Book Description

From the 1950s to the 1970s, from Bar Harbor to Boca Raton, the ragtag crew known as the K&A gang robbed wealthy suburban residences with assembly-line skills of breaking, entering, and bagging the loot—be it a rare coin collection or priceless paintings. "It was hard to imagine a more unlikely crew of successful thieves," writes Allen Hornblum about the gang. "Far from urbane…[they were] a two-fisted, beer-guzzling, ear and nose-biting group of blue-collar hoodlums from a working-class section of Philadelphia called Kensington."

The gang's success infuriated homeowners up and down the east coast, while baffling police. But K&A ringleader Junior Kripplebauer had a different view. About North Carolina, his favorite place, he says, "The state was like a drive-thru bank [only] you just made withdrawals." Confessions of a Second Story Man follows the gang as they move in and out of homes, courtrooms, and prisons, and even go on the run.

Hornblum tells the strange but true story through interviews, police records, and historical research. Readers will marvel at the techniques of Junior, who became one of the FBI's most wanted men, and his wife Mickie—who would don her black wig and go out and rob a few houses on her own when she was bored—as well as other crew members, Harry Stocker, Effie Burowski, and "Billie Blew" McClurg.

Finally, Hornblum describes the transformation of the K&A gang from a group of thieves to working in conjunction with the Mafia to a gang that also sold drugs. It is a compelling read about a fascinating bunch of hoodlums. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the true story of Félix Valencia, who, as a young, restless, rebellious Communist Party leader living in the lowland jungle northwest of Quito, Ecuador, participates in a robbery and is sent to prison. There, God completely changes his life, and he dedicates himself to Christian ministry. After his release, he attends a seminary while working in prison ministry. He emerges as a very effective, highly respected evangelist and pastor. He is offered a plush pastoral position in a large church in Quito, but the Lord leads him back to his own people in the Christ-less primitive jungles of his youth. There Félix overcomes many spiritual obstacles to build a highly effective ministry in the villages he knew as a boy. He and his wife organize a Christian school, which proves to be a very effective evangelism tool. Again, Satan tries to destroy the work, but Félix perseveres and is victorious. ... Read more

Book Description

Prison Conversations is a window into contemporary American prison life. Through a series of oral history style interviews, nine prisoners incarcerated at the Washington State Reformatory talk about the path that brought them to prison, their life behind bars, and their hopes and intentions for a future life on the outside. The book also provides an account of the author's experiences as a volunteer in the prison, how he came to know these prisoners, how certain friendships with them developed. In effect the reader is invited along on the author's journey into what was for him--and presumably will be for most readers--an unfamiliar and emotionally powerful world. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1970, Kathy Boudin, revolutionary Weatherman, fled the ruins of a town house on West Eleventh Street in Greenwich Village after a bomb that was being made there exploded, killing three people, and America’s sympathy with radicalism fell apart. The Weathermen had started as angry kids who planted stink bombs and emulated the Black Panthers, but the bomb they were building on Eleventh Street was deadly. Kathy, daughter of the celebrated lawyer Leonard Boudin, third generation of the famous Boudin family, emerged naked from the wreckage, was given some clothes by a neighbor, slipped into the night, and went underground for the next eleven years, her name soon appearing on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List.

Susan Braudy tells the riveting story of the Boudin family circle through four generations. She writes of Kathy Boudin’s childhood, growing up in Manhattan in an ambitious, liberal New York Jewish family, daughter of a revered left-wing labor and civil liberties lawyer and an intellectual poet mother.

Braudy writes of Kathy’s parents; her father, Leonard, who patterned his life after that of his uncle, the great labor lawyer and leftist legal scholar, Louis B. Boudin (in the 1930s he fought in court for new laws to protect and organize labor unions and was one of the foremost translators and interpreters of Karl Marx). Leonard Boudin fought on behalf of dissenters on the left. He argued the cases of Paul Robeson and the two-time convicted spy Judith Coplon before the Supreme Court, forcing the U.S. government to allow free travel to all citizens and preventing the admission of illegally gathered evidence, rulings that crucially curtailed the power of J. Edgar Hoover.

Braudy writes of Boudin’s legal work on behalf of such clients as Rockwell Kent and Julian Bond; his defense of Fidel Castro in connection with his seizure of American capital in Cuba; his case on behalf of Dr. Benjamin Spock (arrested for protesting the Vietnam War; Boudin put the war, not Dr. Spock, on trial); and his case on behalf of Daniel Ellsberg, helping him to leak the Pentagon Papers, which set the stage for Nixon’s resignation.
We see Kathy’s mother, Jean Boudin, poet and intellectual, an orphan taken in by a cultivated Jewish family whose circle included Marc Blitzstein and Clifford Odets; her courtship and marriage to Leonard (they were toasted as “the most gorgeous couple of the left”); her years as the dutiful, devoted wife to a husband who conducted countless affairs; her suicide attempt when Kathy was nine.

And we see Leonard’s lifelong mentor and competitor—his brother-in-law, the brilliant, scrappy independent journalist and government critic I. F. Stone, a born leader and fighter who made war on government bureaucrats (believing they usurped power) and on his deadly enemy, J. Edgar Hoover.

We follow Kathy at Bryn Mawr, organizing the school’s maids to demand fair wages, graduating magna cum laude in the top five of her class; failing to get into Yale Law School (while her brother was a star at Harvard); helping to plan the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago and the “Days of Rage” that followed; breaking Black Panther Assata Shakur out of jail; bombing the headquarters of the Manhattan Police Department and the Capitol in Washington; and finally, in 1981, being part of the botched robbery of a Brinks truck that turned into a bloodbath (two policemen and one Brinks guard were killed), which resulted in her trial with her father as her lawyer; her years in Bedford Hills prison as a model prisoner, teacher, and AIDS activist—and her release after twenty-two years.

