Thrasher's famous Prohibition-era map showing the gangs of Chicago. Three years of study and analysis led to the conclusion that there were no fewer than 1,313 different gangs in the city.



Thrasher was an academic at the University of Chicago and used this map to differentiate between the gangs, mainly along ethnic and religious lines. Thus we have areas marked as "Jewish, Negro, Polish, Lithuanian and Italian". There are even several sections labelled as "Cosmopolitan". The map also notes which gangs owned clubhouses.



This is an extraordinary piece of social mapping on a subject which by its very nature is extremely sensitive. In fact, it is one of the very first maps to focus on criminal activity.



Printed colour. [USA10025]