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Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900-1935
Arguably the most complete book ever compiled on New York City's underworld from 1900-1935. It chronicles virtually every known mafioso, bootlegger, racketeer, and thug who terrorized the city in the early 20th century.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2004
9 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Downey
17 books10 followersI am the author of Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900-1935 and Bad Seeds in the Big Apple: Bandits, Killers & Chaos in New York 1920-1940 and Legs Diamond: Gangster.
My newest book, Hollywood on the Spot: Crimes Against the Early Movie Stars, is now available as paperback or Kindle book.
I invite you to visit me at:
www.deadgangster.blogspot.com
My newest book, Hollywood on the Spot: Crimes Against the Early Movie Stars, is now available as paperback or Kindle book.
I invite you to visit me at:
www.deadgangster.blogspot.com
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 28, 2008
I'm sleeping with this author as well.
January 6, 2025
Great book for someone looking to inform themselves on the first gangsters that roamed the streets of New York. I love that the author dived into a time period of New York that most NYC crime researchers simply skip over.
I've spent countless hours digging through old newspapers and I've managed to confirm existence/death of most of the gangsters mentioned in this book.
With all this being said, If you are looking for a quick window into the lives and deaths of various criminal figures that lived in NYC 100 years ago, its perfect book for you.
I've spent countless hours digging through old newspapers and I've managed to confirm existence/death of most of the gangsters mentioned in this book.
With all this being said, If you are looking for a quick window into the lives and deaths of various criminal figures that lived in NYC 100 years ago, its perfect book for you.
June 20, 2011
The man is obsessed with bullets. Since, unsurprisingly, there are shoot-outs on almost every page, you get to experience this a lot. Downey enumerates every single bullet and tells the reader how many bullets were fired and who and where they hit. It is weird but I kept having an image of him with a spreadsheet laid out before him as he combs the old papers marking off how many bullets were fired and listing body parts that were struck by bullets. I don't think there was a single shooting in the book (and there are A LOT of shootings) that doesn't have a bullet count.
Perhaps this book was in part just one of those mismatches between reader and book. Clearly most people liked the book a lot more than I did. I'm always interested in reading histories of New York City. I think I expected more cultural history and less bullet counting. But I also found annoying his use of Gangster slang (references to "his alky" when he is discussing someone's bootleg liquor business, for instance). In particular, I hated his use of "shylock" and "shylocking" to refer to loan sharking. It may well have been just part of his annoying use of contemporary gangster slang but it has anti-Semitic implications he should have been more conscious of.
At some point in the book he references "organized crime fans." That is disturbing. People can be "students" of organized crime or just people who find the world fascinating just like there are people who like reading military history. But I think people would be disturbed if a military historian referenced "war fans."
Perhaps this book was in part just one of those mismatches between reader and book. Clearly most people liked the book a lot more than I did. I'm always interested in reading histories of New York City. I think I expected more cultural history and less bullet counting. But I also found annoying his use of Gangster slang (references to "his alky" when he is discussing someone's bootleg liquor business, for instance). In particular, I hated his use of "shylock" and "shylocking" to refer to loan sharking. It may well have been just part of his annoying use of contemporary gangster slang but it has anti-Semitic implications he should have been more conscious of.
At some point in the book he references "organized crime fans." That is disturbing. People can be "students" of organized crime or just people who find the world fascinating just like there are people who like reading military history. But I think people would be disturbed if a military historian referenced "war fans."
May 7, 2013
I stumbled upon this book while browsing a local library book sale on a makeshift kiosk located in the vestibule.
From the father of Mafia Monk Eastman to others like Jack "Legs" Diamond and Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, Patrick Downey's book gives insight into the often unsolved deaths of mafia personnel and their victims.
I rather enjoyed the book because Downey gives a good historical timeline to the emergence of gangs in New York City. Another beauty of this book is how Downey describes what happened, who died, why they died, and so forth. Most books I have come across only allude to the fact that a specific person was pumped full of slugs and laid in some alley way, then a few months passed by and this happened. Downey's passion of finding out the details has created a beautifully written book about New York City's Underworld.
And for those Al Capone enthusiasts, Downey even explains the often departure from the three major mafia sects in New York City to give time for things to settle down. In this recapturing,Downey laments about Al Capone's territory in accordance to the fact that once someone becomes a gang member, they are a part of something much bigger than they can comprehend; they have officially given their life to the gang.
From the father of Mafia Monk Eastman to others like Jack "Legs" Diamond and Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, Patrick Downey's book gives insight into the often unsolved deaths of mafia personnel and their victims.
I rather enjoyed the book because Downey gives a good historical timeline to the emergence of gangs in New York City. Another beauty of this book is how Downey describes what happened, who died, why they died, and so forth. Most books I have come across only allude to the fact that a specific person was pumped full of slugs and laid in some alley way, then a few months passed by and this happened. Downey's passion of finding out the details has created a beautifully written book about New York City's Underworld.
And for those Al Capone enthusiasts, Downey even explains the often departure from the three major mafia sects in New York City to give time for things to settle down. In this recapturing,Downey laments about Al Capone's territory in accordance to the fact that once someone becomes a gang member, they are a part of something much bigger than they can comprehend; they have officially given their life to the gang.
June 7, 2016
i really did not like the use of the word "shylock" or "shylocking" to refer to lending, especially a) considering the antisemitic overtones of that statement and b) the fact that many of the people the author used it in reference to were jewish. come on, dude, that's not cool.
overall it was a decent addition to the early 20th century nyc underworld oeuvre that i've been building. i did appreciate that he attempted to "analyze" and prove/disprove certain claims about who was responsible for which murder, whether certain gangsters were allies or rivals, etc., rather than just regurgitating the same information.
however, some quibbles: besides the above recoil every time i saw that word on the page, i did find certain sections to be repetitive and dragging, bogged down in unnecessary details. other sections, on the other hand, benefitted from details that are left out in other books. i would have appreciated better footnotes and sourcing, but a lot of the facts relayed are things i've read elsewhere so at least i know they are either accurate or repetitions of everyone else's mistakes.
overall it was a decent addition to the early 20th century nyc underworld oeuvre that i've been building. i did appreciate that he attempted to "analyze" and prove/disprove certain claims about who was responsible for which murder, whether certain gangsters were allies or rivals, etc., rather than just regurgitating the same information.
however, some quibbles: besides the above recoil every time i saw that word on the page, i did find certain sections to be repetitive and dragging, bogged down in unnecessary details. other sections, on the other hand, benefitted from details that are left out in other books. i would have appreciated better footnotes and sourcing, but a lot of the facts relayed are things i've read elsewhere so at least i know they are either accurate or repetitions of everyone else's mistakes.
January 20, 2010
The author does not really discuss his sources leaving the reader to assume he spent countless hours in the microfilm room at his local library. However, he presents one of the first books on the New York underworld that names names and tries to place the many gangland killings into context. Much of the material is circumstantial. In a few places he justifies his connections between killings. It is rare for an author in this field to make arguments in light of critics attacked David Chandler, Carl Sifakis, Jay Robert Nash, and other Mafia historians for propounding inaccurate data.
December 30, 2008
This book provided a tremendous amount of research. Many New York City Gangsters from the early 1900's can be found in this book. If you are fascinated with the Irish, Jewish and Italian prohibiton era gangsters - this book is for you!
Want to read
February 18, 2009Would love to read this but it's not yet available. The hardback edition was out a few years ago but none of the major retailers have copies.
August 31, 2015
this was very interesting and i enjoyed it very much
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews