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Sin City Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Las Vegas is
a fast-paced account of how the mob created and controlled Las
Vegas. It contains accounts of how the most powerful mobsters in
the country built, bought, and controlled not only gambling casinos
in Vegas, but also many important politicians, who did the mob's
bidding. Some of the more notorious mobsters were Bugsy Siegel,
Meyer Lansky, Moe Dalitz, Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo, and Nick
Civella, as well as the men they chose to carry out their plans,
such as Tony Spilotro, Lefty Rosenthal, and Donald Angelini. Sin
City Gangsters devotes a chapter to Jimmy Hoffa, and how the
Teamsters Pension Fund financed the mob's casinos. The book also
offers fascinating accounts of the roles of Frank Sinatra and Elvis
Presley in Vegas. Another chapter is devoted to Howard Hughes, who
arrived in the dead of night in a sealed, germ-free railroad car
and did not leave his suite at the Desert Inn for years. During
that time he bought one casino after another as if playing
Monopoly. Following his exit and that of the mob, Vegas became the
domain of Jay Sarno, Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn, and Sheldon
Adelson. They were visionaries who transformed Vegas into the
entertainment capital of the world by building billion-dollars-plus
resorts and hiring the most popular contemporary entertainers. Sin
City Gangsters is the only book that charts Vegas from the first
modest mob-owned casinos to the present billion-dollar-resorts; its
cast of characters is an assembly of exceedingly ambitious risk
takers who let nothing stand in their way of turning their dreams
into stunning realities.
The great founding figures of organized crime in the 20th century
were born and bred in New York City, and the city was the basis of
their operations. Beginning with Prohibition and going on through
many illegal activities the mob became a major force and its
tentacles reached into virtually every enterprise, whether legal or
illegal: gambling, boxing, labor racketeering, stock fraud, illegal
unions, prostitution, food service, garment manufacturing,
construction, loan sharking, hijacking, extortion, trucking, drug
dealing - you name it the mob controlled it. The men who organized
crime in America were the sons of poor immigrants. They were hungry
for success and would use whatever means available to achieve their
goals. They were not interested in religious identity and ethnic
identity. Their syndicate of criminals was made up, primarily of
Italians and Jews, but also Irish and black gangsters who could
further their ambitions. Their sole objective was always the same -
money. It began with Arnold Rothstein, who not only helped to fix
the 1919 World Series, but who also mentored and financed the
individuals who would control organized crime for decades.
Individuals such as Frank Costello, Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel,
Joe Adonis, and Meyer Lansky, who would then follow suit setting up
other criminal organizations. They established rules of governance,
making millions of dollars for themselves and their cohorts. All
the organized crime bosses and their cohorts had the same modus
operandi: they were far-seeing opportunists who took advantage of
every illegal opportunity that came their way for making money. Big
Apple Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in New York
reveals just how influential the mob in New York City was during
the 20th century. Jeffrey Sussman entertainingly digs into the
origins of organized crime in the 20th century by looking at the
corporate activity that dominated this one city and how these
entrepreneurial bosses supported successful criminal enterprises in
other cities. He also profiles many of the colorful gangsters who
followed in the footsteps of gangland's original founders.
Throughout the book Sussman provides fascinating portraits of a
who's who of gangland. His narrative moves excitingly and
entertainingly through the pivotal events and history of organized
crime, explaining the birth, growth, maturation, and decline of
various illegal enterprises in New York. He also profiles those who
prosecuted the mob and won significant verdicts that ended many
careers, responsible for bringing many organized crime figures to
their knees and then delivering a series of coups de grace - such
as Burton Turkus, Thomas Dewey, Robert Kennedy, and Rudolph
Giuliani.
