Fascinating read. I had assumed the the film was just the usual Hollywood exageration. Not so. The truth is even more violent & seedy. Bill the Butcher, ears in a pickle jar etc. all true!
Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury 1927 ISBN 0 09 943674 4
Fascinating read? Maybe.
All true? 'fraid not.
I’ll have to agree with both parts. Fascinating. A bit loose with the truth. Take a look at when it was published, though. During the 20s, when people were fascinated with Capone’s gangs. It holds to the spirit of that era as much as anything… people wanted mythology then.
On the other hand, some places, you can still see scars in the buildings from when they shelled 7th avenue in the draft riots. Most of them are gone, now, but there are still a few. Before the 90s, you could see more. Surprised my dad, he says, after he came here from 'Nam, because he knew what shrapnel damage looked like, and he never knew how NYC got it.
I loved the movie! One of my all-time favorites. You definitely have to take Herbert Asbury’s work with a grain of salt. But, it was the inspiration behind the film, which in turn has reignited interest in the history. That’s a good thing.
After seeing the film, I read Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World’s Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder. Pfew! Long title. Great book. 
Anyhoo…
I read the book a couple months ago and kept thinking * Doesn’t anyone live for more than three pages?*
Can you back that up? Asbury’s book was published in 1927, and some of the events described were only a few decades old. Why should we be particularly skeptical regarding his work, as compared to any other writer of recent history?
The movie was based on historical events; it just didn’t portray them all that accurately. There were gangs and they had fights. The film’s depiction of ships bombarding New York never happened, although the draft riots were very real.