More on Tammany Ring from Infoplease:

• Tammany Ring - Tammany Ring A cabal or powerful organisation of unprincipled officials, who enriched themselves by ...
• Cabal - Cabal A junto or council of intriguers. One of the Ministries of Charles II. was called a cabal ...
• Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: T - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "T"