Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New by Mike Dash

By Mike Dash

They referred to as it Satan's Circus--a sq. mile of Midtown big apple the place vice governed, sin flourished, and depravity danced in each doorway. on the flip of the 20th century, it used to be a spot the place each person from the refrain women to the beat police officers was once at the take and the place undesirable boys turned depraved males; a spot the place an upstanding younger policeman similar to Charley Becker may turn into the crookedest cop who ever stood at the back of a shield.

Murder was once so universal within the vice district that few humans have been shocked whilst the loudmouthed proprietor of a shabby on line casino used to be gunned down at the steps of its most sensible lodge. but if, weeks later, an bold district lawyer charged Becker with ordering the homicide, even the denizens of Satan's Circus have been stunned. The good-looking lieutenant was once a adorned hero, the well known chief of recent York's vice-busting specific Squad. was once he a foul cop prime a double existence, or a pawn felled by means of the sinister rogues who ran Manhattan's underworld?

With appearances through the mythical and the notorious--including great Tim Sullivan, the election-rigging vice lord of Tammany corridor; destiny president Theodore Roosevelt; loved gangster Jack Zelig; and the newly recognized writer Stephen Crane--Satan's Circus brings to lifestyles an almost-forgotten Gotham. Chronicling Charley Becker's upward push and fall, the publication tells of the raucous, gaudy, and completely corrupt urban that made him, and recounts now not one yet sensational homicide trials that landed him within the electrical chair.

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Additional info for Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century

Example text

Businesses were asked to list offences committed against 49 Crime at work: studies in security and crime prevention them before and after security upgrades. The response was relatively low (86 replies from 161 recipients of questionnaires), so the results must be interpreted cautiously. Of the 40 businesses in the survey which had installed shutters, 38 had been victimised in the year before the installation. Following the installation of shutters this number was reduced by 43 per cent. Total offences against those 38 businesses victimised prior to installation were also reduced from 265 in the year before installation to 80 in the year following installation, a reduction of 70 per cent.

Businesses were asked to list offences committed against 49 Crime at work: studies in security and crime prevention them before and after security upgrades. The response was relatively low (86 replies from 161 recipients of questionnaires), so the results must be interpreted cautiously. Of the 40 businesses in the survey which had installed shutters, 38 had been victimised in the year before the installation. Following the installation of shutters this number was reduced by 43 per cent. Total offences against those 38 businesses victimised prior to installation were also reduced from 265 in the year before installation to 80 in the year following installation, a reduction of 70 per cent.

Ekblom, P. (1987) Preventing robberies at sllb-post offices; an evaluatioll of a security illitiative. Crime Prevention Unit paper 9. London: Home Office. , Lebanc, M. and Normandeau, A. (1987) Armed robbel)', cops, robbers, and victims. Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. W. and Blake, A. (1989) Weapoll choice by violel/t offel/ders ill Westem Australia: a pilot study. CrimI' Research Centre: University of Western Australia. Hoare, M. (1980) The pattem of experiel/ce in the use offirearms by criminals and the police respollse.

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