4 comments about Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia.

1. Few incidents in American history have inspired more legend and controversy than the so-called "Mafia Incident" of New Orleans in 1891. Following their acquittal on a charge of assassinating Police Chief David Hennessey, eleven men of Italian extraction were shot or hung in possibly America's worst lynching. The episode nearly led to war with Italy and embellished accounts of the story have appeared in countless books and articles, including Herbert Asbury's The French Quarter and the sensationally embroidered Brothers in Blood by David Leon Chandler. Richard Gambino attempted to debunk the "Mafia" aspect in his book Vendetta, a fine work that's almost convincing in its portrayal of the event as merely the result of anti-Italian bigotry. But all is not as it seems and the investigations of Thomas Hunt, a first-rate organized crime historian, and Martha Macheca Sheldon, a relative of the most prominent lynch victim, have uncovered a compelling reassessment of the case. Joseph Macheca, the fruit-shipping magnate, was neither innocent nor a Sicilian Mafioso but a native-born Louisianan and Confederate war veteran active in both New Orleans politics and crime. Both he and Hennessey come across as less than martyrs but both must be considered in the light of their time, when machine politics was the rule, street duels the norm, and New Orleans still very much a gaudy frontier town. But it now appears there was an early-day Mafia at work, and equally sinister forces within the Democratic Ring and the police department, and that the victims--eleven of the nineteen accused--were very selectively chosen in what was more a political conspiracy than the impassioned mob act portrayed in past accounts. This is a well-written and classic re-appraisal of a celebrated case and essential reading for crime historians. And, yes, this was the birth of the American Mafia.



2. As I was reading Deep Water, I found the book open up to a time long ago but not so far away. It is an insight into how one family affected it's community politically and financially. It is truly an education in the behind the scenes working of the Mafia. How they come together in secret to control everything from the slave trade to fixing elections. The Mafia formed unions to control the ports bringing in food stuffs and guns. Deep Water doesn't stop there. It covers the daily life of a family dealing with jealousy and vengeance. It is a complete work of a time which has been covered up until now.



3. On a chilly fall night in October 1891, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessey was shot by unknown assailants near his home, and died several hours later. After a rumor spread that his last words were "Dagoes did it", anti-Italian sentiment seized the city. Nineteen men of Italian birth or descent were accused of orchestrating the chief's murder. When a court of law declared them not guilty, a mob stormed the jail where they were being held and killed eleven of them. Some were beaten and shot, others were hung. This mass lynching remains a dark spot in New Orleans history.
   
   In Deep Water, Hennessy's assassination and the mass slaying of his suspected killers is revisited from the perspective of J.P. Macheca, a fruit-shipping merchant with intricate ties to the city's corrupt Democratic ring and evolving American Mafia. Legend has credited Macheca with being the earliest Mafia `godfather'. Authors Thomas Hunt and Martha Sheldon make a convincing argument for the theory that the lynching of Macheca and ten of his alleged co-conspirators was not a random and rabid act of mob retribution for Hennessey's death, but rather a spectacular execution whose victims had been chosen well in advance.
   
   The book is also an engrossing look at Louisiana history during the Civil War / Reconstruction period. J.P. Macheca fought for the Confederacy, and during the postwar years, he behaved less honourably by moving in Sicilian underworld circles and instigating vicious attacks on African Americans. His fortunes declined when he did not soften his rougher instincts to stay in tune with the gentrification of the times. His export business failed, his old friends and allies abandoned him, and the final stop in his downward spiral was a bullet in the skull.



4. Tom Hunt, writing with a relative of Joseph Macheca, a 19th-century merchant and victim of the 1891 New Orleans mass lynchings, puts everything together to give readers a full account of the background to the lynchings and the rise of the New Orleans Mafia. Highly recommended for the Mafia researcher.

No comments about The Crimes of the Rich and Famous.

3 comments about Stopping the Presses: The Murder of Walter W. Liggett.

1. As a former Minnesotan, I was interested in this generally untold side of Minnesota history. I have lived in Minneapolis and loved it, but was shaken by these horrors that long preceeded my time there. I would have appreciated more specific addresses and names of businesses where events took place as it would have put the story in a more real context, but only for those familiar with the city. It is almost unbelievable to imagine the kind of opposition that existed to those publishing information which went contrary to the public image desired by those in power-both "legitimate" and underworld people. I'm glad Ms. Woodbury used her research skills to write this work. It does indeed exonerate her family, and her respect for her parents is well deserved, especially her telling of her mother's grace and dignity in coping with this tragedy.



