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Ugly Prey: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence That Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago
Ugly Prey tells the riveting story of poor Italian immigrant Sabella Nitti, the first woman ever sentenced to hang in Chicago, in 1923, for the alleged murder of her husband. Journalist Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi leads readers through the case, showing how, with no evidence and no witnesses, Nitti was the target of an obsessed deputy sheriff and the victim of a faulty legal system. She was also—to the men who convicted her and reporters fixated on her—ugly. For that unforgiveable crime, the media painted her as a hideous, dirty, and unpredictable immigrant, almost an animal. Lucchesi brings to life the sights and sounds of 1920s Chicago and its then-rural outskirts, when two other women (who would inspire the musical and film Chicago) also captured headlines for killing their lovers. But they were beautiful, charmed the all-male juries, and were quickly acquitted, raising doubts with many Chicagoans about the fairness of Nitti’s conviction. Featuring two other fascinating women—the ambitious and ruthless journalist who helped demonize Sabella through her reports and the brilliant, beautiful, twenty-three-year-old lawyer who helped humanize her with a jailhouse makeover—Ugly Prey is not just a page-turning courtroom drama but also a thought-provoking look at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and class with the American justice system.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2017
50 people are currently reading
1831 people want to read
About the author
Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, PhD
3 books53 followersPUBLISHED:
"A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy and more," by Kathy Kleiner Rubin and Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Chicago Review Press, October 3, 2023.
"This is Really War: The Incredible True Story of a Navy Nurse POW in the Occupied Philippines," Chicago Review Press, May 7, 2019.
"Ugly Prey: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence that Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago." Chicago Review Press, 2017.
More at: Emilie-Lucchesi.com
"A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy and more," by Kathy Kleiner Rubin and Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Chicago Review Press, October 3, 2023.
"This is Really War: The Incredible True Story of a Navy Nurse POW in the Occupied Philippines," Chicago Review Press, May 7, 2019.
"Ugly Prey: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence that Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago." Chicago Review Press, 2017.
More at: Emilie-Lucchesi.com
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July 31, 2019
I decided to read this book based on a GRs review, but I had misgivings about whether I would like the story. What could one criminal case tried in the 1920s have to say to me? How would it apply to my life? Turns out, it’s truly timely and there are applications for all of us if we but stop to consider. In a world where snap judgments are made every day about people based on their skin color, sexual orientation, gender, class status, their street address, their education or lack thereof, this story serves as a caution. Things are not always as they seem or as preconceived scripts might have us believe. Sometimes, first impressions are not always most accurate. Sometimes you have to do a little research or listen to someone who has.
In ‘Ugly Prey,’ Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi has done the research and brought to light an important trial and its history. Taking place from 1922 to 1924 in Chicago, Sabella Nitti, in her forties and the twenty-four-year-old, Peter Crudele, whom she has recently married are put on trial for the murder of Sabella’s former husband, Francesco. Francesco disappeared on July 29, 1922. Sabella marries Peter on March 9, 1923. The extraordinary circumstances that compelled this unusual coupling make for riveting reading. The prosecutors are determined to convict and bring Sabella and Peter to the gallows, making Sabella the first woman to hang in Cook County. Sabella is an immigrant from the poor part of southern Italy. She’s illiterate, speaks a dialect called Barese which hugely complicates an already difficult language barrier (Italian interpreters did not speak this dialect), clothed poorly with ragged canvas shoes, has offensive posture (sits with her legs open), grunts, and is considered ugly. How all this plays out in the newspapers and a court of law is transfixing. Lucchesi brings other cases of female slayers into the narrative, Sabella’s co-inmates in jail, to show that appearance, class, and education make a world of difference. Two of them are Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan, both well dressed, pretty and belonging to a more well-to-do class than the poverty-stricken Sabella. The startling differences in the women are easy to see in the black and white pictures included in the book. The book cover picture of Sabella shows the homely and rough-looking picture of a dark-skinned immigrant. Inside, the reader will find a picture of Beulah Annan, stylishly coiffed, looking pensively into the camera. Belva Gaertner has a wealthy ex-husband, who knows no limits of expense when it comes to Belva’s court case. In her picture, she has cuffs of fur and a fur draped around her neck, and a weird hat that must have meant style in the 1920s. The juxtaposition of Sabella with these two women is jarring.
I found so much of this history fascinating. Lucchesi delves into the limitations of the law at the time and covers the histories and futures of the attornies involved, including Sabella’s hugely inept attorney, Eugene Moran. The pacing of Lucchesi’s investigative narrative had me turning the pages. For someone who often finds nonfiction a bit boring, I was pleased to find that was not the case here.
