Download or read book The Racetrack Gangs written by Dick Kirby and published by Pen and Sword True Crime. This book was released on 2020-12-30 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “So if you’re a fan of Peaky Blinders and want to read the true stories behind those characters and tales . . . this is the book for you.” —Britain’s Gangland Magazine Between the two World Wars, there was a dramatic upsurge of violence as rival criminal gangs vied for rich pickings from bookmakers at racetracks throughout England. With ready access to cash, “bookies” were a magnet for mobsters’ blackmailing demands. Refusal to pay resulted in severe punishment. Their justified fears spawned a ready “protection” market. Conflict between rival gangs were frequent and increasingly violent. Charles “Darby” Sabini with his brothers ran “The Italian Mob” who clashed with Billy Kimber and his Brummagen Hammers. Uneasy partnerships were formed but seldom lasted. The Sabinis were friendly with the Cortesi family until a rift resulted in one of the Cortesis shooting Harryboy Sabini. Other gangs such as The Titanics and The Nile Mob were ready to fill voids. As well as broken alliances, internal friction and members changing sides resulted in bloodshed on the streets, in pubs and clubs and on the courses. Public order was so threatened that the Flying Squad was tasked with the eradication of the problem and, in 1936, the celebrated Battle of Lewes Racecourse brought matters to a bloody conclusion. This well researched and gripping account describes the vicious dramas played out in the 1920s and 1930s.

Download or read book Running the Numbers written by Matthew Vaz and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-04-13 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every day in the United States, people test their luck in numerous lotteries, from state-run games to massive programs like Powerball and Mega Millions. Yet few are aware that the origins of today’s lotteries can be found in an African American gambling economy that flourished in urban communities in the mid-twentieth century. In Running the Numbers, Matthew Vaz reveals how the politics of gambling became enmeshed in disputes over racial justice and police legitimacy. As Vaz highlights, early urban gamblers favored low-stakes games built around combinations of winning numbers. When these games became one of the largest economic engines in nonwhite areas like Harlem and Chicago’s south side, police took notice of the illegal business—and took advantage of new opportunities to benefit from graft and other corrupt practices. Eventually, governments found an unusual solution to the problems of illicit gambling and abusive police tactics: coopting the market through legal state-run lotteries, which could offer larger jackpots than any underground game. By tracing this process and the tensions and conflicts that propelled it, Vaz brilliantly calls attention to the fact that, much like education and housing in twentieth-century America, the gambling economy has also been a form of disputed terrain upon which racial power has been expressed, resisted, and reworked.

Download or read book The Gangs of New York written by Herbert Asbury and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Real Peaky Blinders written by Carl Chinn and published by . This book was released on 2014-10-10 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stylish and dark, the BBC series the 'Peaky Blinders' is set in the backstreets of Birmingham after the First World War and tells of the rise to power of Thomas Shelby and his criminal gang. Yet the real stories behind these fictional characters are just as dramatic, bloody and compelling as the TV series. Thomas Shelby's arch enemy Billy Kimber was in real life a Brummie from Summer Lane. He was a feared fighter with an astute mind and magnetic personality which earned him the leadership of the Birmingham Gang that dominated the highly profitable protection rackets of the racecourses of England. The members of this gang had once been 'sloggers' or 'peaky blinders' and their rise to supremacy was attributable to their viciousness and to Kimber's shrewd alliances with other gangs. But they soon incurred the envy of the Sabini Gang of London who fought violently to oust Kimber and his men and take over their rackets. The Birmingham Gang battled back fiercely in the infamous and blood-stained racecourse wars of the 1920s. This Birmingham Gang led by Billy Kimber were the Real Peaky Blinders and this is their story.

Download or read book Blood Money written by Clive Small and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2011 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A meticulously researched and revealing expose of the new players in organised crime.

