Nothing is cheaper than FREE! “Lady Lawbreakers – Virginia Hill and Bonnie Parker” is FREE for the next 5 days.
“Lady Lawbreakers – Virginia Hill and Bonnie Parker” also contains a third FREE BONUS BOOK: “Mob Rats – Bald Jack Rose,” and a fourth FREE BONUS BOOK “Snakeheads,” making it FOUR books for FREE!” No strings attached. Just download and read.
“Crime Pays: Scoundrels and Their Schemes” is presently ranked:
#1 on Amazon Kindle in the category “Hot New Releases – Legal History,”
#5 in the category “Hot New releases – Law Enforcement.”
#13 in “Legal History,”
and
#23 in “Law Enforcement.”
*****
To GRAB your copy, click the link below.
****
Product Information:
“Crime Pays: Scoundrels and Their Schemes” also includes TWO BONUS BOOKS!
“Virginia Hill – Mafia Molls – Beautiful Broads With Brass Balls: Volume 3”
AND
“MOB RATS – Bald Jack Rose – This Bald-Headed Bastard Would Rat Out His Mother To Save His Own Skin,” making it 3 BOOKS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!!!
*****
Throughout the history of mankind, there has always been one constant creed among those scoundrels who inhabit the Underworld – crime pays.
Whether it be John Allen – “The Wickedest Man in New York City,” pimping off young girls in his Manhattan Lower East Side brothel/dance hall, or George Leonidas Leslie, “The King of the Bank Robbers,” knocking off a New York City bank, or Fredericka “Marm” Mandelbaum, all 250-pounds of her, fencing stolen good from her Clinton Street grocery store, making money in a life of crime was a fait accompli; that is, unless you get caught, which happens all too often.
Some pay back society with time in prison, other’s pay with their miserable lives, and some scoot away scot-free, never to answer for their wicked offenses against humanity.
Crime Pays: Scoundrels and Their Schemes will bring you on a seedy ride that slithers across the underbelly of American society, where every crook and criminal has their own unique gimmick to fill their greedy pockets with other people’s hard-earned cash.
*****
Virginia Hill was a knock-around broad who bedded down the biggest gangsters of her time. It was said Hill spent more time on her back than Michelangelo did painting the Sistine Chapel. The word on the Las Vegas streets was that she was the exclusive property of mobster Bugsy Siegel, and it was plain to everyone in the know that Bugsy was just crazy about Hill.
But was Virginia Hill really a Trojan horse in Siegel’s camp; put there by the Mafia to make sure Bugsy was giving them an honest count on their Las Vegas ventures?
The answer is not that cut and dried.
*****
Degenerate gambler and sportsman, Jacob (Bald Jack) Rose (Rosenzweig), due to a rare disease, had nary a hair on his entire body. But what Rose lacked in hair, he more than made up for with a diabolical criminal brilliance that put him “head and shoulders” (no pun intended) above the competition.
In the early 1900s, one of Rose’s competitors was fellow gambler Herman Rosenthal, a mean and snaky runt who had the reputation of being a stool pigeon, or as they say on the streets – a rat – for the New York City Police Department. Rose and Rosenthal both owned competing gambling joints in the seedy uptown area of Manhattan called the “Tenderloin,” or “Satan’s Circus.”
Rosenthal’s partner of sorts was corrupt New York City Police Lieutenant Charles Becker, who was not adverse to taking money with both hands (graft) from the Tenderloin’s gambling joints and houses of prostitution. Rose and Rosenthal both paid Becker handsomely, but then Rosenthal got the idea he was too big a man to continue to line Becker’s pockets with cash.
What happened next was called “The Crime of the Century.”
‘New York City’s Five Points The Most Dangerous and Decadent Neighborhood Ever!” is highest at #2. It’s also ranked #6 in the same category on Amazon/United States.
Product Description:
“The Five Points is personal to me. In 1914, my mother, the youngest of 12 children, was born at 104 Bayard Street. When I grew up, I lived around the corner at 134 White Street. During my youth, the area was called Little Italy. But at the time of my mother’s birth, it was still called the Five Points.
