01
Image Credit by Google
A movie called Gangs of New York, directed by the attractive thirty-
02
Image Credit by Google
something Taxi Driver star Martin Scorsese, was about to start production.
03
Image Credit by Google
The movie would tell the epic story of the gangs
04
Image Credit by Google
That terrorised the streets of the Five Points slum in 19th-century New York.
05
Image Credit by Google
Scorsese's ambitious plan would eventually take 25 years to come to life on the big screen.
06
Image Credit by Google
After 20 years since its debut,
07
Image Credit by Google
Scorsese's film Gangs of New York still stands out as an oddity.
08
Image Credit by Google
It serves as a sort of spiritual prequel to his modern gangster movies,
09
Image Credit by Google
But it's oddly of the time.
10
Image Credit by Google
He was fascinated by tales of gangs in his neighbourhood
11
Image Credit by Google
While growing up in Little Italy, particularly.
12
Image Credit by Google
“I gradually realised that the Italian-Americans weren’t the first ones there, that other people had been there before us,”
13
Image Credit by Google
Scorsese told the Smithsonian in December 2002.
14
Image Credit by Google
Scorsese stumbled upon Herbert Asbury's book The Gangs of New York in 1970.
15
Image Credit by Google
The book, which was first published in 1927,
16
Image Credit by Google
described the gangs of Lower Manhattan,
17
Image Credit by Google
Especially those in the Five Points.
18
Image Credit by Google
Many immigrants, including Irish people,
19
Image Credit by Google
lived in The Five Points,
20
Image Credit by Google
A neighbourhood infamous for its crime, filth, and disease.
21
Image Credit by Google
At times, 15,000 Irish people per week entered New York from Ireland.
UA-178392009-1