Download or read book Killers Kidnappers Gangsters and Grasses written by Dick Kirby and published by Pen and Sword True Crime. This book was released on 2022-10-07 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his latest thrilling book, much published crime author Dick Kirby draws on his fast moving policing service, much of which was with Scotland Yard’s Serious Crime Squad and the Flying Squad. As if that was not enough he brings in accounts of fellow coppers during the final decades of the 20th century to add a fresh dimension. It quickly becomes clear to the reader that Kirby and his colleagues practiced their art in a markedly different style than that prevailing today. Corners were cut, regulations ignored and pettifogging rules trampled on in the wider public interest of bringing criminals to justice and preserving law and order. Above all the best senior detectives led fearlessly. Kirby describes front line policing where the public came first and the criminals a poor second. There are great stories of arrests, ambushes, fights and meeting informants in unlikely places. Eyebrows may be raised at the book’s contents but many will feel that there is no place in the fight against serious crime for ‘woke-ness’ and political correctness and regret the passing of no-nonsense law enforcement.

Download or read book Britain s Godfather written by Edward T. Hart and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Gangs written by Tony Thompson and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2009-06-08 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of GANGLAND BRITAIN and REEFER MEN. Organised crime is one of Britain's biggest industries. The number of gangland murders, shootings and kidnappings, along with the levels of drug trafficking, people smuggling and money laundering, have all experienced phenomenal growth. Multi-million pound drug deals and vicious turf wars have spread out from the inner cities and now affect even the most rural communities. The day-to-day impact of organised crime on our lives has never been greater. In GANGS, award-winning author Tony Thompson takes us on a gripping journey into the criminal underworld. From Triad human traffickers in Dover and ecstasy factory owners in Liverpool, to Albanian vice barons in London and gun-toting teenage crack dealers in Birmingham, GANGS reveals the inside story of contemporary organised crime.

Download or read book Peaky Blinders The Legacy The real story of Britain s most notorious 1920s gangs written by Carl Chinn and published by John Blake. This book was released on 2020-09-17 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Sunday Times bestselling author, Carl Chinn The Peaky Blinders as we know them, thanks to the hit TV series, are infused with drama and dread. Fashionably dressed, the charismatic but deeply flawed Shelby family have become cult anti-heroes. Well-known social historian, broadcaster and author, Carl Chinn, revealed the true story of the notorious gang in his bestselling Peaky Blinders: The Real Story and now in this follow-up book, he explores the legacy they created in Birmingham and beyond. What happened to them and their gangland rivals? In Peaky Blinders: The Legacy we revisit the world of Billy Kimber's Peaky Blinders, exploring their legacy throughout the 1920s and 30s, and how their burgeoning empires spread across the UK. Delve into the street wars across the country, the impact of the declaration of War on Gangs by the Home Secretary after The Racecourse War in 1921, and how black-market bookmaking gave way to new and daring opportunities for the likes of Sabini, Alfie Solomon and some new faces in the murky gangland underworld. Drawing on Carl's inimitable research, interviews and original sources, find out just what happened to this incredible cast of characters, revealing the true legacy of the Peaky Blinders.

Download or read book The Guv nors written by Dick Kirby and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2011-02-23 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ten Scotland Yard detectives, featured in The Guvnors, are unique. Such a group of intrepid crime-busters will never exist again. They possessed only the most rudimentary education; none had a degree. Intuition and knowledge of their manor counted for more than DNA and databases. They worked tirelessly in the pursuit of criminals, used informants, worked on hunches and grabbed hold of investigations and shook them until every piece of evidence was unearthed. Criminals trembled when these detectives were after them because, once they were nicked, they stayed nicked.The Guvnors covers legends such as Fred Wensley, who nailed strips of bicycle tyres to the soles of his boots when on the look-out for Jack the Ripper. He later formed the Flying Squad and became chief constable of the CID. Fred Sharpe would single-handedly confront forty of the worst racetrack gangsters and tell them to clear off, anyone who refused would collect a punch on the jaw. Sharpe later became head of the Flying Squad, as did Bob Fabian, who was awarded the Kings Police Medal for dismantling an IRA bomb.Bert Wickstead, known as The Gangbuster, literally terrorised the gangs who attempted to fill the void in Londons East End, after the demise of the Kray bothers.This is a book which will delight those who want to know what life was like when The Guvnors and others like them were in charge of law and order and the streets were far safer than they are today.

