Book Description
During Prohibition, Chicago's Beer Wars turned the city into a battleground, secured its reputation as gangster capital of the world, and laid the foundation for nationally organized crime. Bootlegger bloodshed was greater there than anywhere else.
The machine-gun murders of seven men on the morning of February 14, 1929, by killers dressed as cops became the gangland "crime of the century." Since then it has been featured in countless histories, biographies, movies, and television specials. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, however, is the first book-length treatment of the subject. Unlike other accounts, it challenges the commonly held assumption that Al Capone decreed the slayings to gain supremacy in the Chicago underworld. The authors assert the deed was a case of bad timing and poor judgment by a secret crew from St. Louis known to Capone's mostly Italian mob as the "American boys."
The target of the murder squad was indeed Bugs Moran, but the "American boys," who were dressed as policemen and arrived in two bogus police cars, arrived early at the garage where the massacre took place. When no one in the garage would admit he was Bugs Moran, the bogus cops stupidly killed them all. Much of the evidence to this effect emerged shortly after the massacre but was deftly ignored by law enforcement officials. It began to resurface again in 1935 with a manuscript written by the widow of one of the gunmen and a lookout's long-suppressed confession. Indeed, law enforcement tried very hard not to solve the crime, for under any rock the cops turned over there might be a politician, and under the St. Valentine's Day rock they would have found several. In the end, the machine gun bullets heard 'round the world marked the beginning of the end for Al Capone.
Customer Reviews:
Breaking ground alone is worth five stars.......2007-08-17
I'll be up front about two things before reviewing this book. The first is that one of the authors, Bill Helmer, is a close friend of long standing. The second is that I am a True Crime author myself, with a first-hand knowledge of the difficulties that accompany the research and writing of this kind of story: inaccurate newspaper coverage, carelessly compiled police reports, and of course the passage of time, which slowly and mercilessly kills off the survivors of the era who could have shed new light on a long-ago event. To cover a 1929 mass murder that the law enforcement agencies of the day chose to downplay for their own reasons is an enormous challenge that Bill Helmer and Art Bilek met with a commendable degree of success.
"St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone" is the first book to take a serious crack at the mystery surrounding the killing of seven Bugs Moran followers in a freezing Chicago garage in February 1929. The genesis of the murder plot, the identities of the actual shooters, and their subsequent fates are described in a breezy style that makes the book appeal to the casual reader as well as the more hardcore historian who wants "just the facts, ma'am."
One of the more knowledgeable parties who read the book was George 'Bugs' Moran's surviving son, who vividly remembers the day the Massacre took place and recalls the frantic aftermath like it was yesterday. He told me recently that Helmer and Bilek's account of the crime tallies neatly with what his father had to say about the subject over the years. He admitted to enjoying it immensely.
A previous reviewer criticized the book for not offering a thorough list of sources. It's only been in the last few years that detailed footnoting and bibliography lists that exceed the content itself in page count have been proper form outside of academic texts and histories approached from a scholarly perspective. When my first book, "Guns and Roses", came out in 2003, I was told that notes weren't really necessary. I insert them as a matter of course now, but my point in all this is that Bill Helmer and Art Bilek made no serious errors of omission in this area.
"St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone" is by far the most definitive account of the Massacre that has been published to date. And if that's not enough, it also has the seal of approval from the surviving Morans. That fact in itself should more than compensate for a couple of repeated sentences or anorectic footnoting style.
For any collector of books on Chicago.......2007-04-24
Reviewed by Kathleen Dowdell for Reader Views (3/07)
Authors William J. Helmer and Arthur J. Bilek present new information about Chicago's infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre that is sure to throw a twist in people's thinking and spark new research for many historians about life in Chicago during the 1920's prohibition era. They contend that the massacre was a mistake stemming from the fact that the killers showed up too early and slaughtered the wrong group of people, missing the intended victim, Bugs Moran. Instead, six of Moran's gangsters and their friend Dr. Reinhart Schwimmer were gunned down in a dimly lit garage in bloodbath fashion. In an effort to quickly report the news, much speculation and guesswork by both the police and the press was reported and accepted as gospel to this day.
After sifting through pages of Chicago politics, facts about misguided law enforcement officials, and data about the origin of the Thompson machine gun, it remains crystal clear that the February 14, 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre had a huge impact on Chicago's reputation and branding as the gangster capital of the world. New evidence about Al Capone is examined and presented that shows how the misguided political reform movement helped him rise to power in the early 1920's without much effort on his part, yet leaving his name synonymous with Chicago.
