Organized Crime Queens & What's Your Poison & Beating the System by Jerry Bader - Book Tour + Giveaway
Organized Crime Queens:
The Secret World of Female Gangsters
by Jerry Bader
Genre:
Biography
Biography
From the bizarre world of female Japanese motorcycle gangs to the historic
rise and fall of London’s Forty Elephants, the history of female
organized crime is both fascinating and strange. These are the
stories, both true and legendary of the female crime bosses that
broke the mould of feminine gentility. This is The Secret World of
Female Gangsters.
rise and fall of London’s Forty Elephants, the history of female
organized crime is both fascinating and strange. These are the
stories, both true and legendary of the female crime bosses that
broke the mould of feminine gentility. This is The Secret World of
Female Gangsters.
Most of society thinks of women as the gentler sex, the sex with more
compassion and empathy, not prone to violence. The truth is history,
and current events, are littered with stories of violent women who do
whatever it takes to get what they want; women who either revel in,
or accept as needed, whatever acts of torture, murder and depravity
that are required to achieve their goals. We’re not talking about
mundane psychopaths that kill their children and their husbands; or
homicidal maniacs that kill randomly without purpose, other than for
some sexual or psychological gratification. We’re talking about
female organized crime bosses, leaders of highly structured, often
successful criminal organizations.
compassion and empathy, not prone to violence. The truth is history,
and current events, are littered with stories of violent women who do
whatever it takes to get what they want; women who either revel in,
or accept as needed, whatever acts of torture, murder and depravity
that are required to achieve their goals. We’re not talking about
mundane psychopaths that kill their children and their husbands; or
homicidal maniacs that kill randomly without purpose, other than for
some sexual or psychological gratification. We’re talking about
female organized crime bosses, leaders of highly structured, often
successful criminal organizations.
Most everyone knows about the high profile male mobsters; people like
Lucky Luciano, Myer Lansky, Bugsy Segal, Arnold Rothstein, and Al
Capone: men who became legends, rightly or wrongly, due to the
public’s insatiable appetite for literature, movies, and television
stories based on their lives. But what about their female
counterparts, they definitely existed and still exist. Their stories
are both fascinating and cautionary. Their histories provide an
alternative perspective on the equality of the sexes; everything has
a price. We are talking about smart, capable, talented, ruthless
women who under other circumstances might have become leaders in
either business or politics; women who demanded respect, loyalty and
a big payday; or else.
Lucky Luciano, Myer Lansky, Bugsy Segal, Arnold Rothstein, and Al
Capone: men who became legends, rightly or wrongly, due to the
public’s insatiable appetite for literature, movies, and television
stories based on their lives. But what about their female
counterparts, they definitely existed and still exist. Their stories
are both fascinating and cautionary. Their histories provide an
alternative perspective on the equality of the sexes; everything has
a price. We are talking about smart, capable, talented, ruthless
women who under other circumstances might have become leaders in
either business or politics; women who demanded respect, loyalty and
a big payday; or else.
The
Secret World of Female Gangsters
Most of
society thinks of women as the gentler sex, the sex with more compassion and
empathy, not prone to violence. The truth is history and current events are
littered with stories of violent women who do whatever it takes to get what
they want; women who either revel in, or accept as needed, whatever acts of
torture, murder and depravity that are required to achieve their goals. We’re
not talking about mundane psychopaths that kill their children and their
husbands, or homicidal maniacs that kill randomly without purpose other than
for some sexual or psychological gratification. We’re talking about female
organized crime bosses, leaders of highly structured, often successful criminal
organizations.
Most everyone
knows about the high profile male mobsters; people like Lucky Luciano, Myer
Lansky, Bugsy Segal, Arnold Rothstein, and Al Capone: men who became legends,
rightly or wrongly, due to the public’s insatiable appetite for literature,
movies, and television stories based on their lives. But what about their
female counterparts, they definitely existed and still exist. Their stories are
both fascinating and cautionary. Their histories provide an alternative
perspective on the equality of the sexes; everything has a price. We are
talking about smart, capable, talented, ruthless women who under other
circumstances might have become leaders in either business or politics; women
who demanded respect, loyalty and a big payday; or else.
