William H. Tweed was born on April 23, 1823, in Manhattan. He left school when he was 11 to learn how to make chairs. After the election of 1869, Tweed took over the government of New York. This allowed him to carry out wholesale corruption. Once, he bought 300 benches for $5 apiece and sold them to the city for $600.
A cartoonist named Thomas Nast began a campaign to expose Tweed. Nast was offered $500,000 to end his campaign, which was 100 times more than his salary. Nast still refused to back down. One New York County ledger book showed that Tweed was charging $7,500 for thermometers and brooms for $41,190 apiece.
William Tweed was a completely corrupt man, who lead a corrupt organization of politicians in the city. In the end, Boss Tweed was arrested and convicted of 120 counts of extortion, among other things, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. It's estimated that he had made $200,000,000 from his activities. He used his wealth and power to escape prison. He was later arrested and died in prison in 1878.
Sources:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAtweed.htm
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