The Gangs of New York is a tour through a now unrecognizable New York City - one of abysmal poverty and habitual violence cobbled, as Luc Sante has written, 'from legend, memory, police records, the self-aggrandizements of aging crooks, popular journalism, and solid historical research.'

Asbury presents the definitive work on this subject, an illumination of the gangs of old New York that ultimately gave rise to the modern Mafia and its depiction in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated masterpiece, The Gangs of New York.