Besides street-fighting, the Dead Rabbits supported politicians such as Fernando Wood and the Tammany Hall machine, whose platforms included the welfare and benefit of immigrant groups and minorities, and under the leadership of Isaiah Rynders the gang acted as enforcers to violently persuade voters during elections to vote for their candidates.

[3][10] According to legend, one of the most feared Dead Rabbits was "Hell-Cat Maggie", a woman who reportedly filed her teeth to points and wore brass fingernails into battle.

[14] American historian Tyler Anbinder claims that there is no evidence of a Dead Rabbits gang existing at all, and that the alleged organization was in fact a misnomer for the Roach Guards.

Chorus The new Police did join the Bowery boys in line, With orders strict and right accordin; Bullets, clubs and bricks did fly, and many groan and die, Hard road to travel over Jordan.

Chorus Upon the following day they had another fray, The Black Birds and Dead Rabbits accordin; The soldiers were call'd out, to quell the mighty riot, And drove them on the other side of Jordan.

In the 2014 film, Winter's Tale, the Dead Rabbits and the Short Tails are featured prominently; a similar theme pervades Mark Helprin 1983 novel of the same name.