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.
