History

The Dead Rabbits were an Irish gang that ruled the streets of lower Manhattan (including where the bar now stands) in the mid 1800’s. Ostensibly formed to protect the immigrant Irish underclass they came from against the nativist Bowery Boys, they were also a criminal organization with extensive connections in New York politics. The famous showdown between the Rabbits, led by John Morrissey, and the Bowery Boys’ Bill ‘the butcher’ Poole, formed the basis of the Scorsese film Gangs of New York. The Dead Rabbit bar is a testament to the strength, perseverance and tenacity of the Irish immigrants who came before us.