Storied & Scandalous Kansas City: A History of Corruption, Mischief and a Whole Lot of Booze

by Karla Deel

Overview

Welcome to Kansas City—the best town this side of Hell.

The Paris of the Plains. Home to the Wettest Block in the World. This collection celebrates a storied history of one notorious city. Meet the mobsters and victims, bootleggers, madams, political bosses and raucous entertainers who truly brought the party to the plains even during Prohibition. Witness the best parades, the wackiest costumes and the wildest scams. Kansas City’s sordid underbelly is full of surprises sure to delight and entice—the odd, macabre and delightful.



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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493042432
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/08/2019
Pages:	168
Sales rank:	426,379
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Karla Deel is the founder and editor of SqueezeBox City, an online magazine dedicated to the history and culture of Kansas City. SqueezeBox City publishes a variety of original content in addition to curating and producing events related to Kansas City history throughout the city. She’s worked with New Letters and Boulevard magazines and as assistant director of the Greater Kansas City Writing Project where she was awarded the Stanley H. Durwood Fellowship for Creative Writing. She has been involved with most of Kansas City’s regional history groups and works closely with History Kansas City Foundation, Young Preservationists, Historic West Bottoms, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Jackson County Historical Society, and Historic West Bottoms Association.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction xi

1 Welcome to Dry Land 1

2 A History of Civilized Roughness and Refine 27

3 Sin and Revelry 43

4 Sicilians in Kansas City 65

5 Gambling Dens, Vice Rackets, and Raids 83

6 Organized Crime in the 1970s 105

7 The Odd, Macabre, and Delightful 119

Acknowledgments 137

Notes 139

Bibliography 143

Index 149