In ‘Ugly Prey,’ Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi has done the research and brought to light an important trial and its history. Taking place from 1922 to 1924 in Chicago, Sabella Nitti, in her forties and the twenty-four-year-old, Peter Crudele, whom she has recently married are put on trial for the murder of Sabella’s former husband, Francesco. Francesco disappeared on July 29, 1922. Sabella marries Peter on March 9, 1923. The extraordinary circumstances that compelled this unusual coupling make for riveting reading. The prosecutors are determined to convict and bring Sabella and Peter to the gallows, making Sabella the first woman to hang in Cook County. Sabella is an immigrant from the poor part of southern Italy. She’s illiterate, speaks a dialect called Barese which hugely complicates an already difficult language barrier (Italian interpreters did not speak this dialect), clothed poorly with ragged canvas shoes, has offensive posture (sits with her legs open), grunts, and is considered ugly. How all this plays out in the newspapers and a court of law is transfixing. Lucchesi brings other cases of female slayers into the narrative, Sabella’s co-inmates in jail, to show that appearance, class, and education make a world of difference. Two of them are Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan, both well dressed, pretty and belonging to a more well-to-do class than the poverty-stricken Sabella. The startling differences in the women are easy to see in the black and white pictures included in the book. The book cover picture of Sabella shows the homely and rough-looking picture of a dark-skinned immigrant. Inside, the reader will find a picture of Beulah Annan, stylishly coiffed, looking pensively into the camera. Belva Gaertner has a wealthy ex-husband, who knows no limits of expense when it comes to Belva’s court case. In her picture, she has cuffs of fur and a fur draped around her neck, and a weird hat that must have meant style in the 1920s. The juxtaposition of Sabella with these two women is jarring.
I found so much of this history fascinating. Lucchesi delves into the limitations of the law at the time and covers the histories and futures of the attornies involved, including Sabella’s hugely inept attorney, Eugene Moran. The pacing of Lucchesi’s investigative narrative had me turning the pages. For someone who often finds nonfiction a bit boring, I was pleased to find that was not the case here.
April 21, 2017
My thanks to Netgalley and Chicago Review Press, for giving me an ARC of the ebook for review purposes.
UGLY PREY is primarily written about Sabella Nitti, an Italian immigrant who finds herself locked up on murder charges after her husband goes missing from their family truck garden farm outside Chicago in 1923. It goes on to show cases of other women who are also arrested for possibly killing their husbands or boyfriends too, but since they are beautiful and speak English, they don't have the same problems as Sabella faces, and are treated much differently.
It also goes a bit into the account of the so-called crime of the century when Leopold and Loeb kidnapped and then killed young Bobby Franks. It appeared to be a thrill killing gone wrong.
The book shows the huge differences in the way people were treated at that time, depending on how they were viewed, both by the criminal justice system and by the press back then, which influenced things a great deal, how the public saw things and also if any assistance were rendered. Sabella was a much different person by the time her case came to a conclusion, and the reader will likely see things a bit differently too. All in all, an enlightening read about that time and place.
UGLY PREY is primarily written about Sabella Nitti, an Italian immigrant who finds herself locked up on murder charges after her husband goes missing from their family truck garden farm outside Chicago in 1923. It goes on to show cases of other women who are also arrested for possibly killing their husbands or boyfriends too, but since they are beautiful and speak English, they don't have the same problems as Sabella faces, and are treated much differently.
It also goes a bit into the account of the so-called crime of the century when Leopold and Loeb kidnapped and then killed young Bobby Franks. It appeared to be a thrill killing gone wrong.
The book shows the huge differences in the way people were treated at that time, depending on how they were viewed, both by the criminal justice system and by the press back then, which influenced things a great deal, how the public saw things and also if any assistance were rendered. Sabella was a much different person by the time her case came to a conclusion, and the reader will likely see things a bit differently too. All in all, an enlightening read about that time and place.
March 31, 2017
While we like to think of Lady Justice with her blindfold and equal scales, the reality is and always has been in complete opposition. Lucchesi takes us back to the Roaring Twenties, an era memorialized by the wealthy white class. Life for the poor, immigrants, and the average women was an altogether different experience.
The central focus of this book is Sabella Nitti, a poor Italian immigrant who was not a pretty woman and who didn't speak English. When her husband disappears, she becomes an easy scapegoat for officials to blame. The author brings this case to life, showing us Sabella's plight as the court system, along with the media and the community, portray her as an ugly monster who murdered her husband.
For comparison the author brings in Sabella's contemporaries, beautiful women also charged with murder. But those women are treated differently, almost reverently, because of their looks and their standing within the community.
Clearly, the author did an immense amount of research, but the story never feels weighed down in facts. The writing here is engaging, often reading more like a legal mystery than nonfiction.
Back in Sabella's day, women were not treated as equals within society. Prejudice was openly accepted, whether due to race, appearance, ethnicity, or class. Her situation was precarious from the very start. We'd all like to believe these things have changed, and to some degree they have. But prejudice still exists within our court system, though we do a better job of disguising it. Books like this are important because they remind us where we came from, as well as how far we still need to go.
