Bad Seeds in the Big Apple: Bandits, Killers, and Chaos in New York City, 1920-1940 Hardcover – July 1, 2008

Loved it.

Excellent service! really pleased with the book that I purchased from you!Allan Dawkins

This book has more grammatical errors than if a 3rd grader wrote it. Spelling is abysmal also, an example being "sale" when "sail" is meant. Some words are printed twice as example being "they went went to". I'm thinking these errors are the editor's fault. Beyond that, there are some interesting characters to read about.

It is about gangsters and bandits starting in 1920s.

I thought that Patrick Downey had just about covered it all in "Gangster City." I'm pleased to say I was wrong. In this, his latest, effort, Mr. Downey provides us with a detailed, colorful history of "bandits, killers, and chaos in New York City, 1920 - 1940." I've always considered myself reasonably knowledgeable regarding the New York City underworld, especially during Prohibition, but I must admit that there was much in these pages even I didn't know. For instance, many years ago, while perusing the New York City newspaper archives in researching a certain project, I came upon a second-rate hoodlum named Enrico Battaglia, whom then Police Commissioner Mulrooney described as "a known member of the old Ryan gang of Harlem." Okay, fine. But who was this Ryan? Thanks to this book, I learned that the Commissioner was referring to Edward "Snakes" Ryan, who in the late Twenties enjoyed his brief fifteen minutes of fame (or should I say infamy?) when he and a pal, James Nannery, escaped from Sing Sing and later became suspects in the cold-blooded assassination of a New York City policeman, shotgunned while guarding a prisoner at Fordham Hospital. The same holds true for the Flanagan brothers, scarcely touched upon in a book written by former New York City Police Captain Cornelius Willemse, but recorded in great detail here. Excellent chapters also on Leonard Scarnici, Roy Sloane, "Two Gun" Crowley, and many others. In my estimation, when it comes to knowing all there is to know about the New York underworld during the first half of the twentieth century, Patrick Downey takes a back seat to no one. The bottom line is, if you liked "Gangster City," you're sure to enjoy "Bad Seeds in the Big Apple."

As he did with his previous volume, "Gangster City", Pat Downey has gone off the beaten path of the Big Apple's Prohibition and Depression era histories in favor of reviving and recounting the antics of the bandits, bootleggers, and killers whom most authors overlook in favor of Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Murder Inc. "Bad Seeds" plunges into the shadows of time and casts a searching and compelling light over blackmail queen Vivian Gordon, jewel thief Richard Reese Whittemore, and the botched Tombs prison break of 1926, to name a few.What's so ironic is that during the period that "Bad Seeds" encompasses, Downey's roguish subjects beat out the gangsters for the NYC newspaper headlines. I suspect that this is because the New York press didn't want to give the impression that gang rule was as deeply entrenched in their city as it was in Chicago. They concentrated instead on the gun-happy nuisances who ultimately faced justice, implying that crime conditions were under control on their turf."Bad Seeds in the Big Apple", like its predecessor "Gangster City", is a fast and fun ride through two of New York City's wildest decades. Reading it was a pleasure, and writing the forward for it was an honor.

A fine overview of little known and forgotton criminals, marred only by a rather pedestrian writing style and and somewhat superfiscial treatment of its subjects. A better book would have pared down the number oif subjects by half and written about them in more detail. Also a bit too much dependence on the New York Times as a source. There are other newspapers.

I've always been a sort of buff on the history of crime in the Big Apple. But this book relates tales of all sorts of crimes and criminals that I had never heard of. For that reason it's an invaluable asset to anyone interested in that sort of thing.However, I think I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one other thing. Whoever was hired to proofread this should return his or her paycheck if he or she is at all honest. I don't think I've ever seen a book put out by a reputable publisher that contained more spelling, and grammatical usage errors than this one.