A huge, rich, riveting book—a story of idealism and passion; of law and brilliant legal minds; of political intrigue and government witch-hunts; of SDS and the Days of Rage; of Vietnam protests and underground revolutionary terrorism; and of the golden family at the center of this vortex, who came to be seen through five decades as the very emblem of the American left. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Fall in the Family!
I found "Family Circle" a richly anecdotal and compelling view of a fascinating and complex family that happened to be at the center of radical politics in the U.S. for four decades. Through the patriarchs -- Louis Boudin and his nephew Leonard, and the clients they represented -- I came away with a vivid, though succinct, history of such celebrated causes as the denial of a passport to Paul Robeson, Daniel Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers, and Benjamin Spock's anti-Vietnam war protests. With Lenoard's brother-in-law Izzy Stone and the mostly leftist New York political and cultural elite of those years in the mix, Braudy deliciously captures their machinations and sexual liaisions.

But it is the author's insightful portrayal of the relationship between Leonard Boudin and his daughter Kathy that nailed me. Why such a well-educated and intellectually gifted young women would turn to violence becomes plausible as Braudy unravels the father-daughter dynamics. Perhaps if Braudy had not known Kathy as a classmate at Bryn Mawr and not had access to a candid Jean Boudin, Kathy's mother, the pyschologizing about father and daughter would not be so convincing. But Braudy's argument that Kathy sought her father's attention against stiff odds -- his workoholism, his appreciation of the legal genious his son was becoming, and his womanizing (which often targeted Kathy's friends) -- is strongly presented. Braudy's analysis shows Kathy's descent into violence as the means to not only implement her radical idealogy but to capture her father's attention, even to eventually becoming the kind of client on which he lavished almost every waking hour.

This book is also a well investigated look at the workings -- and pathology -- of the Weather Underground. Their strange deprivations, harsh self-criticism, and alternating sexual promiscuity and abstinence makes engrossing reading. Braudy effectively exposes Kathy's (and the surfaced Weathermen's) strategy to downplay her role in '70s bombings and in the Black Liberation Army's murderous Brink's robbery of 1981 that resulted in her incarceration. Even if Braudy sees through the revisionism as a platform for Kathy's parole, she is not judgmental. "Family Circle" has the objective eye of a journalist also giving credit to Kathy's enormous personal strengths and leadership and her pioneering good works in prison.

entertaining 60s social history
This story of a leftist/progressive family and their radical daughter is a microcosm of the intertwining social and political trends that helped shape the 60s. Nice insights into family dynamics and generational friction, the search for "authenticity" (black panthers, bomb-making) by white, middle class kids, and a glimpse of what life was like among the radical fringe. For a West Coast take on the same period, look at Peter Coyote's "Sleeping Where I fall." Both explore the confluence of the personal and the political in a volatile era.

Her treachery resulted in the killing of two policemen
I enjoyed reading this book very much, and recommend it to all readers. It was a fascinating look at Kathy Boudin and those radical student leftists known as the Weather Underground who declared war on America in protest to the Vietnam War.

Kathy Boudin's treachery resulted in the killing of two policemen, for which she served 22 years in prison. That may not matter to the leftist readers who have given this finely written book low ratings. Ignore their hateful rantings, and judge for yourself how a bright young woman of privledge could make such a bad choice to pursue terrorist goals.

Kathy left her baby with a sitter to drive a getaway van full of Black Panthers who robbed a Brink's armored truck, and actually expected to return on time to pick up her child! Instead, she was captured after the two policemen were killed, and her child was abandoned.

The picture on p. 353 of one of the Weathermen stomping on an American flag gives the reader an indication that these radical leftists have no remorse for their past behavior.

There is ample material on the internet concerning how leftists were able to get Kathy released on parole in 2003. Her victims left behind families that will never forget her treachery.

Interesting subject, badly written book
This book has all the flaws of a poorly written biography - unsubstantiated claims to understanding characters' thoughts and motivations, lots of irrelevant details, broad generalizations, inferences treated as facts, and amateur-psychologist diagnoses. Perhaps with serious editing, this could be a decent book. As it is, learning about the people and the times keeps me going, though my annoyance at the author's careless approach to a serious story makes me want to stop. I am not surprised Kathy Boudin did not cooperate.

Pooly Written & Poorly Researched
It's a shame such an interesting and important story should be so awkwardly written and so badly researched. I'm waiting for another author to carefully write the book that this period of time in our history deserves. There are so many inaccuracies in time and place that one cannot trust the writer. ... Read more

Book Description

Andrea Giovino breaks the Mafia’s code of silence and describes the life of a woman born and bred into the Family, and her inspirational escape. Her defiant struggle to break free of her family’s criminal legacy is by turns horrifying and heartbreaking.

As a child in Brooklyn, Giovino watched her brother become a hit man and helped her mother host card games for local mafiosos. As a sexy, street-smart woman, she earned a seat at nightclub tables next to John Gotti, and took an emotional and bloody ride through organized crime that no HBO series could match. At home, she fought to keep her children safe—keeping the guns out of reach, washing bloodstains out of her husband’s clothes—and maintain the household’s front as a model of American domesticity.

Murders, a DEA setup, and FBI wiretaps finally brought Giovino to the brink of prison. Defiantly, she chose to retain her identity, facing down threats against her life and courageously separating herself and her children from the world of organized crime. ... Read more

Book Description

The Broadway Books Library of LarcenyLuc Sante, General EditorFor more than fifty years, Willie Sutton devoted his boundless energy and undoubted genius exclusively to two activities at which he became better than any man in history: breaking in and breaking out.The targets in the first instance were banks and in the second, prisons.Unarguably America’s most famous bank robber, Willie never injured a soul, but took on almost a hundred banks and departed three of America’s most escape-proof penitentiaries.This is the stuff of myth—rascally and cautionary by turns—yet true in every searing, diverting, and brilliantly recalled detail.