Download or read book The World s Most Evil Gangs written by Nigel Blundell and published by Kings Road Publishing. This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crime DOES pay. There's no denying it. And in pursuit of riches and power, those outside the law have always tended to band together - spawning today's murky, brutal world of organised crime.The origins of the archetypical gangster can be traced to 1920s America, when Prohibition turned street-corner hoodlums into rich and powerful businessmen. But today highly organised ferociously protective gangs are prevalent throughout the world. Despite their despicable methods, we are still fascinated by their labyrinthe networks. How did these gangs form? How do they wield their power? How do they maintain their secretive societies? And how do they evade the massive forces of law and order arrayed against them? Nigel Blundell, who is author of more than a dozen factual crime books, reveals the answers in The World's Most Evil Gangs.This book delves into the darkest depths of the underworld, from mobsters in America to Hells Angels in Germany to child armies in Africa...not forgetting the monsters on our own doorstep.

Download or read book Missing Presumed Murdered written by Dick Kirby and published by Pen and Sword True Crime. This book was released on 2022-02-03 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former Scotland Yard detective examines real cases of murder in which accused criminals were convicted without a body found. Murders in any form, and the more gruesome the better, hold a morbid fascination to the British public but never more so than when the bodies of the victims are never found. Aside from the lack of closure for relatives and friends, this factor creates problems for police and prosecutors and has macabre appeal for the public. Muriel McKay, wife of a senior News of the World Executive was kidnapped in 1969. Although her body, believed to have been fed to pigs, was never found, the perpetrators were convicted. The same fate was suffered by the business partner of a Polish farmer. James Camb murdered a glamorous actress feeding her to sharks but this did not stop women flocking to see him in court. John Haigh confessed to disposing of his nine victims in acid. Again, his trial was a sell-out. Dick Kirby, former Scotland Yard detective turned best-selling crime writer has ‘unearthed’ a fascinating collection of disappearances such as the dismemberment of a gay man’s wife who had threatened to expose him in the 1950s. Later, when a woman’s head was discovered near his home, he confessed only to find that it dated from Roman times. These and numerous other cases make Missing, Presumed Murdered a riveting, if grisly, read.

Download or read book Without the Moon written by Cathi Unsworth and published by House of Anansi. This book was released on 2016-07-02 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hush, hush, hush Here comes the Bogeyman... London during the long, dark days of the Blitz: a city outwardly in ruins, weakened by exhaustion and rationing. But behind the blackout, the old way of life continues: in the music halls, pubs, and cafés, soldiers mix with petty crooks, stage magicians with lonely wives, scandal-hungry reporters with good-time girls — and DCI Edward Greenaway keeps a careful eye on everyone. But out on the streets, something nastier is stirring: London's prostitutes are being murdered, their bodies left mutilated to taunt the police. And in the shadows Greenaway's old adversaries in organized crime are active again, lured by rich pickings on the black market. As he follows a bloody trail through backstreets and boudoirs, Greenaway must use all his skill — and everything he knows about the city's underworld — to stop the slaughter. Based on real events, Without the Moon is an atmospheric and evocative historical crime novel demonstrating Unsworth's masterful grasp of the genre.

