NYC Gangsters and Ghosts Tours — Local services in New York

Mel and I took this tour on the first night of a whirlwind weekend in NYC, and it set a high bar for enjoyment for the rest of the weekend. The experience was overwhelmingly positive from start to finish--our tour guide, Rose, arrived early at our meeting spot at the benches on the corner of Mulberry and Worth (in front of Columbia Park) and once the rest of the scheduled group (just 6 people total) arrived, we were off! The tour begins in Chinatown, where Rose shares detailed stories about the days of rival Tong gangs, attacks and assassinations near the infamous "Bloody Angle", and how the years and increased economic prosperity transformed the Tongs into the benevolent associations they are today. From there, she led us to Little Italy and regaled us with facts and lore about the 5 crime families that once dominated life in the neighborhood. She took us to what was once the Ravenite Social Club, the favored meeting spot of the Gambino Crime Family, and told us of the rise and fall of such Mafia luminaries as Paul Kelly, the true father of organized crime in Little Italy, Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano, and, of course, John Giotti. She also walked us past the Mulberry Street Cigar Bar, a neighborhood bar now famous for the many movies and TV shows shot on location there, including "The Sopranos" and "Law & Order: SVU." She pointed out longtime bartender Larry as we walked past and recommended we stop in for a drink after the tour, which we did the very next night, the night of Super Bowl LVIII. The recommendation turned out to be another reason why we enjoyed Rose's tour so much. Finally, we got to the spooky portion of the tour. Rose took us past the old Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the Merchant House museum, perhaps the most haunted house in Manhattan, and the Brown Building of NYU, which was the site of the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911 that changed fire codes in the city forever, and finally Washington Square park, which has so many reasons to be spooky that I won't give away here. Through it all, we would have never known that we were Rose's third tour of the day, with all the energy she brought to her delivery of her stories and information and the warmth she projected as we merrily strolled the streets she clearly loves. She brought her best for us on a chilly night, and we couldn't have been more grateful for her efforts. Thanks, Rose, and thank you...

After visiting Hot Springs AK back in 2020, I've had a bit of an obsession with mob history. Gangs of New York has long been a favorite movie of mine too, so when I heard about this tour, right away my wife and I bought tickets for our upcoming trip to Manhattan. We were not disappointed!

The meetup location was a bit confusing between Maps getting us turned around on foot, as well as there being an unrelated tour group at the same spot. Once we got that part figured out, we got right to it though.

Seth was a super friendly guide, and did a wonderful job watching our "aloof-tourist" backs in busy areas, meanwhile blowing our minds with his thoroughly-detailed history facts along the way. If you're a history nerd like myself - to hear about these famous events and locations is one thing, but to actually see, firsthand, a place like The Five Points, or where "Crazy Joey" Gallo was gunned down in the street in Little Italy, or where the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire occurred - was super surreal and gratifying, and I could not recommend the tour enough, whether you believe in ghosts or not, and whether you're from NY or not.

Thank you for the experience Seth and Co, from Aaron and...

I think it's fair to say that people who showed interest to this type of tour "enjoy" the gore side of the storytelling. So it is always important to bring the photos and multimedia to bring the audiences in.

The China Town portion was very light touch and unexciting, and it's a shame cause I am Taiwanese and it's connected to my heritage.

The Little Italy portion was great, but all the names were confusing (names were confusing for the China Town as well, but there is no way around it, at least nothing I can think of) all of their names sound the same, the successors and who killed whom were intricate.

It's such a missing opportunity NOT to show the photos of the NYU fire, the mafia and his youtube channel, compare the mafia or China Towns across the state and why NYC is the best! The writer who lived in the hunted house, Mark Twain's manuscript, the police reports, scenes from the TV shows, the before/after photos of the Washington Park...etc.

But I need to point out that the tour guide was friendly and willing to answer...