Gangland Boston

A Tour Through the Deadly Streets of Organized Crime

Emily Sweeney

A GUIDED TOUR OF BOSTON’S UNDERWORLD, REVEALING THE PLACES WHERE DEALS WERE MADE, PEOPLE WERE KILLED, AND BODIES WERE BURIED

Gangsters have played a shady role in shaping Greater Boston’s history. While lurking in local restaurants or just around the corner inside that inconspicuous building, countless criminals have quietly made their mark on the city and surrounding communities. Gangland Boston reveals the hidden history of these places, bringing readers back in time to when the North End was wrought with gun violence, Hanover Street was known as a “shooting gallery,” and guys named King Solomon, Beano Breen, and Mickey the Wiseguy ruled the underworld.
Drawing upon years of research and an extensive collection of rare photographs, author Emily Sweeney sheds light on how gang violence unfolded during Prohibition, how the Italian mafia rose to power, and how the Gustin Gang came to be. She also uncovers little-known facts about well-known crime figures (Did you know the leader of the Gustin Gang was an Olympic athlete? Or that a fellowship at a major university was named after a big-time bookie?)
From South Boston to Somerville, Chinatown to Charlestown, and every neighborhood in between, readers will get to know mobsters in ways they never have before.
Readers will find out:
* Exact addresses where mobsters lived, worked, and played around Greater Boston
* How an Olympic athlete became one of Boston’s most notorious gangsters
* The untold history of the Gustin Gang
* Frank Sinatra’s connection to a long-forgotten Massachusetts racetrack
* Little-known facts about David “Beano” Breen, Charles “King” Solomon, Harry “Doc” Sagansky, Raymond L.S. Patriarca, and other legendary crime figures

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 216 • Trim: 6 x 9¼

978-1-4930-3036-1 • Paperback • October 2017 • $18.95 • (£14.99)

978-1-4930-3037-8 • eBook • October 2017 • $17.99 • (£13.99)

Subjects: True Crime / Organized Crime, History / United States / State & Local / General, True Crime / General

Gangland Boston

A Tour Through the Deadly Streets of Organized Crime

Paperback

eBook

Summary

A GUIDED TOUR OF BOSTON’S UNDERWORLD, REVEALING THE PLACES WHERE DEALS WERE MADE, PEOPLE WERE KILLED, AND BODIES WERE BURIED

Gangsters have played a shady role in shaping Greater Boston’s history. While lurking in local restaurants or just around the corner inside that inconspicuous building, countless criminals have quietly made their mark on the city and surrounding communities. Gangland Boston reveals the hidden history of these places, bringing readers back in time to when the North End was wrought with gun violence, Hanover Street was known as a “shooting gallery,” and guys named King Solomon, Beano Breen, and Mickey the Wiseguy ruled the underworld.
Drawing upon years of research and an extensive collection of rare photographs, author Emily Sweeney sheds light on how gang violence unfolded during Prohibition, how the Italian mafia rose to power, and how the Gustin Gang came to be. She also uncovers little-known facts about well-known crime figures (Did you know the leader of the Gustin Gang was an Olympic athlete? Or that a fellowship at a major university was named after a big-time bookie?)
From South Boston to Somerville, Chinatown to Charlestown, and every neighborhood in between, readers will get to know mobsters in ways they never have before.
Readers will find out:
* Exact addresses where mobsters lived, worked, and played around Greater Boston
* How an Olympic athlete became one of Boston’s most notorious gangsters
* The untold history of the Gustin Gang
* Frank Sinatra’s connection to a long-forgotten Massachusetts racetrack
* Little-known facts about David “Beano” Breen, Charles “King” Solomon, Harry “Doc” Sagansky, Raymond L.S. Patriarca, and other legendary crime figures

Details

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 216 • Trim: 6 x 9¼

978-1-4930-3036-1 • Paperback • October 2017 • $18.95 • (£14.99)

978-1-4930-3037-8 • eBook • October 2017 • $17.99 • (£13.99)

Subjects: True Crime / Organized Crime, History / United States / State & Local / General, True Crime / General

Author

Emily Sweeney is an award-winning journalist who has written for the Boston Globe since 2001. Her work has been featured on the Howard Stern Show, Beat the Press, the Howie Carr Show, New England Cable News, WBZ News Radio, WRKO, WMEX, WEMF, and other media outlets. She served for many years as president of the New England chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and she currently serves on the board of directors for the New England First Amendment Coalition and the board of governors for the New England Society of News Editors. A native Bostonian, she appeared with Martin Scorsese, Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg in Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey Bulger, Southie, and The Departed, a documentary film that is featured on the DVD of the Oscar-winning movie The Departed. A Boston-area native and Littletown, Massachusetts, resident, Sweeney is a frequent guest speaker at schools, universities, and media industry events.

Gangland Boston

A Tour Through the Deadly Streets of Organized Crime

Emily Sweeney

Gangland Boston

A Tour Through the Deadly Streets of Organized Crime

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