Gangland New York

The Places and Faces of Mob History

Anthony M. DeStefano

Get a taste of New York’s underworld by seeing where mobsters lived, worked, ate, played, and died. From the Bowery Boys and the Five Points Gang through the rise of the Jewish “Kosher Nostra” and the ascendance of the Italian Mafia, mobsters have played a major role in the city’s history, lurking just around the corner or inside that nondescript building. Bill “the Butcher” Poole, Paul Kelly, Monk Eastman, “Lucky” Luciano, Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, Mickey Spillane, John Gotti—each held sway over New York neighborhoods that nurtured them and gave them power. As families and factions fought for control, the city became a backdrop for crime scenes, the rackets spreading after World War II to docks, airports, food markets, and garment districts. The streets of Brooklyn, swamps of Staten Island, and vacant lots near LaGuardia Airport hosted assassinations and hasty burials for the unlucky. The bloodlettings, arrests, and trials became front-page fodder for tabloids that thrived on covering Mulberry Street. Chinese, Russian, and Greek mobsters rose to prominence and wrought bloody havoc as well. Each of the book’s five sections—one for each borough—traces criminal activities and area exploits from the nineteenth century to now. Everyone knows about Umberto’s Clam House in Little Italy, but now you can find Scarpato’s restaurant in Coney Island where Joe Masseria was killed by henchmen of Salvatore Maranzano, who in turn died in a Park Avenue office building at the hands of “Lucky” Luciano a few months later. From the Bronx to Brighton Beach, from New Springville to Ozone Park, here is a comprehensive, on-the-ground guide to mob life in the Rotten Apple.

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 216 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4930-0600-7 • Paperback • July 2015 • $19.95 • (£14.99)

978-1-4930-1833-8 • eBook • July 2015 • $18.99 • (£14.99)

Subjects: True Crime / Organized Crime, History / United States / General, History / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA), Travel / General

Gangland New York

The Places and Faces of Mob History

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Get a taste of New York’s underworld by seeing where mobsters lived, worked, ate, played, and died. From the Bowery Boys and the Five Points Gang through the rise of the Jewish “Kosher Nostra” and the ascendance of the Italian Mafia, mobsters have played a major role in the city’s history, lurking just around the corner or inside that nondescript building. Bill “the Butcher” Poole, Paul Kelly, Monk Eastman, “Lucky” Luciano, Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, Mickey Spillane, John Gotti—each held sway over New York neighborhoods that nurtured them and gave them power. As families and factions fought for control, the city became a backdrop for crime scenes, the rackets spreading after World War II to docks, airports, food markets, and garment districts. The streets of Brooklyn, swamps of Staten Island, and vacant lots near LaGuardia Airport hosted assassinations and hasty burials for the unlucky. The bloodlettings, arrests, and trials became front-page fodder for tabloids that thrived on covering Mulberry Street. Chinese, Russian, and Greek mobsters rose to prominence and wrought bloody havoc as well. Each of the book’s five sections—one for each borough—traces criminal activities and area exploits from the nineteenth century to now. Everyone knows about Umberto’s Clam House in Little Italy, but now you can find Scarpato’s restaurant in Coney Island where Joe Masseria was killed by henchmen of Salvatore Maranzano, who in turn died in a Park Avenue office building at the hands of “Lucky” Luciano a few months later. From the Bronx to Brighton Beach, from New Springville to Ozone Park, here is a comprehensive, on-the-ground guide to mob life in the Rotten Apple.

Details

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 216 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4930-0600-7 • Paperback • July 2015 • $19.95 • (£14.99)

978-1-4930-1833-8 • eBook • July 2015 • $18.99 • (£14.99)

Subjects: True Crime / Organized Crime, History / United States / General, History / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA), Travel / General

Author

Anthony M. DeStefano is the author of three books on the Italian Mafia, including Vinny Gorgeous, and a staff reporter for Newsday, covering legal affairs and criminal justice in New York City. Formerly a staff reporter at the Wall Street Journal and Fairchild News Service, he has appeared on Biography Channel programs as an expert on organized crime.

Reviews

[Vinny Gorgeous] is a dark, informed, and effective bio, and DeStefano is a master at cutting through the secrecy of the Mafia hierarchy.
— Publishers Weekly

[Vinny Goregeous is] dramatic ... thrilling ... tantalizing ... DeStefano’s prose cohesively describes the trials, legal strategies, and lawyers, revealing previously unseen aspects of Basciano’s character as he fought to avoid the death penalty.

— Kirkus

...this book serves as a very useful reference and guidebook for anyone interested in the specific dates, places, and rationale for major mob events in New York City history. It also includes many of the interesting houses, restaurants, and cemeteries associated with important mob figures and events with some old photos, and some current photos, of what these sites looked like, and how they look now. The author says it best, 'Gangland New York serves as an evocative guide for those who wish to tour the neighborhoods of this historic gallery of rogues.' - Jay S. Albanese, Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs
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Gangland New York

The Places and Faces of Mob History

Anthony M. DeStefano

Gangland New York

The Places and Faces of Mob History

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