Download or read book Mobsters In Our Midst The Kansas City Crime Family written by William Ouseley and published by . This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the rise and fall of Kansas City's longest-reigning mob boss, Nick Civella, and his powerful crime family, as told by the FBI agent who helped bring down Civella and his cronies. The book includes never-before-published detail of the crimes and investigations that led to the demise of Civella mob rule. The book also features 20 pages of archival photographs.

Download or read book Mobsters In Our Midst The Kansas City Crime Family written by William Ouseley and published by . This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the rise and fall of Kansas City's longest-reigning mob boss, Nick Civella, and his powerful crime family, as told by the FBI agent who helped bring down Civella and his cronies. The book includes never-before-published detail of the crimes and investigations that led to the demise of Civella mob rule. The book also features 20 pages of archival photographs.

Download or read book The Mafia and the Machine written by Frank Hayde and published by Barricade Books. This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the American Mafia is not complete without a chapter on Kansas City, MO. The 'City of Fountains' has popped up in The Godfather, Casino and The Sopranos, but many aren't aware that Kansas City is key in the history of organised crime. Events unfolding in this city affected the fortunes of all the 'families' and shaped the entire underworld. In The Mafia and the Machine, author Frank Hayde ties in every major name in organised crime - Luciano, Bugsy, Lanksy - as well as the corrupt Kansas City police force.

Download or read book Open City written by William Ouseley and published by Leathers Pub. This book was released on 2008 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Open City is an historical work detailing and analyzing the birth and growth of an organized crime "family" in Kansas City during the first 50 years of the 20th Century. It began with a Mafia-like clan labeled the Black Hand, its roots planted in the secret crime societies of Southern Italy and Sicily - a band of extortionists victimizing the city's "Little Italy" community in the early 1900s. From modest beginnings, the development of the criminal outfit is traced through prohibition, its alliance with the Pendergast Machine, the roaring 20s, Home Rule, the wide open 30s, the birth of La Cosa Nostra, and hard times in the 50s. It is the story of Kansas City, politics, powerful and colorful mob bosses, gangland murders, racket activities, and courageous police officers and reformers. Book jacket.

Download or read book Tom s Town written by William M. Reddig and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 1986 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pendergast machine rose to power riding the industrial and business boom of the 1920s, strengthened its grip during the chaos of the depression years, and grew fat and arrogant during the spending spree that followed. It fell apart in a fantastic series of crimes, including voting fraud and tax evasion, that shocked the nation and resulted in the incarceration of Tom Pendergast in a federal prison in 1939. Now available in paperback with a foreword by Charles Glaab, William M. Reddig's political and social history of Kansas City from the mid-1800s to 1945, focusing on the lives of Alderman Jim Pendergast and especially his younger sibling, Big Tom Pendergast, chronicles both the influence of the brothers on the growing metropolitan area and the national phenomenon of bossism. "The story of the Pendergasts has been told ... in many places and in many ways. It has hardly been told anywhere, however, with more fascinating detail and healthy irony than in this volume of William M. Reddig." --New York Times "Reddig has written his history of the Pendergast machine in a reportorial style which manages to combine plain city desk prose with a great deal of humor, irony, and insight. He has dwelt with obvious delight on the local characters, the factions, and feuds, and has given several brilliant personality sketches." --Saturday Review of Literature

Download or read book Covert written by Bob Delaney and published by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. This book was released on 2009-06 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a riveting page-turner, NBA referee Delaney reveals the clandestine life he had led before becoming one of professional basketball's most respected referees. 16-page b&w photo insert.

Download or read book Storied Scandalous Kansas City written by Karla Deel and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-10-08 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to Kansas City—the best town this side of Hell. The Paris of the Plains. Home to the Wettest Block in the World. This collection celebrates a storied history of one notorious city. Meet the mobsters and victims, bootleggers, madams, political bosses and raucous entertainers who truly brought the party to the plains even during Prohibition. Witness the best parades, the wackiest costumes and the wildest scams. Kansas City’s sordid underbelly is full of surprises sure to delight and entice—the odd, macabre and delightful.