In the authors' attempt to examine the massacre itself, they uncover revised and contradictory information that sheds new light on this old story. Accompanying all these facts is a wonderful chronology compendium that summarizes Chicago's vice, crime and corruption. As stated in the bibliography, much of the information in this book was obtained through books, booklets, and newspapers as well as personal memoirs of Georgette Winkler, widow of one of the gunman, Gus Winkler. The authors do a good job guiding the readers' thinking, forcing the reader to look at this information in a new way and perhaps rethink the traditional reported accounts of the incident as bogus. This in itself causes critical thinking that may lead to further research on the subject.
This book is truly an in-depth look at Chicago's prohibition era that discloses pages of information about this great city. I would recommend "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" to any collector of books on Chicago as well as someone just interested in the massacre itself. Even if you don't agree with the point the authors are trying to make, the book itself has many historical facts and information about Chicago politicians and gangsters, the very people who had a critical role in shaping the climate of the city.
Save Ninety Minutes: TheTitle Says It All.......2007-03-23
Since I can still vividly recall when the Roger Corman film "The St.
Valentine's Day Massacre" had its broadcast premiere on network television many years ago, I was eager to read this "definitive" new account of the 1929 mass murder on North Clark Street.
Unfortunately,
I regret to state, this book proved to be a disappointment.
Clearly, the authors, William J. Helmer and Arthur J. Bilek, both know the subject, but their book is less than satisfactory. Most of my specific questions were left unanswered and I did not glean much new information from reading the book.
The book is poorly organized. It seems as if the two authors divided the writing workload and submitted chapters separately without conferring with one and other. As a result, there is a tendency towards disjointed repetitiveness. After reading for the third or fourth time that the 1924 assassination of Dean O'Banion ignited open gang warfare between the North Side gang and the Torrio-Capone mob, I think the point had been established sufficiently.
Did anyone proofread the final manuscript? This book would have benefited from editorial revisions and simple fact checking. I had to stop counting the misstatements, incorrect dates and other clearly erroneous collateral facts before I got a headache. Illinois did not hold two General Elections during November of 1924, but, according to the chronology, Cook County officials and President
Coolidge were elected on separate dates. Similarly, the Black Sox
Trial did not take place in the Federal District Court.
There is some solid writing here and there, but, taken as a whole, it seems as if the book was compiled in great haste to meet an arbitrary publication deadline. Transitions are handled clumsily and the text meanders too much. It is not always necessary that everything be placed in strict chronological order for a historical account to be effective, but it would have helped in this case. The profiles of the principal gangsters and Chicago politicians are merely stereotypical thumbnail sketches. The meager bibliography and footnotes do not merit attention.
The best portions of the book describe the coroner's inquest and pioneering efforts in the field of ballistic testing. There is also a lengthy discussion of how the Federal Bureau of Investigation failed to cooperate with local law enforcement authorities and withheld information that may have provided a solution to the criminal investigation years later. The photographs, editorial cartoons and newspaper headlines, however, are well chosen and will be of interest to most readers.
As a topic, this true crime book held great promise and potential, but the execution was lacking (no pun intended). The final result is akin to having a pair of honor students earn a "C-" on their combined term paper after pulling an all nighter rather than applying themselves diligently and earning the "A+" that the entire class knows that they are well capable of. Someday, I hope that a revised edition of the book will set the record straight.
When Beer Was King........2007-02-15
When you move from temptation's way, don't leave a forwarding address. During prohibition, there were beer wars. In 1929, in Chicago, six members of the Bugsy Moran crime gang were lined up against a garage wall and shot by a rival gang. That wasn't the only violence during that time but it happened on this day so long ago. In our backward place here in Tennessee at the foot of the Smoky Mountains, "Thunder Road" was busy and productive. On into the Fifties, the town was full of moonshiners and bad whiskey. I think they could buy beer then, but as a tea-totaler, I'm not real sure, but the rich out in Sequoah had to hire someone to bring their hard liquor to their doors. In the Fifties, some gathered as party where the liquor flowed. Now, they can sit on the sidewalk of Gay Street and drink to their hearts' content.
The actual Valentine's Day Massacre became a part of American folklore. At the City Council, a man lectured a group of young boys, some Boy Scouts, about the way to go about getting beer. It's in all the grocery stores, which is their major money-making item. This town is full of big drinkers, from the age of pre-teen, mostly men. Our gangs are not so interested in causing trouble about beer, but will car-jack and kill innocent people who are in the wrong part of town. Their aim is money and drugs. We may have our own Valentine's Massacre but, hopefully, not this year.
