{"product_id":"broadway-butterfly-vivian-gordon-the-lady-gangster-of-jazz-age-new-york-9780806543147","title":"Broadway Butterfly: Vivian Gordon: The Lady Gangster of Jazz Age New York","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe definitive, jaw-dropping account of the Jazz Age con woman, escort, speakeasy owner, and racketeer Vivian Gordon, whose sensational murder - and the damning list of powerful politicos, gangsters, and businessmen left behind in her diary - captivated Prohibition-era New York, obsessed its then-governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ensnared its mayor, and exposed the city's dark underbelly of police corruption. From Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning mob historian Anthony M. Destefano.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLike so many other pretty butterflies, Indiana-born Vivian Gordon fluttered to New York in 1920 looking for fame and fortune. Before long, the flame-haired chorus girl parlayed her youth, beauty, and ambition into more profitable means as a tough and glamorous symbol of Prohibition-era excess. She was a speakeasy owner, blackmailer, high-end escort, extortionist, racketeer, and con woman. But given her dangerously intimate associations--from ruthless underworld gangsters to corrupt high-ranking city officials--Vivian was also a woman who knew too much and who rightfully feared for her life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOn February 26, 1931, Vivian's bludgeoned and garroted body was found dumped in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. Now, in the first in-depth biography of its kind, Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano unravels her tumultuous life and the headline-making murder that became an obsession for many, including then-Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe evidence Vivian left behind was damning: a diary with more than 300 names implicating powerful officials, philanthropists, businessmen, and every major gangland figure in collusion and corruption. The probe eventually resulted in the career-ending\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003einvestigation of James \"Jimmy\" Walker, disgraced mayor of New York City. Ultimately, \u003ci\u003eBroadway Butterfly\u003c\/i\u003e finally finds a place in history for Vivian, a woman with a rare legacy in gangster lore, whose demise was as tragically inevitable as the brutality of the city's demimonde\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eduring Prohibition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Anthony M. DeStefano\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Citadel Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/25\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.96lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.35h x 6.35w x 0.91d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780806543147","brand":"Citadel Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42709336686729,"sku":"9780806543147","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_2975e099-1da6-47e9-b58b-742f8f7a3ced.jpg?v=1719514150","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/broadway-butterfly-vivian-gordon-the-lady-gangster-of-jazz-age-new-york-9780806543147","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}