*I received an advance ebook copy from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*
The central focus of this book is Sabella Nitti, a poor Italian immigrant who was not a pretty woman and who didn't speak English. When her husband disappears, she becomes an easy scapegoat for officials to blame. The author brings this case to life, showing us Sabella's plight as the court system, along with the media and the community, portray her as an ugly monster who murdered her husband.
For comparison the author brings in Sabella's contemporaries, beautiful women also charged with murder. But those women are treated differently, almost reverently, because of their looks and their standing within the community.
Clearly, the author did an immense amount of research, but the story never feels weighed down in facts. The writing here is engaging, often reading more like a legal mystery than nonfiction.
Back in Sabella's day, women were not treated as equals within society. Prejudice was openly accepted, whether due to race, appearance, ethnicity, or class. Her situation was precarious from the very start. We'd all like to believe these things have changed, and to some degree they have. But prejudice still exists within our court system, though we do a better job of disguising it. Books like this are important because they remind us where we came from, as well as how far we still need to go.
*I received an advance ebook copy from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*
January 23, 2019
If you ever wanted to know who the character of Hunyak, in the musical Chicago, is based on, then read this book. A look at the Nitti case in Chicago during the 20's and how Ms. Nitti was portrayed as ugly and dirty and ignorant and the justice system that felt those qualities were enough to find someone guilty and sentence them to death with no evidence. Counterbalanced with the cases of the other women on trial for murder (2 of which became the basis for Roxy and Velma in Chicago) who were pretty and charming and either acquitted or sentenced only to jail. Jurisprudence and the press is on trail in this fascinating look at Ms. Nitti-a woman wrongly accused, and convicted because the law and the press felt she was ugly.
July 19, 2019
4 stars
This is the story of the imprisonment and abuse of an Italian immigrant, Sebella Nitti, a poor peasant farmer on the outskirts of Chicago in 1923. She was not pretty, she did not have spectacular clothes, and she did not speak English. Both Sebella and a farm hand, Peter Crudele, were accused of killing Sebellas husband and disposing of the body. Francesco, the husband, was never found.
After only a two month stay in jail, Sebella was found guilty and became the first woman ever sentenced to hang in the city of Chicago. Ninety five days from sentencing to hanging. As Sebella sat in jail for almost two years during the appeal process, she saw all the pretty women, well dressed women, well spoken women, also accused of murder, come and go after being acquitted. During her initial trial Sebella had really poor representation in an attorney that was in well over his head, and soon after commented for insanity. She went in front of a judge that allowed many many mistakes to help convict her. She was railroaded by a deputy sheriff and lying prosecutors. Sebella even suffered from a crooked journalist working to convict her. She was seen as ugly, dirty and an unpredictable immigrant. That, was her bigggest crime.
In the 1920's the only people on a jury were well educated, high society, men, often business owners. Luckily during her appeal process Sebella was represented by a woman attorney, and her firm, that actually was working for her and trying to prove her innocence. However, a woman attorney was unusual and usually not well accepted or even believed.
This is a great courtroom drama - a true-to-life drama - which highlights not only preferred gender at that time, but inferred the correct class and ethnicity of the innocent person. Only those looking the right way, those speaking the right way, those educated the right way were innocent.
It is also the story of a corrupt American justice system. Who we were then, when it came to immigrants and who it appears we remain today!
This is the story of the imprisonment and abuse of an Italian immigrant, Sebella Nitti, a poor peasant farmer on the outskirts of Chicago in 1923. She was not pretty, she did not have spectacular clothes, and she did not speak English. Both Sebella and a farm hand, Peter Crudele, were accused of killing Sebellas husband and disposing of the body. Francesco, the husband, was never found.
After only a two month stay in jail, Sebella was found guilty and became the first woman ever sentenced to hang in the city of Chicago. Ninety five days from sentencing to hanging. As Sebella sat in jail for almost two years during the appeal process, she saw all the pretty women, well dressed women, well spoken women, also accused of murder, come and go after being acquitted. During her initial trial Sebella had really poor representation in an attorney that was in well over his head, and soon after commented for insanity. She went in front of a judge that allowed many many mistakes to help convict her. She was railroaded by a deputy sheriff and lying prosecutors. Sebella even suffered from a crooked journalist working to convict her. She was seen as ugly, dirty and an unpredictable immigrant. That, was her bigggest crime.
In the 1920's the only people on a jury were well educated, high society, men, often business owners. Luckily during her appeal process Sebella was represented by a woman attorney, and her firm, that actually was working for her and trying to prove her innocence. However, a woman attorney was unusual and usually not well accepted or even believed.
This is a great courtroom drama - a true-to-life drama - which highlights not only preferred gender at that time, but inferred the correct class and ethnicity of the innocent person. Only those looking the right way, those speaking the right way, those educated the right way were innocent.
It is also the story of a corrupt American justice system. Who we were then, when it came to immigrants and who it appears we remain today!
September 22, 2017
Fascinating story. Recommended to other attorneys who will find the first trial to be a cringeworthy circus. I'd like to think that much has changed but the same bias continues to play out in courts acrosss the country. Systems are not perfect, and this book highlights the potential devastation for when the "safety nets unravel."
