What was crime like in the early and late 1800's?

Question

How would you describe the crime ratings in the late and early 1800's. For instance, was there a huge police squad or was there a shortage of of police.

Answer 1

Throughout the 1800's, Americans were fascinated with gangs and gangsters. The James Gang, Billy the Kid and other outlaws, legend has it, ruled the Wild West. As the late 1800's roared in, the new generation of gangs and gangsters was created out of the new immigrants. Irish gangs like the Whyos, Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies, and Jewish gangs like the Monk Eastman Gang terrorized New York City streets. The most notorious gang during this era formed in New York City during the late 1890's and early 1900's. This gang, called the Five Points Gang, because of its home turf being situated in the Five Points (Bowery) Section of Lower Manhattan, would change the mold of the American outlaw forever.

The Five Points Gang, led by Italian immigrant, Paolo Antonini Vaccarelli, also known as Paul Kelly and his second in command, Johnny Torrio, was the most significant street gang to form in the United States, ever! Johnny Torrio, who became a significant member of the Sicilian Mafia (La Cosa Nostra) recruited street hoodlums from across New York City to the Five Points Gang. The Five Points Gang became the Major League to many young street gangsters and a farm club for the Mafia. The most notorious recruit into the Five Points Gang was a teenaged boy of Italian descent who was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1899 to immigrant parents. His name was Alphonse Capone, better known as Scarface. He became a member of the James Street Gang, which was a minor league of sort, to the Five Pointers. One of Capone's childhood friends, and fellow member of the Five Points Gang, was another street thug named Lucky Luciano.

In 1919, while being sought by authorities in connection with a gangland murder in New York, Al "Scarface" Capone moved to Chicago when summoned by Johnny Torrio. Torrio needed his assistance in maintaining control of Chicagoland mob territories. Al Capone, eventually became the most violent and prolific gangster in Chicago, if not, the United States, law enforcement has ever experienced. The Al Capone style of gangster has molded the American gangster experience. As will be illustrated later, it is alive today in our street gangs from a variety of backgrounds and races.

Answer 2

The headlines were as bad as today, and even more poetic.

Yesterday, my mother showed me a 1918 paper about how Atlanta, second in murder rate in the country, was passing laws to get tough on people selling illegal liquor and toting pistols with impunity. All the same stuff you hear today, except that it had a little more of a Christian and racist slant to it.

Not exactly what you were looking for, but truthfully I think you could do a ten page article on the subject if you dove deep into the research.

Answer 3

Things were the same as now. The ratios are the same.
Only the crimes were indicative of the period.