Reviews (2)

Fast-paced Reading!
This book makes you feel like you are side-by-side with Willie thru the planning, bank robberies, getaways, and even prison breaks. It is written in down-to-earth language and makes you feel like Willie is your buddy, and you are sitting there listening to him tell his story. Willie makes you feel like it was okay to rob the banks, and you find yourself rooting for him. It was amazing how his mind worked, so methodically planning breaking INTO the banks, and the same mindset is what helped him break OUT of prison.

"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"

Where the Money Was
Where the Money Was by Willie Suton was an excellent book. It takes you through his crimes, escapes, and prison time. I would recomend it to anyone. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the moving story of Lesley Gosch, sent to death row in Texas after being accused, questionably, of murdering Rebecca Patton, the wife of the President of the Castle Hills National Bank, San Antionio. ... Read more

Book Description

First published in 1926, this entertaining and dramatic biography forever installed outlaw Billy the Kid in the pantheon of mythic heroes from the Old West and is still considered the single most influential portrait of Billy in this century. Saga focuses on the Kid's life and experiences in the bloody war between the Murphy-Dolan and Tunstall-McSween gangs in and around Lincoln, New Mexico, between 1878 and 1881. Burns paints the Kid as a boyish Robin Hood or romantic knight galvanized into a life of crime and killing by the war's violence and bloodshed. Billy represented the romantic and anarchic Old West that the march of civilization was rapidly displacing. His destroyer was Pat Garrett, the courageous sheriff of Lincoln County. Garrett's shooting of Billy in 1881 hastened the closing of the American frontier. Walter Noble Burns's Saga of Billy the Kid kindled a fascination in Billy the Kid that survives to this day. Richard W. Etulain's foreword discusses the singular importance of Saga in the historical literature on Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Wonderful Look Into A Short Life!!
Billy the Kid is one of the West's most famous outlaws, yet there is little in the history books to detail his short but very violent life. In addition, most of what has been written has been written in the later part of the 20th century and relies not so much on true knowledge as on what can be found here and there.

This book, original written in 1924, is wonderful because the author actually found people still alive who had known Billy the Kid and who had lived through the Lincoln County Wars. While these people were hardly young when interviewed, they still had very good memories of Billy and his life style. This provides a look that is often missing in history.

One area that was missing was any detailed information on the early life of Billy the Kid, but, as the author points out, much was lost and may never be known.

The language in the book is, at times, difficult to process, as it was written in the style prevalent in 1924, not 2002. And it is a language that is caught between the older American English and modern American English. Generally it is a smooth read, but does have a couple of rough spots.

This is a MUST READ if you really want to know about the portion of Billy the Kids life that ocured during the Linclon County Wars!!

WLATER NOBLES BURNS HAS WRITTEN AN ALL-TIME WETS CLASSIC!
THIS IS TRULY A WORK OF ART. HE BEGINS WITH THE RIVALRY BETWEEN JOHN CHIUSUM AND MAJOR A.G. MURPHY AND THE WAR THAT ESCALETS FROM THEIR RIVALRY. IT INTRODUCES WILLIAM BONNEY AS AN INNOCENT MAN WHO'S LOVE/RESPECT FOR HIS BOSS LEADS HIM TO HIS LEGENDARY LIFE AND DEATH. WRITTEN WITH PRECISE DETAIL AND ARRESTING INTENSITY.. A MUST HAVE ... Read more

Book Description

In 1892, Alexander Berkman, Russian migr, anarchist, and lover of Emma Goldman, attempted--unsuccessfully--to assassinate ind ustrialist Henry Clay Frick. The act was meant both as retribution for the massacre of workers in the Homestead strike and as an incitement to revolution. Captured and sentenced to serve a prison term of twenty-two years, Berkman struggled to make sens e of the shadowy and brutalized world of the prison-one that hardly conformed to rev olutionary expectation.

In a series of vivid chapters Berkman introduce s us to the world of the penitentiary--to the yegg man, the pickpocket, the screw, a nd the stooge, to the senile warden and his brutal guards--and to its perverse routi nes, its summary detentions and arbitrary deprivations, its setups, forced labor, co rruption, and daily violence. At the same time Berkman details with great sensitivit y the language of conspiracy and subterfuge, and the surprising confidences and furt ive intimacies by which he and his fellow inmates sought to endure their capt ivity. And in the end, he shows that the prison, seemingly cut off from the world at large, is in fact its terrible and truthful mirror. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

"Inhumanity is the keynote of stupidity in power" (p. 299)
The book is the account of the anarchist Alexander's Berkman's experiences in prison after his botched attempt to assassinate the industrialist Henry Clay Frick, the monster who "legally" slaughtered workers during the Homestead strike of 1892. Although Berkman never abandons his anarchist principles, he does soften his moral repugnance for criminals whose crimes were not motivated by political or humanitarian aims. If anything his friendships with prisoners deepen his anarchist insights about how exploitation and poverty are the principal causes of criminal behavior. Like his lover Emma Goldman, he spends his prison years advocating for the needs of his fellow inmates, often being punished for his advocacy. Berkman details the brutality, graft and corruption of the prison establishment.

Anticipating Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Berkman shows that those who view their punishment as a part of a larger purpose are best equipped to survive the inhuman treatment and conditions of prison life. The book is not all seriousness, however. It often has lighter moments, as when Berkman describes the quixotic attempt by his friends to tunnel into the prison to free him. Berkman's sub rosa argument, made to Goldman, that Leon Czologosz's assassination of President McKinley lacked redeeming social value, unlike his (Berkman's) attempt to assassinate Frick, while though interesting fails to be convincing. Those interested in the relationship of these remarkable people (Goldman and Berkman) will especially want to read that section.

The book is worth reading not merely for its historical value but for its literary qualities as well. It is intelligently written and difficult to put down. Although it is 518 pages, I read it all in three days. It is just that riveting.

