the fool. Luckily for Buchanan the event was soon lost, being overshadowed by the slavery controversy. The Plug Uglies were also involved in the murder of a Baltimore police officer in 1858 which resulted in deadly violence and was one of the most heinous crimes of the era.

http://en.allexperts.com/e/p/pl/plug_uglies.htm

The Dead Rabbits

The Dead Rabbits were one of the main gangs of New York in the 1850’s. This odd name was taken from the Irish word raibead which meant, “man to be feared” dead came from the slang that stood for “very” i.e. dead serious. Thus came the Dead Rabbits. The gangs commander was the notorious Priest Valon known for his organization of Irish Catholics along with thieving and thugging. This gang would often times bring a dead rabbit impaled by a spear to gang wars to act as a flag. They also wore a red stripe on their pants to signify who they were, like wearing a red bandana if your a blood. The enemies of the Dead Rabbits included the Roach Guards, the other rival Irish gang, and the infamous Bowery Boys who were out to destroy the Irish Catholic race. These three would often have bloody battles most largely in the Dead Rabbits riot which I will blog about later. When these hooligans weren’t in a street fight they were often times pick pocketing and stealing which was their main source of income.

http://www.gripe4rkids.org/his.html

http://www.knowgangs.com/gang_resources/gangs101/info_002.htm