Old Bones and Shallow Graves: The Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster

click here for more details, find new or used items	T.J. English Our price £6.99 (£9.99) New from £5.56 Used from £5.59 Pages: 464 (Paperback) ISBN: 1840189959 Pub: Mainstream Publishing Pub date: 2005-09-08 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 248374

Reader Reviews:

A gripping read (0/0 people found this helpful)

This book is brilliant, chronicling the rise of the Irish underworld, starting in the mid 1850's , 40 years before Italian immigrants settled in America en masse. The author is very detailed in his research, and offering references which are very helpful. The story of the "Irish Mob" is too often overlooked by mainstream media, and Hollywood. "La Cosa Nostra" have often been portrayed as loveable hoodlums, yes, corrupt and extremely ruthless (The Godfather trilogy and more recently the Sopranos), but is was the Irish mobsters that laid the foundation for the "Machine".
The references on the longshoremen battles and corruption is good stuff. That violent era was the basis of "On The Waterfront", in which Marlon Brando won an Academy Award.
This is a riveting read, not only about the "Irish Mob", but as a social history . A history of starvation (the Irish famine), absolute poverty and desperation, and the determination to make a new life in America, at any cost, no matter how ruthless.
How the "Irish Mob" corrupted and infiltrated the law agencies, unions, various rackets, makes a breathtaking story.
This is an absolute must read for those interested in the rise of organised crime. It is intelligently written, with shrapnels of dry humour.

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