Beyond Terrorism
In 1892, Alexander Berkman burst into the office of Henry Frick, an overseer at Carnegie's steelworks, and attempted to gun him down to foment a revolutionary uprising. Frick survived. Berkman went to jail. Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist is Berkman's account, not only of the revolutionary ardor which drove him to assault Frick, but also of the horrors of incarceration and the transformation of his own thinking while behind bars.

We get plenty of revolutionary and anarchist theory from Berkman. He opens a door into the thoughts and feelings of people struggling for economic and social justice 100 years ago. More than that, he opens a door into the mindset of a fanatic, one which may help us understand the motivations of those who flew their planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11/2001:

"Could anything be nobler than to die for a grand, a sublime Cause? Why, the very life of a true revolutionist has no other purpose, no significance whatever, save to sacrifice it on the altar of the beloved People." (p. 12)

"My own individuality is entirely in the background; aye, I am not conscious of any personality in matters pertaining to the Cause. I am simply a revolutionist; a terrorist by conviction, an instrument for furthering the cause of humanity." (p. 13)

"True, the Cause often calls upon the revolutionist to commit an unpleasant act; but it is the test of a true revolutionist-nay, more, his pride-to sacrifice all merely human feeling at the call of the People's Cause." (p. 12)

Berkman, the purist, disdains his fellow prisoners. He sees himself as better than they are, a Servant of Humanity, not a petty criminal, a predator on the poor. But, life in prison, although it does not shake his revolutionary and anarchist convictions, does bring him down from his ivory tower. Berkman begins to see that:

"The individual, in certain cases, is of more direct and immediate consequence than humanity. What is the latter but the aggregate of individual existences-and shall these, the best of them, forever be sacrificed for the metaphysical collectivity?" (p. 403)

His revolutionary understanding also shifts. He begins to differentiate between the autocratic despotism of Europe and the despotism of republican institutions:

"The despotism of republican institutions is far deeper, more insidious, because it rests on the popular delusion of self-government and independence. That is the subtle source of democratic tyranny, and, as such, it cannot be reached with a bullet. In modern capitalism, exploitation rather than oppression is the real enemy of the people ... the battle is to be waged in the economic rather than the political field." (p. 424)

This is not, however, a political manifesto (for that, one can read Berkman's ABCs of Anarchism). Berkman reveals his inner processes during fourteen years of incarceration. We discover, not only the horrors and corruption of the prison system, but also wander intimately through Berkman's mind. We visit his childhood, soften at unexpected gentlenesses behind bars, and begin to appreciate something as simple as the sunrise.

Although Berkman did not write the memoir until after he left prison, it has a sense of surreal immediacy. He wrote in the present tense, but that alone does not account for the way his text grips, and drags the reader into the maelstrom of his experience. We run with him through childhood memories, daily brutality, fantasies of escape and suicide, and the ideals that keep him sane. His longing for Emma Goldman shines through the text. He enthrones her almost as the guardian of his sanity through the years. Little can compare with the poignancy of his fantasy of mailing himself to his beloved Emma, escaping prison and finding himself with her again. (p. 135-137)

Five stars. Absolutely brilliant work, as relevant today as it was nearly 100 years ago. In her autobiography, Living my Life, Emma Goldman recounted how Berkman saved his sanity and his life by writing this memoir. The deep introspection, the flights of fancy, the accounting of prison life-all deeply illumine the best and the worst of human nature. This book is required reading for anybody who wishes to understand the fanatical, terrorist mindset, for Berkman describes that aptly. Far more importantly, he shares the experience of survival and transformation. He, who entered prison a fanatic, left those iron gates more committed than ever to his cause, but no longer a fanatic. His story tells of graduating from terrorist to humanist, from monomaniacal fanatic to a deeply committed human being. If you read nothing else this year, read this book.

(If you'd like to dialogue with me about this book or review, please click the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)

Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist
"Is there anything higher in life than to be a true revolutionist...?" - From Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist

This is an incredibly moving and detailed account of an activist's experiences in early industrial America. As an Anarchist, Alexander Berkman recounts his observations of the era's struggle for decent living standards and fair treatment from fat cat industrialists. In prison for attempted assasination of a steel magnate who was responsible for firing and killing striking steel workers, Berkman eloquently describes his reasons for acting on behalf of the working poor and exploited. His experiences in prison are gut wrenching and very human. Not much fluffy language - very straighforward observations, which are emotionally piercing in their social significance and human truth. An exceptional read for anyone interested in the American history that is usually left out of school text books. Berkman's experiences are painful but very motivating and inspiring as they illustrate human love, the will to survive and continue to work for an ideal under the most horrendous conditions. This book is an extraordinary powerful testament to human goodness and strength.

Mandatory Reading for Anarchists
This book was one of the most inspiring books on, not only Anarchism, but also on the human will to survive. Berkman's tale of the attempted assassination of one of this country's greatest scoundrels is awe inspiring, comical at times, and admirable. His triumph over the Pennsylvania Correctional system is also to be noted, especially in times of political struggles our modern day political prisoners, like Mumia Abu-Jamal. Prison memiors of an Anarchist is a glimpse into the hell of the prison system, and a reminder that things haven't changed that much. His book tells us that his message is still valid today. Berkman's message is just as true today as it was 100 years ago and I am glad this book is back in print.

the best picture of prison life in the erly 1900"s
i loved this book i am not a political radical but i stummbled on to this book in a privite library in boston i am dying to see if amazon can find a copy for me. it deals frankly and with great objectivity the life ,and severe brutality and mental anguish that the prison system was at the time. the stories of corruption and abuse can be disturbing but the whole picture of the human will to survive is inspireing ... Read more

Book Description

In the no-holds-barred tradition of The Valachi Papers and Wiseguy, this insider expose of mob boss Sam Giancana, written by his brother Chuck and his godson Sam, blows the lid off some of the Mafia's most shocking secrets. Includes stunning first-time revelations concerning the deaths of JFK, Marilyn Monroe, and RFK. 16 pages of photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Interesting, but ultimately, sad
I picked up this book in order to learn more about another perspective on the JFK assassination. The book provided that. But it was also interesting, if only as a presentation of some important history told from a very unique perspective. As to style, I was pleasantly surprised. It reads almost like a novel in some cases. But that probably goes to the validity of things as well. In assessing that aspect, I am reminded of the line from the movie, "Next of Kin",

"Joey likes to brag. I wanna hear him brag."

