For over sixty years the people of New York have been afflicted with mercenary bands of lawless thieves and hoodlums who are known to the authorities as “Gangs.” The only justification for their existence is robbery, murder and revenge. They fight their murderous battles on the streets of the city, and during the melee assault and rob the people, after which they flee with the plunder. Whenever they get into trouble, the alderman, district captain or some other ward “heeler” comes to their rescue, and they in turn do good service for him on election day as repeaters, stuffing ballot boxes, and assaulting voters. Each gang is supposed to belong to some political party, who are able to wield considerable “pull” in time of trouble. More than once they were responsible for a reign of terror in many parts of the city. They were known to the police as “gangs,” perhaps on account of their clannishness, for whenever they participated in any local fight or riot, they usually stuck together and fought like tigers for what they called their own rights. It is more than likely that some of the gangs were bound together by an oath which placed each member under pains and penalties not to reveal their secrets. Whatever these oaths were, we are unable to say, but we hardly think they were as rigid as the oaths of the Molly Maguires or the Mafia? The police records of the old New York gangs of fifty years ago, show them to be mercenary, corrupt and dissipated, and often revelling in riot and bloodshed; and when they desired to carry out their evil purposes, they did not scruple at robbery or murder. For years they have had full sway in the city on account of politics, but when their conduct became unbearable, and oppressive, and all irenic measures failed to break them up, the police were appealed to, came upon them unexpectedly, clubbed the leaders, and sent many of them to prison for long and short terms. The most notorious of these predatory bands was known as the Whyo Gang. They usually “hung out” in the vicinity of the Five Points, Baxter, Leonard and Centre streets. This part of the city was then known in police parlance as “The Bloody Sixth Precinct.” For nearly a hundred years, crimes of every description, including a large number of robberies, burglaries and holdups had been committed here. For nearly three-quarters of a century, the Sixth Precinct was known as the hotbed of crime, and the Whyo Gang found it a profitable field for their labors. The Whyo Gang was made up of young pickpockets and thieves of the worst character, and many of them, if not all, spent years in jail. Two leaders of the Whyo Gang, Dannie Lyons and Dannie Driscoll, were convicted of the crime of murder, and hanged in the yard of the Tombs Prison. Lyons was executed August 21st, 1886, and Driscoll January 23d, 1888. The gang had robbed and murdered scores of inoffensive people on the streets of the city, whose untimely end will always remain a mystery.