The Ducky Boys gang was a purported Irish gang from The Bronx, New York.
According to Richard Price's book (and movie) The Wanderers, The Ducky Boys were "stunted Irish madmen, none of them over 5 foot 6". They were also portrayed in the movie as soul-less killers who never said a word.
For many Bronxites, the Ducky Gang was one of those mythical gangs that many people heard of, but rarely saw. They have been called the "Boogeymen of The Bronx."
The Ducky Boys main turf encompassed Norwood, Bronx, the New York Botanical Garden and Bronx Park near French Charlie's field, specifically the Balcony at E 204th off Webster Avenue, The Tunnels (under Theodore Kazimiroff Blvd.) Twin Lakes (The Ducky, aka Duck Pond), and PS 46 schoolyard.
The Ducky Boys were notorious in the area of the "Duck" Pond (Twin Lakes in Botanical Gardens) in the early '60s to their eventual fading out circa 1972. Many of the members went on to the Vietnam War or were drafted, between 1965 and 1968.
There were a few things people found out about the Ducky Boys. They were experts with slingshots. Cats Eye was their brand of shot and there were a lot of them. One thing The Wanderers got right was that when they fought, they were usually in huge numbers.
In August 2010, the book Lost Boys of The Bronx - The Oral History of the Ducky Boys Gang was published by James Hannon telling the story of the Ducky Boys Gang using interviews with the former gang members and neighborhood residents of the time.
On November 1, 2011, Ace Frehley, guitarist for the rock group Kiss, published an autobiography titled "No Regrets" in which he recounts his initiation and involvement with the Ducky Boys in his youth.
Famous quotes containing the words boys and/or gang:
“He turns agen and drives the noisy crowd
And beats the dogs in noises loud.
He drives away and beats them every one,
And then they loose them all and set them on.
He falls as dead and kicked by boys and men,
Then starts and grins and drives the crowd agen;
Till kicked and torn and beaten out he lies
And leaves his hold and cackles, groans, and dies.”
—John Clare (1793–1864)
“What lies behind facts like these: that so recently one could not have said Scott was not perfect without earning at least sorrowful disapproval; that a year after the Gang of Four were perfect, they were villains; that in the fifties in the United States a nothing-man called McCarthy was able to intimidate and terrorise sane and sensible people, but that in the sixties young people summoned before similar committees simply laughed.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)