The term “Five Points” was coined in the early part of the nineteenth century because the area had at its center a five-point intersection formed by Orange Street (now Baxter Street), Cross Street (then Park and now Mosco Street – Frank Mosco was my Little League coach), Anthony Street (Now Worth), Little Water Street (which no longer exists), and Mulberry Street.
Across the street from the front entrance to my White Street tenement building, and close enough to reach with three or four leaping bounds, was the imposing city prison called the Tombs. The dark and dreary structure was the third incarnation of a major jailhouse in this area, the first two being located one block to the west on Center Street. The Tombs played an integral part of the Five Points’ sordid history. Hundreds of dastardly individuals were hung at the Tombs, and hundreds of thousands more had the Tombs as their mailing address, some permanently.
In 1896, at the prodding of journalist Jacob Riis, the hideous Mulberry Bend was demolished by the city, and Columbus Park was built in its stead. Before then, the Five Points was predominantly Irish, and it is estimated that 10,000 – 15,000 people, mostly Irish, lived in horrendous squalor in the four square blocks that of “The Bend.” When the Bend’s buildings were razed, the Irish were displaced. Most moved north to Hell’s Kitchen, the area bounded by 42nd Street and 59th Streets, between 7th and 12th Avenues.
After the demolition of Mulberry Bend, the Five Points became the domain of Italian immigrants sprinkled with a few hundred Chinese, who claimed parts of Mott, Pell, and Doyers Streets as their turf. In fact, over the first two decades of the twentieth century, the Five Points district evolved into two intertwining ethnic neighborhoods: Little Italy and Chinatown. It wasn’t until the mid-1920s that the term “Five Points” started to fade from the vocabulary of the area’s residents.
Most remnants of the original Five Points are long gone. But the names of its former inhabitants still flicker across the lips of many New Yorkers, never in a flattering way.
So, fire up your Kindle and read about some of the most distasteful creatures ever to roam the face of the earth. They all inhabited my old Five Points neighborhood in times gone by.”
Amazon/United Kingdom Link:
Amazon/United States link:
*****
The Rotten Core of the Big Apple September 24, 2014
By Silver Screen Videos
Format:Kindle Edition
For the better part of a century, from the early 1800s to the early 1900s, New York’s Five Points was one of the most poverty and crime ridden parts of the city and the entire United States. Most people today know it, if at all, as the setting for Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York.” But Joe Bruno knows the area better than most people since it’s where he hails from and he’s taken the stories he grew up with, added to them the results of a lot of painstaking research, and has come up with a new book, “New York City’s Five Points,” which contains a number of entertaining stories about the area and its most infamous residents and events.
“Five Points” is organized into a series of short chapters, usually two to ten pages in length, each devoted to a particular person, group, or incident, and Bruno’s chapters, for the most part, are arranged in alphabetical order, so they skip around a lot. Readers looking for a comprehensive history of the area will be disappointed, but those looking for fascinating, colorful tales will love this book. Since Bruno is far better at telling colorful anecdotes than organizing a formal history text, his approach, even though it skips around a great deal, is actually fairly effective. In many cases, Bruno probably had little historical information available (some of his chapters deal with events from the 1820s and 30s), so a short chapter provided ample space to tell the story.
The stories are indeed fascinating, starting out with the Chinatown murder of a well known comic that is accomplished by lowering the assassins down the side of a building, in a story that resembles a classic locked room tale but is actually true. I also enjoyed the chapter on Chuck Connors (not the actor, but the unofficial “mayor” of Chinatown), who specialized in taking leading celebrities of the day such as Sir Thomas Lipton on tours of the area, complete with a trip to an “opium den” that was a complete hoax designed to give his upper class guests some cheap thrills. There’s even a far more bizarre story later in the book about a con artist who victimized bunches of people by claiming that the southern end of Manhattan was in danger of falling into the Hudson River due to all the tall buildings that had been built there and that he could “save” the area by cutting off part of it and rearranging the rest.
