Queen of Thieves: The True Story of "Marm" Mandelbaum and Her Gangs of New York

by J. North Conway

Queen of Thieves is the gritty, fast-paced story of Fredericka “Marm” Mandelbaum, a poor Jewish woman who rose to the top of her profession in organized crime during the Gilded Age in New York City. During her more than twenty-five-year reign as the country’s top receiver of stolen goods, she accumulated great wealth and power inconceivable for women engaged in business, legitimate or otherwise. The New York Times called Mandelbaum “the nucleus and center of the whole organization of crime in New York City.”

Having emigrated from Germany in 1850, she began her climb to the top of the crime world as a peddler on the rough-and-tumble, crowded streets of the city. By 1880, she had amassed a fortune estimated at more than $1 million. Mandelbaum was known for running an orderly criminal enterprise. She enlisted the services of an extensive network of criminals of every ilk and bribed police officials, politicians, and judges. If someone wanted to move stolen goods, needed protection from the law, or sought money to finance a caper, Marm was the person to see.

In 1884, Mandelbaum escaped from the clutches of Pinkerton detectives, who were casing her house, and fled to Canada. Mandelbaum lived out the rest of her life in luxury on a small farm with her family and ill-got fortune. Hundreds of people turned out for her funeral. Dozens of people later reported to police that they had their pockets picked at the service.

Genres: True Crime, History, Nonfiction, Crime, Biography, American History, Politics

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2014

Reviews

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 1 out of 5]

AUTHOR BEHAVING BADLY ALERT:

The author commented on my review over on my blog with the following:

“ J. North ConwaySeptember 21, 2019 at 11:40 AM
I am amazed that you read my book. So sorry you didn't like it. I better make sure my publishers knows and the people who optioned the film rights. I mean, I wouldn't want them to publish a paperback and audio version of the book and have them make a movie out of it on your say so. I mean they must have been on the edge of their seats waiting for someone like you without credentials to write a review. How's that for sarcasm? LOL.”

Tsk, tsk. If only I could rate this book lower than one star.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Such a wholly fascinating woman deserved a much better book. Review to come.

My full review can be found on my blog: https://allthebookblognamesaretaken.b...

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would love nothing more than Mandelbaum's story to be placed in the hands of a competent writer with a conscious (not even conscientious, just awake and able to read) editor, because this book was simply a travesty of historical research. It was like Conway had exactly three resources and had to make up the rest. He even went so far as to use the EXACT SAME QUOTE multiple times on the same page (inappropriately, at that). And there's only so many times per page that you can mention Mandelbaum was 6' tall and 250 lbs, and Conway exceeded that by miles. I only made it to page 37 before I had to give up in frustration. It's genuinely upsetting too, because Mandelbaum's story is fascinating and deserves much, much better treatment than Conway can be bothered to give. Skip this book and read the Wikipedia page instead, you'll be a happier person for it.

[The Library Lady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another case of an adult non-fiction writer with great material and terrible writing.

This book is reminiscent of a poorly written college term paper, complete with useless citations of other people's books and a summary which gives away most of the plot information. Moreover, the author repeats himself over and over, as if he'd cut and pasted paragraphs from one chapter to another. To add insult to injury, Frederica Mandelbaum is less the subject of this book then a starting point for endless meandering over related materials.

Apparently the author has written several other other books about this time period. I have no desire to read them now and I rather expect that he picked Mrs Mandelbaum's story as a way to use up the same material. If I were a professor and he were my student he would get a flunking grade for this one.

And shame on whatever editor bought it and published it.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 3 out of 5]

True Crime Commemoration # 23
Setting: Tammany Hall New York City
RTC

[Alaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many run-on sentences to decipher. The worst offender (at 2% in):

"Because of her efforts to help women find work, even if it was in the world of crime, some contemporary feminist historians view Mandelbaum as a Gilded Age heroine for her willingness to assist women finding work and helping them make more money than they could have as housekeepers, maids, seamstresses or factory workers."

I CAN'T.

[Clara · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you, like me, knew nothing about Marm Mandelbaum before reading this title, don't learn about her from here. I know this is history and can't complain if the author decides to tell big parts of her story at the beginning, because it's not a spoiler. But I found out about everything relevant about this woman in the first pages, and that took away my excitement about the book.

I also didn't like the writing style at all, it felt like I was reading a history book, or what I would find in Wikipedia. Besides this, I think the amount of newspaper articles was absolutely unnecessary. Four of five would have been just fine.

[Ezra · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about a fascinating woman. "Marm" Mandelbaum was a Jewish immigrant to New York in the mid 1800s. She eventually became one of the top sellers of stollen goods in NY, bribing the police and judges in order to escape punishment.

I have to thank the author, J. North Conway for introducing me to this remarkable women. However, I believe the book could be vastly improved with some editing. Information was repeated many times throughout the book. Conway included many quotes that he would go on to summarize. It felt like a college research paper. Even writing short research papers was torture for me in college, so I am impressed with anyone who could write a whole book. But if Conway was going to spend the time and effort in writing the book, I think it would be well worth putting in some extra time editing it.

[Sharon]

The most poorly written book I have ever read. Endless repetition of newspaper articles. The story could have been consolidated in perhaps 50 pages. Interesting subject hidden in a Forrest of repetition.

[Carter Herrington · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't even finish; an interesting subject but terribly written, and seemingly unedited.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this felt like reading an essay written by a 5th grader.

[Pam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly bad writing. Amateurish.

[Jason Pym · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great cast of characters and devious schemes, this would make great fodder for a fiction writer.

[Mo Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the book I was expecting. Interesting historical facts-learned a few things-just not a fun read for me.

