 In one scene Boss Tweed is describing to a few men the citys need  for a grand new courthouse before being interrupted. This is a  reference to the infamous old New York County Courthouse, now known  as the Tweed Courthouse, where Tweed and Tammany Hall had stolen  millions from the city that was earmarked for the construction of  the building, which became the most expensive civic building of the  19th century because of Tammanys theft of funds.