For the most part, the Irish Gangs were not particularly like those shown in the movie. They did not spend their time fighting with gangs of “natives” who were trying to run them out of town. They actually spend most of their time fighting each other. What the movie does show well is the anti-Irish sentiment of the “natives.” Indeed, life was more difficult for and Irishman than it was for and African American in New York. The hatred of the Catholic Irish made their economic situation very tough, jobs were hard to come by as they were usually given to people of other backgrounds. Most of the businesses were owned by the anti-Irish “natives,” who had been in the city for years and could easily deny an Irishman a job if he so chose. Thus, the intentions behind most of the Irish Gangs were economic. A gang would control a specific area and thus control all the employment in that area. The gangs were frequently groups of men who had no jobs or men who helped those who had none. The Irish Gangs would try to force employers to give them work. However, do to the lack of available jobs, Irish Gangs were always fighting each other. There were many gangs, each with Irish from a different neighborhood. They would fight each other for the limited jobs available. In addition to this fighting for employment, there was also a lot of hatred between the Irish of different neighborhoods. For the most part, there was great deal of hostility between the Irish of the northern neighborhoods and those of the southern neighborhoods.