April 3, 2018
I read this book in February 2018 for my book club. This was one of the few books that everyone in the club actually read and enjoyed.
January 23, 2018
Fascinating story that made me feel like I was in the courtroom.
April 6, 2018
Our March book club pick.
We all enjoyed this book and finished it before the meeting date.
We enjoyed talking about our own families' immigrant experience.
We all enjoyed this book and finished it before the meeting date.
We enjoyed talking about our own families' immigrant experience.
June 11, 2017
** I won this book in a GR giveaway and this is my unbiased review**
I entered this giveaway because I love the 1920's period and am from the Chicagoland area. I found this story well researched and fascinating. The roaring 20's is often glamorized but this story portrays a more realistic side in my opinion. It shows a darker side of reality in which the poorer immigrant class had to survive in.
I definitely recommend this book!
I entered this giveaway because I love the 1920's period and am from the Chicagoland area. I found this story well researched and fascinating. The roaring 20's is often glamorized but this story portrays a more realistic side in my opinion. It shows a darker side of reality in which the poorer immigrant class had to survive in.
I definitely recommend this book!
June 3, 2017
First a disclosure, because this book was not recommended, nor was it compelling in the process of the read at all. But I did finish it. It was picked up on a "New" shelf at the library and I took it only because of the picture on the cover. She highly resembles my Sicilian grandmother. They could be sisters, but mine had higher cheek bones and a smaller jaw. But the eyes and nearly all the rest, including the hair style/placement- the same. I can remember her well despite her dying before I reached kindergarten. I slept in her bed behind a small Mom and Pop grocery store, and I have strong recollection of most of the people, odors, foods etc. Even remember the ice delivery and pulling it to the box. That's in this book too. Identical!
But the story itself, the writing, and especially the continuity didn't pull you in. Not at all. In fact, I could put this down, pick it up. Read other books. Pick it up. And after all was said and done, I do think some of the sections could have been edited to half.
I most liked the trial sentencing descriptions and the prison detailing. Because she only knew her Italian dialect from Bari, having a translator from Genoa, who also only half knew her own former Italian of that region and had been an English speaker for some time? Well, the entire cabal was bad in authority, and typical for the times of greatest Italian disdaining, especially by the media in Chicago. There were nearly a dozen newspapers (1920's and 1930's were difficult to say the least for Italian immigrants in Chicago)- BUT by having no language on top of it! In fact, she doesn't even know she has been sentenced to hang until a couple of days later when a duo of translators and some "help" show up in her cell.
But the photos here in this book were awesome. 5 star. Especially of the fruit market and the trucks with the tall high side panels which often tipped over. But all of those photos were, even of those Italians who "looked" the correct way and dressed the "correct" way- in order to get legal hearing! And of course, all of those legal side Italians were in great majority (all of them I think in fact) were tall and from Northern Italian origins. They didn't have stubby hands, short legs, dark olive skin, or dark circles under their eyes, that's for sure. And they NEVER wore wool in summer, because that's the only skirt they owned. My grandparents came in 1919 and moved about 3 times before I was born because of fire bombings and other in fighting issues between Italian/Sicilian factions too, beyond the larger society. Unlike this woman, my grandparent first and last, moved out of the Taylor Street area, learned to read and write, worked, bought property, worked, worked and worked. While she had 15 pregnancies. The only "same" as this protagonist was that she was often beaten, and had many babies die en utero or full term stillborn. Other then that, they only looked alike. Mine, unlike this scared woman, didn't depend on others to escape. She never felt she left her own Mother at 17 to never see her again, just to be a dependent. She was always amazed that women could buy property, sign for themselves with their own name here. And have possible substance.
The family in fighting here with the subsequent crimes in this book! And how that oldest son scarfed up all the assets before she (his own mother) could get any lawful control. That was hard to read. I saw that kind of thing happen also. Living arrangements were so tight and habits of dress and sanitary practice so varying from the more acclimated to America! That and the violence in their own enclaves were nearly universal. I only remember the after effects of that earlier time- but I do know that those particulars of early days had fall outs to 2 more generations of "afterward". Just as they did with this family in the long term. Brothers divided. No trust in governments AT ALL either, is saying it mildly.
When I finished this book, I had to parse a minute and think of all the things in Chicago which have changed, and within other aspects those that have not changed at all. Connection mattered then, and still does. In more ways than just appearance or habits, reactions of the fewer newspapers too and also the local network channels- just as pre-conceived for placements in divisive judgments and "value" to what "witness" matters to be "heard".
I forgot to add the other two cases that were touched on as "the other" in this book. It was for two pretty to beautiful women (as that culture deemed beautiful) who were murderers but who were found not guilty on their looks. Most of you have seen the musical Chicago- those two.
Ironically they both lived very short lives, while Sabella Nitti lived past her mid-seventies. Infectious disease and most any heart ailment was a death sentence then. I do remember that too. My Nonna was only 53.
