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Fighting the Underworld
Some writing on the inside margins.
369 pages, Hardcover
Published January 31, 1969
8 people want to read
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March 2, 2026
I found this 1932 book on the shelves of my church library, adjacent to their large "books banned by somebody" section. It's a historical account of Denver 1918-1923 when the mob ruled the city. They owned the police, the politicians, the jail, the detectives, and the judges. And yet, the author (who was an upstart District Attorney in Denver) managed to take them all down!
How's that for a premise? It was solid writing (but with the usual caveats about sexism and racism implicit in any writing from 1932) and vividly told the story of how he took down the mob. He had to create a parallel government. He raised money (mostly from the rich whom the mob predated) to hire private detectives, and kept his whole operation off books. On the day they raided and arrested everyone, 18 months into the investigation, they even needed to set up a private jail so these guys wouldn't just walk back onto the street. And where did they do this? turns out, at the very church where I found the book 100 years later.
Pretty cool, and instructive to people who think that the current times are uniquely dystopian. Turns out if you dig, every period in US history was fraught with the opposite of a free open society. Imagine living in a place where everyone was taking money from criminals to look the other way at their crimes? yeah, it's not totally impossible to imagine anymore, but it has happened in the past, and could happen again.
How's that for a premise? It was solid writing (but with the usual caveats about sexism and racism implicit in any writing from 1932) and vividly told the story of how he took down the mob. He had to create a parallel government. He raised money (mostly from the rich whom the mob predated) to hire private detectives, and kept his whole operation off books. On the day they raided and arrested everyone, 18 months into the investigation, they even needed to set up a private jail so these guys wouldn't just walk back onto the street. And where did they do this? turns out, at the very church where I found the book 100 years later.
Pretty cool, and instructive to people who think that the current times are uniquely dystopian. Turns out if you dig, every period in US history was fraught with the opposite of a free open society. Imagine living in a place where everyone was taking money from criminals to look the other way at their crimes? yeah, it's not totally impossible to imagine anymore, but it has happened in the past, and could happen again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review