Hastened to the Grave: The Gypsy Murder Investigation

by Jack Olsen

They were a notorious gypsy family that seeped into their victims' lives like a deadly cancer. And they couldn't be stopped-- until one courageous woman took on the cases no one else would touch...

THE
Elderly, well-to-do men and women who, due to their failing health, strength, and faculties, could be conned out of their fortunes by heinous neglect, abuse, and possibly even murder.

THE
Several members of a ruthless family of Gypsies known for their cunning con-games and remarkable ability to extract large sums of money from their unwitting pawns.

THE
Fay Faron, a beautiful, never-say-die P.I., determined to bring these culprits to justice-- even when the authorities turned a blind eye to the Gypsies' crimes time and time again.

In this shattering expose, bestselling author Jack Olsen follows Fay Faron as she retraces every step of the Gypsy family and the crimes they stand accused moving in on their helpless prey, extorting money, signing the fortunes of elderly millionaires into their own names-- and speeding up the death process with sadistic neglect, slow poison, and unspeakable cruelty. Not since Peter Maas' King of the Gypsies has the world of Gypsy crime been exposed in such shocking detail and with more fascinating insight.

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction, Mystery, Audiobook

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the 1980s-1990s, there were a series of killings which took place without much notice. The reason they weren't (initially) highlighted was because the victims were elderly men who supposedly died of old age. Except they didn't just die of old age, they were poisoned, all the while their savings and real estate holdings were depleted and/or taken over by a clan of Gypsies who had learned to specialize in the art of high-end elder abuse. It took an independent private detective and some concerned relatives to uncover the murders and this book details the uncovering from the beginning.

The Foxglove Murders also seemed to have been taking place across other states, starting with the East Coast. One specific clan had become specialists in targeting old men and using younger women to seduce them, then steal, then kill. It says much about the lack of urgency in discovering what was happening, as the attitude overall was, 'they're just old people'. The San Francisco police, never known for their get-up-and-go, did everything they could to not work the cases, thus allowing more senior citizens to be bamboozled and done away with, under the law's eyes.

I can give some personal remembrances of the police and the vulnerability of older citizens. The San Francisco police were NOT there to protect anyone but themselves. If you had an issue, they would do everything to not work on it, as that would take time away from doing nothing, which in turn would take away their massive retirement checks (which will be funded by San Franciscans until the end of eternity). Once, the people in my neighborhood caught a burglar in action. When the police finally arrived, they were immediately mad at us for capturing the culprit. My father and another older man saw the burglar try to escape from the cop's car, so they moved quickly to shut the car door. Immediately, the cop drew his gun and threatened my father and neighbor. Can you believe that? Yeah, we had no protection, only the rich got police protection. Another time, a rock band moved into the home next door and terrorized my parents, by climbing on their roof and trying to get into their bathroom window (I witnessed that one). When I finally got a cop to come over, he hobnobbed with the rockers and asked for tickets to their next concert, while making fun of my mother, who spoke English with an accent (he didn't like that). When I walked into a police station to lodge a citizen's complaint, I was told to get lost. And people wonder why I call the police, "cockroaches".

The reason I mention my history with the San Francisco police a-holes is because they exhibited the same attitude in working the Gypsy Foxglove Murders. They bungled everything and then tried to undermine the folks who were trying to make everyone understand what was going on. Finally, the newspapers got involved and that was when the coppers finally got off their fat butts. My other experience was with one of my parents as they aged and others tried to take financial advantage. If anyone believes society will protect the elderly, in a country that is rapidly aging, I simply laugh. No one cares.

The police foul-ups are a focal point of this book, which absorbed my reading from start to finish. My lack of higher stars is just the way it was written, as though it was a detective noir serial. It could be a little off-putting, but the book's heroine and her mighty dog, Beans, still shine through. If you want to learn more about these crimes, this is the book, but ease into the writing.

Book Season = Autumn (beware of deli food)

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd book.....when I began reading it I thought it was part of a fictional murder mystery series starring Fay Faron of the Rat Dog Dick Detective Agency (no kidding!) Turns out it is true crime which can be stranger than fiction and the characters are real and unlike ones you have ever met. They are the Gypsies, in this story, located, in San Francisco.....a family, the Tene Bimbos who prey on the elderly and stick together like glue. I know very little about Gypsies but this book provides great background information about their culture, their hatred of non-Gypsies and the law, and their unbelievable cunning. It is a fascinating sub-culture with origins that are shrouded in mystery.