I should point out that Joe Bruno’s books are not written in conformance with any style book I’ve ever seen. There’s a good bit of colorful slang (boxers “duke it out mano a mano”), and he includes conversations between characters that may or may not have actually occurred. However, I’ve read several of Bruno’s other books and, in this one, he seems to have toned down the language a bit so that it supports his stories rather than distracts from them. Further, since the book is organized in a number of short chapters that read like the telling of a story, Bruno’s colorful language is not nearly as distracting as it might have been in a longer, more formal text on the same subject.
There is some repetition in “Five Points,” as certain events and characters are described in different manners in different chapters, but it’s fairly minimal. However, those who have read some of Bruno’s other books should be aware that some of the material has appeared in what seems to be substantially the same form in some of his earlier work. Nonetheless, there seemed to me to be a good bit of fresh material, including a bonus chapter that really hit close to home, as Bruno talks at length about his Italian-American uncle by marriage who actually was elected mayor of Chinatown in the 1920s and later went to Hollywood. Uncle Johnny’s story is as colorful as those of the considerably seamier characters Bruno discusses in the earlier part of his book.
There’s a lot of fascinating material in almost every chapter of “Five Points.” Further, because most of the stories in the book take place before the days of Prohibition and “big name” gangsters like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, they will be completely new and refreshing to many readers. After reading “Five Points,” readers will be well aware that organized crime in New York didn’t begin after World War I; it was well established and just as dangerous for a number of decades prior to the Great War. “Five Points” is a good complement to Bruno’s other books on crime in the Big Apple.
For those counting, that’s three books in 27 days. But I work on several books at a time, so it’s not as hard as it sounds.
Product Information:
Murders are mostly gory. But some can be delectably delicious, especially when they revolve around a torrid love triangle. In “Famous Murders, Riots, Disasters, and Crooked Politicians – New York City – 1834 to 1938” we have several famous New York City murders that fit that bill.
Without issuing a “spoiler alert,” some the murders featured here are: The Murder of Helen Jewett by Richard Robinson – 1837, The Murder of Mary Rogers – “The Beautiful Cigar Girl” by Daniel Payne -1841, and The Murder of Architect Stanford White by Harry Kendall Thaw – 1906.
Riots and disaster are tragedies, and in this book we treat them as such. These riots and disasters include: The Civil War Draft Riots of 1863, The General Slocum Steamship Disaster of 1906, and The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire – 1911.
Bringing up the rear are the crooked politicians, who all too often approximate the rear end of a horse. These creeps include: William “Boss” Tweed – 1850-1973, Timothy “Big Tim” Sullivan – 1894-1912, and the man who came within an inch of becoming the President of the United States – New York City Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey – 1931-1938.
So, slip into a nice comfortable chair with your beverage of choice; fire up your Kindle and enjoy!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N432WSS
In 1924, just as the area was being transformed from the Five Points into Little Italy/Chinatown, my uncle Johnny Keyes (real name Canonico – he married my mother’s oldest sister, Mary) was re-elected the Mayor of Chinatown for a second time term by a paper-thin margin.
According to the June 21st issue of the New York Times, my uncle’s opponent was Le Chung Wei. But with the backing of New York City Mayor, John Francis Hyland, “Red Mike” to his pals, Johnny Keyes came out on top by a whopping 67 votes out of more than 4,500 votes cast. World heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey also contributed mightily, in the form of greenbacks, to my Uncle Johnny’s campaign.
Also a former boxer (not very good), and fight manager/trainer of international renown, Johnny Keyes handled over 100 fighters, including my mother’s brother and Johnny Keyes’s brother – in-law – Oakie Keyes (real name Daniel Mucerino). Five of Johnny Keyes’s fighters, including Pepper Martin and Midget Wolgast, became world champions.
Explaining how Johnny “Keyes” Canonico, an Italian/American, could become the Mayor of Chinatown, the New York Times said:
The Mayor was born on Bayard Street when it was called the Five Points. He was a local leader from public school days and was deemed the heir-apparent to the late Chuck Connors in the latter part of Connors’s administration. When Chuck died 12 years ago, Chinatown regarded Johnny as the logical successor.
The Times went on further to explain how the 1924 election came about in the first place.