Forty
Elephants
The
Female Gang That Terrorized London
The idea of a
gang of highly intelligent, dangerous, wild living, independent criminal women
led by an extraordinary individual who thought she was the reincarnation of
some Amazon Queen is unusual, if not unique. In today’s society Alice Diamond
might have become the CEO of a major multinational corporation, or perhaps the
Prime Minister of England, but in the early twentieth century, ruthless women
of ambition, strength, and intellect were not given access to the educational
and leadership avenues available to men.
If there’s a
lesson to be learned from the tale of the Forty Elephants it’s that denying
access to opportunity based on bias, prejudice, or preconception will
ultimately bite society in the ass, extracting a larger price than if
opportunity was provided to all. On the other hand, there are individuals and
groups of males and females who refuse to work within the confines of society
to create change and prefer a self-indulgent, nihilistic pursuit of self-gratification
and interest.
The Forty
Elephants, also known as the Forty Thieves, were an all-female gang of
criminals that operated in London from the 1700s up until the 1950s. They
reached their heyday in the years between WWI and WWII under the leadership of
twenty-year old Alice Diamond, also known as Diamond Annie, due to her penchant for wearing diamond rings that
she often used as a weapon. More than one assailant lost an eye or suffered
severe physical injury from one of her namesake fashion statements.
Alice
Diamond
Queen
of Thieves
At five feet,
eight inches tall, Diamond was physically imposing with a hair-trigger temper,
not afraid to use violence against anyone who got in her way, including the
police, or even members of her own gang that didn’t follow her rules. Alice and
her girls dressed in the latest fashions presenting an attractive sophisticated
facade to the world while at the same time enjoying wild parties and high
living. Diamond had highly developed organizational skills and an understanding
of how to take advantage of unfortunate women that suffered poor treatment by
domineering male family members. She organized her gang in cells and developed
a command structure that took advantage of her associates’ particular talents.
She herself was known as the Queen of
Thieves handling the muscle, the overall organization, and what could be
best described as the cultural and strategic vision of the group. She left much
of the tactical planning to her second-in-command, Margaret Hughes, also known as
Baby Face Maggie Hill, a woman who
was particularly skilled at developing and implementing blackmail schemes.
The gang
specialized in shoplifting, robbery, blackmail, and extortion. Although they
had no official male members they often used men as getaway drivers using the
new-fangled automobile to make their speedy getaways. They were also associated
with the Elephant and Castle Gang, a male group that controlled much of the
crime in West End London. Maggie Hill
was the sister of well-known criminal Billy Hill who was responsible for
planning the infamous 1952 Eastcastle Street postal van robbery and a
significant 1954 bullion heist. All in all these women were well tapped into
London’s criminal underworld.
The members
of the Forty Elephants were attractive, disenfranchised women prone to
aggression, drinking, and wild parties. They dressed stylishly in specially
made clothes designed to hide the merchandise they stole from department
stores. During the years between the wars women were regarded as the weaker sex
and thus were not considered threats, something Diamond and her girls took
every advantage of during their well-planned robbery assaults. In some cases,
different groups of women would enter a department store like Selfridges from
different entrances and create utter confusion by grabbing everything of value
they could lay their hands on; they would then quickly exit through different
doors to waiting getaway cars driven by their male accomplices.
Some of the
women would get jobs in the homes of wealthy individuals in order to case the
residence for valuables. The information would be passed on to Maggie Hill who
would then plan a break-in. Other members of the gang targeted wealthy
aristocrats for seduction and blackmail.