But the story itself, the writing, and especially the continuity didn't pull you in. Not at all. In fact, I could put this down, pick it up. Read other books. Pick it up. And after all was said and done, I do think some of the sections could have been edited to half.
I most liked the trial sentencing descriptions and the prison detailing. Because she only knew her Italian dialect from Bari, having a translator from Genoa, who also only half knew her own former Italian of that region and had been an English speaker for some time? Well, the entire cabal was bad in authority, and typical for the times of greatest Italian disdaining, especially by the media in Chicago. There were nearly a dozen newspapers (1920's and 1930's were difficult to say the least for Italian immigrants in Chicago)- BUT by having no language on top of it! In fact, she doesn't even know she has been sentenced to hang until a couple of days later when a duo of translators and some "help" show up in her cell.
But the photos here in this book were awesome. 5 star. Especially of the fruit market and the trucks with the tall high side panels which often tipped over. But all of those photos were, even of those Italians who "looked" the correct way and dressed the "correct" way- in order to get legal hearing! And of course, all of those legal side Italians were in great majority (all of them I think in fact) were tall and from Northern Italian origins. They didn't have stubby hands, short legs, dark olive skin, or dark circles under their eyes, that's for sure. And they NEVER wore wool in summer, because that's the only skirt they owned. My grandparents came in 1919 and moved about 3 times before I was born because of fire bombings and other in fighting issues between Italian/Sicilian factions too, beyond the larger society. Unlike this woman, my grandparent first and last, moved out of the Taylor Street area, learned to read and write, worked, bought property, worked, worked and worked. While she had 15 pregnancies. The only "same" as this protagonist was that she was often beaten, and had many babies die en utero or full term stillborn. Other then that, they only looked alike. Mine, unlike this scared woman, didn't depend on others to escape. She never felt she left her own Mother at 17 to never see her again, just to be a dependent. She was always amazed that women could buy property, sign for themselves with their own name here. And have possible substance.
The family in fighting here with the subsequent crimes in this book! And how that oldest son scarfed up all the assets before she (his own mother) could get any lawful control. That was hard to read. I saw that kind of thing happen also. Living arrangements were so tight and habits of dress and sanitary practice so varying from the more acclimated to America! That and the violence in their own enclaves were nearly universal. I only remember the after effects of that earlier time- but I do know that those particulars of early days had fall outs to 2 more generations of "afterward". Just as they did with this family in the long term. Brothers divided. No trust in governments AT ALL either, is saying it mildly.
When I finished this book, I had to parse a minute and think of all the things in Chicago which have changed, and within other aspects those that have not changed at all. Connection mattered then, and still does. In more ways than just appearance or habits, reactions of the fewer newspapers too and also the local network channels- just as pre-conceived for placements in divisive judgments and "value" to what "witness" matters to be "heard".
I forgot to add the other two cases that were touched on as "the other" in this book. It was for two pretty to beautiful women (as that culture deemed beautiful) who were murderers but who were found not guilty on their looks. Most of you have seen the musical Chicago- those two.
Ironically they both lived very short lives, while Sabella Nitti lived past her mid-seventies. Infectious disease and most any heart ailment was a death sentence then. I do remember that too. My Nonna was only 53.
April 2, 2018
I really enjoyed this. It was very well written so that it was captivating and engaging. The author did a great job weaving together other relevant stories of the time. Definitely recommend for those who like historic nonfiction.
May 23, 2017
I knew that the movie Chicago was based on real cases so I read the book The Girls of Murder City and discovered the story of Sabella Nitti. She was just a minor story in that book but one that fascinated me.
Sabella Nitti was a poor, illiterate immigrant whose abusive husband goes missing. She and one of their farmhands are charged with his murder. The lawyer that takes their case is one who has mental problems and ends up being institutionalized. Because of his incompetence they are both convicted and sentenced to death. The general feeling is that this happened because Sabella was "ugly". She didn't have the benefit of a lawyer competent enough to get her a haircut, some new clothes or to have someone do her makeup.
A group of Italian lawyers take the case and fight against the injustice they saw in the system.
A truly fascinating story and a very compelling read.
Sabella Nitti was a poor, illiterate immigrant whose abusive husband goes missing. She and one of their farmhands are charged with his murder. The lawyer that takes their case is one who has mental problems and ends up being institutionalized. Because of his incompetence they are both convicted and sentenced to death. The general feeling is that this happened because Sabella was "ugly". She didn't have the benefit of a lawyer competent enough to get her a haircut, some new clothes or to have someone do her makeup.
A group of Italian lawyers take the case and fight against the injustice they saw in the system.
A truly fascinating story and a very compelling read.
June 26, 2017
Loved the trial seen, but the last hundred pages I read in a day!
