I am also indebted to the anonymous authors of the Federal Writers Project guides on the states of Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Michigan and Virginia, as well as the massive volume on Washington, D.C.; all of these appeared in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
A number of books dealing with organized crime were helpfuclass="underline" The Don (1977), William Brashler; Captive City (1969), Ovid Demaris; Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone (1971), John Kobler; Roemer: Man Against the Mob (1989), William F. Roemer, Jr.; The Mobs and the Mafia (1972), Hank Messick and Burt Goldblatt; The Legacy of Al Capone (1975), George Murray; Barbarians in Our Midst (1952), Virgil W. Peterson; Encyclopedia of American Crime (1982), Carl Sifakis; The Mafia Encyclopedia (1987), Carl Sifakis; Syndicate City (1954), Alson J. Smith; and Murder, Inc. (1951), Burton B. Turkus and Sid Feder.
A few other hooks deserve singling out: Ransom Kidnapping in America, 1874–1974 (1978), Ernest Kahlar Alix; Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms (1972), Georgess McHargue; Twelve Against Crime (1950), Edward D. Radin; Courtroom (1950), Quentin Reynolds; and The Snatch Racket (1932), Edward Dean Sullivan.
And fedora tips to: Abdullah Balbed and the information staff of the Indonesian Embassy; Bosler Free Library, the Boyd F. Spahr Library, Dickinson College (especially Sue Norman and Steve Rehrer) and the Cumberland County Historical Society; all of Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Barbara Gill of the Historical Society of Berks County, Reading, Pennsylvania; the New Jersey Journal, Elizabeth, New Jersey; Elizabeth, New Jersey, Public Library; the Union County Historical Society, Elizabeth, New Jersey; the Reading, Pennsylvania, Public Library; and the Ezra Lehman Memorial Library, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
When all the debts have been paid, or at least acknowledged, one remains: this book could not have been written without the love, help and support of my wife, Barbara Collins. And without trying at all, my son Nathan-who was six years old when this book was written-provided poignant inspiration.