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Many cities and times have seen active gangs and gang members congregating and controlling territory, however in the 1950s and 60s the youth gangs in the Bronx, New York, emerged with a particular notoriety.
Mid twentieth-century Bronx gangs
Gangs of the Bronx included
- the Fordham Baldies
- the Fordham Flames
- the Golden Guineas (a predominantly Italian American gang)
- the Villa Avenue Gang
- the Bailey Gang
In popular culture
- Richard Price's novel The Wanderers and movie of the same name starring young Ken Wahl and Karen Allen document early Bronx gangs. Much of the film was shot in the neighborhoods depicted, including the residential neighborhoods, the armed forces recruiting center on the Fordham Road overpass above the Grand Concourse, and Krum's ice cream parlor 100 yards/meters south on the Grand Concourse. Although the movie's heroes, The Wanderers were fictitious, the movie's villains were explicitly named The Fordham Baldies.
- A Bronx Tale depicts gang activities in the Belmont "Little Italy" section of the Bronx
- Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets is set in Manhattan, but has similar sensibilities.
- James Hannon is currently working on a documentary series on Bronx Gangs of 1950s & 1960s. The first in the series will be about the Ducky Boys Gang -- A real gang that was portrayed in the fictional movie The Wanderers. This documentary is slated to be released in early 2008. The 2nd in the series after that will be the Fordham Baldies.
Trivia
Rumors often swept Bronx high schools in the 1950s and 1960s that "the Baldies were coming" to confront the student body, at the generally docile Bronx High School of Science and the more macho, all-male DeWitt Clinton High School. Such rumors would often bring along a large police presence, and long disruptions.
The Fordham Baldies were reputed to shave the heads, and other body parts, of those they caught.
External links
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