2. Marda Woodbury's look at her own father's death is a gripping and well-researched look back at a tragedy and possibly a government cover-up. Woodbury does an excellent job of re-evaluating her father, Walter Liggett, and his death. Her father was an old-school muckraker in Minnesota and one of the most vocal opponents of then-governor Floyd Olson.

   Not being familiar with this particular case before I read the book, I was concerned that this would be some sort of apologistic, revisionist history. However, the more I researched the case, the more I found that Woodbury had given a fair assessment of the murder and of her father's career.

   The book is a case study in how political machines worked, a good look at the rise of gangland in the heart of the Midwest, and a really interesting history of Minnesota journalism in the 1930s. Liggett argues that her father was too good of an advesary, knew too much and couldn't be bribed - all fatal ingredients which spelled his demise.

   I wish Liggett would have explored her father's reputation as a blackmailer. While she makes several references to it, and while that was many the gripe of many of Liggett's contemporaries, she doesn't seem to do as thorough of a job in researching the claims of blackmailing as she does in other parts of the book. While that particular area isn't exhaustively explored, the book still seems to have objectivity and balance.

   Woodbury should be complimented for her well-documented research and her crafty ability to present this case in a new light, some half-a-century after it happened. She has done not only an admirable job in her role as a historian, but we also are given a first-hand account of what happened to the family and a look into the private dealings of Walter Liggett.




3. Marda Liggett Woodbury has done a first class job in researching and describing the life and death of her father, a leftist newspaper publisher who was murdered in front of her in 1935. But she does not simply write a sentimental account of her relationship with him, but delves deep into the history of a time and place. In addition, it tells the story of one man's decision to expose a deeply corrupt instituion, one whose faults he could no longer ignore. Attacking the very political party he had long supported, he exposed candidates ties to the Twin Cities's Irish and Jewish Mobs and vowed to bring down their most powerful Political Boss, Minnesota Governor Floyd Olsen. It was a crusade that would cost him his life. When he couldn't be intimidated, framed, or bribed, he was machine gunned to death before the terrified eyes of his wife and children. The shooter was identified as Isadore Blumenfield, alias "Kid Cann" the boss of Minneapolis's Jewish Mafia. I will leave you to find out the result of the trial by reading the book. In closing, as a religious conservative, I agree with virtually none of Walter Liggett's political stances, but in one regard I admire him. When the Liberal Party he supported became just another crooked political machine, he turned on them with a vengeance. For that, I wish there were more like him today.

5 comments about Kill Grandma For Me (Pinnacle True Crime).

1. I would not reccommend this book only because it does not truthfully and accurately describe what everything was really like for Wendy Gardner and James Evans.
   DeFelice paints Wendy Gardner out to be some kind of cold-blooded youngster in a together-forever-in-love-relationship. THAT is the FANTASY. Wendy and James were nothing at all like Romeo and Juliet, and neither of them had a clue of what 'in-love' means. These two shared a obsessive, hormone-filled relationship that wouldn't have lasted anyway.
   Wendy came from a broken home and lived with her grandmother who was physically and mentally abusing Wendy. Nobody, including DSS had done a thing to help in that situation. Betty Gardner's behavior got worse as she tried keeping a punk like James away from her granddaughter.
   When James Evans killed Betty Gardner, he was not forced or manipulated into it at all. It was a decision James had made all by himself that didn't have to happen. He was angry at Betty for threatening his sex life and for being abusive to Wendy. That is how he justified his remorseless murder of the old "stupid bitch." (As he called her). He was no pawn, and he should be held accountable for his own actions.
   I love true-crime books, but this one has too much fantasy and things which aren't true at all. It's a shame to see that story and the people painted out the way this book did, because it's not an honest, accurate painting.



2. ***"This rag depicts Wendy as a cold-blooded, sex crazed monster who cared nothing for her Grandmother.****
   
   I loved the book and I feel it was very well written. As for the quote from an earlier reviewer... cold blooded- Wendy planned the murder and placed the body in the trunk- that to me is cold blooded. Sex crazed- fact is that they did have sex right after the horrible crime. Who care nothing about her grandmother- well I can honestly say that I would not want someone to care for me that much as to want me dead so they could spend all my money for nonsense. Facts are evident.. horrible crime with unjust convictions. Many criminal minds are still rotting away in prison that did not kill but planned the murder, but some get away with murder. I too know this case well and will sign my name as Friend of James.



