The Big Five gang

Organized by two brothers, Bill and Bob Christian, natives of Texas. From a young age, the criminal couple had been stealing cattle in New Mexico and Oklahoma. In the late 1880s, they organized a gang, which they called the "High Fives Gang", according to one version in honor of the gaining popularity of the card game, or maybe because the gang was 5 people.

The recognized leader of the gang was Bill Christian, by the age of 20, who earned the reputation and the sonorous nickname "Black Jack", either for his dark character or for his swarthy skin color. Particularly because of this, the deeds of the High Five gang were often confused with the gang crimes of another gangster, "Black Jack" Ketchum.

In 1895, while the two brothers were in Guthrie, Oklahoma , they shot and killed a policeman and were arrested, but managed to escape with the help of their gang and fled to Arizona Territory. In 1896, the gang learned that a large cattleman would be making a transaction at the "International Bank" of Nogales, Arizona for between $10,000 and $30,000.

The robbery went awry and one of the bandits was wounded by a bank clerk. During the escape all the money taken was abandoned at the scene of the crime, after the escape the gang split up, two went east (Black Jack and Musgrave) and three (Bob Christian, Bob Hayes and Code Young) moved to the Mexican border.

The gang was followed by 2 chases, one of which, led by Sheriff Leatherwood, was ambushed in the famous Skeleton Canyon. This time all members of the gang managed to escape unharmed.

In 1897, the gang got together again and returned to Arizona. After a series of stagecoach attacks, they gathered at a hideout under an overhanging rock in the canyon that today bears the name Black Jack. The hideout proved to be a trap, the gang was tracked down and 4 of its 5 members eliminated, including Bill "Black Jack" Christian himself.

The Bummers

The site of their activities was the mining community of Auraria, now part of Denver. The "bums" usually engaged in petty theft and amused themselves with acts of vandalism, taking advantage of the lack of official authority in the unorganized Colorado Territory. After drinking the stolen goods, they became obsessive and bullying, and in a drunken frenzy they would fire their guns into the air, scaring law-abiding citizens.

Eventually, the Slackers went too far and infringed on an American holy thing - the Christmas turkey!!! During the Christmas celebration of 1859, these Wild West goons stole a wagon full of wild turkeys destined for Christmas dinners, causing the colorfully named "Turkey War."

The townspeople had had enough of the antics of this skank and put together a vigilante squad. The two factions clashed in the streets of Auraria. One "bum" was killed by a blow to the head with a rifle butt and several others were quickly lynched. The remaining gang members were given a warning and they left the city.

Sydney Ducks

A criminal gang operating during the California gold rush in San Francisco. They were mainly composed of emigrants who came to California from Australia, then a British colony and place of exile for convicts, hence their name.

The gang consisted of harbor workers, boatmen, laundresses, bartenders and prostitutes. They set up their lair at the foot of Telegraph Hill and it became known as Sidney Town. From 1849 to 1851 "Ducks" six times set fire to the central part of San Francisco to distract the attention of citizens, and themselves under the noise to engage in robbery of wealthy buildings. They chose a time when the southeast winds were blowing, so that the flames of the fire did not spread to their refuge in Sidney-town.

In 1851 the patience of the citizens ran out and California's first "Vigilance Committee" was organized. Two of the Sidney Ducks, Samuel Whittaker and Robert McKenzie, were captured, charged with robbery, murder, and arson. After a short trial, they were hanged by a mob. This so frightened the rest of the Ducks that within two weeks they had all but abandoned the town.

Seven Rivers Warriors

"The Warriors" were a gang of cattle ranchers that consisted mostly of small rancheros from the Semirchia region of southeastern Lincoln County, New Mexico. In the 1870s, wealthy cattle rancher John Chisum and his huge herds, had swept up almost all the open space suitable for grazing cows.

It was through such actions that the ranchers became "testy" toward Chisum and formed a band of Seven Warriors to steal Chisum's cattle and generally make life difficult for the old cow baron.

During the Lincoln County War (1877-1878), the Warriors fought over the Murphy-Dolan gang because of the fact that those opposing them, Tunstall and McSween, were Chisum's business partners. After the war ended, the Warriors began feuding with each other, and the gang broke up shortly thereafter.

Soap Gang

This gang operated in the Klondike gold fields in Alaska. The gold rush brought not only adventurers, but crooks of all stripes to the Arctic. One of them was Jefferson "Soapy " Smith(Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II ). His nickname was earned by one of his very first scams with a prank soap, behind the wrapper of which was a large bill.

In 1897 and 1898 in the town of Skagway on the coast of Alaska (the starting point to the Chilkoot Pass to the Klondike) worked a gang of more than 100 people. The gang was led by "Soapy" Smith, from whom they got their name. The gang ran gambling dens with stolen cards, operated freight companies that transported nothing, and telegraph companies that had no telegraphic communication.

During the Spanish-American War, he played the patriotism card and formed the "Skagway Volunteer Company," which of course never went to any war, but was used to bolster Soapy's influence.

On July 8, 1898, after another gross fraud on a prospector, members of the Committee of Vigilance gathered at the Juneau wharf to decide how to oust the brazen criminal mastermind. Soapy decided to force the issue and showed up at the meeting with a Winchester rifle on his shoulder. He got into an argument with Frank H. Reid, one of the four guards blocking his path to the wharf. The shootout, known as the Juneau Wharf Shootout, ended in the deaths of both men. The rest of the gang soon dispersed.