Timothy Newark

Charles 'Lucky' Luciano was a vicious mobster who rose to become the multimillionaire king of the New York underworld. He was a legend - but also a fake master criminal without real power, his reputation manipulated and maintained by the government agents who had put him behind bars. Drawing on secret government documents from archives in America and Europe, this myth-busting biography tells Luciano's real story, from his early days as a top hit man for the mob to his exploits running sex and narcotics empires and revelations about his trip to Nazi Germany to set up a drugs importing racket. His career abruptly halted by imprisonment, Luciano's reputation was enhanced by rumours that he was helping to win the Second World War for the Allies in Sicily and the Mediterranean. Through painstaking research, Newark exposes the truth about what Luciano really did during the war. Expelled from the US in 1946, Luciano returned to Italy, where he was reputed to head a massive transatlantic narcotics network. In a complex conspiracy, he became a victim of the far greater powers around him, and Newark provides evidence that, at one time, he was even working as a Cold War agent, helping the US government fight Communism in Sicily. Lucky Luciano: Mafia Murderer and Secret Agent turns accepted Mafia history on its head with an extraordinary story that has never been told before.

Mafia Murderer and Secret Agent

Lucky Luciano

Surveys the history of female military leadership in ancient and medieval warfare

An Illustrated Military History of Female Warriors

Women Warlords

Emile Gallé

An overview of the Art Nouveau craftsman, his intricate glasswork, and his dragonfly tables

Charles 'Lucky' Luciano was a vicious mobster who rose to become the king of the New York underworld. He was a legend - but also a fake master criminal manipulated by the federal agents who had put him behind bars. This myth-busting biography tells Luciano's real story, from his early days as a top hit man to his exploits running sex and narcotics empires and revelations about his trip to Nazi Germany to set up a drugs racket. Through painstaking research, Newark exposes the truth about what Luciano really did during the war and reveals the gangster's role as a Cold War agent, helping the US government fight Communism in Sicily. Lucky Luciano: Mafia Murderer and Secret Agentturns accepted Mafia history on its head with an extraordinary story that has never been told before.

How the rise and ultimate defeat of Fascism in Italy affected the Mafia—a provocative and little-known chapter in the history of WWII, and of organized crime.

Timothy Newark

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