Broadway Butterfly: Vivian Gordon
By Anthony M. DeStefano
By Anthony M. DeStefano
Category: 20th Century U.S. History | True Crime
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$28.00
Jun 25, 2024 | ISBN 9780806543147
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Praise
Praise for Broadway Butterfly
“In Broadway Butterfly, mob expert Tony DeStefano tells the little-known story of Vivian Gordon, one of Prohibition’s most notorious racketeers, who, along with the corrupt cops and politicians of her day, set New York on a crooked path that is often followed today.” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy and Casino
“In this entertaining account, Pulitzer winner DeStefano (The Deadly Don) paints Jazz Age fixture Vivian Gordon as both victim and criminal. Eighteen months after escort and aspiring actor Gordon—born Benita Franklin and nicknamed the “Broadway Butterfly”—was found dead in a Bronx park in 1931, New York City mayor Jimmy Walker resigned, and the political influence of the once unassailable Tammany Hall came to an end. The key was Gordon’s diaries, in which she meticulously catalogued the secrets she’d learned from her high-end clients and recounted being extorted by corrupt judges and cops to pay for dropped prostitution charges.….He wrangles the sprawling implications of Gordon’s still unsolved murder into an entertaining package. DeStefano paints an alluring portrait of Prohibition-era New York and the mobsters and millionaires who ran it.” —Publishers Weekly