In New York’s Golden Age of the 1860s and 1870s, no one wielded more political power than William Magear Tweed. Known to both his fans and his fiercest critics as “Boss Tweed”, the former firefighter rose through the ranks of the New York Democratic Party to pull the levers of the powerful political machine known as the Tammany Hall.
Boss Tweed and his corrupt ‘Tweed Ring’ of city officials embezzled millions from bloated public works projects like a lavish new courthouse that cost nearly $15 million to build, including $9 million in bribes for Tweed and his cronies.
