The Jones Street Boys epitomize an instance of ideals gone awry; a gang that evolved as an ironic offshoot from a defunct vigilante group nicknamed, "The Benson Watchdogs," a.k.a "The Watchdogs," originating along the residential area of Jones St. within Bensonhurst, New York. The Watchdogs were officially formed by individual neighbors, who, sharing alike the sentiment of inadequate protection provided by the law from widespread gang violence, coalesced out of the believed necessity to defend their families, property and moreover, their hometown's reputation from a domino effect; a contagious spillover of pestilence dilapidating neighborhood after neighborhood the gangs consecutively annexed into their turfs whilst scrambling to expand their territories throughout New York City's boroughs, in the bygone years of a miasmic time fraught with economic hardship, rampant unemployment and civil unrest adversely affecting the overall environment of New York City.

Overtime, as the Watchdogs combatively thwarted various gangs from establishing a foothold on fringe of Bensonhurst's borders, the Watchdogs slowly degenerated as their power and influence magnified across Bensonhurst, losing sight of their original ideals and remiss in adhering to moral values as newer, more unruly members gradually filled the vacated positions of the Watchdog's dwindling ranks as casualties mounted. Galvanizing into action, a charismatic, albeit disgruntled veteran Watchdog by the name of Michael Marden, capitalized off this opportunity to advance his own agenda from the incumbent Watchdog's leader, Robert Harris, instilling dissent amongst the greenhorn inductees; inoculating them with his own sophistic creed: That the sacrifices they incurred in their ordeals to preserve Bensonhurst's neutrality from incessant gang incursions, and in compensating for the law's inability to muster sufficient manpower to be omnipresent, the community was indebted to the Watchdogs an overdue fee of profound gratitude.

Micheal asseverated they deserved to be recognized and venerated for defending the streets of Bensonhurst from these societal menaces. After all, if people bothered to notice, there apparently existed an invisible barrier of sorts occluding the gangs from entering Bensonhurst; an intangible wall that miraculously shielded them from the preponderant crimes affecting other surrounding neighborhoods not as fortunate to experience this same phenomenon. Why? No one could precisely ascribe a definitive answer; perhaps Bensonhurst just didn't possess enough strategic value worthy of invasion, at least for the present. Yet, little did they know the Watchdogs were the embodiment of said invisible barrier, and thus maintenance sometimes required lives; lives of Watchdog brethren Micheal wished to eschew being lost in vain. While Michael didn't coerce the newer Watchdogs into cooperation a notion, he nonetheless planted incipient seeds of dissent; laying the groundwork of which he could build a further foundation of his ideology later at a more auspicious time, and his own discretion.

Michael, on his own volition, attempted to garner public support for the Watchdogs' vigilantism, and started to furtively consult the opinions of various residents around Bensonhurst's community. He didn't approach exceptional public figureheads, but rather average everyday people from the neighborhood, such as: a barber, a liquor store cashier, or even a pizza delivery boy. Micheal introduced to these people the topic of vigilantism, questioning them what they thought of illustrious fictional vigilantes, such as Batman and others of similar ilk, ultimately whether or not said types of characters could be appreciated in reality, if they actually existed. He hoped his initial questions anent vigilantism would invoke a positive response, but the lopsided majority exhibited displeasure to the question Micheal addressed to them; that the concept of applying fictional scenarios to reality, were but a farfetched dream, taken out of context. However, for the slim minority of civilians who did show a willingness to accept it, they imparted sufficient encouragement for Micheal to sustain accruing public support for the Watchdogs in his lone campaign. Michael needn't achieve the superfluous feat of unanimous support from all habitants of Bensonhurst, but rather a sufficient amount to constitute a sizable assemblage to champion his political viewpoint apropos vigilantism; which he held in personal accordance to be right.

Once Micheal believed he'd established enough persons to subscribe to the Watchdog's cause, Micheal finally felt comfortable divulging a tidbit of the Watchdog's activities to said civilians thereafter, which were technically illegal, but nonetheless justified, at least according to the Watchdogs' perspective. Cocksure they'd understand the dilemma the Watchdogs were in to violently retaliate towards the gangs, a sense of overconfidence swelled forth from Micheal's mentality during this period: that the citizens of Bensonhurst would express genuine gratitude, having already demonstrated a degree of disposition towards vigilantism, based on his initial questions.