At last an acurate picture of the story to match that gruesome photo.......2007-01-14
I have always wondered what the Moran gang was doing in that garage when they were gunned down and always believed the story about the bootleg liquor was somewhat lacking.Considering that the men gunned down were all the upper echelon of the Moran gang(minus "Bugs" luckily for him)how could they have been taken so completely unawares? This book tries to honestly answer the question and is backed up with thorough research.Before you leave this book you'll know pretty much who was all involved.The phony cops and hit-men who blasted Moran's gang were on retainer fees by the Capone mob,and people who are being paid well sometimes will be quick to thank their employer,even at the cost of bad judgement.Was the "heat" against the mob generated by the police and government toward Capone's Organization for the massacre worth the financial loss and bad publicity.Capone it seems was never known for astute political decisions anyway and "what the heck,"one less competetor for the booze and "racket "industry.From a read of this book as you see the blank smile of Capone it reminds one of a Hendrix line "smiling with tombstones in their eyes". As I reached the end I was about to congratulate myself because I have found a book in which there is no"J. Hoover bungling". Then I got to the chapter titled the "Crime Noone wanted Solved".That sounded Machiavellian so I figured out Hoover was in it.Yep!
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Gangland: Underworld in Britain and Ireland
James Morton
Manufacturer: Little Brown Book Group Limited
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Gangland Today
ASIN: 0751514063 |
Book Description
In Gangland, his survey of London's underworld, James Morton concentrated on the history, personalities, and powers behind the capital's criminal fraternity. In this companion volume, he turns his attention to the country as a whole, assessing the role of the criminal families, gangs, and organizations in Britain's major cities. After a concise overview of the London scene, including families such as the Krays, the Sabinis, and the Richardsons, Morton embarks on a nationwide tour of robbery, extortion, and vice. From Glasgow's hard men to the burgeoning drugs market on Manchester's Moss Side, the book discusses the people and places behind the profession of violence, documenting the histories, fads, and feuds, and offering views on the crimes themselves.
Customer Reviews:
Solid Mob & Law Narrative.......2007-06-03
Investigative reporter Howard Blum details the rise of John Gotti (1940-2002) and the ultimately successful efforts of law enforcement to bring about his demise in this 1993 book. We get inside information on Gotti's 1985 rubbing out of Paul Castellano, the boss of the Gambino crime family - at which point Gotti became Don. We also see his high-profile days as boss (named "The Dapper Don" by the press for his immaculate appearance), and his ultimate demise due to an intense effort on the part of law enforcement and FBI to bring him down. That downfall stemmed in no small measure by planting bugs in and above the Ravenite Social Club where Gotti held court. At that point the Teflon Don as he was also known could no longer beat the rap in court.
Blum makes good use of his journalistic skills, painting an in-depth picture of Gotti, his family, the workings of the NYC mob, and the FBI and other law enforcement determined to send him to prison. These readable pages tell the story in surprising detail.
The Rise and Fall of John Gotti.......2004-12-31
It is difficult to get a precise view into the workings of La Cosa Nostra, but some books give readers a better idea. "Gangland" is one of those books. Told from the perspective of the agents who brought down John Gotti, the book is a real page-turner.
The begining of the book starts out slowly as the various members of the investigation team are being introduced. But once the surveillance activities begin, the book is tough to put down. Most people know the story, but the details provided add to the excitement. The rise of Gotti in the Gambino family is documented as it evolves. Gotti took the bold action of killing the Boss of Bosses to gain his Godfather status. Organized Crime expands under Gotti, making it a more desirable target for law enforcement. As the investigation unfolds parallel to Gotti's rise, Howard Blum tells the story with the mastery of a novelist. I loved the way he dropped hints about William Peist without directly suggesting him to be the mole. Most readers know Sammy "the Bull" Gravano turns "rat", but not even Gravano's book "Underboss" can give the story from this perspective.
Some readers will dislike the book as it omits certain elements. Little background is written about the men of the Gambino family being investigated. Almost no family history is documented either. There is a bounty of other books with this information. This book is a well plotted book of the fall of John Gotti.
Good Book.......2003-02-20
Good Book
The book called, Gangland: How The FBI Broke The Mob by Howard Blum was a good book to read. I pick this book for the interest in the mob and how it works. The book is a big book and it holds a lot of details. Gangland is about the Gotti Family and the boss John Gotti. In the beginning of this book it really explains the FBI agents life and it also talks about how they were on to the mob. Howard Blum talks about what the mob is and what there about. Gangland tells you how they busted the mob one by one and who turned on his own boss to get them busted. If you really like mob stories and want to learn what happened to this family of gangster's, then read this book.