There is no fixed tenure of office for Chinatown Mayor. An election takes place any time an aspirant feels that he’s strong enough to cope with the administration. A date for the election is fixed, and at a number of secret polling places, the ballots are marked and counted. Those known to the clerks of the polls as natives of Chinatown and its immediate confines are enfranchised.
After winning re-election, Uncle Johnny Keyes explained his mayoralty duties to the New York Times:
This is a big job and you can’t expect to keep regular hours at it. The Mayor of Chinatown has to sleep with his clothes on. He must be ready at any hour to rush to help Mrs. Grogan keep the old man from throwing the dinner table out of the window. When an argument between children on Mulberry Bend spreads to their parents, he must be able to keep the scratches and bruises down to as few as possible. In other words, he must keep the paddy wagons and ambulances out of Chinatown.
The Chinese don’t get into too many scraps. They are hard-working and happy if they are left alone. Occasionally they have a dispute over a business matter, and this comes to me for settlement. If one steals the customer of another by giving a lower price, I am asked to stop the cutthroat competition. If a Chinaman is slow in making payments on something he bought from another Chinaman, I am asked to speed up the installments. This doesn’t happen often because the Chinese are particular about paying debts.
However, according to Johnny Keyes, the most important job of the Mayor of Chinatown was to polish the bright image of the neighborhood, and not let it be tarnished by outside influences.
Johnny Keyes told the Times:
We have no objection is people want to see a little of Oriental life in Chinatown. But we don’t want the place held up as a nest of opium dens. As mayor, I have fought to keep the moving pictures companies from using scenery in Chinatown in plays in which the Chinese are villains and white girls get kidnapped.
Of late, Chinatown has wanted its Mayor to give the neighborhood a better reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world. My men listen to the talk handed out by the guides on the sight-seeing busses, and when it gets a little too harsh we step in and tell them to stop.
The truth is there are probably fewer guns to a block in Chinatown than anywhere else in the city. The days of the hatchet men are gone, and there hasn’t been a knife thrown in years.
Johnny Keyes also told the Times, that his responsibilities as Mayor of Chinatown included helping the local parents control their wayward offspring.
He said:
Speaking to the young men who appeared headed to the Tombs is another of my duties. Parents whose boys are in bad company ask me to tell the kids they are making a mistake. The young fellows listen. I have spoken with hundreds of boys who have found it easier to steal than to work and have managed to save most of them from getting in bad.
One of Johnny Keyes first actions after being re-elected Mayor was to throw a grand shindig at Tammany Hall, which he called the Chinatown 400 Ball. The expressed purpose of the events was to raise substantial cash, intended strictly for the pockets of Johnny Keyes, after he threw a few monetary bones to the Tammany Hall brass (Keyes obviously got this idea from his mentor, the dearly departed Chuck Connors).
There was said to be almost 1,500 guests at the ball, and the highlight of the night was a grand procession scheduled for 12 midnight, which was supposed to be led by the famous writer, Damon Runyon, a close friend of Johnny Keyes. But Runyon had neglected to take his tuxedo to the grand ball, and a Tammany Hall bootlicker was sent by taxi to fetch Runyon’s tuxedo, which was at his upper west side apartment.
By 1 a.m. there was still no tuxedo. And by 1:30 a.m., a member of the Chinatown 400 floor committee rushed up to the Silver Slipper Box, where Runyon and Keyes were holding court, and said that the taxi with Runyon’s tuxedo and come and gone, but no one from Tammany Hall had been there to take possession of the tuxedo.
Disgusted, Runyon turned to Keyes and said, “This is your ballgame now, Pally. I’m drunk, my belly is full, and I’m off to grander places.”
“Hey, Cousin, you can’t do that (Keyes called everyone Cousin or ‘Cuz’)!” Keyes said.
“Watch me,” Runyon said.
And the next thing Johnny Keyes saw was Runyon’s back shrinking in the distance.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle, Johnny Keyes was nonplused, and he decided to head the grand march himself, accompanied by his lovely wife, Mary (this writer’s aunt).
The Eagle wrote under the headline:
Chinatown Ball Joyous
But Damon Runyon Misses “Tux” and Disappoints.
Was Scheduled to Lead March.