There is a lot of that here. As others have pointed out, the book probably exaggerates Giancana's influence over the world at large and some key events, such as the assassinations of the Kennedys and Monroe. But, having said that, it is overall a good and enjoyable read.

Addendum 02-Apr-04:

Toward the end of this book, the claim is made, in rather dramatic fashion, that Sam Giancana slept with Marilyn Monroe on the last weekend of her life at the Cal-Neva lodge in Lake Tahoe. Somehow, this just didn't "ring true" to me. I have done a bit more research and learned that Marilyn was with Joe Dimaggio that weekend, whom she planned to remarry within the month. I seriously doubt she bedded Giancana while enjoying the weekend getaway with her betrothed. This also goes to the overall veracity of the entertaining account.

A poorly written book, about a vastly overestimated gangster
This is yet another in the long line of mob books, that makes the laughable claim that the "Mafia" was responsible for the deaths of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Every serious historian has long ago concluded that the Mafia NEVER had anywhere near the power it would have taken to assassinate the President of the United States or a powerful senator like Bobby Kennedy. Sam Giancanna was a two bit, cowardly hoodlum, who hated the power of the "Irish" Kennedy brothers, and therefore began telling tall tales about engineering thier deaths.

This book, written by Sam Giancanna's brother, is just another biased re-telling of the lies spread by his ego-centric brother. This book is not to be taken seriously, and neither was the idiotic Sam Giancanna.

Is there Anything about Sam's Wedding....
OK So I know this really isn't the best way to go asking questions, but it seems that It's a good start.

Is there anything in the book about the marriage of Sam Giancana and Angeline, primarily any photos taken during the wedding? (Moderne Studios). Reason being.. I belive that I might have Angeline's wedding dress...

fiction is better than truth
I bought this when it first came out,knowing nothing about the chicago mob except the name Al Capone.Even not knowing about Giancana going in I felt there was plenty of nonsense in this book.St.Valentine's Day Massacre?JFK?RFK?Marylin Monroe?Fidel Castro?CIA?You guessed it,Giancana had a hand in all the deaths and controlled the world from his home in Oak Park,Illinois(where he was murdered,by the way).This book is a sham,written by a brother and nephew of Giancana who never let the truth get in the way of the story they tell.If you want a true picture of Giancana's role in the Castro matter,or anything else about him(he was approached by the CIA but never actually did anything except tell Johnny Roselli to string them along),read William Brashler's excellent The Don or William Roemer's Man Against The Mob,two books that have facts,not drivel.Tony Accardo not powerful enough to override a Giancana decision?Guess who had Giancana murdered by Sam's best friend?Accardo,the real boss of Chicago,that's who(not the shadowy govt killer the authors would have you believe).

Definitely worth reading
This book isn't intended to be a biography of Sam Giancana, it isn't intended to be a documentary on the Kennedy assassination or the mob. If one reads the Author's Note at the beginning of the book you can easily get an idea of what this book is about.

It was interesting to read some of the review here and quickly realize that TOP reviewer doesn't mean informed. Some reviewers will provide "dis-information" along with their review such as stating that the writer admits not being told anything directly by Sam Giancana. I find it hard to believe that this reviewer actually read the book. I would suggest they try reading it again and this time with their eyes open.

From someone who has read more books on the Kennedy assassination than most people could fathom are in print, you won't find much "NEW" information but simply the context in how it is presented is new. I can't imagine what state of mind someone must be in to make the claim that no information or excuse me "evidence" can be found to tie the mob to the assassination of Kennedy. If I read only one book on the subject "Case Closed" which denies everything except that the "lone nut" Oswald was responsible then perhaps this book wouldn't change my mind. Doing just a little research one can find damning EVIDENCE that the CIA and the mob were in bed since the CIA's inception. Quite simply everyone, in a position of power at the time, knew it, especially the Kennedys who were not coincidentally trying to dismantle both at the same time.

If you are not too familiar with the whole mob scene then you'll find this book very informative. This book doesn't go into a ton of detail but at least gives you enough information to understand gambling and the role the mob played in making it so widespread. In fact this book covers enough areas to make it clear to the reader just how instrumental the mob was in so many aspects of american life and to a smaller extent can still be seen today. If you aren't too familiar with the Kennedy assassination then information in this book is pretty much all you need to know. The who dunnit is all here in sort of a cliff notes version.

I enjoyed the point of view in which this book was written, clearly the memories of Chuck Giancana describing the conflicting love and hatred he had for his brother. I guess the old saying is true, "you write about what you know". ... Read more

Book Description

Families of the Jailed Margaret Stevens and Rodger Stevens

A family’s life is turned upside down when a false accusation leads to an eight-year prison sentence for Rodger Stevens.Rodger and his mother, Margaret – both ordained ministers -- were suddenly faced with challenge of truly living, under extraordinary circumstances, the beliefs and principles they preached to their congregations.Bitterness, anger, despair, and hopelessness battled for supremacy over the faith in God that had always sustained the Stevens family.Margaret and Rodger, still living day-to-day exercise in acceptance brought on by Rodger’s imprisonment, have written an inspirational memoir and spiritual guidebook for others who find themselves in the Stevens’ situation – the families of the jailed.