3. Yea no doubt lets not put all the blame on Evans, that BS. They were both young so lets not get carried away and paint her as Mother Teresa. Everyone wants to paint her as this poor innocent girl that had nothing to do with the murder. She beat the crap out of her sister so she wouldnt go to the cops, she put the body in the trunk of a car and drove around for days with the body inside. The girl got what she deserved and its a shame shes out today. She should still be locked up just as long as Evans. She got off because shes a girl and thats sexist. And I too know the case and parties involved, and thought the book was pretty acurate with the exception that Evans was not this monster that the book made him out to be.



4. I believe the author did an excellent job of blending all the different parts of the story, backgrounds, crime, and court case into a book that reads like a novel. He does paint the main characters, Wendy and James, in a sympathetic light. However, when the killers are 15 and 13 years old, you can't help but feel sad. However, he never goes so far as to say punishment isn't deserved. It is just a sad story of two kids who made a very bad decision. Very well written.



5. I sorta knew what I was letting myself in for when I bought it, and wasn't disappointed. True-crime books of the stature of "In Cold Blood" or "The Executioner's Song" seem, generally speaking, to be a thing of the past. The true-crime books glutting the market now tend to be superficial, often poorly written, and exploitative. Why'd I buy this particular superficial, often poorly written, and exploitative book? Saugerties, NY, is one of my favorite upstate towns, and it's always more interesting, if not fascinating, to read about a place you know, even if you only know it as a visitor. Too, as jaded a society as we've unfortunately become over the past several decades, the thought of a 13-year old adolescent and her not-much older boyfriend brutally killing her grandmother still has the ability to shock and one can't help but ask, even as one's mind reels in horror at what human beings-- even 13 and 15 year old human beings-- are capable of doing to each other, "Why? How is this allowed to happen in an ostensibly civilized and compassionate society? How does a 13-year old child become so evil or so sick?" Well, don't expect any answers from DeFelice's book beyond simplistic, facile ones, or any thought-provoking insight. In a nutshell, it's a relatively pedestrian re-creation of the events leading up to the crime, the crime itself, and the aftermath. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the reporting, although certain accusations of "artistic license" have been leveled against the author (for instance, I believe Wendy Gardner recently has said she never "cut" herself, to use one example). This is not to say it's not a brisk, occasionally engrossing, read. The nature of the crime itself almost guarantees that. But, sadly, the book ultimately has little within it to distinguish it from the plethora of other "true-crime" books out there. As a final note: I've read on the internet that James Evans has recently been denied parole. Wendy Gardner was paroled a few years ago, has married, is attending college, and is apparently attempting to do something worthwhile with her life.

1 comments about No Kill, No Thrill: The Shocking True Story of Charles Ng - One of North America's Most Horrific Serial Killers.

1. An excellent read about the grisly crimes of two men bent on a killing spree to satisfy their twisted needs. Very interesting information on how the RCMP helped to convict one of the mass killers

4 comments about Every Mother's Nightmare (Onyx True Crime).

1. this book has very little information in it. When I got through reading this book I was shaking my head wondering. There was very little information about this crime. All I learned was that two beautiful children were murdered & their mother's did everything they could to find the murderer & have him or them punished.



2. I have read this book several times and it affects me deeply each time I read it. My heart breaks for Mari Winzen and Jude Govreau. I thought the book was written in a very compassionate matter. It was a horrible tragedy from the beginning but it was made worse because the mothers had to wait almost two years for an arrest and then there were constant delays before there was a trial. Mari and Jude walked the road to hell and made it back in one piece and I have a lot of admiration for them.



3. This was an awful experience for two mothers to go through. Children brutally murdered and endless problems abounded. It makes you realize justice is not always swift and easy. I don't see how the mothers survived without killing someone themselves. It was a difficult read at times, trying to remember the aka's of protected sources, and other information was confusing. There were what I think were errors but there was no way to confirm. I do think a better job could have been done with the writing considering the important subject matter. All and all it did tell you what happened.



4. This is a every touching book to me cause I knew Tyler the little boy that the book was written about. I just loved the book. And every time I read it just brings back memories that are just to sad. I loved the book.

2 comments about Natural Born Killer: In Love and on the Road with a Serial Killer.