Oriental Setting Lacks Nothing but Chinamen
Promptly at 2 o’clock, Johnny Keyes, Mayor of Chinatown, stepped down from his box to lead the march for the guests. Mrs. Keyes, in white georgette (sheer silk) embroidered in gold, was at his side, affecting one of the novelty Poiret dolls.
Huge bouquets of American Beauty roses were the favors of the evening. The stately march was followed by the song “Chinatown.” Its jazz not only kept the dancers on the floor, but several went atop tables to give exhibitions of the art decried by the generation not familiar with its movements.
The imposing headdress of the Chinatown 400, said to have cost $4 each, gave the wearer a dignity alike to a potentate of the Mystic Shrine and a Chinese Mandarin.
Everybody had a wonderful time. Empty square bottles were everywhere.
And Johnny Keyes made a mint.
After my Aunt Mary died at a-much-too-young age, Johnny Keyes moved from his beloved Chinatown to Los Angeles and then to San Diego, where he opened a restaurant named Spaghetti Joe’s, which is the nickname Damon Runyon anointed Keyes with in New York City. While in Los Angeles, Keyes was also the boxing promoter at the East Side Arena.
According to a Runyon syndicated newspaper column in 1937:
Johnny Keyes, the five-foot-three-inch former Mayor of Chinatown and now over 200 pounds, lost over $5,000 last night at the new Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego. His only reply was, “Money don’t mean nuthin’ to me. It ain’t your life. It ain’t your wife. It’s only money.’
When Runyon wrote his famous play, Guys and Dolls, one of the degenerate gambler characters, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, was based on my uncle, Johnny Keyes.
You can’t make up stuff like this.
*****
Besides being a savvy politician, Johnny Keyes fancied himself as somewhat of an entrepreneur, and an international one at that.
In 1925, with the backing of several prominent Chinese businessmen, Johnny Keyes traveled to the Canton region of China with several of his world-class fighters, including lightweight Pepper Martin, flyweight Mickey Nelson and bantamweight Terry Martin, ostensibly to teach the locals the refinements of boxing.
But, as usual, Johnny Keyes had his ulterior motives.
Keyes told the New Castle Herald in New Castle, Pennsylvania, “The Chinks are deficient, if one might not say utterly lacking in pep. A few smacks on the whiskers may stir up something in the fight business there, and then I’ll be the only fight manager on the spot.”
But, alas, Johnny Keyes’s trip to China was also deficient, if one might not say utterly lacking in pep, too.
The idea of an American staging boxing matches in China was slapped down by Chinese officials. And when Keyes proposed to the United States authorities that he should be allowed to import several Chinese boxers into the United States, he ran into the exclusion law – the Geary Act – or as it was previously called “The Act to Prohibit the Coming of Chinese Persons into the United States of May 1892.”
This act of Congress said that only Chinese laborers would be allowed to shuffle back and forth between China and the United States, and not too many of them, at that. And try as he may, Johnny Keyes, the revered New York City “Mayor of Chinatown,” and blessed with the gift of gab, could not convince immigration officials on either continent that the gaggle of Chinese boxers he wanted to bring to New York City’s Chinatown could in anyway be categorized as “laborers.”
As for the tens of thousands of dollars Keyes spent on his trip to China; which was, of course, the money of others, Keyes was again philosophical.
Upon returning empty-handed to Chinatown, Keyes told the Chinese businessmen who had financed his excursion, “It ain’t your life. It ain’t your wife. It’s only money.”
Johnny Keyes was nothing if not consistent.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZCFVNU
Johnny Keyes in the middle of the cover of the Boxing Blade.
“Joe Bruno’s Mobsters – Six Volume Set’ is on sale today for only $1.99
To grab your discount copy, click the link below.
*****
Bargain – everyone loves a bargain, and “Joe Bruno’s Mobsters – Six Volume Set” is a bargain that’s hard to beat.
This boxed set, consisting of six books by mob writer Joe Bruno, starts with “Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks and Other Creeps – Volumes 1, 2, and 3 – New York City.” All three books were once ranked No. 1 in the Amazon book category “Gangs,” and all three are consistently ranked in the top 100 in Amazon’s “Organized Crime.”
