From 1850-1870 William Megear “Boss” Tweed was the iconic corruption for the government. His rise in politics resulted in the shift in traditional structure of the government from the hands of the rich to the aspirant minds of the poor with hopes of achieving status and power.
Throughout his involvement in Tammany Hall, he gained many political footholds as he was appointed on to many committees and boards. In 1858” Boss” Tweed was admitted to the New York County Board of Supervisors. As that was going he was slowly working his way up to be named “Boss” Tweed. He also was running the “Tweed Ring”
In 1854 Fernando Wood became the first Tammany Democrat mayor of the City. 1860 William March Tweed became chairman of the New York county Democratic Party and the leader (called the Grand Sachem) of the Tammany club. For the next seventy years (until the 1934 mayoral victory of Fiorello La Guardia) the anti-machine reformers only held the mayor's office and control of the City for a total of ten years. Given the present day infamy of the "Tweed" identity to disgrace it is curious that the "rascals took so long to be thrown out."
In 1848 he volunteered on Fire Company known as the big 6. "Big Six" was the name of the Americus fire truck used by Boss William Tweed and his Tammany Hall gang. There were at least 70 members in the big 6. November 1869, New York Times stated that the Fire Department, once remanded to the keeping of the demagogues, and used for the perpetration of political crimes rather than for extinguishing conflagrations, will revive those days of "Big Six" which our citizens have imagined was impossible.
He committed criminal crimes such as graft, bribery, embezzlement, and influencing elections. The “political machine” was exposed by cartoonist, Thomas Nast, who depicted Tweed as a money-hungry criminal. This increased Tweed’s unpopularity and revealed the real corruption behind his position, ultimately leading to his arrest and capture.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50714FC3B5911738DDDAF0994DE405B8585F0D3
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