·Two ordained ministers share the challenge of living their own spiritual teachings I the face of tremendous adversity

·A guide to help families cope with incarceration

·How prayer, friends and loved ones, inspirational writings, and a daily spiritual practice moved the Stevens family to forgiveness and trust in God’s higher plan

·Shares important truths that may help others in similar situations:

Nothing happens by chance
All challenges in life bring lessons we need to learn
Prayer puts us in harmony with God’s plan for our lives
Regardless of the deed, the doer is still a person you can love
God’s timing does not necessarily coincide with ours
Confiding in a compassionate person is tremendous blessing ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good Clarification of the Topic
Growing up in southern Illinois, the stomping grounds of Charlie Birger, I always heard the stories of gangsters. For anyone who has lived in southern Illinois, it is hard to imagine gangsters, bootlegging, etc. going on in this rural part of the state. Being curious about what was fact and what was fiction regarding Birger, I found this book.

It is a really good read, covering all aspects of Birger, as well as some background information on southern Illinois and the Prohibition period there. It is especially interesting to read about areas you know really well, and soak in the history that took place there. I would recommend this book to anyone from the southern Illinois area.

Great Companion to Bloody Williamson
If Paul Angle's BLOODY WILLIAMSON got your attention, you might consider DeNeal's portrait of Birger and his violent life as a natural companion piece. His exhaustive examination of the gangster's persona and the spectacle of his death is well-written and enjoyable. For those not so interested in the particulars of Birger's life, this study offers a solid snapshot of southern Illinois culture during the years just before the Depression. Ballowe's smart, albeit brief, introduction is also nicely done. ... Read more

Book Description

One promoted goat gland transplants as a remedy for lost virility or infertility. Another blamed aluminum cooking utensils for causing cancer. The third was targeted by the Food and Drug Administration as "public enemy number one" for his worthless cures.

John Brinkley, Norman Baker, and Harry Hoxsey were the ultimate snake oil salesmen of the twentieth century. With backgrounds in lowbrow performance—-carnivals, vaudeville, night clubs—-each of these charismatic con men used the emerging power of radio to hawk alternative cures in the Midwest beginning in the roaring twenties, through the Depression era, and into the 1950s. All scorned the medical establishment for avarice while amassing considerable fortunes of their own; and although the American Medical Association castigated them for preying on the ignorant, this book shows that the case against them wasn’t all that simple.

Quacks and Crusaders is an entertaining and revealing look at the connections between fraudulent medicine and populist rhetoric in middle America. Eric Juhnke examines the careers of these three personalities to paint a vision of medicine that championed average Americans, denounced elitism, and affirmed rustic values. All appealed to the common man, winning audiences and patrons in rural America by casting their pitches in everyday language, and their messages proved more potent than their medicines in treating the fears, insecurities, and failing health of their numerous supporters.

Juhnke first examines the career of each man, revealing their flair as businessmen and propagandists-—with such success that Brinkley and Baker ran for governor of their states and Hoxsey had thousands of supporters protest his "persecution" by the FDA. Juhnke then investigates the identity, motives, and willingness to believe of their many patients and followers. He shows how all three men used populist rhetoric-—evangelical, anti-Communist, anti-intellectual—-to attract their clients, and then how their particular brand of populism sometimes mutated to anti-Semitism and other sentiments of the radical right.

By treating the incurable, Brinkley, Baker, and Hoxsey took on the mantles of common folk crusaders. Brinkley was idolized for his goat gland cures until his death, and Hoxsey’s former head nurse continued his work from Tijuana until her death in 1999. In considering who visits quacks and why, Juhnke has shed new light not only on the ongoing battle between alternative and organized medicine, but also on the persistence of quackery-—and gullibility—-in American culture. ... Read more

Book Description

Triad official Steven Wong is the "paper fan," a thirty-nine-year-old Hong Kong-born mobster. Raised in New York's Chinatown, he matured into crime in Vancouver, where he founded and headed the murderous Gum Wah Gang in the late 1980s and early '90s. In 1992, Wong "died" in a traffic accident in a remote area of the Philippines before he could be sent to jail for heroin trafficking, just after he'd taken out a million-dollar life insurance policy. His urn may be interred in a Vancouver cemetery; but today, Interpol has a "Red Alert" arrest warrant out for Wong. His updated file reads like a Hollywood action film-an organized criminal adventure that circles the Pacific Rim, from Macau to Japan, from Cambodia to the Philippines. For eleven years, award-winning writer Terry Gould tracked Wong through the organized crime circles of six countries, where politicians, police, businessmen and criminals run in one big pack, sometimes nipping each other's heels, licking each other's faces, and inviting one another home for all-night mah-jongg parties. Four times, Gould has traced Wong and pinned him down, but the law has let him slip away. Paper Fan includes telling photographs in this unforgettable hunt for one man. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Anyone who doubts the power of the written word to transform a life will know better after reading poet Jimmy Santiago Baca's wrenching memoir of his troubled youth and the five-year jail stint that turned him around.

When he enters New Mexico's Florence State Prison in 1973, convicted on a drug charge, Baca is 21 and has a long history of trouble with the law. There's no reason to think jail will do anything but turn him into a hardened criminal, and standing up for himself with guards and menacing fellow cons quickly gains him a reputation as a troublemaker. But there have already been hints that this turbulent young man is looking for a way out, as he painstakingly spells out a poem from a clerk's college textbook while awaiting trial or unsuccessfully tries to get permission to take classes in prison.

When a volunteer from a religious group sends him a letter, contact with the written word unleashes something in Baca, who starts writing letters and poems with the aid of a dictionary. Reading literature shows him possibilities for understanding his painful family background and expressing his feelings. Poetry literally saves him from being a murderer, as Baca stands over another convict with an illegal weapon, ready to finish him off, and hears "the voices of Neruda and Lorca... praising life as sacred and challenging me: How can you kill and still be a poet?" Baca has a year to go on his sentence, but the reader knows at that point he has made a choice that will alter his destiny.

