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

by Ellen Poulsen (Author), Rick Mattix (Foreword)

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
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

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

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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: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #731,290 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

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 (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"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 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

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Factual and Informative, September 19, 2007

By	Michael A. Coluccio (New York, N.Y.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Even if you're not especially interested in the life of Charles "Lucky" Luciano or the celebrated vice trial which resulted in his conviction and imprisonment in 1936, this book should be read by any serious crime historian if only for its authenticity. Ms. Poulsen is to be commended for the meticulous research she so obviously put into this work. She provides plenty of biographical information concerning the faceless thugs, madams, prostitutes, bookers, crooked politicians, bail bondsmen, and disbarred attorneys who figured so prominently in New York City's flesh trade during the Twenties and Thirties. She dispels the oft-repeated report that Luciano was present when police arrived at a Coney Island restaurant following the assassination of Joe "the Boss" Masseria (he was not), and she also sets the record straight on other gangland fables which are too numerous to mention here. "The Case Against Lucky Luciano" is, in my opinion, what a true crime book should be. Case closed.