The East Village Mafia

The East Village Mafia

Author: Thomas F. Comiskey

Publisher: Archway Publishing

Published: 2019-03-28

Total Pages: 73

ISBN-13: 1480875678

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Few New Yorkers are aware that the tenements and storefronts of the East Village, famous for Beat poetry, avant-garde art, and alternative rock music, were a stronghold of mafia racketeering, treachery, and intrigue for almost seventy years. From the 1920s to 1990, mob icons lived in or frequented the East Village, known as part of the Lower East Side until the mid-1960s. In The East Village Mafia, author Thomas F. Comiskey shares the history of this little-known Manhattan mafia enclave that wielded influence on the direction and destiny of organized crime in New York City, telling how: Mafia royalty Lucky Luciano, Joe "the Boss" Masseria, and Joseph Bonanno lived in or frequented the East Village; East Village-bred Mafiosi plotted the assassinations of five Cosa Nostra bosses; Lucky Luciano ordained the East Village to be one of the mafia’s major heroin distribution centers after World War II; A mobster from Avenue A conspired to sell the Vatican millions worth of bogus stocks and bonds, some forged in the East Village; A sit down in Mafia don Joseph Bonanno's favorite Social Club on East Twelfth Street determined control over a New Jersey hotel; and A federal agent from Avenue A and Fifteenth Street became the nemesis of mafia narcotics dealers.


Book Synopsis The East Village Mafia by : Thomas F. Comiskey

Download or read book The East Village Mafia written by Thomas F. Comiskey and published by Archway Publishing. This book was released on 2019-03-28 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few New Yorkers are aware that the tenements and storefronts of the East Village, famous for Beat poetry, avant-garde art, and alternative rock music, were a stronghold of mafia racketeering, treachery, and intrigue for almost seventy years. From the 1920s to 1990, mob icons lived in or frequented the East Village, known as part of the Lower East Side until the mid-1960s. In The East Village Mafia, author Thomas F. Comiskey shares the history of this little-known Manhattan mafia enclave that wielded influence on the direction and destiny of organized crime in New York City, telling how: Mafia royalty Lucky Luciano, Joe "the Boss" Masseria, and Joseph Bonanno lived in or frequented the East Village; East Village-bred Mafiosi plotted the assassinations of five Cosa Nostra bosses; Lucky Luciano ordained the East Village to be one of the mafia’s major heroin distribution centers after World War II; A mobster from Avenue A conspired to sell the Vatican millions worth of bogus stocks and bonds, some forged in the East Village; A sit down in Mafia don Joseph Bonanno's favorite Social Club on East Twelfth Street determined control over a New Jersey hotel; and A federal agent from Avenue A and Fifteenth Street became the nemesis of mafia narcotics dealers.


Manhattan Mafia Guide

Manhattan Mafia Guide

Author: Eric Ferrara

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2010-09-10

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1614233519

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The New York City historian and author of The Bowery takes readers on a tour of New York’s infamous underworld in this revealing guide. During the early twentieth century, Sicilian and Southern Italian immigrants poured into New York City looking for a better life. But while they escaped the kind of poverty and persecution they experienced in the old country, they soon discovered that certain criminal enterprises followed them to America. Over the years, the island of Manhattan would become a hotbed of organized crime and underworld intrigue. It’s a version of the city that remains invisible to most visitors—until now. In this revealing tour of New York City’s mafia history, Eric Ferrara gives readers an insider’s look at how the mob lived—and where they died. Ferrara goes inside mafia hangouts from the Copacabana to Milady’s Bar and the Thompson Street Social Club. He vividly recounts infamous episodes in the lives of famous mafia men, like Charlie “Lucky” Luciano and Joey Gallo, as well as more obscure players who will be new to most readers. From the beginnings of Black Hand criminal networks to the reign of an all-powerful organized crime syndicate, Manhattan Mafia Guide offers a fascinating look down New York City’s mean streets.


Book Synopsis Manhattan Mafia Guide by : Eric Ferrara

Download or read book Manhattan Mafia Guide written by Eric Ferrara and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2010-09-10 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York City historian and author of The Bowery takes readers on a tour of New York’s infamous underworld in this revealing guide. During the early twentieth century, Sicilian and Southern Italian immigrants poured into New York City looking for a better life. But while they escaped the kind of poverty and persecution they experienced in the old country, they soon discovered that certain criminal enterprises followed them to America. Over the years, the island of Manhattan would become a hotbed of organized crime and underworld intrigue. It’s a version of the city that remains invisible to most visitors—until now. In this revealing tour of New York City’s mafia history, Eric Ferrara gives readers an insider’s look at how the mob lived—and where they died. Ferrara goes inside mafia hangouts from the Copacabana to Milady’s Bar and the Thompson Street Social Club. He vividly recounts infamous episodes in the lives of famous mafia men, like Charlie “Lucky” Luciano and Joey Gallo, as well as more obscure players who will be new to most readers. From the beginnings of Black Hand criminal networks to the reign of an all-powerful organized crime syndicate, Manhattan Mafia Guide offers a fascinating look down New York City’s mean streets.


