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WILLIAM MARCY ("Boss") TWEED, 300 lbs. of political corruption. Son of an Irish chairmaker, Tweed got into politics as the nose-busting foreman of the Americus, or Big Six, volunteer fire company. On the dashboard of the Big Six engine a tiger's head was painted, and it was later used by Cartoonist Thomas Nast as the symbol (see cover) for Tammany and its voracious Boss Tweed. Elected to public office, Tweed was a member of the Board of Aldermen, known widely (and correctly) as "The Forty Thieves." In 1863 Tweed won control of Tammany from Fernando Wood.
Around Tweed in Tammany Hall revolved the infamous Tweed Ring. Among the other ringleaders: City Chamberlain Peter ("Brains") Sweeny, whose mistress was a masseuse in a Turkish bath; City Comptroller Richard ("Slippery Dick") Connolly, and Mayor Abraham Oakey ("Elegant Oakey") Hall, who wrote a play called Let Me Kiss Him For His Mother, and who, while District Attorney, gave a dramatic reading titled Dido versus Aeneas, an ancient breach of promise trial.
With a vast diamond glittering from his shirt front, Boss Tweed lived in the grand manner. The value of gifts, e.g., 40 sets of sterling silver, at his daughter's wedding was estimated at $700,000. Tweed gave lavishly to charity: once, when approached by a ward leader for a donation to the poor, Tweed wrote a check for $5,000. "Oh Boss," said the ward heeler, half jokingly, "put another naught to it." "Well, well, here goes," said Tweed, and upped the ante to $50,000.
After eight years in power, Tweed finally fell—and fell hard. His reign was exposed, and he was eventually sentenced to a year in jail for forgery, grand larceny and conspiracy. Later, a $6,000,000 civil judgment was returned against him. When asked his occupation for the jail records, Tweed replied: "Statesman." With official connivance, Tweed escaped from the Ludlow Street Jail and fled to Spain, where authorities recognized him from a Thomas Nast cartoon and arrested him as the kidnaper of two American children. Reason: the cartoon had shown Tweed clutching two symbolic ragamuffins. Tweed was returned to the U.S. and died in jail.
JOHN ("HONEST JOHN") KELLY. While the Tweed Ring was crumbling, John Kelly, onetime soapstone cutter grown to influence in Tammany, wisely absented himself from the scene; he went off to inspect the Holy Land. Upon the Ring's breakup, Kelly hastened back to the U.S. with four oil paintings, including The Return of the Prodigal Son, which he presented to St. Patrick's Cathedral. He took over as Boss of Tammany, ruled for 14 years with relative rectitude, and died of a broken heart after his political enemy, Grover Cleveland, became President.
RICHARD CROKER, born in County Cork, Ireland, the son of Eyre Coote Croker. As a youth in New York, Dick Croker was leader of the Fourth Avenue Tunnel Gang, was the most feared brawler in town. At 22, Croker voted 17 times one day for a Democratic candidate for constable. Such an enterprising fellow was bound to become Tammany's leader.