Mid 20th Century New York City

New York during the Mid 20th century was becoming more closer to what it is today. During the early parts of the 20th century, immigration from the western part of Europe slowed down but increased from the other parts of the world. This resulted in the creation of ghettos and gangs that operated in specific parts of the city. Such groups were a common source of conflict and tension during that time period. Piri Thomas in his memoir Down These Mean Streets mentions of the various ghetto groups that were living separated by their origin. Although this was a more younger group of kids, tension between the people from different parts of the world existed even then.

Along with the teenage Ghetto, Mafias were also an occurrence in the docks of the City. Martin Scorcese in his film Mean Streets and Elia Kazan in his movie On the Waterfront showed this through making such groups a primary source of conflict in their films. Nevertheless, the idea of a “ghetto” illustrated this idea of having power in the city. Different groups wanted to show superiority and tried to maintain it within their hands no matter what it took.