Fay is drawn into a case of elder abuse (in this case the bilking of thousands of dollars and property from an elderly woman) and it starts her on her quest for bringing justice to her client and all the other elderly who are victims of the Tene Bimbos. She soon learns that Gypsies are seldom arrested and the police basically ignore their criminal activities. How should she continue when the powers that be don't seem to care? A rather unusual but interesting read.

[Alex Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An account of an ever mutating gang of killers and thieves. I lived in San Francisco during the height of local investigations of these strange marriages; young women (some of whom already had husbands) with rich old men who mysteriously died. The book gets to the details of the criminals' lives and associations. The perps and the victims. Scary and fascinating. The book is quirky as is the detective who investigates the murders. A lot of the time I thought that the author was the strange (even for San Francisco) 70s detective. Apparently not. Five stars because I recall the strange story so well. It's a hard book to find, but anyone who does will be intrigued by the Gypsy gang, the Tene-Bimbos, who pulled this horrible, psychopathic scam.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 1 out of 5]

A family of Gypsies systematically befriend and then rob a series of elderly San Franciscans. Written like a novel, with lots questionable embellishments and reconstructed dialogue; not my favorite style for non-fiction. The material is often interesting but the book moves VERY slowly and goes on and on and on. (Mild spoilers ahead:) The resolution, such as it is, comes in the very last pages with indictments; no trials, etc. So after trudging through 350+ pages, you'll still have to go online to see what ultimately happened in the case.

[K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even if I give this book credit for being "of its time," it's still racist, sexist trash.

It does portray the events themselves as they were uncovered by Fay Faron and reported in the media, but that's where it gets any stars.

Fay, herself, is infantilized by the author as just a sweet little PI who doesn't swear and can basically do no wrong. Faron honestly does seem like a genuinely good hearted person, since she did this investigation pro bono and started the ElderAngels to help victims of elder abuse, but Olsen writes her as if she is a living saint.

One of the ways he shows how good Faron is is by describing how she didn't make sweeping generalizations about the Rom people, but she also wasn't afraid to use the G-word - a positive, in Olsen's opinion because he essentially saw the media's sparing use of the slur as being "too woke." However, that is to say that we knew then that the word was a slur and that mischaracterizations of the Rom people were basically all we knew about them.

Olsen took every chance he could to describe Rom people as inherent criminals, only using Faron's opinion to attempt to strike any balance. The end result is a racist diatribe against the Rom interspersed with descriptions of other races, ages, and genders in full 1990s style justified by the descriptions of events that drive the story.

[Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a real dud. It's told almost entirely from the perspective of private eye Fay Faron. It seems at times like Olsen is rather smitten with her... however she comes off as kind of dumb and naive at times. Not that the police [i]aren't[/i] incompetent, but her expectations of instant incarceration without any compelling physical evidence are unreasonable. The book also ends before the story does, with the trial still underway. It concludes with a smug Faron assuming victory, but the real story is far less satisfying. Also, huge swaths of conversation are quoted as if verbatim and almost certainly made up. It's possible that Faron recorded all her conversations, but given that she's scrambling to write down notes at one point, that seems unlikely.

Furthermore, the book is pretty damn racist. Rating: 1/5

[Nancy Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is nothing like reading a true crime story set in your own neighborhood--in this case about the murder of affluent elderly men and women by a ruthless, sophisticated family of gypsies. (The poisoned food came from the former French Village deli in San Francisco's West Portal area.) Fay Faron, a local PI, broke the case through sheer cleverness and persistence with little help from an apathetic (and possibly obstructive) SFPD and a system unwilling or unable to protect the vulnerable. Most unsettling of all (aside from having eaten at French Village in the '90s), is the story of the gypsies and their nationwide network of con artists, thieves, and killers. Beware...

[Cindy Poli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good story, as are all of Jack Olsen’s stories, however, this book was very frustrating to read because of the ineptness of the San Francisco PD, especially the Fraud Unit. With ALL of the evidence, detailed information, and witnesses that were hand delivered to them on a silver platter by PI Fay Faron, they did absolutely nothing with it. Someone within the department was definitely on the take. No doubt in my mind. Terrible!

[Barbara Bengston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story of a private investigator, Fay Faron's attempts to get police to investigate gypsies murdering elderly men as well as their involvement in financial schemes.

[Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally love Jack Olsen books. This one is just not interesting in the least. He normally is a great storyteller, so perhaps I'll pick this book back up in the future. Going on the shelf for now.

[Catten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Olsen has written 30+ books, including The Bridge at Chappaquiddick, "I"-The Creation of a Serial Killer, and Son: A Psychopath and his Victims.

