Sin City Gangsters is a whirlwind account of how the mob created Las Vegas, building and controlling gambling casinos and buying the favors of influential politicians. The book features such mobsters as Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Moe Dalitz, Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo, and Nick Civella, along with their agents and hired guns: Tony Spilotro, Lefty Rosenthal, and Donald Angelini. The casino owners transformed Vegas into an entertainment capital by building billion-dollar-plus resor...

Though there are many books about organized crime, this is the only book that focuses on how the mob adapted to the murders of its bosses, failed hits, internecine wars, and to prosecutions and continued to thrive throughout the United States for the better part of the 20****th century.Mafia Hits, Misses, Wars, and Prosecutions is about pivotal events that changed the way the Italian American Mafia has done business since its establishment ...

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 boxi...

During the early days of rock and roll the mob used every tactic they could, from creating their own record labels, bribing radio DJs and stacking jukeboxes with their own artists, to exploiting and intimidating performers, and creating their own black market of bootlegged records, to make millions.In the 1950s, when rock and roll music burst upon the scene, the major established record companies thought that the new music was a passing teenage trend, but mobsters w...

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, produce...

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 in...

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 i...

In the 1920s and 30s, anti-Semitism was rife in the United States and Europe. Jews needed symbols of strength and demonstrations of courage against their enemies, and they found both in two champions of boxing: Max Baer and Barney Ross. Baer was the only Jewish heavyweight champion in the twentieth century, while Ross was considered one of the greatest welterweight and lightweight champions of the era. Although their careers never crossed paths, their boxing triumphs played a common role i...

Bloomsbury presents Mafia Hits, Misses, Wars, and Prosecutions: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in America by Jeffrey Sussman, read by Matt Fletcher-Macdonald.Though there are many books about organized crime, this is the only book that focuses on how the mob adapted to the murders of its bosses, failed hits, internecine wars, and to prosecutions and continued to thrive throughout the United States for the better part of the 20****th century.

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, produce...

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 undersid...