Gangland International: The Mafia and Other Mobs [Paperback]

James Morton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

Fast-paced and wide-ranging, Gangland International considers the history of organized crime, from the Italian and American Mafia—including Capone, Dillinger, Murder Inc, Lansky, and Detroit’s Purple Gang—to the Triads: the Russian mafiya, the Japanese yakuza, and the South American drug cartels. James Morton also examines the role of the Green Gang of Shanghai, Rocco Perri in Toronto, Australia’s razor gangs, New Zealand’s Mongrel Mob, the Dubois family of Montreal, and the French Zemour brothers. Compulsive and explosive reading, Gangland International is a vivid survey of worldwide criminal activity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'An engrossing survey' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Bascially, everything you ever wanted to know about gangs and much, much more.' LATER 'James Morton rounds up the global scene with his usual efficiency... full of curious facts.' TIME OUT '...manages to convey all this knowledge entertainingly and wittily, with an abundance of grimly apposite anecdotes...hugely enjoyable' Marcel Berlins, THE TIMES 'Interesting and highly professional overview of gangland and its criminals' Phillip Knightley, MAIL ON SUNDAY 'An utterly compelling read' - FHM

From the Publisher

Fast–paced and wide–ranging, Gangland International considers the history of organized crime, from the Italian and American Mafia — including Capone, Dillinger, Murder Inc, Lansky, and Detroit’s Purple Gang — to the Triads: the Russian mafiya, the Japanese yakuza, and the South American drug cartels. James Morton also examines the role of the Green Gang of Shanghai, Rocco Perri in Toronto, Australia’s razor gangs, New Zealand’s Mongrel Mob, the Dubois family of Montreal, and the French Zemour brothers. Compulsive and explosive reading, Gangland International is a vivid survey of worldwide criminal activity.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 904 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751522376
• ISBN-13: 978-0751522372
• Product Dimensions: 2 x 4.2 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,804,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Insightful and Informative, January 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Gangland International Hb (Hardcover)

This book is immensly informative, from gangsters like Sicilian gangster Tony Accardo to black mobs and Russian Jews in the Mafiya like Michael Smushevich. This book also gives insight into the Polish gangsters in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. "Of course pre-war crime in Cleveland had not been wholly from the Italian and Jewish element. There were at least two major Polish-led gangs of robbers. One was the Flatheads led by Paul Jawarski. On 13 September 1928 when Jawarski and Frank "whitey" Kraft were caught in a restaurant, "whitey"-Kraft ran out the back but Jawarski holed up in Chambers Avenue. He was driven out by tear gas and was shot. It was not thought he would survive, but he did so. He has already shot a prison guard escaping from Pittsburgh, and was said to have killed up to 26 people including a former gang member who was also a drug addict. Jawarski, rather than see him suffer, threw his body in the river. Returned to Pennsylvania where he was electrocuted on 2 January, Jawarski declined the services of the prison chaplain, saying:

I preached atheim since the day I quit singing the choir. A man is yellow if he spends his life believing in nothing and then comes crawling to the church because he is afraid his death is near.

Shorty before his execution, Jawarski sent his friends a postcard with his future address - 45 Hellsfire Road, 6/14 miles from Hell. Father Pat O'Brien would not have used him as an example. Frank "Whitey" Kraft was later killed by police in Detroit.

The other main Polish group, the Flats Mob, was led by Joseph Filkowski. In October 1930 he and two colleagues were suprised by a patroling policeman when they held up the Dixie Shoe Company, and then relieved him of his gun and uniform. This was not an action which endeared them to the police, but Filkowski's friend Joseph Stazek was shot dead by detectives on 7 December 1930. A day earlier, Filkowski had escaped a police trap. Worse was yet to come, for on 9 December Joseph Fortini, district circulation manager of the Plain Dealer, was shot by Patrolman Patrick McNeely in mistake for Filkowski, so beginning a long-drawn-out and effectively unresolved inquiry into use of police firearms. Filkowski was later caught and executed. Others in the gang received life imprisonment. Filkowski, known as John Blake, has his death mask in the Cleveland Police History Museum.