The incorruptibles : a true story of kingpins, crime busters, and the birth of the American underworld / Dan Slater.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Slater, Dan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Immigrants--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Immigrants.

Crime--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Crime.

Organized crime--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Organized crime.

Organized crime--United States--History--20th century.

New York (N.Y.)--History--1898-1951.

New York (N.Y.).

Genre:

True crime stories.

Physical Description:

xi, 419 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, facsimiles ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

True story of kingpins, crime busters, and the birth of the American underworld

Place of Publication:

New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2024.

Summary:

This harrowing tale of early twentieth century New York reveals the true stories of an immigrant underworld, a secret vice squad, and the rise of organized crime. In the early 1900s, prior to World War I, New York City was a vortex of vice and corruption. On the Lower East Side, then the most crowded ghetto on earth, Eastern European Jews formed a dense web of crime syndicates. Gangs of horse poisoners and casino owners, pimps and prostitutes, thieves and thugs, jockeyed for dominance while their family members and neighbors toiled in the unregulated garment industry. But when the notorious murder of a gambler attracted global attention, a coterie of affluent German-Jewish uptowners decided to take matters into their own hands. Worried about the anti-immigration lobby and the uncertain future of Jewish Americans, the uptowners marshalled a strictly off-the-books vice squad led by an ambitious young reformer. The squad, known as the Incorruptibles, took the fight to the heart of crime in the city, waging war on the sin they saw as threatening the future of their community. Their efforts, however, led to unforeseen consequences in the form of a new mobster class who realized, in the country's burgeoning reform efforts, unprecedented opportunities to amass power. In this mesmerizing and atmospheric account, drawn from never-before-seen sources and peopled with unforgettable characters, Dan Slater tells an epic and often brutal saga of crime and redemption, exhuming a buried history that shaped our modern world.

Contents:

Author's note

Prologue

Part one: Nobility in dollar land. Between worlds

The crusading path

Making your mark

Tony the tough

Night of ruin

The girl who earns her own living

Vengeance

The killing of a Jewish gambler

Part two: Mister Prettyfield. Waking up

To the wall

Pal Zel

Bridging the wires

Everyman's friend

Misfits

Part three: The incorruptibles. Whacked unmercifully

Year of the red-light drama

Il Nostro get

Your city

Scarlet room

Don't tell lies for me

The toughest money in the world

Tailor's progress

Part four: Inevitable chain. Subversive might

A tool like you

It's a racket

Don't write good things about me

Epilogue

Glossary of the east side underworld

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 331-408) and index.

ISBN:

9780316427715

0316427713

OCLC:

1445888115