Williamsburg Regional Library

A brotherhood betrayed, the man behind the rise and fall of Murder, Inc., Michael Cannell

Label
A brotherhood betrayed, the man behind the rise and fall of Murder, Inc., Michael Cannell
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
resource.biographical
individual biography
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
A brotherhood betrayed
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
1156445490
Responsibility statement
Michael Cannell
Sub title
the man behind the rise and fall of Murder, Inc.
Summary
"The riveting true story of the rise and fall of Murder, Inc. and the executioner-turned-informant whose mysterious death became a legendary moment in Mob history. In the fall of 1941, a momentous trial was set to begin that threatened to end the careers and lives of New York's most brutal mob kingpins. The lead witness, Abe Reles, had been a trusted executioner for Murder, Inc., the enforcement arm of a coast-to-coast mob network known as the Syndicate. But the man responsible for coolly silencing hundreds of informants was about to become the most talkative snitch of all. In exchange for police protection, Reles was prepared to rat out his murderous friends, from Albert Anastasia to Bugsy Siegel-until the morning of the trial, when his shattered body was discovered on a rooftop outside his heavily-guarded hotel room. Was it a botched escape, or punishment for betraying the loyalty of the country's most powerful mobsters? Michael Cannell's A Brotherhood Betrayed traces the history of Murder, Inc. through Reles' rise from street punk to murder chieftain to stool pigeon, ending with his face-down death on a Coney Island rooftop. It resurrects a time when crime became organized crime: a world of money and power, depravity and corruption, street corner ambushes and elaborately choreographed hits by wise-cracking foot soldiers in double-breasted suits and zooty fedoras. For a brief moment before World War II took over everything, America fixated on the delicate balance of trust and betrayal on the Brooklyn streets. This is the story of the one man who tipped the balance"--, Provided by publisher
Table Of Contents
Prologue: "Something has happened" -- The rise. Schlammers ; Babylon Brooklyn ; The Commission ; Murder for money -- The downfall. Twenty against the underworld ; Lepke ; Bill-O ; The wedge ; Long song ; Mr. Arsenic ; The dance hall ; Half Moon Hotel ; Kid Twist's ghost -- Addendum
Target audience
adult
resource.variantTitle
Man behind the rise and fall of Murder, Inc
Classification
Content
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