Without softening the brutality of life in jail, Baca expresses great tenderness for the men there who helped him and affirms his commitment to writing poetry for them, "telling the truth about the life that prisoners have to endure." --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Five Stars Mr. Baca!
I fell upon this book in a Pasadena, California bookstore while looking for a book to read on my journey back to Saudi Arabia. I finished this riveting tale midway across the Atlantic. Mr. Baca's means of describing the details of his childhood hits a chord with fabulous descriptions of both the bitter and sweet moments in his life. I know that Jimmy's grandfather is looking down from heaven with pride in his grandson's accomplishments as a both a writer and outstanding human being. An awesome book Jimmy Santiago Baca! Thank You for letting me into your life.

Powerful, Sad and Inspirational
Being a Chicano, about the same age as Jimmy Baca and the son of a prison guard who worked for 28 years at Ariz State Prison, I read this story with great interest. I not convinced that all the details about Jimmy's time in the Joint were believeable but Mr Baca has my absolute respect for elevating himself and recognizing that surviving meant more than just "geeting out!". He writes with the anger, color and passion of a proud latino who understands that life only gets better if YOU change it. I recommend this work as well as Jimmy's poetry.

a EXCELLENT book
This is an excellent book. I dont read much but this book caught my attention fast. I can relate to this book alot because I grew up in some of the same sercomstances and had similar problems in life like Jimmy Santiago Baca did. And its good to know that no matter where u came from, what color or what youve been through u can pull out of the gutters and change your life like Jimmy did. It makes me proud to be Latino. I give this book 10 stars out of 5!

Victim
Although the writing is excellent, I couldnt get pass Baca's reoccurring theme that he was in jail because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and things just never went well for him. He blamed everything on other people and never took responsibility. He describes the police during a drug at his house by saying the cops just shot at them for no reason. He never expressed any remorse for an officer who was killed.
I felt sorry for Baca during his pitiful childhood and it is amazing what he has endured to become a successful writer and poet but who wants to listen to a whiny victim for long?

Tough & Eloquent
This is a tough story of a tough guy who really did overcome all the odds to create a new life for himself. This was accomplished despite extreme disadvantages. A self-taught reader, an almost Haiku-like poet with great humor and a strong writer - this man is to be commended and noticed as a fine addition to what is quickly becoming known as the Albuquerque School of Writing.
No Jimmy, I don't think you will always be a con but I do think you will always be a superb humanist. Keep writing, your audience appreciates your work. ... Read more

Book Description

Wayne Padgett was a colorful, charming, and generous man. He was also one of Oklahoma’s most elusive bootleggers and career criminals. From the 1960s into the 1980s, he operated out of Tulsa as a high-ranking member of the outfit known as the Dixie Mafia. In "Oklahoma Tough," poet Ron Padgett tells the inside story of his notorious father and of how he earned his reputation as a Robin Hood "King of the Bootleggers."

"Oklahoma Tough" is also a history of the distinctive mid-twentieth-century Oklahoma milieu that made Wayne Padgett’s life story possible. Ron Padgett brings this vanished world to life with candid and sometimes comic descriptions of criminal life. Particularly insightful and entertaining are interviews in which former bootleggers, family members, friends, and enemies speak openly about their lives.

Combining biography, personal memories, and a history of the times, Ron Padgett bases his story on interviews with police officers and with those who knew Wayne Padgett, whether friend, foe, or family. He also bases it on newspapers and library, historical society, school, medical, and police records (Wayne Padgett’s FBI files run to 1300 pages), as well as on his own vivid memories of growing up with his charismatic criminal father. Twenty-one period photographs enhance the story of "Oklahoma Tough." ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Tulsa 'tween Boom & Bust, Bootleggin' & Beats
Absurd Realist poet, translator, and memoirist Ron Padgett, long ensconced in New York's East Village boho Beat & Existentialist milieu, turns to his roots in this tale of Tulsa folklore circling around his father, Wayne Padgett; King of the oil town's bootleggers. The Tulsa time of this wiley tale is somewhere 'tween boom & bust. The earliest reaches extend back two generations to Padgett's granddad Grover, though only briefly touching upon Teddy Roosevelt's trust busters and the populist ferment brewing against BIG OIL.Padgett barely mentions the Tulsa race riots in passing.

Oklahoma was a "dry" state when it came to hootch, but oil lease rigs were still dripping when Wayne Padgett came of age.Though there isn't much of Osage tribal flamboyance on display, as Ron Padgett hews closely to his dad's immediate territory. Terry Wilson's book on the Osages and their visibility in and around Tulsa during the boom years can fill in some of the local composition.Ironically Wilson deploys an absurdist deadpan in chronicling the Osages, close as an academic can come to the style Ron Padgett pioneered earlier in his career writing Beat memoirs & punchline poetry.Wilson cinematically captures the new oil heirs on their joyrides into town having assimilated silk top hats, tux and tails into their tribal regalia.Padgett is challenged with a central subject dry as the Protestant work ethic he embodied, illicit work notwithstanding.Despite the Dixie Mafia contacts and some compulsive gambling that plays out in tragic ways a bit up the family tree, the Padgetts seemed to be straight shooters, with only narrator Ron betraying much of an appetite or curiosity for life lived on the wild side.

