Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) the Five points area of (now downtown) NYC, generally seen as the city's worst criminal slum, and centre of downmarket prostitution.

1842

Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 25 June n.p.: We are forced, much against our will, to speak of that filthy place, the ‘Points’ [...] Is it not alarming to see such a sink of corruption and degradation situated on the Five Points, at the heart of our city.