March 5, 2020
I've had this book on my To Read list for quite a while and when I saw it was free with my Kindle Unlimited trial membership I decided this would be a good time to read it. The story was very interesting and yet frustrating in a way because everything seemed so unfair to Sabella. How the supposed murder of her husband ever got to trial is mind-boggling and the trial itself would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. I'd like to think such a travesty wouldn't happen in this day and age but I'm afraid it does, just not quite as blatantly. The difference in the treatment of more attractive women who committed murder was certainly an eye-opener. I wonder what really happened to Frank Nitti because I don't think that was his body they found. The author obviously did a lot of research and the end result was easy to follow. I wish the photographs that are in the book could've been included but I guess you can't have everything.
August 11, 2017
Absolutely fascinating on so many levels. Piqued my curiosity to follow up with my own research!
August 21, 2017
Highly recommended
January 23, 2019
Fascinating book.
May 4, 2017
This was fascinating! It's amazing how far things have come in terms of criminal investigations and the rights of defendants. I think the story of Sabella Nitti is important to share, especially with women today. Her story highlights a history of prejudice that should never be forgotten. I feel this book was very well laid out and did not jump around like some non-fiction pieces do. This author did a great job of keeping me engaged as a reader.
May 23, 2017
As a true-crime junkie, I was very excited to read Ugly Prey. Unfortunately, and I have a difficult time putting my finger on why exactly, I just could not seem to become absorbed in the story. The beginning was slow and did not pick up until well into the book. However, the research was very well done and the real-life people read like characters from a novel, they are so well developed. I really struggled to finish the book as a whole (It took me much, much longer to read than a book of its size and genre usually does.) and likely would not have completed it if I did not promise to review. I seem to be the minority though in not enjoying it so it could just be me. The intersection of women and crime is an interesting one and I'm glad someone is writing about it.
Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Chicago Review Press, and the author Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi for the opportunity to do so.
Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Chicago Review Press, and the author Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi for the opportunity to do so.
April 1, 2019
My book club decided to read Ugly Prey for April's selection. I knew the stories of Belva Gaertner and Beluah Annan (the women who inspired the characters Velma and Roxie for the musical Chicago), but I did not know the story of Sabella Nitti. Nitti was an Italian immigrant that spoke the dialect Barese. After her husband's disappearance, she and a young farmhand were accused of his murder. Ugly Prey follows Nitti's trial, the media coverage about her, and the jury's verdict to set her to be the first woman to hang for her crimes. Although Gaertner and Annan seemed guilty of their crimes, they were beautiful, charming, and American and were able to win over a jury of all white men. Nitti was deemed as ugly in the papers, described as a monster and a husband killer. The deck was stacked against her due to her gender, beauty standards, her language barrier, and her status as an immigrant.
If you are interested in the crime that happened during the Jazz Age in Chicago, Ugly Prey will be enjoyable for you. While the focus is on Sabella's initial trial and retrial, there are other infamous crimes and murders that are woven throughout. I enjoy historical nonfiction, but I really appreciated how Le Beau Lucchesi wrote in a way that made Ugly Prey read like a novel. It was informative, but also entertaining.
Just a quick trigger warning, if suicide is a difficult subject for you to read about, there are a few mentions of suicide attempts throughout. They aren't very long, but they can be triggering. Also, if you are triggered by accounts of hanging, there is a very graphic description of the gallows and the execution practices during that time in the first part of the book. I would recommend just skimming over or skipping that chapter entirely if it would be triggering for you.
If you are interested in the crime that happened during the Jazz Age in Chicago, Ugly Prey will be enjoyable for you. While the focus is on Sabella's initial trial and retrial, there are other infamous crimes and murders that are woven throughout. I enjoy historical nonfiction, but I really appreciated how Le Beau Lucchesi wrote in a way that made Ugly Prey read like a novel. It was informative, but also entertaining.
Just a quick trigger warning, if suicide is a difficult subject for you to read about, there are a few mentions of suicide attempts throughout. They aren't very long, but they can be triggering. Also, if you are triggered by accounts of hanging, there is a very graphic description of the gallows and the execution practices during that time in the first part of the book. I would recommend just skimming over or skipping that chapter entirely if it would be triggering for you.
April 9, 2019
The author did a great job of telling the story in a way that was captivating and emotion inducing.
I have seen the movie/Broadway production of Chicago, but that's as far as my knowledge of any of the subject matter goes. Learning about these stories was very interesting to me. Learning how the justice system and press treated Sabella compared to the "prettier" murdereresses and murderers honestly made me so angry. I felt this was overall a good read and the author did a very nice job of keeping me interested.
I have seen the movie/Broadway production of Chicago, but that's as far as my knowledge of any of the subject matter goes. Learning about these stories was very interesting to me. Learning how the justice system and press treated Sabella compared to the "prettier" murdereresses and murderers honestly made me so angry. I felt this was overall a good read and the author did a very nice job of keeping me interested.
October 28, 2018
Great book about an Italian immigrant who was charged with murdering her husband. No spoilers here, but it's amazing how few protections Sabella had in the judicial system and, frankly, in society. My book club loved it.
