# Has there ever been a de facto 'King of New York City'

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-de-facto-king-of-new-york-city/729225>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 28, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-de-facto-king-of-new-york-city/729225 "2015-08-28T22:17:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-de-facto-king-of-new-york-city/729225/21 "2015-08-31T19:11:06Z")

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I’m familiar with Moses. (Bob, that is, and his reign of… concrete.) I just don’t think he qualifies as “King of NYC” in quite the same way as Tweed and other bosses.

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**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\
**Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-there-ever-been-a-de-facto-king-of-new-york-city/729225/22 "2015-08-31T19:30:36Z")

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> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#):
>
> I’m familiar with Moses. (Bob, that is, and his reign of… concrete.) I just don’t think he qualifies as “King of NYC” in quite the same way as Tweed and other bosses.

He was more powerful than mayors because he didn’t need to win elections, wasn’t answerable to anyone and had his own access to money outside of government channels. He was the one who could get projects done. He was maybe the most fascinating man in American public life and perhaps its most egotistical.

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