Gangsterismo

Gangsterismo

Author: Jack Colhoun

Publisher: OR Books

Published: 2013-04-01

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 1935928902

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Gangsterismo is an extraordinary accomplishment, the most comprehensive history yet of the clash of epic forces over several decades in Cuba. It is a chronicle that touches upon deep and ongoing themes in the history of the Americas, and more specifically of the United States government, Cuba before and after the revolution, and the criminal networks known as the Mafia. The result of 18 years’ research at national archives and presidential libraries in Kansas, Maryland, Texas, and Massachusetts, here is the story of the making and unmaking of a gangster state in Cuba. In the early 1930s, mobster Meyer Lansky sowed the seeds of gangsterismo when he won Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista’s support for a mutually beneficial arrangement: the North American Mafia were to share the profits from a future colony of casinos, hotels, and nightclubs with Batista, his inner circle, and senior Cuban Army and police officers. In return, Cuban authorities allowed the Mafia to operate its establishments without interference. Over the next twenty-five years, a gangster state took root in Cuba as Batista, other corrupt Cuban politicians, and senior Cuban army and police officers got rich. All was going swimmingly until a handful of revolutionaries upended the neat arrangement: and the CIA, Cuban counterrevolutionaries, and the Mafia joined forces to attempt the overthrow of Castro. Gangsterismo is unique in the literature on Cuba, and establishes for the first time the integral, extensive role of mobsters in the Cuban exile movement. The narrative unfolds against a broader historical backdrop of which it was a part: the confrontation between the United States and the Cuban revolution, which turned Cuba into one of the most perilous battlegrounds of the Cold War. ……………………………… “The anti-communist hysteria generated by the Cold War frequently unhinged the policy judgments of US government officials in many areas, but nowhere so completely as in our relations with Cuba. This conclusion is inescapable as Gangsterismo brilliantly unravels the bizarre tale of the Mafia army the Kennedy brothers recruited in their manic determination to rid Cuba of Castro, that vexing, seemingly indomitable Communist.” —Martin J. Sherwin, co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize (together with Kai Bird) for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer “What is shocking is not what is new, but how much that is old – already on the record in presidential and other archives, CIA and FBI files, memoirs and histories – in Jack Colhoun’s Gangsterismo. Drawing on the National Security Archives, papers and books, public and private, he damningly documents the pathetic, incompetent and sometimes comic, but always inappropriate and anti-democratic, attempts by the CIA and/or its confederates, working in tandem with members of the mob, to assassinate Castro and overthrow the Cuban revolution.” —Victor S. Navasky, publisher emeritus, The Nation; professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism “Gangsterismo is an invaluable addition to our background knowledge about that small island nation that has incurred so much devotion and ire from U.S. Americans. Books about Cuba abound, but this one lays bare an often forgotten pre-revolutionary history of U.S.-based organized crime, and subsequent hidden U.S. government covert action. Colhoun has done his homework. This is a must-read.” —Margaret Randall, author of To Change the World: My Years in Cuba “Few aspects of Cuba-U.S. relations have so doggedly resisted serious inquiry as the subject of organized crime in Cuba. Much of what we know has reached us by way of popular culture, principally through film and fiction, to which the subject of the underworld in the tropics so aptly lends itself. Colhoun represents a breakthrough: serious scholarship on a serious subject. He casts light upon one of the darkest recesses of a dark history, calling attention to the convergence of interests between the underworld of criminal activity and nether world of covert operations – and reveals in the process that film and fiction have actually only scratched the surface of a sordid story.” —Louis A. Pérez, Jr.editor, Cuba Journal; professor of history, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


