Block Lawrence (ed.). Gangsters, Swindlers, Killers, and Thieves: The Lives and Crimes of Fifty American Villains

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. — 287 p.Drawing on his experience in creating fictional bad guys, crime novelist Lawrence Block surveys the underside of American history through fifty of its most infamous characters. Some, like Jesse James, Bonnie Parker, and Joe Colombo, led a life of crime; others, like John Wilkes Booth and John White Webster, committed one notorious act. Some, like Pretty Boy Floyd or the elusive thief Railroad Bill, have become folk heroes, whether or not the real details of their lives matched the myths they inspired. Others, like Ed Gein and Ted Bundy, will be forever reviled.
Block introduces each biography with a writer's eye for character and a good story. He begins the book with a short essay that considers how Americans have defined and regarded villains through history.
The biographies, culled from the pages of the American National Biography and illustrated with archival photographs, describe each villain's background, exploits, and eventual fate--often with unexpected details. The convicted killer Nathan Leopold, for example, became the administrator of a leprosy hospital after his parole. The gangster Dutch Schultz was known not only for his bootlegging expertise but also for his cheap, ill-fitting clothes. The stagecoach bandit Black Bart fancied himself a poet (or, as he put it, "PO8"). And when outlaw Bill Doolin finally met his end, only a rusting buggy axle marked his grave.
Ideal for readers of true crime, crime fiction, and history, Gangsters, Swindlers, Killers, and Thieves brings a fresh perspective to American's fascination with crime and its perpetrators.Contents:Thomas Beer [1888?-1940]Billy the Kid [1859-1881]Black Bart [fl. 1875-1888]John Wilkes Booth [1838-1865]Ted Bundy [1946-1989]Al Capone [1899-1947]Frankie Carbo [1904-1976]Butch Cassidy [1866-1908? or 1937?]Mickey Cohen [1913-1976]Joseph Anthony Colombo Sr. [1923-1978]Frank Costello [1891-1973]Leon Czolgosz [1873-1901]Bob Dalton [1869-1892]John F. Deitz [1861-1924]John Dillinger [1903-1934]William Doolin [1858-1896]Charles Arthur Floyd [1904-1934]Carlo Gambino [1902-1976]Edward Gein [1906-1984]Vito Genovese [1897-1969]Charles Julius Guiteau [1841-1882]John Wesley Hardin [1853-1895]Tom Horn [1860-1903]Jesse James [1847-1882]Machine Gun Kelly [1895-1954]Meyer Lansky [1902-1983]Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. [1904-1971] and Richard Albert Loeb [1905-1936]Lucky Luciano [1897-1962]Ebenezer Mackintosh [1737-1816]Owen Victor Madden [1891-1965]Samuel Mason [c.1750-1803]Gaston Bullock Means [1879-1938]John Andrews Murrell [1806?-1844]Philip Mariano Fausto Musica [1884-1938]Bonnie Parker [1910-1934] and Clyde Chestnut Barrow [1909-1934]William Clarke Quantrill [1837-1865]Railroad Bill [?-1896]Stephen S. Renfroe [1843-1886]Arnold Rothstein [1882-1928]Dutch Schultz [1902-1935]Bugsy Siegel [1906-1947]Joseph Alfred Slade [1829 or 1830-1864]Belle Starr [1848-1889]Willie Sutton [1901-1980]Harry Kendall Thaw [1871-1947]Joseph Valachi [1904-1971]Tiburcio Vásquez [1835-1875]John White Webster [1793-1850]Seth Wyman [1784-1843]Cole Younger [1844-1916]