Overview
āHistory at its best . . . I highly recommend this remarkable book.āāDouglas Preston, #1Ā New York TimesĀ bestselling author ofĀ The Lost City of the Monkey God
Handsome and charismatic, Albert Hicks had long been known in the dive bars and gin joints of the Five Points, the most dangerous neighborhood in maritime Manhattan. For years, he operated out of the public eye, rambling from crime to crime, working on the water in ships, sleeping in the nickel-a-night flops, drinking in barrooms where rat-baiting and bear-baiting were great entertainments.
His criminal career reached its peak in 1860, when he was hired, under an alias, as a hand on an oyster sloop. His plan was to rob the ship and flee, disappearing into the teeming streets of lower Manhattan, as heād done numerous times before, eventually finding his way back to his nearsighted Irish immigrant wife (who, like him, had been disowned by her family) and their infant son. But the plan went awryāthe ship was found listing and unmanned in the foggy straits of Coney Islandāand the voyage that was to enrich him instead led to his last desperate flight.
Long fascinated by gangster legends, Rich Cohen tells the story of this notorious underworld figure, from his humble origins to the wild, globe-crossing, bacchanalian crime spree that forged his ruthlessness and his reputation, to his ultimate incarnation as a demon who terrorized lower Manhattan, at a time when pirates anchored off 14th Street.
Advance praise for The Last Pirate of New York
āAĀ remarkableĀ work of scholarship about old New York, combined withĀ a skillfully told, edge-of-your-seat adventure storyāI could not put it down.āāIan Frazier, author ofĀ Travels in Siberia
āWith itsĀ wise and erudite storytelling, Rich CohenāsĀ The Last Pirate of New YorkĀ takes the reader on an exciting nonfiction narrative journey thatĀ transforms a grisly nineteenth-century murder into a shrewd portent of modern life.Ā Totally unique, totally compelling, I enjoyed every page.āāHoward Blum,Ā New York TimesĀ bestselling author ofĀ GanglandĀ andĀ American Lightning
This book title, The Last Pirate of New York (A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation) - 9780399589942, ISBN: 9780399589942, by Rich Cohen, published by Random House Publishing Group (June 2, 2020) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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