Boss Tweed

Kenneth Ackerman talked about his book Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York, published by Carroll and Graf. William Tweed, also known as Boss Tweed, led a major criminal operation that held near absolute power in New York City during the 1870s. According to Ackerman, Mr. Tweed was a legendary figure and a master manipulator who stole $45 million in public funds, bribed the state legislature and fixed elections. Mr. Tweed was labeled by Mr. Ackerman as the biggest criminal boss in New York, who wielded astonishing control over New York politics and public funds. Boss Tweed was toppled in a popular uprising led by The New York Times and Harper’s Weekly artist Thomas Nast. Mr. Ackerman was joined by Pete Hamill, author of Downtown: My Manhattan, published by Little, Brown, and by former Mayor Ed Koch to talk about Mr. Tweed’s life and to explain why he remained so influential and powerful despite his criminal history. close