Book Synopsis Gangsterismo by : Jack Colhoun

Download or read book Gangsterismo written by Jack Colhoun and published by OR Books. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gangsterismo is an extraordinary accomplishment, the most comprehensive history yet of the clash of epic forces over several decades in Cuba. It is a chronicle that touches upon deep and ongoing themes in the history of the Americas, and more specifically of the United States government, Cuba before and after the revolution, and the criminal networks known as the Mafia. The result of 18 years’ research at national archives and presidential libraries in Kansas, Maryland, Texas, and Massachusetts, here is the story of the making and unmaking of a gangster state in Cuba. In the early 1930s, mobster Meyer Lansky sowed the seeds of gangsterismo when he won Cuban strongman Fulgencio Batista’s support for a mutually beneficial arrangement: the North American Mafia were to share the profits from a future colony of casinos, hotels, and nightclubs with Batista, his inner circle, and senior Cuban Army and police officers. In return, Cuban authorities allowed the Mafia to operate its establishments without interference. Over the next twenty-five years, a gangster state took root in Cuba as Batista, other corrupt Cuban politicians, and senior Cuban army and police officers got rich. All was going swimmingly until a handful of revolutionaries upended the neat arrangement: and the CIA, Cuban counterrevolutionaries, and the Mafia joined forces to attempt the overthrow of Castro. Gangsterismo is unique in the literature on Cuba, and establishes for the first time the integral, extensive role of mobsters in the Cuban exile movement. The narrative unfolds against a broader historical backdrop of which it was a part: the confrontation between the United States and the Cuban revolution, which turned Cuba into one of the most perilous battlegrounds of the Cold War. ……………………………… “The anti-communist hysteria generated by the Cold War frequently unhinged the policy judgments of US government officials in many areas, but nowhere so completely as in our relations with Cuba. This conclusion is inescapable as Gangsterismo brilliantly unravels the bizarre tale of the Mafia army the Kennedy brothers recruited in their manic determination to rid Cuba of Castro, that vexing, seemingly indomitable Communist.” —Martin J. Sherwin, co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize (together with Kai Bird) for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer “What is shocking is not what is new, but how much that is old – already on the record in presidential and other archives, CIA and FBI files, memoirs and histories – in Jack Colhoun’s Gangsterismo. Drawing on the National Security Archives, papers and books, public and private, he damningly documents the pathetic, incompetent and sometimes comic, but always inappropriate and anti-democratic, attempts by the CIA and/or its confederates, working in tandem with members of the mob, to assassinate Castro and overthrow the Cuban revolution.” —Victor S. Navasky, publisher emeritus, The Nation; professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism “Gangsterismo is an invaluable addition to our background knowledge about that small island nation that has incurred so much devotion and ire from U.S. Americans. Books about Cuba abound, but this one lays bare an often forgotten pre-revolutionary history of U.S.-based organized crime, and subsequent hidden U.S. government covert action. Colhoun has done his homework. This is a must-read.” —Margaret Randall, author of To Change the World: My Years in Cuba “Few aspects of Cuba-U.S. relations have so doggedly resisted serious inquiry as the subject of organized crime in Cuba. Much of what we know has reached us by way of popular culture, principally through film and fiction, to which the subject of the underworld in the tropics so aptly lends itself. Colhoun represents a breakthrough: serious scholarship on a serious subject. He casts light upon one of the darkest recesses of a dark history, calling attention to the convergence of interests between the underworld of criminal activity and nether world of covert operations – and reveals in the process that film and fiction have actually only scratched the surface of a sordid story.” —Louis A. Pérez, Jr.editor, Cuba Journal; professor of history, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City's Lower East Side

A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City's Lower East Side

Author: Eric Ferrara

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2009-06-16

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1614233039

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New York's Lower East Side is the birthplace of everything from organized crime to anarchist movements. In the nineteenth century, an influx of struggling immigrants seeking opportunity met the harsh realities of industrialization. Poverty and squalor fueled a vicious battle for power and political clout. Local historian Eric Ferrara reveals the wicked history of America's most infamous neighborhood, where the abounding graffiti is a testament to the soul and spirit of the slum.


Book Synopsis A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City's Lower East Side by : Eric Ferrara

Download or read book A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City's Lower East Side written by Eric Ferrara and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2009-06-16 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York's Lower East Side is the birthplace of everything from organized crime to anarchist movements. In the nineteenth century, an influx of struggling immigrants seeking opportunity met the harsh realities of industrialization. Poverty and squalor fueled a vicious battle for power and political clout. Local historian Eric Ferrara reveals the wicked history of America's most infamous neighborhood, where the abounding graffiti is a testament to the soul and spirit of the slum.


Five Families

Five Families

Author: Selwyn Raab

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2014-05-13

Total Pages: 810

ISBN-13: 1429907983

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The New York Times bestseller chronicling the history of NYC’s infamous five mafia families is now the basis for the upcoming The HISTORY® Channel documentary series American Godfathers: The Five Families. Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals and generational changes that produced violent and unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.


Book Synopsis Five Families by : Selwyn Raab

Download or read book Five Families written by Selwyn Raab and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-05-13 with total page 810 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller chronicling the history of NYC’s infamous five mafia families is now the basis for the upcoming The HISTORY® Channel documentary series American Godfathers: The Five Families. Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals and generational changes that produced violent and unreliable leaders and recruits. A twenty year assault against the five families in particular blossomed into the most successful law enforcement campaign of the last century. Selwyn Raab's Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York's premier dons from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and more. The book also brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.


