CRIMES OF NEW YORK Stories of Crooks, Killers, and Corruption From the World's Toughest City

Softcover. An anthology featuring 14 stories of crooks, killers and oddball outlaws. Together these lawbreakers shatter just about every rule in the world's toughest city - with deadly, moving and sometimes comic results. New York has always been a superb breeding ground for every kind of crime, from Wall Street scams to serial killings. What's more, the city has drawn writers worthy to tell the stories of those crimes - and of the extraordinary characters who commit them. Those writers range from brilliant raconteurs such as Meyer Berger and P.G. Wodehouse to legendary reports such as Pete Hamill and Lillian Ross. Their work represents the cream of a century's writing about their city. The lawbreakers they capture on paper are a motley and destructive crew of characters. The cast includes the likes of Marisa Baridis; the young, greedy and deeply confused Smith Barney analyst at the heart of an insider trading ring; Mickey Cezar; the strange and demented character known as "the Pope of Pot"; and Salvador Agron, the angry mistreated teenaged killer whom the media dubbed "the Caperman." Such criminals have drawn the attention of some of New York's greatest storytellers. Herbert Asbury tells the story of the Reverend Dr. Dix, the hapless target of one Gentleman Joe - a man who wrote some 300 letters in a stunningly perverse campaign to up-end his randomly chosen victim's life. Long-time 'New Yorker' writer Lillian Ross profiles a collection of Upper East Side teenagers - the Shit-Kickers of Madison Avenue - up to absolutely no good. St. Clair McKelway offers his vintage report on a mild-mannered imposter - the talented Mr. Wilby. Luc Sante weighs in with an essay on the early NYPD. Peter Hamill's 1987 profile of subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz is typical, but the book goes beyond the headlines to examine the motivations of the killer. Other writers portray aspects of the city that you won't encounter in newspaper headlines or on television documentaries. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. With Bibliog. 290pp. trade size softcover. With discreet remainder mk. to lower edge o/w Nr. F. with no creasing to folded covers.