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Episode 183

William Poole ~ The Butcher of the Five Points

New York City, March 8th 1855. The streets of Lower Manhattan are a battleground of politics, power, and blood. At the heart of it all is William Poole—a gang leader, a prizefighter, a political enforcer, and a man whose very name struck fear into his enemies.That man is about to draw his last.

Born into a butcher’s family, Poole carved out his own empire, not with a cleaver but with his fists and his ruthless ambition. As leader of the Bowery Boys, he was a fierce advocate for the Know-Nothing Party, a group that thrived on nativist fear and anti-immigrant violence. He terrorized his rivals, clashed with the notorious Dead Rabbits, and made enemies in the city’s most dangerous circles. But in the end, it wasn’t the streets that took him down—it was a bullet.

Who was William Poole? A patriot? A villain? Or just another product of a city where survival meant being the meanest man in the room?

This is the story of William Poole—the Butcher of the Five Points.

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