Diamond
Annie’s Downfall
In the end
Diamond Annie was done-in by one of her own girls falling in love with an
outsider, something that was forbidden. Marie Britten came from a good family
and fell in love with a fellow called Jackson. Marie knew this was forbidden,
so she went to Diamond with her father as protection, but Diamond flew into a
rage and attacked Marie while Maggie Hill went after her father with a razor.
Marie and her father managed to escape but that wasn’t the end of it. Marie
married Jackson the next day.
Several days
later, a group from the Forty Elephants led by Diamond and Hill surrounded the Britten
home. The women threw rocks and bottles through the windows; they entered the home
determined to punish the wayward Britten and her family. The women found Mrs. Britten
and her new baby in her bedroom. Mrs. Britten and the baby were forcefully
thrown out of bed so their attackers could turn it over to see if Mr. Britten
was hiding underneath. They eventually caught up with Britten and his son on
the basement stairs and attacked them. The police finally showed up arresting
several of the women that failed to escape. Mr. Britten and his son were taken
to the hospital where Britten was patched up with twenty stitches. The police ultimately rounded up all the
attackers.
Another
account of the story goes slightly differently and perhaps more credibly. In
this variation of events Maria Jackson, née Britten, attacked another woman,
Bertha Tappenden, with a broken wine glass during a wild drinking party in 1925
at The Canterbury Arms Club in Waterloo, South London. Maria Britten must have
already been married and she wasn’t the sweet young thing made out in the
alternative tale. During the drunken brawl Maria’s father Bill Britten took a
poke at Tappenden in an attempt to back up his daughter, causing an even bigger
brouhaha. It was after Britten left that Alice Diamond and friends decided that
Britten must be confronted. When Diamond knocked on Britten’s door, she was
greeted with a pail of water in the face, and that’s when the full on attack on
the Britten’s house took place.
A trial was
held but authorities were afraid that Diamond and Hill would release
information on important members of the community that they’d acquired from the
gang’s seduction and extortion operations. As a result, the trial centered only
on the house attack, rather than on the organization’s broader criminal
activities.
Diamond Alice
and Baby-faced Maggie were both found guilty of the attack on the Britten’s
residence. They were sentenced to long prison terms of hard labor. With the
leadership of the Forty Elephants in jail, the gang‘s fortunes declined. It
remained in operation in one form or another up until the 1950s but never again
did it reach the level of success it had under the ruthless guidance of Diamond
Annie and Baby Face Maggie Hill. Alice Diamond survived her prison term and
lived out her life in obscurity. She died sometime in the 1950s.
Maggie Hill
fared even worse. In 1938 she was arrested for stabbing a policeman in the eye
with a hatpin. On her release from jail the only work she could get was as a
prostitute’s maid and police informant, reporting on abusive pimps that the
working girls feared. She evidently committed suicide sometime in the seventies
but by that time the Forty Elephants had long since been relegated to history.
What's Your Poison?:
How Cocktails Got Their Names
by Jerry Bader
Why do we call mixed alcohol drinks “cocktails”? How do they get
their exotic names: names like the Singapore Sling, Screw Driver, the
Alamagoozlum, the Angel’s Kiss, the Hanky Panky, the Harvey
Wallbanger, Sex On The Beach, the Monkey Gland, the Brass Monkey, the
Margarita, the Japalac, the Lion’s Tail, and many, many more? Who
makes up these names, where are they invented, why, and how do you
make them? These questions will be answered in “What’s Your
Poison?” by exploring the incidents, people, and places that
prompted the creation of these exotic concoctions.
their exotic names: names like the Singapore Sling, Screw Driver, the
Alamagoozlum, the Angel’s Kiss, the Hanky Panky, the Harvey
Wallbanger, Sex On The Beach, the Monkey Gland, the Brass Monkey, the
Margarita, the Japalac, the Lion’s Tail, and many, many more? Who
makes up these names, where are they invented, why, and how do you
make them? These questions will be answered in “What’s Your
Poison?” by exploring the incidents, people, and places that
prompted the creation of these exotic concoctions.