1. This book is touted as a chilling account of life on the road with a serial killer, I did not find any of this book to be chilling, nor well written. Sandy Fawkes is listed as a writer, technically speaking she is, although she is/was a fashion writer, specifically I didn't think she related her experiences all that well, the only thing she kept ranting about was how boring she thought Knowles was and how much smarter she was then him. I found that she was more pre-disposed to talking about his clothes and lack of sexual prowess. Do not waste your money buying this, there were no insights into the mind of Knowles, and as a "investigative journalist" Fawkes failed at securing an interview with Knowles before his death. For anyone thinking this book would have anything of value in profiling or the thought process of of a socio-path look somewhere else.



2. I must say, that Sandy Fawkes's book titled "Killing Time" was one of the first books I read out of the true-crime book piles back in the late 80's, that it left such an impression on me, it was the starting point of my long life hobby as a book collector of the gender.
   
   Questions such as, "what made someone commit these horrendous acts, and why?" "What was the motivation behind these crimes, and why spare the life of one but not another?"
   Afterall, this book was written way before the term `serial killer' was even coined.
   
   Natural Born Killer is the re-release of that book, minus all the great black and white photographs that accompanied the text of the 1977 book, Killing Time, and with only one very small addition, an "afterword" with the header (February 2004, London) to the length of only 6 pages long.
   
   What is interesting is that in this latest addition, Fawkes retracts her statement from her 1977 publication regarding her feelings towards Knowles, "Knowles was as much a victim as any of the 18 people he killed ...may his poor, demented soul rest in peace", and states, "now I am not sure that I am as keen to find some streak in him deserving of sympathy ...or making others share the blame."
   
   Another interesting fact that I find is that this current publication is titled "In Love And On The Road With A Serial Killer", which is really misleading due to the fact that Fawkes never at any stage claimed to have fallen in love with Knowles.
   Quite frankly by the end of the 10th of November of 1974, and only after spending 3 days with him, she couldn't wait to get rid of him.
   
   One wonders whether this is just not one of those quick try to cash-in jobs on the serial killer groupie phenomenon of the millennium era.
   
   She claimed, Knowles was a lousy lover and a wannabe, living a lie and pretence of someone he wished he was, but never would be, the so-called normality this habitual criminal craved for life.
   
   That was also one of the reasons behind Fawkes's narrow escape with death, which she became an unknowingly assistant in living that pretence he craved for so bad, including also the fact that as a journalist she may have given him the publicity and fame he craved for.
   
   Tapes related to the Knowles case (audio confessions by Knowles himself), that in the 1975 hearing, Judge Owens ruled be sealed for 20 years, are briefly mentioned here as Fawkes loosing interest in ever hearing them, though time was closing in on their release.
   
   Makes one wonder whether that not ever knowing got the better of Fawkes, and another re-release of this book later on this year, titled "In Love With A Serial Killer", will include transcripts of those tapes, that may or may not shed light into Knowles's psychopathology behind his serial killing spree that he personally claimed left 35 people dead in his path.
   It would be interesting, in the least to say, that after all, these tapes were what haunted Mrs Fawkes and all her readers since 1974.
   
   Nevertheless, it's a great easy going text, that keeps you interested from beginning til end, in line with books the likes of Elizabeth Kendall's "The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy."
   
   As a better and cheaper alternative to this title, I recommend Fawkes's original publication on the Knowles case titled "Killing Time."

No comments about Who Named the Knife: A True Story of Murder and Memory.

No comments about Sexual Predators: Serial Killers in the Age of Neuroscience.

5 comments about Unabomber: On the Trail of America's Most-Wanted Serial Killer.

1. The book was intersting, but a bit to brief for my liking. The actual story of the Unabomber life took less than 150 pages. The book details each of his bombings and suggests the reasoning behind the target and M.O. Douglas also takes you through his thoughts in the investigation. Many readers feel Douglas is a bit arrogant in his writing. I do not agree with that opinion, nor do I feel this book is written that way.

   The rest of the book was not very interesting outside of the inclusion of the full manifesto of the Unabomber. The manifesto contains nothing shocking, but contains what you might expect an outsider hermit radical to say. I'm sure there are better books about the Unabomber than this, so I suggest you try a more detailed account.