According to New York City criminal attorney Mathew J. Mari, “Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps” is “a composite of characters and events that entwines the denizens of New York City’s underworld with the rich history of New York City from the early 1800’s through the early 1900’s.”
“The Wrong Man: Who Ordered the Murder of Gambler Herman Rosenthal and Why” describes the events surrounding the sensational 1912 murder of stool-pigeon/gambler Herman Rosenthal, including the two trials and subsequent execution of New York City Police Lieut. Charles Becker. Becker was undoubtedly a corrupt cop of the highest order, but Becker did not order Rosenthal’s murder, and it was, in fact, to Becker’s advantage to keep Rosenthal very much alive.
“Murder and Mayhem in the Big Apple – From the Black Hand to Murder Incorporated” details the progression of New York City murder machines from 1900-1940. It starts with the Italian Black Hand, and cruises through the Boys from Brooklyn, which later became part of the most deadly American alliance ever: Murder Incorporated.
Finally, to cap off this six-book boxed set there’s “Mob Wives – Fuhgeddaboudit!” – a clever critique of the VH1 TV program Mob Wives. As L.L. McKenna said in her Amazon book review – The Real of Reality TV, “What a pleasure ‘Mob Wives – Fuhgeddaboudit!’ is to read! Mr. Bruno not only provides insight to the ‘reality show’ but includes his blogs and responses. While scripted or not, the only truth is the paycheck that the “characters” cash while exposing themselves to the viewers.”
In summation: you get six Joe Bruno books (674 pages) for less than the price of a Starbuck’s cup of Joe.
Who says people can’t find a bargain these days?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009CGA74M
Joe Bruno’s “Find Big Fat Fanny Fast – The Biggest Mafia Killer Ever!” is free today on Amazon.com.
To snatch your free copy, click the link below.
****
What people are saying about Find Big Fat Fanny Fast – The Biggest Mafia Killer Ever!.”
5.0 out of 5 stars Find Big Fat Fanny Fast,
By Enrico Maruffi
Verified Purchase
This review is from: Find Big Fat Fanny Fast (Paperback)
“This was a very funny, informative look back about life in the lower east side of Manhattan. It covers the a time period of when the Italian mobsters controlled the area to the rise of the Chinese gangs and the struggles between the two groups. Some of the events in the book had to come from real life experiences (as they say you can’t make up some of this stuff) but I assume the names were changed to protect the innocent or guilty.
Many parts of the book were laugh out loud funny. While I never lived in the area my father owned a bar in the area and I could visualize the streets and events through the book. If you lived on the lower east side this is a must, must read book. If you didn’t, it is still a great read.”
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazingly funny stories from Little Italy!!!!
By Linda M
Verified Purchase
This review is from: Find Big Fat Fanny Fast – The Biggest Mafia Killer Ever! (Kindle Edition)
“This is a must read book for anybody who grew up or near Little Italy!!!! I read it on my Kindle and couldn’t put it down. I laughed so hard,I had tears streaming down my face. Looking forward to the continuing saga of Fanny and Tony!!!!”
*****
MEMORIAL DAY SPECIAL!! TWO FREE JOE BRUNO AMAZON.COM EBOOKS!
In memory of all our service veterans, past and present, Joe Bruno’s “Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps-Volume 1 – New York City,” and “Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks and Other Creeps-Volume 2 – New York City” are free today on Amazon.com.
“Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps-Volume 1 – New York City” was the runner up in the eFestival of Words 2013 Book of the Year in the category “Nonfiction.”
To grab your two free copies, click the two links below.
Another 5-star review for “Joe Bruno’s Mobsters – Six Volume Set.”
5.0 out of 5 stars
All you want to know about the early beginnings of organized crime in this country.
May 7, 2014
By JohnPDB
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Joe Bruno’s Mobsters – Six Volume Set (Kindle Edition)
Well written an offered insight to some very obscure and unknown criminals. It also provided insight to some of the ideas for the plots and incidents shown in very popular programs such as the Godfather series and other crime shows both on the screen and television.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009CGA74M?tag=stijnb-20
Joe Bruno on the Mob 