Rotten Apples: True Stories of New York Crime & Mystery 1689 to the Present

by Marvin J. Wolf, Katherine Mader

Rotten Apples is a thoroughly investigated treasure of true crime straight from the streets of The City that Never Sleeps. This bushel of vice, victims, and vengeance spotlights sinister citizens from Boss Tweed and Typhoid Mary to Mark David Chapman and Jack Henry Abbot, plus detailed map references to guide you to the locations where they committed their grisly crimes. You'll be shocked by... Murder by Morphine Playboy medical student Carlyle Harris was eager to end his secret marriage to a pretty young woman from the wrong side of the tracks. A lethal prescription seemed to be just what death's doctor ordered. But the eyes of a corpse never lie... Goodbar, As In Nuts Roseann Quinn was a young, attractive schoolteacher living the carefree singles life of the early seventies on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The men she took home were strictly one-night stands, but one of them made sure he left his mark on her--eighteen times... Son of Sam For more than a year, the man dubbed " The .44 Caliber Killer" held the city paralyzed with spraying death from the muzzle of a high-powered handgun, murdering and maiming more than a dozen young men and women, daring New York's finest to end his bloody spree, and touching off the biggest manhunt in New YOrk criminal history. In the end, he said the devil made him do it... And--if you think you can take it--much, much more...

Genres: Crime, Nonfiction, True Crime

412 pages, Paperback

First published July 23, 1991

About the author

The son of a junkman and a mad housewife (really--she spent half her adult life in mental hospitals), Wolf served 13 years on active duty with the US Army, including a 15-month combat tour in Vietnam. He has worked as a dishwasher, an encyclopedia salesman, a camera store clerk and as a photojournalist with worldwide credits. In 1983, when he regained sole custody of his only child, he put aside his successful career in photojournalism to become an author. A Los Angeles Times bestselling author, Wolf has three times been recognized by the American Society of Journalists and Authors for his professionalism. In 2001, Wolf took a nine-year detour through the movie and television business, an education in writing fiction. One of his screenplays, "Ladies Night," was produced and aired on the USA Network. He returned to writing books and launched a career in fiction in 2010. He lives with his adult daughter in Asheville, NC.

Reviews

[Lynda Dickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rotten Apples is a fascinating collection of 43 crimes that occurred in New York over a four hundred year period between 1689 and 1989. It is a history of New York told through major crimes committed for political reasons, as well as murders committed by mobsters and serial killers. These incidents had an effect on such major issues as the military draft, workplace reforms, the abolition of the death penalty in New York, and the introduction of the Miranda rights.

The chapters seamlessly flow together, with characters who appear in one episode showing up again in some subsequent chapters. The authors provide hyperlinks to related chapters, characters, and incidents. The authors also give us a better understanding of the crimes by providing Google Maps links to the sites where the crimes occurred. My favorite story is detailed in chapter 4, "Medicine and Mobs", in which a major riot and many deaths resulted from a practical joke.

These compelling accounts are entertaining and well-written. However, they are also graphic and confronting. Be warned, this book is not for the faint-hearted. Best sampled in small chunks. Enjoy ... bite by bite.

I received this book in return for an honest review.

Full blog post: http://booksdirectonline.blogspot.com...

[Allegra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stop when you get tired

I liked the earlier (historic) stories much more than the later ones. Whether this is because my memories of the surrounding media and politics differ from the book or because some of the issues raised seem embarrassing by today's standards, I do not know. (And ending on the Central Park Jogger case doesn't help this dilemma.) It should also be noted that I read these tales a few at a time over several months. I did enjoy "visiting" some of the locations, and when I've found myself near certain venues, I've recounted the related episodes to friends. As a curious New Yorker, I might go 3 1/2 stars but for out-of-towners, I'd endorse for true-crime fans only.

[Joyce]

Best feature of this book is the precise geographical coordinates of each crime. From this, I learned that not one but TWO of the most famous Mob hits of all time -- those of Arnold Rothstein (1928) and Albert Anastasia (1957) -- occured at the rather plain hotel I stayed at the last time I was in New York.