In this book, Hastened to the Grave: The Gypsy Murder Investigation, Olsen tells the story of Fay Faron, AKA Rat Dog Dick (yes, really), a private eye who tracks down the incredible and alarming trail of Gypsies who exploit lonely elderly people.

The book reads like a fiction novel, and I can't tell if it's Olsen's style of writing or just the absolutely amazing story he narrates. In any case, it was a great read and it brought to light a crime that isn't often addressed, that of elder abuse.

In this case, a family of Gypsy con artists befriend old people and then bilk them out of their life savings and homes. To add insult to injury, in some cases the people were slowly poisoned, to ... well, hasten them to the grave.

Olsen switches often from straight third-person narration to third-person omniscient, getting into Faron's head and tossing in an odd comment here or there. In fact, it's hard to separate what Faron's thoughts are from the author's opinions, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The story flows smoothly and builds a steady sense of outrage in the reader as the chapters progress. The one thing I found a little annoying-and it could be just me, I admit-was the cutesy names of Faron's computer (Evil Evie the Everex), and her car (The Frog Prince). The dog, Beans, was marginally okay, but the frequent references to him as her partner was a little much. I think it drew too much attention away from the seriousness of the crime.

Okay, so what about the story? In a nutshell, Faron, a San Francisco skiptracer, stumbles on a scam in which elderly singles are befriended and then convinced to sign over their property and/or bank accounts to their new "friends." The police drag their feet and Faron continues uncovering instances of the same group, the Tene Bimbos (a Gypsy clan, and that's pronounced "teeny"), moving from one mark to the next. Her frustration mounts as more evidence builds and the police remain uninterested and unhelpful. Want more? Read the book!

I thank the publisher for not promising "8 pages of shocking photos!" The spread features a few pictures of the Gypsy players and their targets, three photos of Fay Faron, and one of Beans, who, the caption notes, is a private investigator. (I love my dog, too, but come on...)

The bottom line: I liked this one. If nothing else, I recommend it as a good way to build awareness of an oft-overlooked crime that continues to plague elderly citizens.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disturbing book because it was not BASED on a true story, but because it IS a true story. The very idea that a group of gypsies could get away with murder....and they pretty much did! Over and over again! Despite the fact that a female private eye tips off the San Francisco cops and they know it is going on, more elderly people are scammed, cheated, and eventually murdered. Years later, the only charges facing the alleged murderers dealbwith fraud and elder abuse.

While this story was interesting and the author has carefully chronicled the investigation, the recounting of conversations eventually become tedious and leave the reader wondering how the dialogue could so faithfully be recreated. I'm certain that the conversations are recreated somewhat accurately, but at times I wanted to scream that no matter how cooperative his sources were that the dialogue was recreated and probably dramatized a bit.

It is shocking to read how the police bungled this investigation over and over. The detectives responsible were censured for malfeasance, but the idea that they could screw up so badly and remain on the force was reprehensible.

The book became dreary and a chore, and the resolution was very unsatisfactory... However, isn't that the risk you run when you read nonfiction?

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my first Jack Olsen book, I enjoyed the writing style, it was easy to read and quick enough. The reason I have to rate it so low is because I didn't enjoy the content. I found it lacking and ultimately disappointing. I knew I was in trouble when I got to 99% on my kindle and was just entering what I had been waiting for the whole book. I wanted a lot more trial, a lot more of the legal side than what was offered in this book.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a series of murders that occurred in the mid 1990s in San Francisco. I got this book from the library, and I am glad that I didn't pay for it. This was not the best book that I have ever read, certainly not the best one by this author. I was slightly bored throughout, and was annoyed with the people in the book.

[Nancy Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read a lot of true crime books, but Jack Olsen is supposed to be among the best. This true story, about a group of Roma people in California killing off relatives and scamming the rest, with a plucky female private eye, is pretty darn good.

[Mike Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took place in San Francisco and features Fay Faron, a well-known and determined PI.

[Beverly]

This book was so intense, especially because I lived near the neighborhood it took place in~San Francisco~ chilling, true story~well written~

[Dee brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. The author has a twisted sense of humor. It was unlike any other true crime book I've read. Interesting details, interesting people.

[Alice Vachss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nobody does true crime better than Jack Olsen. Even though we have now lost him, this book is as relevant to today as it was when he wrote it. As much as elder abuse is in the headlines, the kinds of invidious evil it represents are still largely unknown ... until you read this book. Like all Jack Olsen's writing, Hastened to the Grave is impossible-to-put-down. But it is also a whole education on the topic. Even the title gives us a new definition of the harm elder abuse can do ... and the critical urgency of the fight to stop it in its tracks.