Beating the System
by Jerry Bader
It’s been said that gambling is a tax on the dumb; that may be overly
harsh, but the fact is, most gambling venues are designed to
guarantee you lose. It doesn’t matter if it’s horseracing,
lotteries, casinos, or the annual state fair. As soon as you plunk
down your dollar you’re a loser. Those milk bottles at the bottom
of the pyramid you’re trying to knock down are filled with lead,
and that basketball net that looks so close you can’t miss, is
actually oval not round, and barely big enough for a ball to pass
through.
harsh, but the fact is, most gambling venues are designed to
guarantee you lose. It doesn’t matter if it’s horseracing,
lotteries, casinos, or the annual state fair. As soon as you plunk
down your dollar you’re a loser. Those milk bottles at the bottom
of the pyramid you’re trying to knock down are filled with lead,
and that basketball net that looks so close you can’t miss, is
actually oval not round, and barely big enough for a ball to pass
through.
Most people like to take a chance every once in a while; maybe they’ll
get lucky. It’s a kick, a lark: an afternoon’s entertainment.
They know when to walk away… others don’t… some can’t. For
them it’s a drug, a search for an unattainable high. Deep down they
don’t even want to win. It’s sad. It’s pathetic is what it
is.
get lucky. It’s a kick, a lark: an afternoon’s entertainment.
They know when to walk away… others don’t… some can’t. For
them it’s a drug, a search for an unattainable high. Deep down they
don’t even want to win. It’s sad. It’s pathetic is what it
is.
You see these sorry souls at the track, at the casinos, or anywhere
there’s a game of chance. They’ll bet on horses, dogs, camels’…
even killer roosters. It’s nuts I know, but their addicts, they’ll
bet on people, and that’s the worst bet of all. Gambling is for
suckers; that’s why gamblers don’t gamble, they fix the game, and
even then, it doesn’t always work.
there’s a game of chance. They’ll bet on horses, dogs, camels’…
even killer roosters. It’s nuts I know, but their addicts, they’ll
bet on people, and that’s the worst bet of all. Gambling is for
suckers; that’s why gamblers don’t gamble, they fix the game, and
even then, it doesn’t always work.
Horse racing is advertised as the sport of kings. Sure, if that’s what
you want to believe. I was a jockey, it was my job, but I made my
living as a fixer. You want to know what really goes on behind the
scenes. You want to know what horse racing is really all about. Then
come a little closer, cause I got a story for you.
you want to believe. I was a jockey, it was my job, but I made my
living as a fixer. You want to know what really goes on behind the
scenes. You want to know what horse racing is really all about. Then
come a little closer, cause I got a story for you.
Jerry Bader is author, publisher, and Senior Partner in MRPwebmedia.com. He
has written twelve hybrid graphic novels (including “The Method,”
“The Comeuppance,” “The Coffin Corner,” and “Grist For The
Mill”), thirteen children’s books (including “Two Dragons Named
Shoe,” “The Town That Didn’t Speak,” “The Bad Puppeteer,”
“The Criminal McBride,” and “Mr. Bumbershoot, The Umbrella
Man”), three marketing books, and several novels and biographies
including “The Fixer” and “Organized Crime Queens.”
has written twelve hybrid graphic novels (including “The Method,”
“The Comeuppance,” “The Coffin Corner,” and “Grist For The
Mill”), thirteen children’s books (including “Two Dragons Named
Shoe,” “The Town That Didn’t Speak,” “The Bad Puppeteer,”
“The Criminal McBride,” and “Mr. Bumbershoot, The Umbrella
Man”), three marketing books, and several novels and biographies
including “The Fixer” and “Organized Crime Queens.”
The graphic novels are unique in that they are designed as screenplays
with accompanying storyboard panels to give the reader an enhanced
experience akin to reading like a movie producer. Watch for new
releases as they come available!
with accompanying storyboard panels to give the reader an enhanced
experience akin to reading like a movie producer. Watch for new
releases as they come available!
Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
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