June 20, 2019
I heard about this book on a true crime podcast and decided to read it. I loved the details in this book and how everything was connected -- Belva, Beulah, and those evil Bobby Franks killers.
June 24, 2017
A nonfiction book about Sabella Nitti, a woman who was found guilty of murdering her husband in 1923 Chicago – making her the first woman to be given a death sentence by an American court. (Note: not really. Plenty of women had hung or burned or otherwise received capital punishment before Nitti, but a lack of historical awareness meant that the lawyers, judges, and general public at the time reacted as though this was a new development, and chose to be proud of it or appalled by it as their personal politics dictated.) She is probably best-remembered these days as the inspiration for the Hungarian-speaking woman in the musical Chicago; here she is protesting her innocence during the Cell Block Tango.
Nitti was an Italian immigrant, illiterate, a farm wife, ugly (at least according to the reporters covering the case), and spoke no English or mainstream Italian, but only a fairly rare dialect called Barese. In addition, she was saddled with a defense lawyer who seemed to be actively losing the ability to maintain a train of thought – his behavior during the trial was remarkably unhelpful to her cause, and he would later spend years in a mental asylum. These factors almost guaranteed she would receive a guilty verdict despite the fact that it was never even clear if her husband was actually dead (it seems likelier he just decided to abandon the family), much less that she was the one who killed him. The local sheriff and one of Nitti's own sons seem to have been the prime movers in pinning the crime on her, despite the lack of evidence.
The depiction of the prejudices and passions of 1920s Chicago was where the book really shone. Women had newly gained the vote, and many saw the potential death sentence of a woman as connected to that – with power comes responsibility. Others argued that women were inherently deserving of mercy: "She is a mother and a mother has never been hanged in the history of this country. I do not believe the honorable court here will permit a mother to hang.” And then, of course, there was the issue of looks, of proper decorum – the pretty, fashionable yet obviously guilty women judged innocent by their all-male juries, and Nitti condemned to hang.
The first 2/3rds or so of the book, when Lucchesi is guiding the reader through Nitti's life before her husband's disappearance and the subsequent trial, are pretty great. Unfortunately the last third loses the thread. Lucchesi detours into describing the backstories of various prisoners Nitti would have met or other contemporary court cases in Chicago; none of it seems to have much to do with Nitti, who disappears from the page for chapters at a time. Some of these would become the inspiration for other characters in Chicago, but since Lucchesi won't mention the musical until the epilogue, the reader is left to make the connection on their own or be confused. (Overall I found the book's lack of direct acknowledgement of Chicago odd – it's so obviously hanging there, waiting for the reader to notice it, and yet Lucchesi treats it like a devil who will bring bad luck if it's name is invoked. Not to mention the missed marketing opportunity.) Others, like the two chapters spent on the Leopold and Loeb case, just seem to have interested Lucchesi and were vaguely connected, so she threw them in as a afterthought.
It's a good example of historical crime writing, even if it needed a better structural editor.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Nitti was an Italian immigrant, illiterate, a farm wife, ugly (at least according to the reporters covering the case), and spoke no English or mainstream Italian, but only a fairly rare dialect called Barese. In addition, she was saddled with a defense lawyer who seemed to be actively losing the ability to maintain a train of thought – his behavior during the trial was remarkably unhelpful to her cause, and he would later spend years in a mental asylum. These factors almost guaranteed she would receive a guilty verdict despite the fact that it was never even clear if her husband was actually dead (it seems likelier he just decided to abandon the family), much less that she was the one who killed him. The local sheriff and one of Nitti's own sons seem to have been the prime movers in pinning the crime on her, despite the lack of evidence.
The depiction of the prejudices and passions of 1920s Chicago was where the book really shone. Women had newly gained the vote, and many saw the potential death sentence of a woman as connected to that – with power comes responsibility. Others argued that women were inherently deserving of mercy: "She is a mother and a mother has never been hanged in the history of this country. I do not believe the honorable court here will permit a mother to hang.” And then, of course, there was the issue of looks, of proper decorum – the pretty, fashionable yet obviously guilty women judged innocent by their all-male juries, and Nitti condemned to hang.
The first 2/3rds or so of the book, when Lucchesi is guiding the reader through Nitti's life before her husband's disappearance and the subsequent trial, are pretty great. Unfortunately the last third loses the thread. Lucchesi detours into describing the backstories of various prisoners Nitti would have met or other contemporary court cases in Chicago; none of it seems to have much to do with Nitti, who disappears from the page for chapters at a time. Some of these would become the inspiration for other characters in Chicago, but since Lucchesi won't mention the musical until the epilogue, the reader is left to make the connection on their own or be confused. (Overall I found the book's lack of direct acknowledgement of Chicago odd – it's so obviously hanging there, waiting for the reader to notice it, and yet Lucchesi treats it like a devil who will bring bad luck if it's name is invoked. Not to mention the missed marketing opportunity.) Others, like the two chapters spent on the Leopold and Loeb case, just seem to have interested Lucchesi and were vaguely connected, so she threw them in as a afterthought.
