Iceman of Brooklyn

Largely forgotten now, Frankie Yale was an influential New York mobster of the early 20th century whose proteges included future leaders of New York’s five Mafia families and Chicago’s outfit. His influence extended to Chicago, where he personally committed two of the city’s most notorious underworld assassinations and waged a five-year war to wrest control of Brooklyn’s docks from Irish rivals. His murder marked New York City’s first use of a Tommy gun in gangland warfare, the same weapon used in Chicago’s St. Valentine’s Day massacre seven months later. Yale’s passing destabilized Gotham’s Mafia, paving the way for an upheaval that modified and modernized the structure of American syndicated crime for the next six decades. Despite Yale’s prominence during his life, this is the first biography to survey his life and career.

Michael Newton is an award-winning author of numerous books on topics ranging from cryptozoology to civil rights and organized crime. He lives in Indiana.

Michael Newton
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 250
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8196-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4309-0
Imprint: Exposit

Preface 1
1. A Land of Opportunity 3
2. Gotham Noir 10
3. La Mano Nera 23
4. Brothers in Blood 44
5. A Harvard Education 68
6. Cleaning House 78
7. Black Hand/White Hand 86
8. Slay It with Flowers 113
9. Empire 133
10. “No Thugs Here” 144
11. Persons Unknown? 187
12. Requiescet in pace 198
Chapter Notes 215
Bibliography 225
Index 231