More than any other sport, boxing has a history of being easy to
rig. There are only two athletes and one or both may be induced to
accept a bribe; if not the fighters, then the judges or referee
might be swayed. In such inviting circumstances, the mob moved into
boxing in the 1930s and profited by corrupting a sport ripe for
exploitation. In Boxing and the Mob: The Notorious History of the
Sweet Science, Jeffrey Sussman tells the story of the coercive and
criminal underside of boxing, covering nearly the entire twentieth
century. He profiles some of its most infamous characters, such as
Owney Madden, Frankie Carbo, and Frank Palermo, and details many of
the fixed matches in boxing's storied history. In addition, Sussman
examines the influence of the mob on legendary boxers-including
Primo Carnera, Sugar Ray Robinson, Max Baer, Carmen Basilio, Sonny
Liston, and Jake LaMotta-and whether they caved to the mobsters'
threats or refused to throw their fights. Boxing and the Mob is the
first book to cover a century of fixed fights, paid-off referees,
greedy managers, misused boxers, and the mobsters who controlled it
all. True crime and the world of boxing are intertwined with
absorbing detail in this notorious piece of American history.
Like sharks to blood in the water, the mob arrived in Hollywood
greedy and ready to tear away huge chunks of cash. Opportunistic
mobsters saw labor unions as the means for muscling into the movie
industry and extorting millions of dollars from studio bosses.
Control the unions to which projectionists, art directors,
cinematographers, electricians, scene designers, stagehands, extras
belong, and you control the whole industry. Painting colorful
portraits of numerous mobsters, producers, actors, and directors,
Tinseltown Gangsters tells the gripping, fast-paced, true story of
corruption and greed in Hollywood throughout much of the twentieth
century.
A remarkable portrait of the heroic people who faced the threat of
extermination by the Nazis and resisted by any means
possible-whether through boxing, exposing the reality of death
camps, armed guerrilla attacks, or deadly acts of vengeance. In
Holocaust Fighters: Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers, Jeffrey
Sussman shares the riveting stories of those who fought back
against the Nazis. The lives of five boxers who were forced to
fight for their lives while imprisoned in concentration camps are
explored in depth, followed by the stories of those who managed to
escape captivity and reveal the truth about the death camps.
Sussman also depicts in fascinating detail the acts of the
Avengers, a military unit that hunted down and killed Nazi war
criminals. The final portraits are of the prosecutors who brought
the Nazi leaders to justice, those same leaders who watched Jewish
and Gypsy boxers beat each other for their own personal
entertainment. Holocaust Fighters is an incredible account of the
many ways people resisted Nazi rule, providing moving portrayals of
the resilience of the human spirit even in the face of incredible
horrors.
Rocky Graziano, juvenile delinquent, middleweight boxing champion,
and comedic actor, was the last great fighter from the golden age
of boxing, the era of Joe Louis, Jake LaMotta, and Sugar Ray
Robinson. In Rocky Graziano: Fists, Fame, and Fortune, Jeffrey
Sussman tells the rags-to-riches story of Tommy Rocco Barbella, who
came to be known as Rocky Graziano. Raised by an abusive father,
Graziano took to the streets and soon found himself in
reformatories and prison cells. Drafted into the U.S. Army,
Graziano went AWOL but was eventually caught, tried, and sent to
prison for a year. After his release, Rocky went on to have one
successful boxing match after another and quickly ascended up the
pyramid of professional boxing. In one of the bloodiest battles in
the history of the middleweight division, Rocky beat Tony Zale and
became the middleweight champion of the world. Rocky retired from
boxing after he lost his crown to Sugar Ray Robinson and went on to
have a successful acting career in two acclaimed television series.
Rich and famous, he was no longer the angry young man he once was.
In his post-boxing life, Rocky became known for his good humor,
witty remarks, and kindness and generosity to those in need. Rocky
Graziano's life is not only inspiring, it is also a story of
redemption, of how boxing became the vehicle for saving a young man
from a life of anger and crime and leading him into a life of
happiness and honesty. The first biography of Graziano in over 60
years, this book will bring his story to a new generation of boxing
fans and sports historians.
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