Product Description

The story of the American Mafia is not complete without a chapter on Kansas City. The City of Fountains has appeared in The Godfather, Casino, and The Sopranos, but many Midwesterners are not aware that Kansas City has affected the fortunes of the entire underworld. In The Mafia and the Machine, author Frank Hayde ties in every major name in organized crime-Luciano, Bugsy, Lansky-as well as the city's corrupt police force.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58202 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Detailed picture of KC underworld history
Author Frank Hayde left no stone unturned as he assembled a comprehensive and readable history of the Kansas City underworld. He neatly tied together generations of political shenanigans by the influential Pendergast political machine and numerous murders and illicit business ventures by the local Sicilian-Italian Mafia organization.

In telling just over a century's worth of history, Hayde did considerably more than merely hit the high points - the Union Station Massacre, point-shaving allegations against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Strawman case, and the shocking assassination of a political boss within a Democratic headquarters. Hayde also provided rich detail on little known events, such as the Election Day riots of the 1920s and 1930s and the River Quay war, without ever allowing his narrative to become bogged down.

The result is the most complete picture yet of the Kansas City underworld and of the mutualistic relationship between organized politics and organized crime.

Drawing from court testimony, interviews and law enforcement surveillance, Hayde was able to tell plenty of the history through the actual words of the people who made that history. The big names on the seedier side of Kansas City's last century are all to be found within the covers of The Mafia and the Machine: several generations of Pendergasts; loyal machine politician Guy Park; Mafia front men Johnny Lazia and Charlie Binaggio; mobsters Joseph "Scarface" DiGiovanni, James Balestrere, Tano Lococo, Tony Gizzo and the Civellas - "Uncle Nick," "Carl the Cork" and "Tony Ripe."

Crimefighters were not neglected. Hayde discussed the efforts of crusading journalists and grassroots organizations and those of investigative agencies from the Kansas City Police Department all the way to the federal bureaus commanded by Harry Anslinger and J. Edgar Hoover. U.S. President Harry Truman, an admitted product of the Pendergast Machine, was handled frankly and fairly by the author.

At the back of his book, Hayde kindly provided short biographies of the dozens of individuals who played a prominent role in Kansas City's underworld history. He also included a partial bibliography.

As thorough and well crafted as the book is, there are some missing elements. There is no index, and the Table of Contents' brief titles often provide little or no clue as to the subject or time period dealt with in individual chapters. Researchers on the topic of Kansas City organized crime could also be frustrated by the lack of notes and the incompleteness of the bibliography.

As it stands, The Mafia and the Machine is solid history and interesting reading.

RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "A DETAILED HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI'S CORRUPTED POLITICS & MAFIA!"
"The story of the American Mafia, is not complete without a chapter on Kansas City, Missouri. Even Hollywood gives a nod to Kansas City in movies about the Mafia. When Vito Corleone hosted a meeting of the national syndicate in "THE GODFATHER", he welcomed delegates from Kansas City and the other territories. In Martin Scorsese's epic "CASINO" Chicago is never mentioned by name, but Kansas City is freely invoked as the setting for complicated Mob conspiracies. When New York wise guys needed a cover for Hugh Grant in the Mob comedy "MICKEY BLUE EYES, they dressed him up as a "goodfella" from KC. And in the second season of HBO's "THE SOPRANO'S", Sal Bonpensiero's FBI handler makes mention of a fellow organized crime investigator who was reassigned to Kansas City. Screenwriters and storytellers have long been aware of what many Midwesterners are not: KANSAS CITY IS KEY IN THE HISTORY OF ORGANIZED CRIME!"

"Investigations conducted in the 1950's in Kansas City and elsewhere revealed a "second government" that reigned throughout the 20th century. This shadow government was made up of one "FAMILY" in 19 major territories and 5 "FAMILIES" in New York City. Bosses reigned over their families and territories like feudal lords from the old country. A commission of powerful bosses from several cities oversaw this network of families, making the rules and arbitrating disputes. In the glory days, the mafia reached into every segment of urban society and its tentacles often radiated right from the Heart of America. Events unfolding in Kansas City would affect the fortunes of all the Mafia families and shape the destiny of the entire underworld. The history of "LA COSA NOSTRA" (This Thing of Ours."), is an intricate web of intrigue, with Kansas City right in the thick of it."

