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It is a story about outlaws of that time, centering around the conflict between the "native" criminal underworld associated with the [[Know-Nothing movement|Know-Nothings]] and immigrant gangs controlled by [[Tammany Hall]]. Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) is a young Irish-American who gains the trust of William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Day-Lewis), leader of the Nativist gangs. The character of Cutting is based on ''[[Bill The Butcher Poole]]'', a real-life leader of the [[Bowery Boys (gang)|Bowery Boys]] gang who is buried in the [[Green-Wood Cemetery]] in [[Brooklyn, New York]].
The opening of the film takes place in 1846, but most of the action takes place in the early [[1860s]], a period when the two principal controversies in New York were the great wave of Irish immigration to the city, and the federal government's prosecution of the [[American Civil War]]. The story follows the careers of Amsterdam and Cutting as they rise from crime bosses to political kingmakers during the reign of [[Boss Tweed]] (Broadbent), and culminates with a confrontation between them that coincides with the [[New York Draft Riots]] of 1863.
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