Fixing Broken Windows

Fixing Broken Windows

Author: George L. Kelling

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 0684837382

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Cites successful examples of community-based policing.


Book Synopsis Fixing Broken Windows by : George L. Kelling

Download or read book Fixing Broken Windows written by George L. Kelling and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1997 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cites successful examples of community-based policing.


The Gangs of New York

The Gangs of New York

Author: Herbert Asbury

Publisher:

Published: 1928

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis The Gangs of New York by : Herbert Asbury

Download or read book The Gangs of New York written by Herbert Asbury and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Mafia Inc.

Mafia Inc.

Author: Andre Cedilot

Publisher: Vintage Canada

Published: 2012-08-07

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 0307360415

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Updated and available for the first time in English, Mafia Inc. reveals how the Rizzuto clan built their Canadian empire through force and corruption, alliances and compromises, and turned it into one of the most powerful criminal organizations in North America. Relying on extensive court documents, police sources and sources in the family's home village in Sicily, Montréal journalists André Cédilot and André Noël reconstruct the history of the Rizzuto clan, and expose how its business extends throughout Canada and the world, shaping the criminal underworld, influencing politicians and bending the will of business leaders to their own self-satisfying ends.


Book Synopsis Mafia Inc. by : Andre Cedilot

Download or read book Mafia Inc. written by Andre Cedilot and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Updated and available for the first time in English, Mafia Inc. reveals how the Rizzuto clan built their Canadian empire through force and corruption, alliances and compromises, and turned it into one of the most powerful criminal organizations in North America. Relying on extensive court documents, police sources and sources in the family's home village in Sicily, Montréal journalists André Cédilot and André Noël reconstruct the history of the Rizzuto clan, and expose how its business extends throughout Canada and the world, shaping the criminal underworld, influencing politicians and bending the will of business leaders to their own self-satisfying ends.


Big Apple Gangsters

Big Apple Gangsters

Author: Jeffrey Sussman

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-11-30

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1538134055

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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.


Book Synopsis Big Apple Gangsters by : Jeffrey Sussman

Download or read book Big Apple Gangsters written by Jeffrey Sussman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-11-30 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.


St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street

St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street

Author: Ada Calhoun

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2015-11-02

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0393249794

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A vibrant narrative history of three hallowed Manhattan blocks—the epicenter of American cool. St. Marks Place in New York City has spawned countless artistic and political movements. Here Frank O’Hara caroused, Emma Goldman plotted, and the Velvet Underground wailed. But every generation of miscreant denizens believes that their era, and no other, marked the street’s apex. This idiosyncratic work of reportage tells the many layered history of the street—from its beginnings as Colonial Dutch Director-General Peter Stuyvesant’s pear orchard to today’s hipster playground—organized around those pivotal moments when critics declared “St. Marks is dead.” In a narrative enriched by hundreds of interviews and dozens of rare images, St. Marks native Ada Calhoun profiles iconic characters from W. H. Auden to Abbie Hoffman, from Keith Haring to the Beastie Boys, among many others. She argues that St. Marks has variously been an elite address, an immigrants’ haven, a mafia warzone, a hippie paradise, and a backdrop to the film Kids—but it has always been a place that outsiders call home. This idiosyncratic work offers a bold new perspective on gentrification, urban nostalgia, and the evolution of a community.


Book Synopsis St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street by : Ada Calhoun

Download or read book St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street written by Ada Calhoun and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-11-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vibrant narrative history of three hallowed Manhattan blocks—the epicenter of American cool. St. Marks Place in New York City has spawned countless artistic and political movements. Here Frank O’Hara caroused, Emma Goldman plotted, and the Velvet Underground wailed. But every generation of miscreant denizens believes that their era, and no other, marked the street’s apex. This idiosyncratic work of reportage tells the many layered history of the street—from its beginnings as Colonial Dutch Director-General Peter Stuyvesant’s pear orchard to today’s hipster playground—organized around those pivotal moments when critics declared “St. Marks is dead.” In a narrative enriched by hundreds of interviews and dozens of rare images, St. Marks native Ada Calhoun profiles iconic characters from W. H. Auden to Abbie Hoffman, from Keith Haring to the Beastie Boys, among many others. She argues that St. Marks has variously been an elite address, an immigrants’ haven, a mafia warzone, a hippie paradise, and a backdrop to the film Kids—but it has always been a place that outsiders call home. This idiosyncratic work offers a bold new perspective on gentrification, urban nostalgia, and the evolution of a community.