The tweed ring
In the late 1840’s, the man named William Tweed rose to the eyes of the public by being a volunteer fireman. From an inconsecutive beginning, Tweed worked his way up slowly and securely. Later that century, he became an elected official for the city council for New York in 1852. In 1854, Tweed was elected into the U.S House of Representatives. Even though he was a rep. in the house, his main concern was local and state concerns. He remained active in Tammany hall witch was a powerful democratic organization. He was the leader so he had plenty of power to spare.
Tweed gathered a multitude of men that controlled the city’s finances. They gave jobs and dispensed contacts for political power and bribing power. These men he gathered depleted 30-200 million into personal accounts. No historian could say how much was actually depleted.
One of Tweed’s men John T. Hoffman was inaugurated into governorship of New York. Because tweed had so many ties, he controlled the police, the court houses and most of the newspapers in New York. Even though he was a democrat, he put minimalisations on the republican’s salaries.
Even though Tweed was also a leader of Tammany hall, the two organizations didn’t see eye to eye. Tweed won an important victory in the state legislature in 1870 when a new city charter was approved. This change vastly increased the power of Tweed's small group as they acquiesced billings for city work that was never performed, concocted phony legal agreements and a variety of kickback schemes. How he kept up with the times and reconstructions was a mystery. Popular support of the Ring was maintained with charity and other gifts to the voters.
Tweed was prosecuted and was sent to prison for forgery and larceny. He was sentenced for 12 years but surprising enough, he was released after just one year then arrested for another charge. He escaped the next prison he was sent to and fled to Cuba. He was arrested and...