Customer Reviews

Gangsters of Harlem

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Overall, I liked it a lot. It is interesting reading and - at least in parts - a useful historical reference.

The book's opening, which deals with the Italian gangsters of East Harlem in the 1900s, contains some inaccuracies about the Morello-Terranova clan (The Morello family was certainly NOT the "first established Italian American Mafia family;" Giuseppe Morello and Peter Morello were the same person; Nicholas Morello was actually Nicholas Terranova; and the Terranova boys were half-brothers to Giuseppe, not step-brothers.) and makes some shaky statements about the origins of lottery rackets.

Despite these errors and others, the tales of Morello, Lupo, Terranova and Gallucci certainly will appeal to the casual reader. But why Chepesiuk decided to lead off his book with this superficially researched stuff rather than use the more reliable bits of it to backfill stories occurring later on remains a mystery. A tougher reviewer might penalize him a star for that bad decision, but there's enough good stuff in the rest of the book to make up for it.

"Gangsters" starts moving with the Harlem Renaissance of the Jazz Age. Tales from this period are easily worth the price of admission. Chepesiuk explores colorful underworld characters like Dutch Schultz, "Mad Dog" Coll and Owen Madden, and renowned entertainers like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Louie Armstrong. The reader is likely to be left wanting more from this exciting and culturally rich era (though some Milton Mezzrow material sounds like it was drawn from a drug-culture website or from Mezzrow's own notoriously unreliable autobiography and is very difficult to accept).

Chepesiuk finally hits his stride as he discusses the rise of the African American gangster in Harlem and the various underworld rackets, including the evolution of the drug trade's focus from heroin to marijuana to crack cocaine. He provides fairly detailed biographies of the more noteworthy figures, like Bumpy Johnson and Queenie St. Clair, Frank "Black Caesar" Matthews, "Untouchable" Nicky Barnes, Pee Wee Kirkland and Frank "Super Fly" Lucas. At this point, the author seems more determined than he was earlier to set the historical record straight. He challenges some old legends and "Gangsters of Harlem" becomes a valuable resource.

On the whole, "Gangsters" is a well written and entertaining work. I do recommend it... from about Chapter 2 on.

This book offers a cohesive history of the development of crime in Harlem. This well-researched book spans many decades and takes the reader out of the "Dutch Schultz" mindset that so often dominates Harlem's history of numbers policy, as well as drug dealing gangsters. It is a good addition to the library of any reader who is interested in the history of organized crime (and not so organized) in New York City. There was new information about Madam Queen Stephanie St. Clair, a woman who is a more or less "cold case" in terms of what is really known about her. In short, this is a worthwhile investment and a great book to read if you want to brush up your Shakespeare - or Bumpy Johnson - whichever comes first!

I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of the book, but I found it very entertaining.

Every chapter is about a different gang or gangster from the late 1800s through the present. Some were pretty colorful characters for their short lives, since it is not a profession many actually retire from. Quite a few of the gangsters were involved in the numbers, and the author does a good job of showing how the system operated in connection with the Italian Mafia.

The last chapter covers the corrupt police who were as bad as most of the criminals.

The book is a quick, easy read but does not go into a lot of depth.

The Preacher crew, Nicky Barnes, Frank Lucas, Frank Matthews. They are all there. A lot of history too. It would have been nice to see a chapter on Alpo and Rich Porter. To read about more black New York City gangsters check out Street Legends vol. 1 from Gorilla Convict Publications.

Good book. I like how it's chapter by chapter about a different era/person/crew from harlem. I recommend this book and I'm not even finished reading it yet....!

I ordered this book at the same time I ordered Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, and I'm so glad I read that one first. Because when I started reading Gangsters of Harlem and got to the part on Bumpy Johnson I couldn't believe my eyes. Mr. Chepesiuk just jotted down all of the misinformation that's been floating around on Bumpy Johnson for years and is passing it on like it's research! All of the stuff about Bumpy attending the Avery Institute and a bunch of other nonsence is in this book, when if the author had bothered to talk to any of Bumpy's family and old friends he would have discoved all this stuff was wrong.
If you want to find out the real story about Bumpy Johnson, read Harlem Godfather: The Rap on Bumpy Johnson which was written by Bumpy's wife. It also has a lot of stuff about other old-time Harlem characters.

And then when reading another review on Mr. Chepesiuk book that says he got a lot of the stuff on the Italian mob wrong, too . . . well, it just makes you wonder where he's doing his research. Does being able to read old magazines with wrong information and copying what you read qualify as research?

THIS BOOK SHOWS THE FOUNDATION OF HARLEM, WHO WAS THERE FIRST TO WHO IS THERE NOW. I FINSHED THE BOOK IN ONE DAY...IT WAS ACTION PACKED. NOW I'M WAITING FOR BLACK GANGSTERS OF CHI'TOWN.....IF YOU VIEWED IT COPE IT!! ONE