However, the very gratefulness Michael sought and fervently believed the remaining public would empathize with the Watchdogs' vigilantism, given the circumstances, never came to fruition quite as he envisioned; his fragile glass fantasy became shattered asunder by the unmerciful hammer of reality. No matter how earnestly he believed in his delusion of the Watchdogs being publicly adulated, it wouldn't attain substance in this society. Instead, the remaining denizens of Bensonhurst abhorred Michael's proposition, denouncing and rejecting outright to embrace the unethical notion of condoning and extenuating violence with more violence, holding the Watchdogs accountable for their own transgressions, regardless of the circumstances. They practically dismissed Michael as a lunatic. His disparate topic concerned fictional characters, where souls emerged inconsequentially scathed; unlike the real incidents involving the Watchdogs in reality. The Watchdogs hands were scarred by a stigma, permanently drenched in figurative blood, insomuch no reasonable person dared to grasp their palms in a congratulatory handshake.

Embittered by rejection, Michael became appalled furthermore once learning authorities officially classified the Watchdogs henceforth as a gang, thanks on behalf of Micheal's shortsighted misstep; introducing new silvers of information about the Watchdogs he disclosed earlier, circulating as hearsay about public knowledge, eventually resurfacing to haunt him, anew as police corroborated the allegations. Michael derived betrayal from the news, which precipitated newfound resentment towards the very community which he and his Watchdog brethren strived tirelessly to keep intact from the external threat of outside gangs overrunning Bensonhurst's asphalt. Refusing to accept the reality that the Watchdog's efforts were all for naught, Micheal obstinately resolved not to be mindlessly shunted aside into apathy by Bensonhurst and left emptyhanded.

At last, the JSB could commence with their entitled compensation, subsequently subjecting Bensonhurst to indiscriminate acts of vandalism, violence and thefts, of which the community of Bensonhurst struggled to cope with the onslaught of, heretofore, unprecedented magnitude of a surge in crime. The residents of Bensonhurst, became gradually fearful of the JSBs, afraid to traverse the daytime and nighttime air on account the JSBs were somewhere out there in the neighborhood, wrecking havoc in the midst of their final phase to attain closure. In the interim, NYC's municipal legislature eventually addressed ongoing gang activity engulfing the cityscape wholesale; victimizing its citizens in the crossfire of the gang conflicts, via imposing an injunction; a nighttime adolescent curfew. While the incipient ordinance hindered, it hardly deterred the JSBs from perpetuating their terrific campaign across Bensonhurst furthermore, besides other gangs aplenty still waging their respective turf wars.

Unsatisfied by the curfew, Bensonhurst, clamored for a doubled or tripled police presence to quell the JSB menace, yet the New York Police Department; one amongst many civil services enduring budget cuts and diminishing resources, were already inundated up to the armfuls in handling other ongoing gang wars in other neighborhoods; some of which were in comparatively worse shape than Bensonhurst. Ergo, the NYPD could not quite oblige Bensonhurst's initial expectations out of priority status. Although additional police units were dispatched to reinforce the patrol on Bensonhurst, resulting in an increased presence of policemen, the JSBs eventually adapted and gradually employed a counter gambit of their own, exploiting and corrupting some venal police officers, and detectives with extra revenue to supplement their legitimate profession's marginal salaries. Additionally, the JSBs were advantaged in the context of unpredictability: Able to criminally strike around Bensonhurst; anywhere, anytime, concentrating their members upon one specifc venue. Whereas the police were contrastingly disadvantaged, forced to maintain guard ubiquitously around Bensonhurst, everywhere, every time; and therefore spread their manpower thinner as an upshot. Underestimated, The JSB were much more formidable than anticipated, and wouldn't be swiftly uprooted from Bensonhurst by the police alone, as the public initially hoped.

By fighting fire with fire, essentially, in the greatest principle affront imaginable, the JSBs metamorphosed into the very types of villains from a stigmatized subculture their Watchdog predecessors were fundamentally established to defend the community of Bensonhurst against, in earnest. The Watchdogs' ideals to protect, derailed by the JSB's ideals to destroy. Bensonhurst, once so ardently championed by the Watchdogs as a bastion of refuge from pervasive gang violence affecting NYC, now antithetically debased by the JSBs into both a playground and battleground for their own criminal escapades; a disease innumerable neighborhood communities throughout New York City have likewise already contracted whilst struggling to withstand their own respective gangs occupying them.