Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius - David Pietrusza Audiobook

Written by David Pietrusza
Read by Grover Gardner
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release date: November 9, 2004
Duration: 13:43:09

The model for Meyer Wolfsheim from The Great Gatsby and Guys and Dolls’ Nathan Detroit, Arnold Rothstein was an underworld genius, racketeer, rumrunner, political fixer, and criminal mastermind who, as F. Scott Fitzgerald observed, played “with the faith of fifteen million people with the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe.”
David Piertrusza unearths the canny way Rothstein fixed the 1919 World Series and unravels the mystery of Arnold Rothstein’s murder in November 1928 in a Times Square hotel room.

Arnold Rothstein grew from a rebellious Jewish boy of the tenements to one of the most influential and conniving criminal minds in history. His intricate rigging of the 1919 World Series was a gem, but Rothstein, clearly an obsessive-compulsive gambling addict, engineered some of the biggest scams, criminal networks, and graft systems ever known in America. Like many of his ilk, his personal life was a tragedy, and Rothstein surely shared the wealth

Transporting listeners onto Jazz Age Broadway with its thugs, bookies, denizens of the racetracks, showgirls, political movers and shakers, and stars of the Golden Age of sports, this is a biography of the godfather of organized crime in America, who reigned supreme when the fast buck ruled and violence stalked the streets of Gotham.

“Dazzling! ROTHSTEIN is nonstop fiery journalism, finely researched and colorfully written, read with truly impressive panache by the inimitable Grover Gardner. Gardner tears into the material with vigor and intelligence, a knowing insider’s edge, and a smirk in each syllable. His style here is reminiscent of period radio announcers, conjuring vivid images of the streets and denizens of old New York in every breath. Be prepared for over fourteen hours of scintillating history that reveals the rampant corruption and indelible characters of the times…. A must listen, must own audiobook.”–Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award