2. Pell Street
Like many of the streets around the area, Pell Street was dominated by immigrant populations over the years. While at first a part of the once larger Little Italy, Pell Street was flooded with Chinese immigrants, most of them male due to the strict immigration laws in the early 20th century. It fell upon the tongs, or secretive organizations and sworn brothers not unlike modern gangs, to import and distribute women to the communities. No, that is not a joke. Much of the violence observed in the Five Points during this period was between rival tongs fighting over women. The tongs would normally hire those who were known as hatchet men to carry out these bloody altercations right in the streets. Which leads to…