The Blackwell’s Island Penitentiary was built on this site in 1832. It imprisoned Tammany Hall legend Boss Tweed, for funding himself instead of the city’s infrastructure, and actress Mae West, for her indecent role in her ’20s Broadway play Sex. By the 1930s, the penitentiary was an infamous site for gang and Mafia racketeering. In 1935 it was torn down and relocated to Riker’s Island.