Download or read book Cigar City Stories written by and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1885, Vincent Martinez Ybor, a Spanish entrepreneur, purchased forty acres east of Tampa and built a company town of tall red-brick factories and small wood-frame houses for the workers. Over the next forty years, this community of cigar-makers from Cuba, Spain, and Italy grew into a thriving industry that made Tampa the Cigar Capital of the World. The urban renewal of the 1960s, however, struck a deathblow to Ybor City; thousands of cigar-makers homes and businesses were leveled by bulldozers, and an interstate highway stormed through the dying neighborhood. The narratives, reflecting a coming-of-age in this colorful community that no longer exists, speak of a kidnapping, a hold-up, a shark attack, a deadly duel, and a murder. A teenager comes to grips with his sexual identity, an activist mother resists Jim Crow laws, and an unexpected baby changes everyones life. In Cigar City Stories, author Emilio Gonzalez-Llanes presents a collection of short stories that provides a snapshot of this lost island in time. Julian stood on that raised platform in the middle of the factory floor, reading to the workers: Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Les Miserables, writings of Cervantes, newspapers, and the poems of Jos Marti. He didnt just read the words; he took on the voice and mannerisms of the characters in the novels, like an actor in the theater. Good performances were followed by the sustained thumping roar of two hundred chavetas, or tobacco knives, repeatedly striking the workers tobacco-cutting boards. from El Lector

Download or read book Mob Murder of America s Greatest Gambler written by Herbert Marynell and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013-03-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the rags-to-riches story of Ray Ryan, the Evansville, Ind., oil millionaire, who went on to gamble with H.L. Hunt and other high rollers, hobnob with celebrities in his El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, develop the Mount Kenya Safari Club with actor William Holden and a Swiss banker, only to fall victim to a car bomb on a beautiful fall day in 1970s Evansville.

Download or read book A Mob of His Own written by Dark Tony and published by Tony Dark. This book was released on 2008-03-01 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of one of Chicago's most sadistic murderers who killed for power, money and pleasure. Sam "Mad Dog" DeStefano controlled the flow of money on Chicago's streets backed by the Chicago mob, he became a multimillionaire by squeezing the "juice" out of his victims. This book details the life of Mad Sam and describes the sick methods he used to kill. This book also explores Chicago's Italian mob and what was commonly known as the "juice" rackets, loan sharking, and shylocking. This book explains the rackets in full detail as well as the men who made a living at killing and destroying lives.

Download or read book Pendergast written by Lawrence H. Larsen and published by University of Missouri. This book was released on 2016-11-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a half-century after the death of Kansas City's notorious political boss, Thomas J. Pendergast, the Pendergast name still evokes great interest and even controversy. Now, in this first full-scale biography of Pendergast, Lawrence H. Larsen and Nancy J. Hulston have successfully provided—through extensive research, including use of recently released prison records and previously unavailable family records—a clear look at the life of Thomas J. Pendergast. Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1872, Tom Pendergast moved to Kansas City around 1890 to work for his brother James, founder of the Pendergast "Goat" faction in Kansas City Democratic politics. In 1911, Pendergast became head of the Goats, and over the next fifteen years he created a powerful political machine that used illegal voting and criminal enforcers to gain power. Following a change in the city charter in 1925, Pendergast took control of Kansas City and ran it as his own personal business. In the 1930s, he received over $30 million annually from gambling, prostitution, and narcotics, putting him in the big leagues of American civic corruption. He also wielded great power in the National Democratic Party and started Harry S. Truman on the road to the presidency. In this well-balanced biography, the authors examine Pendergast's rise to power, his successes as a political leader, his compassion for the destitute, and his reputation for keeping his word. They also examine Pendergast's character development and how his methods became more and more ruthless. Pendergast had no use for ideology in his "invisible government"—only votes counted. In 1937 and 1938 the federal government broke the back of Pendergast's machine, convicting 259 of his campaign aides for vote fraud. In 1939 Pendergast, who was believed to be the largest bettor on horse racing in the United States, was jailed for income tax evasion, and he died in disgrace in 1945. An insightful and comprehensive biography, Pendergast! will surely serve for years to come as the most thorough investigation of the life and infamous career of Tom Pendergast.

