The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial [Hardcover]

Ellen Poulsen (Author), Rick Mattix (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2007

The case of the notorious Charlie Lucky Luciano and his $12-million-a-year prostitution ring rattled and intrigued New York City during the Great Depression. Charlie Lucky eluded the police for years, until rackets-squad prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey connected him with the operation and he was finally convicted of compulsory prostitution. This book takes readers through this infamous case from a unique slant from the amazing case histories of the prostitutes who served as material witnesses. It includes confiscated letters that desperate prostitutes sent to their district attorneys and rare photos of material witnesses, including the legendary Cokey Flo.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The author of Don't Call Us Molls (2002), about the women of the Dillinger gang, takes a hard look at Charles "Lucky" Luciano's 1936 trial for running a prostitution racket. The feds wanted to put "Charlie Luck" away for something--anything--and the convoluted investigation and prosecution strategies they followed in pursuit of that goal provide the glue for the story Poulsen tells and her conclusions about how the women involved were treated like pawns by both sides in the case. Poulsen adopts those women's perspective, and a richer, more Runyonesque point-of-view is hard to imagine. Drawing on the womens' letters and photos from the period, many published here for the first time, Poulsen offers hoot after hoot while profiling the likes of Gay Orlova (Luciano's girlfriend), madame supreme Polly Adler, and riotous, redoubtable Cokey Flo, who was not exactly prosecutor Thomas Dewey's ideal witness. The Luciano case has been much commented on, but Poulsen's riveting account must be reckoned an essential popular addition to the annals of the American Mafia. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

At the heart of this book is the 1936 vice trial of Charlie Lucky Luciano, the inveterate gambler and reputed head of the prostitution syndicate in New York City; but his story has been told elsewhere. Instead, the author explores the myriad of minor players whom Luciano exploited, with an emphasis on the women forced into his syndicate. From the squandered lives of young, even beautiful women like Nancy Presser, a small town girl corrupted by the Big Apple, to Jenny The Factory and the other hardened madams running $1 and $2 houses, Poulsen culls a compelling tale of lives ruined by illicit drugs, sex and violence. Poulsen has crafted an exhaustively-researched criminal saga. Her research into events which occurred more than seventy years ago pays off with such tidbits as a photograph of the post-card sent from Mexico by one of the prostitute witnesses in Luciano's trial to an assistant prosecutor. Poulsen's artful rendering leaves no doubt that their stories have long deserved to be told. - Alan J. Couture --ForeWord, July/Aug. 2007, Vol. 10, No. 4

The author of Don't Call Us Molls (2002), about the women of the Dillinger gang, takes a hard look at Charles Lucky Luciano's 1936 trial for running a prostitution racket. The feds wanted to put Charlie Lucky away for something -- anything -- and the convoluted investigation and prosecution strategies they followed in pursuit of that goal provide the glue for the story Poulsen tells and her conclusions about how the women involved were treated like pawns by both sides in the case. Poulsen adopts those women's perspecive, and a richer, more Runyonesque point-of-view is hard to imagine. Drawing on the womens'letters and photos from the period, many published here for the first time, Poulsen offers hoot after hoot while profiling the likes of Gay Orlova (Luciano's girlfriend), madame supreme Polly Adler, and riotous, redoubtable Cokey Flo, who was not exactly prosecutor Thomas Dewey's ideal witness. The Luciano case has been much commented on, but Poulsen's riveting account must be reckoned an essential popular addition to the annals of the American Mafia.-Mike Tribby --American Library Association Booklist, April 15, 2007

A rare but essential look back at the desperate souls of the Mafia's sex trade. Ellen Poulsen's commendable examination of the infamous Luciano trial is mandatory reading for true crime, organized crime and social history readers, and those for or against the 'victimless' crime of prostitution. --Rick Porrello, author, To Kill the Irishman and Superthief

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Clinton Cook Publishing Corp. (May 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971720010
• ISBN-13: 978-0971720015
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,574,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The End of White Slavery and the Corruption that Fostered it., March 26, 2008

By 

Ralph White (New England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial (Hardcover)