Classic story of the dedication to break the mob........2002-12-18
This book has everything in it about the most colorful character the mob has had since Al Capone (which wasn't necessarily a good thing). It is a very detailed account of not just Gotti's world but the world of the FBI who was trying to bring him down, from dealing with lawyers, to wiretaps in homes, to wiretapping cars on the street, to dealing with members of the mob themselves (as when the FBI heard a hit order was put out on a couple agents, how SAIC Mowe went to Gotti's front door to confront him personally), etc. If there is a drawback to this book, it is that some of the FBI details were a little long winded, and at some points seemed to slow the book down. But better to err on the side of details than to leave a reader asking questions, which there weren't that many after reading this book. On a sidebar note, it gives the reader an idea of how the cards are usually stacked against the good guys and the obstacles that they have to overcome to get the bad guys.
A pinnacle in American organized crime history........2002-07-10
Gangland is the most thorough and professional telling of the fall of John Gotti. I was already familiar with the characters from other books, primarily "Boss of Bosses," so I was very pleased to wrap up the story as told by this highly skilled author and journalist.
The biggest difference between this and other mafia books is that almost all other books are written as first person accounts by the participants (i.e. FBI agents, mobsters, etc.). As an unbiased observer, Blum can tell the entire story in all of its fascinating detail - from FBI squad rooms to the inner circle of Gotti's most private mob retreats. This professional detachment does not in any way hamper the personal details of the story. Blum can still make you feel like an insider. Probably the best example of this is when he recounts Gotti and Sammy "the Bull" Gravano's murder of Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano. When you read the story again later in the book - as part of Gravano's confession - it brings chills down your back yet again. You can sense the excitement of the government agents and prosecutors who are hearing the story for the first time. It is a true pinnacle in American organized crime history.
Gangland is a required companion to other fine mafia books like "Donnie Brasco," "Boss of Bosses," and to a lesser extent "Underboss." The only thing to remember is that its journalistic approach is markedly different from the "I was there" approach of other books. Just stick with it as everything unravels perfectly in the end.
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- Beautiful tales of gruesome violence
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Gangland
Joe R. Lansdale
Manufacturer: Vertigo
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Binding: Paperback
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Sunset and Sawdust
ASIN: 1563896087 |
Amazon.com
Some of DC's best writers and artists (Brian Azzarello, Tim Bradstreet, et al.) get downright freaky in this trade paperback compiling Vertigo's Gangland series, issues one through four. Presuming (correctly) that we're fascinated by the surreal and often ugly side of crime--"we" being "mature readers"--Gangland drags us through toilet stalls, shallow graves, coke-whore hotel rooms, and even suburban, '70s Orange County for a bloody, postmodern crime spree. With 14 stories in all, the collection delivers all sorts of worthwhile weirdness, including a tongue-in-cheek Mafia wedding, an every-dog-has-its-day K9 tale, and one sketchy transient's perceived(?) struggle against the Worldwide Gangster Robot Radio Brains. --Paul Hughes
Book Description
From isolated but deadly hit men to extra- terrestrial enforcers packing otherworldly weapons, from suburban punks with bad attitudes to gangstas with lethal solutions to their credit problems, this new bullet-riddled collected edition provides chilling stories about bad guys banding together to wreak havoc on society. Suggested for mature readers.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful tales of gruesome violence.......2003-08-04
This trade paperback collects the first four issues of Vertigo Comics' Gangland series - 14 short stories altogether, by some of the leading artists and writers in the field. The stories in Gangland are all stories about organized crime and gang life, but they all share a sarcastic, sardonic, post-modernistic kind of view, which makes them fascinatingly fresh and original. As these short story collections often do, Gangland has stronger bits and weaker ones, and the whole collection can't really be as satisfying as a good full-scale graphic novel (like a good Frank Miller or Alan Moore story), but the stories are often more extreme and more experimental than a full novel can be. Being a comic writer I can tell you myself - short stories give the writer much more room for experimentations and chance-taking. Some of the stories on Gangland really take chances.
My favorite story in the collection, which takes the subject to extreme ends, would have to be `Worldwide Gangster Robots', presumably based on the ranting of a real person (credited in the beginning of the story), is the story of a man's (imaginary... or is it?) battle against the brainwashing of Worldwide Gangster Robot Radio Brains. Danijel Zezelj's artwork and Grant Goleash's (`100 Bullets') coloring are dark and eerie and the mumbling monologue combines for a terrific and creepy atmosphere.