Download or read book The Sweeney written by Dick Kirby and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of sixty years of Scotland Yards top crime-busting department has been written over a twenty year period by a former detective who spent over eight years with the Flying Squad The Sweeney.The meticulous research by the author has uncovered files never before released by the Yard and he has amassed the tales of bravery and top-notch investigations, carried out by the Squad officers of yesteryear.The book commences with the dramatic account of the daring gold bullion and jewellery raid in 1948 by a gang of well-organised criminals from the newly-opened Heathrow Airport. The Flying Squad were lying in wait for them and what happened next, was described by a judge at the Old Bailey as, The Battle of Heathrow.The Flying Squad was formed to stem the tide of lawlessness, following the First World War; from humble beginnings using horse-drawn wagons, they swiftly progressed to high-speed cars. Taking on the might of the Racetrack Gangs, armed robbers and smash & grab raiders, the Squad was brought to the forefront of the publics attention.The war years, the secret post-war Ghost Squad, the horse-doping scandals, the Great Train Robbery, the Bank of America robbery, Supergrasses and corruption are recounted with its scrupulous attention to detail. The book is filled with thrilling, amusing and always compelling anecdotes from the men who were there. It was the Flying Squad who inspired the popular TV series. This book reveals what life was really like in The Sweeney.

Download or read book IRA Terror on Britain s Streets 1939 1940 written by Dick Kirby and published by Pen and Sword True Crime. This book was released on 2021-04-14 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is little known today that, in January 1939, the IRA launched a bombing campaign, codenamed The S - or Sabotage - Plan on mainland England. With cynical self-justification, they announced that it was not their intention to harm human life but in just over a year, more than 300 explosive devices resulted in 10 deaths, 96 injuries and widespread devastation. London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and many other towns and cities were targeted. On 25 August 1939, detectives in London defused three devices set to detonate that afternoon at 2.30 and arrested four terrorists. At the same time an identical bomb exploded in Coventry city centre killing five civilians and injuring 50, the highest body count of the campaign. Numerous arrests were made nationwide but ill-trained personnel and additional national security resulting from the threat of Nazi invasion caused the campaign to falter and fade away in early 1940. The author, a former detective, is well qualified to write this book, having spent 18 months in Northern Ireland combatting terrorism, for which he was commended by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Lord Imbert, for displaying ‘courage, dedication and detective ability’.

Download or read book Weirdo written by Cathi Unsworth and published by House of Anansi. This book was released on 2013-10-07 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named one of the Best Crime Books of the Year by the Guardian , Weirdo is an atmospheric thriller about a teenage girl convicted of murder in a 1980s seaside town and the private investigator who reopens the case to discover that she may not have acted alone ... Corinne Woodrow was fifteen when she was convicted of the ritualistic murder of her classmate in a quaint seaside town. It was 1984, a year when teenagers ran wild, dressed in black, stayed out all night, and listened to music that terrified their parents. Rumours of Satanism surrounded Corinne and she was locked up indefinitely, a chilling reminder to the parents of Ernemouth to keep a watchful eye on their children. Twenty years later, private investigator Sean Ward — whose promising career as a detective with the Metropolitan Police was cut short by a teenager with a gun — reopens the case after new forensic evidence suggests that Corinne didn’t act alone. His investigation uncovers a town full of secrets, and a community that has always looked after its own.

Download or read book Secret Narco written by Wensley Clarkson and published by Ad Lib Publishers Ltd. This book was released on 2020-07-16 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the extraordinary story of how Charlie Wilson – renowned as one of the leaders of the Great Train Robbery gang – turned his back on so-called traditional crime to become the underworld’s original narco by helping to mastermind a multi-billion dollar drugs network in partnership with the original cocaine cowboy, Pablo Escobar. Wilson secretly helped turn cocaine into the Western world’s number one recreational drug of choice. Secret Narco unravels the bullet riddled, never-before-told history of South Londoner Wilson’s cocaine empire and his forays into the deadliest killing fields of all: South America. Bestselling author Wensley Clarkson’s meticulously researched story features interviews with many of Wilson’s friends, family members and enemies on both sides of the law enforcement divide, as well as associates of Pablo Escobar. .br> Secret Narco also reveals the final, tragic circumstances behind Wilson and Escobar’s bloody deaths, and how their twisted ‘partnership’ proved that gangsters never rest in peace.