William+“Boss”+Tweed


 * William "Boss" Tweed was born on April 3, 1823 in New York, New York. William Tweed attended public school and accquired chairmaking as a trade. He held numerous jobs including being a chairmaker, a bookkeeper, a member of father's brush-man firm, and a volunteer fireman. He became a politican to New York city in 1851 and rose quickly through the ranks as a corrupt politican. William Tweed built his power in Tammany Hall by appointing and electing his friends to power known as the Tweed Ring. He was a member of Congress from 1853 until 1855 and a senator from 1867 until 1871. The downfall of Tweed and the Tweed ring was directly related to the publication in the New York //Times// of evidence of wholesale graft by M.J. O'Rourke, a new county bookkeeper. Tweed was chief commissioner of public works before being charged and tried on charges of forgery and larceny realting to the Tweed Ring and in 1873. He was condemned to twelve years imprisonment for stealing $30-$200 million from the New York City Government. He was released but then rearrested on a civil charge and was imprisoned. He escaped from prison where he fled to Spain, but was sent back to the USA where he was imprisoned, once again in Ludlow Street prison where he died of yellow fever on December 2, 1902.**