The exposés provoke an international crisis of confidence in New York City's finances, and, in particular, in its ability to repay its debts.
European investors are heavily positioned in the city's bonds and are already nervous about its management—only the reputations of the underwriters are preventing a run on the city's securities.
New York's financial and business community knows that if the city's credit were to collapse, it could potentially bring down with it every bank in the city.
Thus, the city's elite meet at Cooper Union in September to discuss political reform: but for the first time, the conversation included not only the usual reformers, but also Democratic bigwigs such as Samuel J. Tilden, who had been thrust aside during Tammany's elevation.
Although some at the meeting advocate lynching Tweed, the general consensus is that the "wisest and best citizens" should take over the governance of the city and attempt to restore investor confidence.
The result is the formation of the Executive Committee of Citizens and Taxpayers for Financial Reform of the City (also known as "the Committee of Seventy"), which attacks Tammany by cutting off the city's funding.
Property owners refuse to pay their municipal taxes, and a judge—Tweed's old friend George Barnard, no less—enjoins the city Comptroller from issuing bonds or spending money.
Unpaid workers turn against Tweed, marching en masse to City Hall demanding to be paid.
Tweed doles out some funds from his own purse—fifty thousand dollars—but it isn't sufficient to alleviate the crisis, and Tammany begins to lose its essential base.
