Eminent Gangsters: Immigrants and the Birth of Organized Crime in America (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780761852155)

'This American system of ours, ' observed Al Capone, 'call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you like, gives to each and every one of us a great opportunity if we can only seize it with both hands and make the most of it.' Capone spoke as a member of a generation who, seizing the opportunities offered by the Eighteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which prohibited the manufacture, transport, or sale of alcoholic beverages, enriched himself and laid the basis for modern organized crime in America. Yet if the story of the eminent gangsters is not the orthodox, rags-to-riches American success story, neither can it be dismissed as merely a crime story, a morality play where evil doers are brought to justice by the forces of law and order. Their story, rather, is a central and significant chapter in the social and economic history of modern America

Author: James Fentress
ISBN-10: 0761852158
ISBN-13: 9780761852155
Publisher: University Press of America
Language: English
Published: 08/01/2010
Pages: 500
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.65lbs
Size: 8.97h x 6.37w x 1.16d