A Brief History of Gangsters (Brief Histories)

Infamous gangsters brought vividly to life, from the Old West to Prohibition and beyond

The names of notorious Prohibition-era gangsters such as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano still resonate today, but in this vivid history, Robb explores the fascinating lives of not only well-known mobsters like John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, but also those less familiar, from the lawless Old West to the likes of John Gotti, the 'Teflon Don', in 1980s' New York.

While the focus is on that ever-popular icon of popular culture, the archetypal American gangster of The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, the book's reach is global, from the Kray twins in Sixties' London to post-Soviet Russia, and from drug lords in Colombia to the Triads and Yakuza in the Far East.