Other highlights include `Clean House' by Brian Azzarello (Hellblazer, Incredible Hulk) and Tim Bradstreet, which takes a rather well-chewed crime-story subject and gives it a nasty twist and a startling punchline. `Big Shot' is another excellent piece written by Jamie Delano (`Batman: Manbat) with wonderful artwork, which is short and fast and makes its point well. `The Big Snooze', with the immediately recognizable inking of the great David Lloyd (`V For Vendetta') tells the story of a very unlikely hero, and is both sarcastic and very, very touching (usually noted as an artist, Lloyd does a great writing job on this one). `Platinum Nights' has great artwork by Paradox Press's James Romberger and a fantastic story, and `Electric China Death', words by Richard Bruning (editor for DC Comics) and pictures by Mark Chiarello (`Terminal City'), takes a surreal look on a classic scene of violence. Finally, the great Peter Kuper's (`The System', `ComicStrips' and a series of Franz Kafka adaptations) `Chains', a very short comic which says a lot more in three wordless pages than some of the others do in fifteen.
I put the rating down to 4/5 because of some of the filler material, the much weaker stories. My biggest disappointment was Dave Gibbons' `The Bear', a poorly written and very expected story. Mr. Gibbons, legendary `Watchmen' artist, doesn't make it as and artist like Lloyd does. `Initiation', `Killer Smile' and `Small Time' are also weak, though they all have good artwork.
The extreme violence shown on the pages of Gangland is poetic violence, like that of Quentin Tarantino or David Fincher. It shows violence and lawbreaking at its most beautiful and its most horrific at once. Gangland is meant for mature readers, and ones who are not easily offended. If you enjoy works by artists like Frank Miller, Garth Ennis, Alan Moore, Peter Kuper or Robert Crumb, Gangland is well worth adding to your collection.
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The Soho Don: Gangland's Greatest Untold Story
Michael Connor
Manufacturer: Mainstream Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Criminals
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ASIN: 1840187816
Release Date: 2003-09-18 |
Book Description
Smartly dressed and well spoken, Billy Howard dominated the London crime scene for 30 years, a reign punctuated only by short stays in prison. The protection business drew him into a lucrative world of nightclubs and gambling, on the back of the black-market trade that had flourished during the World War II. Unlike many of the notorious figures that have emerged from this era, he was in many ways a loner, preferring to control his own operations and eschewing the leadership of a gang. His power and influence were so great that even now, almost two decades after his death, close friends and casual acquaintances are still wary of speaking out. The Soho Don is an account of Howard's violent life, and it exposes the links between the vicious gangland bosses, the police, and the celebrity hothouses of Mayfair clubs, high-class prostitution, and international gambling. It portrays his slide from power and, finally, his death in 1984.
Book Description
What’s happening in organized crime today? Has the FBI managed to squash New York’s “Five Families,” or has the Mafia simply forged a new and even more deadly alliance with Russian criminals? What’s happened to the Triads since the Chinese government took back Hong Kong? In Gangland Today, James Morton answers all these questions and many more. From Europe to South America, the Mob to the Middle East, Morton charts the effects of a changing world on everything from prostitution to people smuggling, identity theft to old-fashioned robbery. He looks at the ways organized gangs are making increasing use of technology, and shows that wherever criminal gangs are being stopped, even deadlier versions are growing in their place.
Book Description
Fast-paced and wide-ranging, Gangland International considers the history of organized crime, from the Italian and American Mafia—including Capone, Dillinger, Murder Inc, Lansky, and Detroit’s Purple Gang—to the Triads: the Russian mafiya, the Japanese yakuza, and the South American drug cartels. James Morton also examines the role of the Green Gang of Shanghai, Rocco Perri in Toronto, Australia’s razor gangs, New Zealand’s Mongrel Mob, the Dubois family of Montreal, and the French Zemour brothers. Compulsive and explosive reading, Gangland International is a vivid survey of worldwide criminal activity.
