Changes

The movie concentrates on the battle between the native gang under Bill the Butcher and his mob, who are all rapidly anti-Irish. While there was violence between the newcomers and natives and in the 1857 riots, the Irish were more often than not battling each other to control criminal enterprises and for political influence than Nativists. <ref> Mandelbaum, p 135</ref> While there is some truth in Scorsese’s account of New York’s underworld, he took a great deal of dramatic license.

[[File: Gangs four.jpg|200px|thumb|left| Daniel Day-Lewis who played ‘Bill the Butcher’ in the movie]]

In the 1860s, there were many well-known and influential gang leaders in New York. Indeed, history offers many infamous and colorful characters that could have been used by the Gangs of New York makers. However, by and large, the characters are all fictional. Bill the Butcher was not a real figure, but he was probably based on William Poole, an infamous gang leader from the 1840s. Like Bill, he was virulently anti-Catholic and disliked immigrants, but he was murdered before the Civil War.