“David Pietrusza’s tour of the bars and nightclubs, the floating craps games and the bucket shops, the whorehouses and courtrooms and gambling dens brings the era’s underworld into vivid light. And you can tell that Pietrusza had a blast writing it!” 

  –Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition

“Gangsterland gives a literary tour of New York when the Twenties were roaring and reminds us that a single building can have many lives. Fascinating and fun!” 

  –Kathryn Smith, author of Baptists & Bootleggers

"David Pietrusza brings history alive like very few authors can. Weaving journalistic accounts together with meticulous research and lively prose, Pietrusza makes it feel as though you’re on a tour right through the heart of Jazz-Age Manhattan.” 

  –Kevin Balfe, founder of CrimeCon

 

WELCOME TO JAZZ-AGE MANHATTAN’S KALEIDOSCOPIC UNDERWORLD.

A site by site, crime by crime, outlaw by outlaw walking tour through the seedy underbelly of Roaring Twenties Manhattan—where gamblers and gangsters, crooks and cops, showgirls and speakeasies ruled the day and, always, the night.

In Gangsterland, historian David Pietrusza tours the Big Apple’s rotten core. The Roaring Twenties blaze and sparkle with Times Square’s bright lights and showgirls, but its dark shadows mask a web of notorious gangsters ruling New York City. At the heart of this wickedness nests a “Prince of Darkness,” Arnold Rothstein, the kingpin most noted for fixing baseball’s infamous 1919 World Series, who also bankrolled high-stakes gambling dens, speakeasies, trigger-happy bootleggers, and even a record setting Broadway show.

Sharing center stage are con artists Nicky Arnstein and “Dapper Don” Collins; crooked cop Lt. Charles Becker; politicians Mayor “Gentleman Jimmy” Walker and “Big Tim” Sullivan; master drug smugglers George Uffner and Sidney Stajer; murderous racketeers Lucky Luciano and Legs Diamon; show biz legends Flo Ziegfeld, Fanny Brice, and Texas Guinan; and many more. As Pietrusza prowls city boulevards and back alleys, exposing Tammany Hall, sports, Broadway, and Wall Street, jewels are fenced, bullets fly, and unmarked bills buy bribes and silence.

Readers get up close and personal with this rogues’ gallery but better check their wallets before they leave. 

Book Information
ISBN 9781635769890
Author David Pietrusza
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Diversion Books
Publisher Diversion Books