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The movie starts with Bill the Butcher killing the leader of an Irish gang named Priest Vallon played by Liam Nesson in the 1850s. The 'Priest' s son Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five-Points, and plots revenge against Bill the Butcher for killing his father, during the American Civil War. Di Caprio’s character successfully ingratiates himself into Bill's mob, but he does not reveal his true identity.
The movie's plot is driven by both his desire to kill Bill and his growing admiration for the man. In the finale of the movie, Amsterdam confronts Bill the Butcher and his gang during the historic Anti-Draft riots of 1863. Amsterdam kills the gang leader and leaves for a new life in San Francisco. The movie was roughly based on the book by Herbert Asbury's, <i>The Gangs of New York</i>. This book is controversial, and many critics believe that Asbury sensationalized the period and his that his book is riddled with inaccuracies. <ref> Herbert Asbury's, <iii>The Gangs of New York</i> (New York, Garden City, 1928) </ref>.
====The Five Points====
[[File: Gang one.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Martin Scorsese, director of Gangs of New York]]