"The Case against Lucky Luciano" is a stunning portrayal of the vicious New York underworld of the late 20's and early 30's, and the blatantly corrupt police and judicial system which fostered it. Ellen Paulson has justly earned a position as a historian of this amazing era. She describes in vivid detail how perfectly normal and innocent women were snared into the Kafkaesque bonds of the "white slave trade," made dependent on drugs, and forced to have sex "15 to 20 times a night," sharing the $2 fee with their pimps, bookers, madams, and the higher criminal hierarchy, ultimately headed by Salvatore Lucania, Lucky Luciano. Paulson describes, as though she had witnessed the action herself, the cleanup of the Tammany machine, the firings of the corrupt officials, the arrests of the criminal protagonists, and the remarkable trial, featuring the prostitutes themselves as the key witnesses. We see the early career of Thomas Dewey, whose visibility in this case vaulted him to political prominence, and ultimately to the governorship of New York State. And whereas some of the previous coverage of these gangsters in the popular press and in the entertainment industry has tended to glamorize them, or overlook their subhuman brutality, Paulson portrays them exactly as the witnesses themselves testified. These aren't the wiseguys of popular fiction, they are the killers, extortionists, rapists, kidnappers and torturers of that particular non-fiction called history. Ms. Paulson's scholarship is also apparent in the 12 pages of endnotes, 7 pages of bibliography, and 42 historical photos and illustrations. "The Case Against Lucky Luciano" is not only informative and historically rigorous, it is also a compelling read.

Ellen Paulson is the daughter of a New York cop, and her admiration for the law enforcement fraternity is apparent in her writing. In recent years she has taken a table at the Independent and Small Press Book Fair, held in December in New York, where you will find her happy to discuss and sign her book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fallen angels, Gangsters and Gangbusters, August 11, 2007

By 

Mario Gomes (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial (Hardcover)

This excellent work on the Luciano prostitution trial opens the eyes and minds of readers to the bittersweet victory the fallen ladies had courageously obtained by bringing Lucky Luciano to pay for his sins. Read about the inner workings of 30's sex trade through it's pimps, bookers, enforcers and the main players; the ladies and madams.

Ellen Poulsen has a writing flair that keeps readers glued to the pages. I found myself learning more about the seedy part of the underworld that I never bothered to explore. Besides her relentless research, Ellen has including many interesting photos of the vast cast of characters that grace this fine work. Many mughots!! Ellen has a gift for writing and it shows. She connects with her subjects and puts a human side to these lost souls. Outstanding foreword by the great Rick Mattix!

It's rare that I enjoy a good book, and this is definitely one of them.


Mario Gomes
Founder of Myalcaponemuseum

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally something new and interesting on Luciano, December 5, 2007

By 

Thomas Hunt "[e-mail]" (New Milford, CT USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial (Hardcover)

Finally something new and interesting for the Luciano shelf! "The Case Against Lucky Luciano" is certainly not another rehashed biography of the oft-discussed crime boss. Expertly written, carefully researched and well considered, it is a detailed analysis of the vice trial that finally put Luciano behind bars.

This work reveals the methods used by racketeers, including Luciano and his close underworld allies, to organize and monopolize prostitution in the New York City region. In addition, it sheds new light on the actions of law enforcement and personnel from Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey's office, some of whom employed exploitive methods similar to those used by the racketeers when dealing with the female witnesses in the case. Finally, it also provides a frank look at the witnesses themselves - prostitutes, madams, drug addicts.

Author Ellen Poulsen (who also wrote "Don't Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang") probes deeply into the lives and careers of such personalities as "Cokey Flo" Brown, Jennie "the Factory" Fischer and Peggy "Wild" Ventimiglia. While discussing the profound mistreatment of the female subjects, Poulsen keeps her distance and avoids becoming judgmental or preachy. Her objectivity actually serves the subject far better, allowing the numerous offenses against the women to accumulate and develop into condemnation within the mind of the reader.

There is also plenty in this book about Luciano, himself, and about colleagues like "Socks" Lanza and "Tommy the Bull" Pennochio. Poulsen explores the working relationships between the gangsters, as well as Luciano's later wartime partnership with the United States government.

The book itself is well designed. It has an eye-catching cover, an easy-on-the-eyes type and plenty of photographs. Researchers will also be happy to find endnotes and a bibliography. The book also features 12 pages of index, though this could have been more helpful with subentries for the often referred to subjects. (The Luciano entry, for example, references 113 out of the possible 246 pages in the book.)

The Case Against Lucky Luciano is recommended for those curious about Depression Era organized crime, the plight of the women who - willingly or not - became involved with it, or the careers of Mafia bigshot Charlie Luciano and Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey.