So there were 60k gang members to 20k police. Did he honestly think that the nypd wouldn't have gotten help from surrounding agencies or even the NY National Guard who had a lot more men and weapons?
That is how it would work in our world today, but the movie is set sometime unknown time in the future. Not exactly Star Wars, but that one little neat CYA move gives the writers some cover to go where they want.
shareAnd did he really think the mafia wouldn't waste him ?
shareWhile the Commission (the Mafia's High Command) might have supported street gangs to some extent, there was no way that they would have accepted, even theoretically, all 60K _known_ gang members unifying under a single banner/colors/leader with whom they would have had to negotiate. For one, the mafiosi would have been woefully outnumbered, if not also outgunned and out-financed. Second, the Mafia would have had to become visible in the face of a highly-visible enemy, one which on paper represented more of an inclusive American ideal than their Italian-only insularity and which would have appealed to more people while simultaneously more chaotic and counter-cultural.
While people assume that this film is set in some near-future dystopia, New York in reality was very similar to this during the 1970s and into the 1980s (minus the Baseball Furies or the Lizzies, of course.) For many New Yorkers, the influence of the Mafia and, in poorer parts, that of the gangs allowed for life to go on with relative order. New York was a cesspool in those days and it was not until Giuliani that crime really dropped off and New York became a much safer place.
So there were 60k gang members to 20k police. Did he honestly think that the nypd wouldn't have gotten help from surrounding agencies or even the NY National Guard who had a lot more men and weapons?
It is hard to imagine so many street gangs maintaining a truce and working together. A lot of these gangs members are very young, impulsive and abuse drugs. They don't seem stable. If a gang coalition could run a city then every bunch of losers like The Orphans would come out of the woodwork looking for a piece of the action.
Cyrus said there were 20,000 cops in New York. That was fairly accurate. But that 20,000 was just NYPD. There are also county, state and federal police. And as mentioned previously there is the National Guard for times of emergency. I think park rangers and others can be deputized and armed in times of emergency. And I think New York also has auxiliary police as backup.
The Mafia had a lot of power. Outlaw motorcycle gangs have become powerful in some parts of the country. I am unsure about New York. They were not seen in "The Warriors", but that doesn't mean they weren't included in Cyrus' plan. It is easy to imagine the '70s NYPD looking the other way and letting the Mafia and/or outlaw motorcycle gangs take care of some street gangs.