Kansas City, Missouri

===Crime===
[[File:Police Respond to Shooting.jpg|thumb|Police respond to a shooting in the [[Crossroads, Kansas City|Crossroads]] area during the early hours of New Year's Day 2016.]]

Some of the earliest organized violence in Kansas City erupted during the [[American Civil War]]. Shortly after the city's incorporation in 1850, so-called [[Bleeding Kansas]] erupted, affecting [[border ruffians]] and [[Jayhawkers]]. During the war, Union troops [[General Order № 11 (1863)|burned all occupied dwellings]] in Jackson County south of Brush Creek and east of Blue Creek to Independence in an attempt to halt raids into Kansas. After the war, the ''[[Kansas City Times]]'' turned outlaw [[Jesse James]] into a folk hero via its coverage. James was born in the Kansas City metro area at [[Kearney, Missouri]], and notoriously robbed the Kansas City Fairgrounds at 12th Street and Campbell Avenue.

In the early 20th century under Pendergast, Kansas City became the country's "most wide open town". Though this gave rise to [[Kansas City Jazz]], and also led to the rise of the [[Kansas City crime family|Kansas City mob]] (initially under [[Johnny Lazia]]), and the arrival of [[organized crime]]. In the 1970s, the Kansas City mob was involved in a gang war over control of the [[River Quay]] entertainment district, in which three buildings were bombed and several gangsters were killed. Police investigations gained after boss [[Nick Civella]] was recorded discussing gambling bets on [[Super Bowl IV]] (where the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings). The war and investigation led to the end of mob control of the [[Stardust Casino]], which was the basis for the film ''[[Casino (film)|Casino]]'', though the production minimizes the Kansas City connections.

{{As of|November 2012}}, Kansas City [[United States cities by crime rate|ranked 18th]] on the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI)'s annual survey of crime rates for cities with populations over 100,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2013/02/01/fbi-violent-crime-drops-in-kansas.html |title=FBI: Violent crime drops in Kansas City for first half of 2012 |work=Kansas City Business Journal |date=February 1, 2013 |access-date=July 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730054734/http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2013/02/01/fbi-violent-crime-drops-in-kansas.html |archive-date=July 30, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> Much of the city's violent crime occurs on the city's lower income East Side. Revitalizing the downtown and midtown areas has been fairly successful and now these areas have below average violent crime compared to other major downtowns.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thinkdowntownkc.com/happening/happening.htm |title=Powered prohibited Mirror |work=thinkdowntownkc.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222050510/http://www.thinkdowntownkc.com/happening/happening.htm |archive-date=December 22, 2008 }}</ref>{{irrelevant citation|date=June 2019|reason=Link does not corroborate claim, but instead links to an article about money spent on development.}} According to a 2007 analysis by ''[[The Kansas City Star]]'' and the [[University of Missouri-Kansas City]], downtown experienced the largest drop in crime of any neighborhood in the city during the 2000s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.downtownkc.org/content.aspx?pgID=875&newsID=579&exCompID=82|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412045254/http://www.downtownkc.org/content.aspx?pgID=875&newsID=579&exCompID=82|url-status=dead|title=Crime falls downtown and across much of Kansas City|date=January 7, 2008|website=downtownkc.org|archive-date=April 12, 2008}}</ref>