Synopses & Reviews
New York is not only a world capital of finance, fashion, and media, but also of every imaginable variety of criminal activity from the most brutal to the most creative. From rampaging draft rioters to Prohibition-era beer barons, from brilliant art thieves to Wall Street insiders, from the Boss Tweed to Dapper Don, New York's criminals personify the dark side of the most vibrant and diverse city on earth. Crimes of New York takes us from the tortured, violent life of David Berkowitz, aka Son of Sam, who terrorized the city in the process of killing six young women to the story of the Manhattan yuppie millionaire whose marriage dissolved in drug abuse and ended in murder; from the life of a woman struggling to stay straight in the South Bronx to the violent childhood of teen killer Cape Man Salvatore Agron. Their crimes reflect our common failingsgreed, anger, lust for powerintensified by the brutality and sophistication of the unique pressure cooker that is New York.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Notes from the underground / Pete Hamill -- Mom, murder ain't polite / Meyer Berger -- Wily Wilby / St. Clair McKelway -- Persecution of the Reverend Dr. Dix / Herbert Asbury -- from The gangs of New York / Herbert Asbury -- from Low life : lures and snares of old New York / Luc Sante -- from Plunkitt of Tammany Hall / George Washington Plunkitt and William L. Riordon -- from Rogues' gallery / Thomas Byrnes -- Annals of Manhattan crime / Patrick M. Wall -- Jeeves and the unbidden guest / P. G. Wodehouse -- from Conversations with the Capeman / Richard Jacoby -- High life and strange times of the pope of pot / Mike Sager -- Marisa and Jeff / Calvin Trillin -- Shit-kickers of Madison Avenue / Lillian Ross.