2. Douglas may present a clear chronology of events relating to the investigation of Unabomber. However, that is the sole limit of the books's worth. The remainder of the book is a staging ground for Douglas' brand of psycholinguistics, the analysis of a person's patterns of expression and thought in order to provide a psychological profile of the person. Instead of accomplishing that, though, in any meaningful way, Douglas perpetrates a sort of freehand poetic literary criticism on the so-called Manifesto. He completely fails to gain any insight into Unabomber's own statement of policy in "Industrial Society and Its Future". On page fifty-three, Douglas boils down his view by claiming simply that the Unabomber's fixation on wood and nature "...probably served as his rationale for setting the bombs off, his substitute for whatever deeper psychological problems had actually caused him to commit the crimes. A lot of violent terrorist activity is the result of political beliefs, but at the same time, I've never seen a violent terrorist yet who I didn't feel had deep psychological problems and a serious character disorder." Oh, yeh. Lest we forget, Douglas goes on: Unabomber "diabolical" too.

   Douglas essentially claims that the Unabomber's activity is irrational and eludes sensible thought. That is Douglas' most egregious fundamental flaw. If he's serious in that claim, then he is less insightful than he himself seems to think he is. On the other hand, Douglas' apparent perspicasity in his craft leads me to think that he has another goal in mind: distributing disinformation to the segment of the citizenry who haven't yet bothered to read, consider, and ponder Unabomber's veritable position. That can be accomplished only by directly encountering "Industrial Society and Its Future", not the perverted and oblique interpretation of it which Douglas works so stridently to champion under a charade of sophisticated psychoanalysis.

   Basically, and to his credit, Unabomber provides an analysis of the sociology of technology. His central point is that being human and organization-dependent technology are inherently antagonistic and mutually exclusive entities. This basic tension provides the battleground for a choice: remaining human or allowing everyone to be psychologically, physiologically, and anatomically re-engineered in increments to fit the needs of the aloof and impersonal organizations that determine the course of industrial society; instead of allowing humans to put an upward limit on the intrusion into the psychological sphere that is demanded by the ever-increasing velocity and volume of conveniences that ultimately, and ever more quickly, become indispensable for the functioning of society and any given individual's participation therein. (E.g., ATM, FAX, refridgeration, pharmaceuticals, genetic recombination, etc.)

   A careful reading of Unabomber's own words is very much worthwhile. He's talking about us, you and me, not some creature on another world.

   And let us not forget what Douglas carelessly sweeps under the rug: Theodore Kaczysnki was arrested in the course of the execution of a speciously expedited search warrant that originated by his brother, David, ratting him out. The government's role in the story should be considered under the optic of a triple treachery: the government policing agencies, fraternal back-stabbing, and Douglas' attempt to obfuscate the truth about Unabomber's quite rational motivations as articulated in "Industrial Society and Its Future". Read Unabomber before you read anything about him.




3. I had never heard of John Douglas until one day my sister told me about this great book she was reading. She gave me a copy of 'Obession'. Now I am hooked ! What great reading all of his books are, from start to finish. I am now a fan. Looking forward to more books from this author.



4. I felt like I was reading the notes for a book about the Unabomber, not a real book with a beginning, middle, and end. Usually true crime books make a sequential pass through the crimes (in this case 16 bombings) and end with the arrest, and sometimes the trial of the perp. Not so "Unabomber" where the author seems more interested in proving that his profile of the bomber was correct, rather than describing the hunt for the criminal. The 16 bombings are described in Appendix 1, "An Overview and Chronological Summary," rather than in the text of the book.
   
   A manifesto on criminal profiling certainly wasn't what I expected from "Unabomber," but that's what I got.
   
   Potential purchasers should also note that the book itself is only 150 pages long. Appendices and an advertisement for "Mindhunters" by John Douglas take up the latter 150 pages.
   
   The book proper is padded out with stories that have little to do with the 'alleged' Unabomber, ('alleged' because "Unabomber" was published before Theodore Kaczynski was tried and convicted). These stories are interesting, especially the case of George Metesky, the 'Mad Bomber' of the '40s and '50s, who had a grudge against New York City's Consolidated Edison (Con Ed).
   
   (George Metesky is the only bomber I've felt the faintest amount of sympathy for, maybe because I spent so many years working at an electric utility!)
   
   The author also spends quite a bit of print defending the legitimacy of profiling as a forensic 'art.' His team's profile of Theodore Kaczynski (disgruntled genius with ties to academia) was accurate, although the Unabomber task force neglected it in favor of another profile (blue collar aviation worker). Neither profile was essential to the capture of Kaczynski. His own relatives recognized his style of writing in the Unabomber manifesto that was published by the "New York Times" and "Washington Post," and they turned him in to the FBI.
   
   If you'd like to read the unabomber's manifesto yourself, the full text is included in Appendix 3. It's 96 pages long and very dull.



5. Despite a delay with the postal service I received this book in a reasonable amount of time and it is in great condition.