Paul Kelly was an American mobster and former boxer, who founded the Five Points Gang in New York City. He had started some brothels with prize money earned in boxing. Five Points Gang was one of the first dominant street gangs in New York history. Kelly recruited young, poor men from the ethnically diverse immigrant neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan. The Five Points Gang included some who later became prominent criminals in their own right, including Johnny Torrio, Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Frankie Yale.
Paul Kelly in early 1900s
The New Brighton/Little Naples Cafe, main clubhouse of Kelly's Five Points Gang
Paul Kelly (right) and his henchman Jack McManus (left) at the Kelly's dive bar "New Brighton"
Paul Kelly, illustration by William Oberhardt, 1909
The Five Points Gang was a criminal street gang of primarily Irish-American origins, based in the Five Points of Lower Manhattan, New York City, during the late 19th and early 20th century.
Members of the Five Points Gang of New York City
Paul Kelly, founder of the Five Points Gang
A slum tour through the Five Points in an 1885 sketch
Biff Ellison, a former member and would-be leader of the Five Points Gang.