Dead Rabbits Riot - Aftermath

Aftermath

During the two-day rioting eight men were killed and between thirty to a hundred others injured, roughly half of these requiring to be hospitalized. It was believed that many gang members were carried off by their friends and, over the next few days, those who were killed in the fighting were buried in cellars, hidden passageways and other locations in the Five Points and Paradise Square. Indeed, many known "sluggers" from both sides were noticeably absent from the area following the riot. According to underworld legend, these sites would be used for secret burials by street gangs for the next several decades.

Afterwards, occasional violence against Bowery Boys who ventured into the Five Points was reported, although none of these attacks reached the levels seen during the riots. The most serious of these incidents occurred the day following the riot when a group of Bowery Boys fought members of the Kerryonians in Centre Street; however they were chased back to the Bowery and Chatham Square by the time police arrived. Sporadic fighting continued for another week, most being confined in German-American neighborhoods in the East Side and the East River by younger criminals emulating the Irish gangs. Many of the Five Points gangs, most notably the Dead Rabbits, resented the implications made by police and newspapers that they had been committing criminal acts. The gang went so far as to have the New York Times print a statement denying such claims.