Download or read book Historic Photos of Kansas City written by and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2006-10-01 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the mid nineteenth century, Kansas City was an important trading center for the westward movement. Through the late 1800s, two World Wars, and into the modern era, Kansas City has continued to grow and prosper by overcoming adversity through the strength and resolve of its citizens. This volume, Historic Photos of Kansas City, captures this journey through still photography from the city’s finest archives. From the Civil War, to the turn of the century, to the building of a modern metropolis, Historic Photos of Kansas City follows life, government, education, and events throughout Kansas City’s history. This book captures unique and rare scenes as depicted in nearly 200 historic photographs. Published in striking black and white, these images communicate historic events and everyday life of two centuries of people building a unique and prosperous city.

Download or read book Black Gangsters of Chicago written by Ron Chepesiuk and published by . This book was released on 2014-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not as famous as Al Capone, but perhaps even more vicious, are John 'Mushmouth' Johnson, Jeff Fort and Larry Hoover from the Chicago underworld. Ron Chepesiuk reveals, for the first time, the stories of these African-American gangsters who were every bit as powerful, intriguing and colourful as the Windy City's more famous gangsters of the mid-to-late 20th Century. Each page is more exciting than the previous as Chepesiuk exposes never-before-known facts about the black gangsters who once ruled Chicago streets.

Download or read book Leaving Vegas written by Gary Jenkins and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-12-17 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blackmail. Bombs. Hit teams and executions. Skimming of casino profits. Illegal sports gaming. These tactics were "business as usual" for members of the mafia in the United States in the 1970s. But a team of F.B.I. agents and Kansas City Police Department detectives decided, in those corrupt days, to take advantage of new court-ordered wiretap privileges to curtail some of the graft in that city. The result of those efforts was the end of the mob's domination of Las Vegas casino operations, the imprisonment of key players and the decimation of the mafia's influence in Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee and Las Vegas. An ex-cop from Kansas City was part of the team that tackled the mafia corruption. He compiled this account of the surveillance efforts by including verbatim wiretap transcripts that tell the story of those days in the words of the mob's key operatives themselves. Leaving Vegas takes you behind the scenes, detailing the drama from the point of view of the surveillance teams listening in on the conversations, as well as providing the flavor of the relationships between the mobsters. Prison sentences and an end to the bulk of the mob violence in Kansas City wrote a "happy" ending to this story. Jenkins provides plenty of context to this milestone investigation, as well as photos of the key players and surveillance locations.

Download or read book California Justice written by David Kulczyk and published by Craven Street Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gripping tales of shootouts, lynchings, and assassinations in California.

Download or read book Mafia Summit written by Gil Reavill and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-01-22 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mafia Summit is the true story of how a small-town lawman in upstate New York busted a Cosa Nostra conference in 1957, exposing the Mafia to America In a small village in upstate New York, mob bosses from all over the country—Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Cuba boss Santo Trafficante, and future Gambino boss Paul Castellano—were nabbed by Sergeant Edgar D. Croswell as they gathered to sort out a bloody war of succession. For years, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had adamantly denied the existence of the Mafia, but young Robert Kennedy immediately recognized the shattering importance of the Appalachian summit. As attorney general when his brother JFK became president, Bobby embarked on a campaign to break the spine of the mob, engaging in a furious turf battle with the powerful Hoover. Detailing mob killings, the early days of the heroin trade, and the crusade to loosen the hold of organized crime, fans of Gus Russo and Luc Sante will find themselves captured by this momentous story. Reavill scintillatingly recounts the beginning of the end for the Mafia in America and how it began with a good man in the right place at the right time.

Download or read book The Mob and the City written by C. Alexander Hortis and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s. Based on exhaustive research of archives and secret files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, author and attorney C. Alexander Hortis draws on the deepest collection of primary sources, many newly discovered, of any history of the modern mob. Shattering myths, Hortis reveals how Cosa Nostra actually obtained power at the inception. The author goes beyond conventional who-shot-who mob stories, providing answers to fresh questions such as: * Why did the Sicilian gangs come out on top of the criminal underworld? * Can economics explain how the Mafia families operated? * What was the Mafia's real role in the drug trade? * Why was Cosa Nostra involved in gay bars in New York since the 1930s? Drawing on an unprecedented array of primary sources, The Mob and the City is the most thorough and authentic history of the Mafia's rise to power in the early-to-mid twentieth century.