Thomas Byrnes Books

Originally written in 1886, Professional Criminals of America contains biographical sketches, including photographs, of over four hundred of the nation's leading criminals. Each profile details the crimes committed and the circumstances leading up to arrest and conviction. Thomas Byrnes is credited with popularizing the term 'rogues gallery, ' and for both good and ill, according to the New York Times, Byrnes "shaped not just the New York City Detective Bureau, but the template for detective work...in every modern American metropolis." Also included are short, informative chapters on criminal methods, executions, and fugitives from justice, along with intriguing chapters on mysterious unsolved murders, adventurers, and a list of every prison and state penitentiary in America at the original time of publication.

New York is not only a world capital of finance, fashion, and media, but also of every imaginable variety of criminal activity from the most brutal to the most creative. From rampaging draft rioters to Prohibition-era beer barons, from brilliant art thieves to Wall Street insiders, from the Boss Tweed to Dapper Don, New York's criminals personify the dark side of the most vibrant and diverse city on earth. Crimes of New York takes us from the tortured, violent life of David Berkowitz, aka Son of Sam, who terrorized the city in the process of killing six young women to the story of the Manhattan yuppie millionaire whose marriage dissolved in drug abuse and ended in murder; from the life of a woman struggling to stay straight in the South Bronx to the violent childhood of teen killer Cape Man Salvatore Agron. Their crimes reflect our common failings—greed, anger, lust for power—intensified by the brutality and sophistication of the unique pressure cooker that is New York.