The Life and Times of Lepke Buchalter: America's Most Ruthless Labor Racketeer

by Paul R. Kavieff

Louis Lepke Buchalter was the most powerful and ruthless organized crime boss in the history of the U.S. underworld. A business genius with a penchant for murder, his rackets penetrated the garment, banking, and flour trucking industries in New York.

Genres: True Crime, Biography, History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 26, 2006

Reviews

[a. · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a solidly written and well-researched book. i particularly appreciated the extensive footnotes, which makes it easier to track down the primary sources used if you're interested in checking them out yourself (as i usually am). it's not breaking any new or amazing ground (which honestly, in the field of gangster history/biography isn't easy to do anyway), but it is a good and interesting biography.

[Walt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent look at New York's garment rackets.

[Steven jb · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is a good accounting of the crimes and downfall of Lepke. Unfortunately, there is only a little beyond that. Over sixty years after he was executed, such information may not be available, and yet it enhances the story to have some insight into the man's life beyond the facts. There is a little on his childhood, a little on his friendliness with another criminal and a line on how he treated his wife and adopted son. Another way to flesh this out would be to provide more details about Dewey or some of Lepke's associates, or about the effect of Lepke's actions on the people in the Unions or families affected by his actions--there was a little but again, in my opinion too little. I find this to be a common flaw of biographies, which tend to describe events but seem at a loss to go beneath those events, that is, to explore the characters involved. The majority of the book relates Lepke's crimes and machinations, but even these are bare bones without the details that make a story more involving. As I said, such things may no longer be available, and yet in judging the book, which I still enjoyed, I cannot disregard the deficiencies, although I commend the many details of the crimes and prosecution that were provided. Overall, a good job.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kavieff has obviously done a lot of research but there seems very little new in this book. I found it quite a boring read.