A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers & Weirdos of NYC's Lower East Side
Announcing the new book from Eric Ferrara, of the East Village History Project!
A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers & Weirdos of NYC’s Lower East Side
$19.99, The History Press
ISBN: 978.1.59629.677.0
• Purchase book online: historypress.net
• Soon available at the East Village Visitor’s Center (308 Bowery, NYC)
A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers & Weirdos of NYC’s Lower East Side ($19.99, ISBN: 978.1.59629.677.0), has been published by The History Press. Thank you to The History Press for taking a chance on such a sensational topic. As written in my introduction to the book, the intent is not to exploit such gruesome tails of murder and violence nor glorify the criminal or their acts. The idea is to give a better picture of the “melting pot” experience; a hardcore and naked look into what many people experienced on a daily basis — crime, poverty, violence, depression, coercion, stress, illness.
This book is a street by street reference guide which examines the early lives of such infamous criminals as Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, and Meyer Lansky — all of whom grew up (and earned their criminal stripes) on the Lower East Side. It also traces 200 years of gang fights, political brawls, domestic violence, natural disasters, assassinations, extortion, Black Hand bombings, organized crime, the Mafia, the Jewish mob, labor struggles, domestic terrorists, biker gangs, fires, police raids, riots, suicides, snake bites, swindlers, zoo animals, and even a cannibal.
There was a murder or sensational story related to almost every single lot I researched for this book — that is Worth Street to East Houston Street . What made it to the book was just a small sampling of the most violent, bizarre and curious stories.
To which, a special thanks to my colleague, Rob Hollander, for writing some great introductions. Unfortunately, most of what he wrote had to be edited down to a few pages, so a great summary can be found here.
Similarly, the content that was left out of the book will be available online here — and soon in a print addendum to “A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers & Weirdos of NYC’s Lower East Side.”