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's one of those books that makes you wonder where was the editor. I know what this is having written and read enough of them: first draft of a research paper, you know where you don't quite have everything in order and you repeat yourself fifty times. That's what this is. It's repetitive. It uses newspaper clippings way too much and then sums them up. Worse, it's not exactly about Fredricka Mandelbaum.

It's much more about her gangs and it makes me wonder was there not enough about Marm herself? The whole first third of the book is nothing but her various associates and barely about her at all. How did she get to be the mentor of thieves? How did she command respect?

What the author chose to emphasize about Marm is her negatives. We know she's tall fat and ugly. It's like yeah we got it the first twenty times. Why are you beating this into the ground? What does it have to do with anything? How about telling us about her business acumen which she obviously had? Oh right you did by hooking it into negative Jewish stereotypes. Thanks for that.

The trial portion had some interesting ideas but it goes on way too long. Do I need to know every item of clothing her lawyers wore? Every bejeweled tie tack? No.

There has to be better books about Mandelbaum out there. What I wish had been done here, tightening the focus (not to mention the writing) on the women she mentored. That could have been much more interesting.

[Jeanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

I knew nothing about Mandelbaum before reading this book. I found the format difficult to follow at first, but eventually adjusted. Not sure if it was because of e-book formatting, but it was at times difficult to tell when the story switched over to newspaper articles. I found the criminal activities and overall corruption in NYPD fascinating. I knew it was always bad but never realized just HOW corrupt it actually was. Also enjoyed reading about The Pinkertons. Overall a very interesting book with a lot if info on 19th century criminals in NYC. Made me want to read more on the subject of crime in the Gilded Age.

[Cybercrone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really a strange book.
I checked out the author a bit, since the writing led me to believe he might be a grade 10 crime fan who was self-publishing. Nope.
The writer is a grown-up, apparently, who has written several books about obscure but fascinating crime figures. Some rumour that one of his books might go to movie. It would be the only known case of the movie being better than the book, I think.
The author is such a poor writer with an abysmal grasp of verb agreement, appropriate prepositions and vocabulary, that I kept having to reread passages because I couldn't believe he really wrote that.
The bit about someone fleeing "in a fuselage of bullets" almost did me in completely.
To give him his due, he seems to be a great researcher. Too bad he can't translate that into interesting prose. AND - he has a couple poems on his FB page that are really quite nice - so WHAT is his problem with prose?
I see there has been no interest here in any of his books. If one goes to movie, that should change. However, I don't think I will read any more of his books, I'll just wait for the movie. And I have never said that before in my life.

[Granny · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of this book was very interesting, describing the rise of an immigrant Jewish woman to the mastermind of thievery and fencing stolen goods in the Golden Era following the Civil War into the reign of Edward of England. Sadly, the writer didn't edit well and as the reader progresses through the book, it looses steam. The is a real talent requires to sort and edit historical information and make it accessible to the reader. Unfortunately, interrupting the flow of the narrative with articles from the era with all the lurid headlines and frequently inaccurate descriptions of the events. I would have liked to have seen the newspaper articles synthesized more, and read them in full less often. A disappointing book on what could have been a fascinating slice of history.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Torture!

This book read like a textbook, only worse. A lot of redundancy which became excruciatingly tedious. Without stating the same facts throughout the book, it could have make a good story for a History Channel movie.

Immigrating from Germany and arriving in New York with nothing, having to sell her wares on the street and eventually becoming one of the biggest fences of stolen goods of her time. Being a woman in her time, and achieving this is remarkable, but the writing style makes this book (almost) un-finishable.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative, but very (and oddly) repetitive. Either the author had a word count to fill and/or they never unlearned their high school essay bad habits.

Very often Conway would make some point, then immediately follow up with a quote that said exactly the same thing (sometimes in nearly the same words), and then use another quote that did the same thing!

The author also had a strange obsession with telling us how large and heavy Mandelbaum was. It wasn’t necessary information after the initial introduction, then rapidly became filler-crossing-over-into-fat-shaming.

[DaveH · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well the story may have been pretty interesting...but not in the hands of this author and publisher. Wasn't well told, and the editing was amateurish. Repeated sentences and phrases on the same page like a cut and paste job! So much repetition I began to wonder if this was a 120 page book which needed to be 250 for the publisher so they churned out different chapters which really said the same thing. Choose another book on this topic instead.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the book suffers from a lack of editing, I do believe I have learned a lot. It is my first foray into the Gilded Age in New York City and it seems to me that Fredericka Mandelbaum does what she needs to do to survive in such a strange period in time.

[R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story, but this book could have used a copy editor. It would be half its length if the author didn’t repeat themselves so much; I guess that answers the question as to why they did it. A frustrating read.

[Jennifer Bond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written and edited (assuming it was, in fact, edited).

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Living American way.

The way of Rich people steal it while the majority starve, and imprisoned for stealing a chicken so that their children can eat.Pop

[K P Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed, well worth a read!

Well written and informative making it an enjoyable experience and easy to read. Useful links too ☺ Well worth reading.

[Shelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but it just didn't provide enough umph. I wish the book was based more on journal entries than newspapers articles. Just didn't have enough family type details.

[Deborah Cleaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating tale of someone I had never heard of.

[Heather Truckenmiller · Rating 2 out of 5]

As many others have already mentioned - this has the protentional to be a fascinating story, but it is horribly written.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok, such ancient history that the constant quoting of books from the late 1800s kinda makes it choppy. Cool read though, offering a glimpse of the hard life of the 19th century in NYC.

[Ginka · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. Marm deserved a better book.