The author has performed meticulous research and provided intricate detail, but one drawback of this work is that this book reads more like an academic historical text book than a "breezy" literary read. But by the end of this book the reader will be amazed about the political corruption that actually preceded the Mafia in the state of Missouri.

My favorite chapter in this book is chapter 8, which is entitled "A TRUE MAN". What makes this chapter so powerful and emotionally rewarding, is the fact that in a book that is dedicated to corruption, murder, mayhem, bribes and prison, this one chapter is devoted to a Missouri politician who rose above this bottomless chaos, and despite some unsubstantiated accusations rose to the highest office in the land. That Missouri politician was Vice-President and subsequently President, Harry S. Truman. This reverent chapter starts off with the "mob-definition" of a "STAND-UP GUY": "A stand-up guy is a manly acting fella who sticks by his word, doesn't forget where he came from or who his friends are, pays his debts, and doesn't squeal." Truman got into politics when his haberdashery business went under and the infamous Tom Pendergast political "MACHINE" that bullied and controlled almost the entire state of Missouri asked Harry if he wanted to run for Judge of the Eastern District of Jackson County Court. "Needing a job, Harry accepted the offer and was elected in 1922." Pendergast continued to back Truman all the way to the U.S. Senate in 1934. Other Senator's whispered behind Harry's back that he was nothing but an errand boy for "Boss Tom". The Senator's would find out that their initial impressions were wrong. Harry proved that he was incorruptible. But Harry never made any bones about his association with Pendergast because he had nothing to hide. Truman was quoted many times as saying: "Pendergast never asked me to do a dishonest deed, and that's God's truth. I did my job in the way I thought it ought to be done. And he never interfered, not even when he was in deep trouble himself." When Tom Pendergast was indicted in 1939 Truman showed he didn't forget where he came from or who his friends were. His official statement was: "I am sorry this happened, but I am not going to desert a ship that is in distress." Perhaps no other deed so exemplifies Truman's strength of character, than when Tom Pendergast, now a thoroughly disgraced "Boss" died in 1945. Truman was now busy with the demands of being the Vice President Of The United States. "A political football even in death, Pendergast was persona non grata to politicians everywhere. For the Vice President of the United States to attend the funeral of a convicted felon would be unthinkable. Truman's associates begged him not to even consider it."

"Despite every advice to the contrary and in the face of howling criticism, Truman hitchhiked a ride on an Army bomber and flew back to Kansas City to pay his respects to his old friend.

"NOW THAT'S A STAND-UP GUY!"

Great Book on the Kansas City Mob
While many books have been written about the Pendergast machine and about the Union Station Massacre, the surface has barely been scratched until now on Kansas City's colorful and violent gangster past. A center of gang activity from the James boys to the Civellas, it was characterized by Attorney General Homer Cummings in the 1930s as one of the spokes in the "Midwest Crime Corridor" axis, along with Chicago and the Twin Cities. The rise and fall of the Pendergast machine, its sponsorship of political and police corruption and wide-open gambling and vice which made the city a haven for outlaws, and its intertwining with the Kansas City Mafia are explored in detail. The Mob history continues through the Civella years of the KC Family's influential involvement in the Teamsters Union and Las Vegas and their rapid decline as the 20th Century closed. Long closely associated with the Chicago Mob (as indicated by their shared name -- "the Outfit"), KC's Italian mob was still no mere satellite, as Hayde amply demonstrates here. For sure it's in many ways a negative slice of history but it's history all the same. Like Chicago, Kansas City is one of the few truly all-American cities, the "Crossroads of America" where the urban East met and mingled with the Wild West. Like it or not, and maybe only a Midwesterner can truly appreciate this, the corruptive influences of the past were a major force in the rapid transformation of KC from a wild frontier cowtown to a sprawling and cultured metropolis. And there is truly inspiration in the rise of Harry Truman, one of our greatest Presidents, whose political career was sponsored by Tom Pendergast but who retained the strength to avoid embracing the venality of the Machine. Indebted but not beholden, Truman gave no favors to "Boss Tom" but acknowledged Pendergast's "mistakes" without disowning him as a man or a friend when others found it politically expedient to do so. That kind of honesty is sadly lacking in politicians these days.