It's a good example of historical crime writing, even if it needed a better structural editor.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
August 28, 2019
Remember Hunyak from the musical Chicago? Well, she's based on a real person. Ugly Prey is her story - a poor, Italian immigrant charged with the murder of her husband. She's clearly innocent, but the legal system finds her unattractive and so finds her guilty. Reading about this travesty of justice made me angry, to say the least - but also kept me glued to the book! Roxie and Velma also made appearances in the book!
April 10, 2019
This book was absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in true crime or Jazz Age Chicago.
October 25, 2021
This book had a slow start. I mean, it tells you what it's about right away. An Italian immigrant who is accused of murdering her husband and the justice system is just merciless and completely ignores all her constitution rights.
But the author goes into a really long explanation of the trial, complete with transcripts and there were parts that I felt could be summed up instead of rehashed. Sabella Nitti is represented by an incompetent attorney who just shows up and appoints himself. Sabella does not know that she could pick her own attorney and no one bothers to translate for her. Can you imagine sitting through days of court listening to everyone talk in a foreign language? You have absolutely no idea what anyone is saying.
Emilie (the author) points out several cases of women who murdered men around the same time that were found not guilty because they were young and beautiful. In Sabella's case, they can't even technically prove her husband is even dead, but they were willing to convict her because she is ugly and an immigrant.
It was very thought provoking and full of good information. However, it just drags a bit in the middle.
But the author goes into a really long explanation of the trial, complete with transcripts and there were parts that I felt could be summed up instead of rehashed. Sabella Nitti is represented by an incompetent attorney who just shows up and appoints himself. Sabella does not know that she could pick her own attorney and no one bothers to translate for her. Can you imagine sitting through days of court listening to everyone talk in a foreign language? You have absolutely no idea what anyone is saying.
Emilie (the author) points out several cases of women who murdered men around the same time that were found not guilty because they were young and beautiful. In Sabella's case, they can't even technically prove her husband is even dead, but they were willing to convict her because she is ugly and an immigrant.
It was very thought provoking and full of good information. However, it just drags a bit in the middle.
May 23, 2017
I am a true crime junkie, but I was not familiar with this story from the 1920s. Sabella Nitti, an Italian immigrant, was accused of killing her husband, along with a farm hand who worked for them. She was illiterate, didn't speak English, and poor. This was detrimental to her defense when she is arrested. She has no idea what is happening, as the court doesn't provide translators at first. What happens is a series of unfortunate events where she is found guilty and sentenced to hanging. It is clear by reading the trial that the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the judge all made terrible mistakes. The press portrays her very negatively and it is clear that she was unfairly tried based on her outward apperance. Several women who clearly were guilty were acquitted because all male juries wouldn't sentence an attractive woman to death. It is only when a young, determined female lawyer takes over her case that she is given a new trial and acquitted.
This book was researched well and provided an exceptional amount of detail. Although, I felt that there was a little too much time spent describing the background of Sabella's cell mates. I was confused by that extraneous detail right in the middle of the story. The reference to the musical Chicago was helpful in understanding the social injustices that occurred in the 20's toward women accused of crimes (it was based on real female crimimals referenced in this book.) It might have been better to make that connection sooner because it really resonated with me. I've actually seen that show a few times and I remember each of the characters well.
There was one thing I would have liked to see and that is character photos included in the book to help visualize the characters. But it wasn't a deal breaker. There was honestly enough written detail to make up for it. Overall, a great true crime story!
This book was researched well and provided an exceptional amount of detail. Although, I felt that there was a little too much time spent describing the background of Sabella's cell mates. I was confused by that extraneous detail right in the middle of the story. The reference to the musical Chicago was helpful in understanding the social injustices that occurred in the 20's toward women accused of crimes (it was based on real female crimimals referenced in this book.) It might have been better to make that connection sooner because it really resonated with me. I've actually seen that show a few times and I remember each of the characters well.
There was one thing I would have liked to see and that is character photos included in the book to help visualize the characters. But it wasn't a deal breaker. There was honestly enough written detail to make up for it. Overall, a great true crime story!
November 21, 2017
Lucchesi brings to life a defining case which proved that, in jazz-era Chicago, all a woman needed to get away with murder was an attractive demeanor and feminine charms. Sabella Nitti, an illiterate immigrant farmer's wife, who spoke no English and bore the physical aspects of poverty, hard work, and abuse, had neither. When Sabella's husband disappeared, she was accused of his murder. Following a trial presided over by an indifferent judge with a defense handled by an inept and mentally unstable attorney, an all-male jury found Sabella guilty based on an unrecognizable skeleton, hearsay, and scant circumstantial evidence. She was sentenced to hang, but the women of Chicago, even those incarcerated in Cook County Jail, brought their own accusations against the legal system. That was when a group of six attorneys, including a rare female, went to work in an attempt to defy the odds and obtain justice.
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