The contrasts found within the House of Padgett are the stuff of cross-pollinated literary dreams. Imagine Elmore Leonard or his fictional hardboiled characters holed up in a tornado alley Plains safehouse with Burroughs adding-machine heir and stiff-lipped Wild-side explorer William Burroughs, as this Tulsa teen scene deftly sketches in. Ron Padgett recalls his fledgling effort at publishing an underground lit journal while still in high school and working out of bootleggin' dad's house:

"But the oddity of the larger situation dawned on me only years later: at one end of our house was the office of one of the biggest whiskey businesses in town, while at the other was the 'office' of an avant-garde literary magazine. Really, though, I was simply imitating my dad: I had my office desk, I operated a cottage industry, and I pursued a project that most people would have considered bizarre. But what was truly bizarre was that Daddy was reading Beat and Black Mountain poetry." Wild-eyed ecstasy chasing visionaries such as Ted Berrigan, er rather, a private eye hired by Berrigan's squeeze's proper parents, might stop by the house looking for the literary mentor, only to be gruffly chased off by Big Daddy. How did a high school junior out in the oil & red dirt provinces manage to net a cast of literary luminaries like LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Paul Blackburn, Robert Creeley, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Ron Loewinsohn, Clarence Major, Gilbert Sorrentino and Berrigan for his WHITE DOVE REVIEW 5x8 1/2 staple job? Just neighborhood luck to have buddy Joe Brainard hangin' out as Art Director. The same Joe Brainard whose too short career retrospective was being exhibited at top tier museums of modern art from Boston to Berkeley a year or so ago. But this is Wayne's story, a different sort of exemplar of Junior Achievment in action.

Don't be put off by the title OKLAHOMA TOUGH. Turns out the subtitled: "My Father, King of the Tulsa Bootleggers" is a tender and flavorful slice of regional folklore. Virtually every minor character does a star turn, burning some bit of colorful essence onto a reader's retina. From the penitentiary cameo by old school toughs like Jew Snyder, to the more fully fleshed out complex shades of modern men-in-the-making like Bobby Bluejacket, the bedrock matriarch Verna Padgett, and the younger generation roadhouse loves from whom off-the-cuff wisdom literature flows in Ron Padgett's interview tapes, one only wishes this memorable Tulsa tale included an index. If this ever makes it to the big screen I have no suggestions for the casting of King Wayne or Boho Scribe Ron. But the soundtrack wouldn't be complete without some ol' J.J. Cale-Leon Russell seductive shuffles, Jimmy LaFave dustbowl retreads and the Red Dirt Rangers' roadhouse stomps.

Excellent story that brings history alive.
A very well written story that depicts an unique individual living in an intriguing time and place. Wayne Padgett is acompelling and contradictory man, some one I would like to get to know.Reading this book is like having a conversation with this powerful figure.

What a GREAT story!
This gripped me from beginning to end: a very finely drawn portrait of a man of unusual quality.Anyone who's ever been drawn to the "outlaw" mystique will appreciate the opportunity to see how it begins, lives, and ends in Wayne Padgett, the author's father.A terrific read. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

This is an amazing book!!! Buy it!!! Don't miss it!
Robert W. Murray drew a very touching picture of what is hidden behind the term JUSTICE in the United States.
It shows you instantly that this could have happened to anybody!
He lets witness us his childhood and the story how it happened that he and his brother Roger were wrongly convicted for a terrible murder.
America is not interested in finding the real killers. Why? read the book! Trials are sport shows in the USA - lawyers and attorneys go to court to win a game and not to find justice.
He shows us that even enclosed in a cave without daylight, he never gave up. Help him and his brother! Buy this book!

Revealing Truths
The author of this book is an inmate on Death Row in Arizona.He writes articulately and thoughtfully on the entire process of capital punishment: arrest, trial, conviction, incarceration, appeal, and the ultimate execution.He demonstrates that it is very difficult to get off of this road once a person is forced onto it.Along the way, he discusses details of life on Death Row.He addresses philosophical questions such as how one survives emotionally from day-to-day, as well as the boredom, interactions with guards, interactions with the legal system, interactions with the prison system, interactions with the medical system, and interactions with the rest of the world via visitors, letters, and television.This reviewer was drawn into the book and came to identify with the author and to even ask how he himself would cope with the prison circumstances. This book should be read by anyone interested in our execution system.

Everyone should read this book
I thought this book was great. The subject of the book is sad, but it is thought provoking and should be read by anyone and everyone interested in the death penalty issues in our country today. Robert is a wonderful writer, and while reading this book, you are able to picture what he is talking about and feel what he is feeling, you can feel his heartbreak as he talks about how his brother is living right there and yet he has'nt been able to talk to, see or touch him in many years. People don't often think about our inmates in this country and how they feel, but they do feel and this book illustrates this very well. Anyone interested in the issues this book raises, anyone who is not sure about the death penalty, and for those who think they know all about it, and have made up their minds, you should read this. Insightful and interesting read, grabs you from the first page and keeps you reading.

The Truth
Wow!I keep shaking my head, in fits and starts.Here is the clearest, most erudite document that I've yet read (and there have been many) regarding existence on one of America's death row facilities and the catastrophe of our judicial system.I have a bias here because I am currently watching a close friend undergo the exact same calamity that author/inmate Robert Murray so eloquently captures in this fine, eye-opening book.From drunken lawyers (if you can't operate a vehicle legally under the influence, should you be allowed to defend a man's life while inebriated?), counsel afraid of their clients, juries only selected with a prejudice for a death sentence, political posturing, the list goes on ad infinitum....I have been searching for a work that explains my utter amazement and horror at what I've witnessed to give to friends and family to help them understand my change of heart regarding capital punishment.This is the finest example to date that I have come across embodying the naked truth of our tax dollars being spent to perpetuate state sanctioned murder (this is the listed cause of death on the death certificate).The only error I found in the entire text is concerning the application of death via the "more humane" procedure of lethal injection.In actuality, it is the norm that when the killing agent is introduced into the bloodstream that a violent convulsing reaction occurs comparable to extinguishment by gas or electricity.But, as Mr. Murray so aptly points out, he wouldn't be privy to such information because nobody ever returns from the death house to tell him about it.As the saying goes, capital punishment means them without the capital get the punishment.

One of the best about death row
Robert Murray will prpbably spend the rest of his life on death row in Arizona. In his book, hee tells about the days in prison and his feelings and the daily routine.
For a free man it gives a small impression how life is on death row.
That book is very important for anyone who likes to know how men live behind prison walls.
Strongly recommended! ... Read more