Customer Reviews:
Very Insightful and Informative.......2004-01-05
This book is immensly informative, from gangsters like Sicilian gangster Tony Accardo to black mobs and Russian Jews in the Mafiya like Michael Smushevich. This book also gives insight into the Polish gangsters in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. "Of course pre-war crime in Cleveland had not been wholly from the Italian and Jewish element. There were at least two major Polish-led gangs of robbers. One was the Flatheads led by Paul Jawarski. On 13 September 1928 when Jawarski and Frank "whitey" Kraft were caught in a restaurant, "whitey"-Kraft ran out the back but Jawarski holed up in Chambers Avenue. He was driven out by tear gas and was shot. It was not thought he would survive, but he did so. He has already shot a prison guard escaping from Pittsburgh, and was said to have killed up to 26 people including a former gang member who was also a drug addict. Jawarski, rather than see him suffer, threw his body in the river. Returned to Pennsylvania where he was electrocuted on 2 January, Jawarski declined the services of the prison chaplain, saying:
I preached atheim since the day I quit singing the choir. A man is yellow if he spends his life believing in nothing and then comes crawling to the church because he is afraid his death is near.
Shorty before his execution, Jawarski sent his friends a postcard with his future address - 45 Hellsfire Road, 6/14 miles from Hell. Father Pat O'Brien would not have used him as an example. Frank "Whitey" Kraft was later killed by police in Detroit.
The other main Polish group, the Flats Mob, was led by Joseph Filkowski. In October 1930 he and two colleagues were suprised by a patroling policeman when they held up the Dixie Shoe Company, and then relieved him of his gun and uniform. This was not an action which endeared them to the police, but Filkowski's friend Joseph Stazek was shot dead by detectives on 7 December 1930. A day earlier, Filkowski had escaped a police trap. Worse was yet to come, for on 9 December Joseph Fortini, district circulation manager of the Plain Dealer, was shot by Patrolman Patrick McNeely in mistake for Filkowski, so beginning a long-drawn-out and effectively unresolved inquiry into use of police firearms. Filkowski was later caught and executed. Others in the gang received life imprisonment. Filkowski, known as John Blake, has his death mask in the Cleveland Police History Museum.
Gangland International: The Mafia and Other Mobs.......2003-10-27
James Morton's "Gangland International: The Mafia and Other Mobs" is the most comprehensive book I have read on global crime. This book covers the history of organized crime from the early gangs to those presently active. I found this book very interesting as I learned about Gangs and Gangsters I have never even heard of and got more information on ones I know of from all over the world: whether it be United States, Italy, France, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Russia, or South America, the author provides in depth, up to date material. Included in the book are eight double pages full of pictures of gangsters, policemen, assasins, gangland slayings, graves and funerals. Running in at 900+ pages total this is definitely an informative read which I would recommend for the collection.
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Gangland: The Shocking Exposé of the Criminal Underworld (True Crime (Dublin, Ireland).)
Paul Williams
Manufacturer: O'Brien
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ASIN: 0862785766 |
Book Description
Walking Notorious London really dishes the dirt! From medieval brothels to red light districts, Jack the Ripper to the Kray Twins, this curious collection of walks explores a decidedly darker side of London.
Customer Reviews:
A disappointment - but not through the author's fault.......2007-01-08
The book provides a great historical description of some places, but if you think you'll read about any modern-day notorious places, you are wrong (maybe 1-2, but that's not what the book is about). It's history, places which USED TO BE notorious. The title says it, I should have read the title more carefully. It is a wondereful discourse in history, but I still cannot give it 5 stars.
A walk through London's seamier sides.......2002-01-31
Andrew Duncan takes the reader on an amusing and informative walk through London's seamier sides ranging from Medieval red-light districts to Jack the Ripper and modern gangsters. Along the way he provides insights into different social aspects of London's history. The book is divided into a dozen or so different walks, each of which covers a different neighborhood and concentrates on a different "theme". Each walk includes a map and a list of pubs and other refreshment points along the way.
Product Description
Written and narrated by Ron Jordan - 1 CD Running Time 59:13 - Speakeasies and bootleg whiskey attracted gangsters like Al Capone, John Dillinger, and baby Face Nelson to Chicago. Gangland murders were common place and Tommy guns echoed through the streets. A fascinating look at a colorful city during its gangland days. _ Produced by Joe Loesch - Originally released in 1995 on audio cassette. Digitally re-mastered and released in 2005 on CD.
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- Sailing Alone Around The World
- Shrek 2
- Representation Theory of Semisimple Groups: An Overview Based on Examples.
- The Book of North American Owls
- Victoria: An intimate biography
- State and Local Tax Policy and the Telecommunications Industry
- Brunei Business Law Handbook
Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot before Al Capone
Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone
The Man Who Got Away: The Bugs Moran Story--A Biography
Mr. Capone
After Capone: The Life And World Of Chicago Mob Boss Frank "the Enforcer" Nitti
